Dear Steffen!
Just wanted to tell you what a grand I had during my stay at Umba Lodge. The food was elegant, and fully as delicious as it looked. Our cabin was clean, cozy, and attractive. I enjoyed every evening at the fireplace with all the nice people in order to share great story’s with a bottle red wine. The fishing was a ton of fun. I’m no fanatic about big fish but I do like action, and even on the slowest days we caught quite a few fish, and there are still big Monster waiting of a lucky Salmon fisher! Frankly, I can’t imagine how you could catch many more during the period of time I fished. It’s great just hiking up to Golden Pool with only tackle and lunch in hand to find Salmons waiting in the water. The Osenka Salmons are sometimes very big, but even the smaller ones were big enough to be fun! And we caught enough 6 – 12 lbs to keep us on our toes. Some of the fish we caught were surprisingly strong— 14 – 18 lbs running hard and tearing line off a screaming reel? Making three or four such wild runs? I’d have trouble believing it if it weren’t my own reel that was doing the screaming.
In summary I caught in my 2 weeks stay 18 Salmons and that was more I’ve expected:
10 Salmons between 4 and 10 lbs
6 Salmons between 14 and 18 lbs
2 salmons between 22 and 24 Lbs
Our Fishing guide Daniel Podolsky is truly an inspiring and almost freakishly intuitive fly fishing guide – so much so that I now refer to him as the Salmon Whisper! I spent 2 Weeks out on the river with him, and it was unlike any fishing I have ever done – challenging, exciting and crammed full of lessons (he is also endlessly patient). I cannot recommend Daniel’s experience enough – he knows the water, he knows the fish and he is a good bloke as well.
I have been to the Umba Lodge now multiple times and have already rebooked for next year. The fishing is for Atlantic Salmon, so there are good days and there are great days.
If you want to spend some time in pretty Umba Lodge and on the beautiful Umba and Krivetz, eat wonderful food, and explore a variety of lovely Flyfishing Water containing aggressive Atlantic Salmons, I’d suggest you come to Umba Lodge.
The only regret you will have when you leave the Umba Lodge is that your visit was too short.
Best Regards
Kai Welle
