Hi Steffen
I am back in office now, but in reality with my thoughts I am still fishing Gran Varzuga! What a great week we had. Incredible fishing together with a bunch of super friendly Salmon Junkies. Thank you very much Steffen – It was really a pleasure to fish with you throughout the whole week. Also many thanks to all staff there and of course to the two great fishing guides Mark Leander and Andreas Andersson. I think it is worth mentioning the great fun I had chasing salmon on dry flies. The river itself is really perfect for dry fly fishing. In some pools we have had even ten fish rising both on Bombers (Russian flag, orange, green and natural colors) and “F. Y. Arne white Skaters”.
A truly unforgettable experience.
Thank you again
Ciao
Franco Sirtori / Italy
A BIG THANKS STEFFEN!!!!!!!
I wanted to let you know, that I made it trough the rest of the trip safely home, and returned home scheduled Monday. A Million thanks to you and all the staff for everything you did to make my stay at the Grand Varzuga so successfully and enjoyable. I had the best salmon fishing in my life with a lot of very happy memories.
Grand Varzuga is indeed a MAGICAL place, and the quality of the Salmon and the fishing is absolute fantastic.
A special thanks to the to your two Swedish Fishing guides Mark Leander and Andreas Andersson who both did a very very good Job.
All the best
Willy Behr / Germany
————————————————————————————————————————————————-
A word or two from Swedish Pär Häggqvist
Salmonfishing is often hard work and takes a lot of experience. When you combine that with a bit of luck you sometime hit the Jack-pot. This is what happened to me during my first week in Umba 30/8 – 6/9 2014. I was fortunate enough to land 16 beautiful salmon and lost about the same numbers. The icing of the cake was two shiny Osenkas pulling the scale down to 31 and 27,5 Lbs. The challenging river and its surroundings in autumn colors combined with the friendly atmosphere will always have a special place in my heart. Thank you Steffen and all of the staff for a great week.
Best Regards
Pär Häggqvist / Sweden
————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Hello Steffen,
I would like to thank you and your Umba team for a great time at the Umba Lodge this autumn. During many years I have been fishing this wonderful place – Umba has become a very important part of my fishing life. Despite the difficult conditions and the low water level in my first week this season, I caught 13 beautiful fish in this week – A result that speak for itself.
Whenever I fish Umba river I always have the feeling that the next fish can be a 20 pounder or bigger, as the opportunity is always there.
Like in the previous years, I was lucky enough to exceed the 20 pound mark again this year – incredible and wonderful.
I am already looking forward to the autumn in 2015. Please book me in.
Greetings from Lauterbach
Heinz Pape / Germany
————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Hi Steffen – Back to normal life. The week we had on the Grand Varzuga was my best fishing week ever (54 Salmon to my own rod). Thanks again, that you made it possible. I know it is not always easy to make everybody happy, because of weather and water conditions. I met also some very kind people and Grand Varzuga, which completed the week.
Best regards
Markus Kemmer / Germany
————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Dear Steffen
Thank you again for last week (6 – 13 September) – I enjoyed myself enormously and to catch four 20lb + salmon in a week is fantastic.
I send as promised a couple of images of the fish I caught on Home Pool. You took the images on the Pine Pool.
I hope the remaining time there is enjoyable and please keep in touch. I will of course be coming at the same time next year God willing!
Kindest regards,
Illtyd Griffiths / Wales. UK
————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Hi Steffen. Back home now – Today I manage to take a serious look at all the pictures of my wonderful trip to Grand Varzuga and Umba for the first time. At the end of this week I made CD`s with some of the best pic`s and sent it to you. It was really great to fish Grand Varzuga with you – please sent special regards to Umba manager Orla, and Grand Varzuga fishing guides Andreas and Mark.
Tight lines:
Andreas Witt / Switzerland
————————————————————————————————————————————————–
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 Whisperer! 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 / Germany