Kamchatka

The Kamchatka Peninsula, a volcanic finger of land jutting southward from the Russian Far East between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean, contains the last truly pristine salmon and steelhead rivers on Earth, watersheds so remote and unaltered by human activity that they provide a window into what Pacific salmon ecosystems looked like before dams, logging, and development transformed the rivers of the American West. For the fly angler willing to undertake the significant logistical effort required to reach Kamchatka, the reward is fishing of a quality and abundance that is no longer available anywhere else, in a wilderness setting of active volcanoes, hot springs, dense birch forests, and brown bears so numerous that encounters are a daily occurrence.

The rainbow trout and steelhead of Kamchatka are the primary draw for visiting fly anglers. The peninsula's rivers support populations of both resident rainbows that gorge on salmon eggs during the summer runs and sea-run steelhead that enter the rivers from the Pacific with a power and wildness that reflects their completely wild genetic heritage. The Zhupanova River, accessed by helicopter from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, is the most famous rainbow trout river on the peninsula, producing fish that regularly exceed twenty-five inches on mouse patterns, egg imitations, and large streamers in a volcanic canyon setting of breathtaking beauty.

The salmon runs on Kamchatka are staggering in their abundance and diversity. All six species of Pacific salmon return to the peninsula's rivers: chinook, sockeye, chum, pink, coho, and the cherry salmon unique to the western Pacific. The rivers of the western coast receive the largest runs, with sockeye and chinook arriving in June and July, followed by chum, pink, and coho through August and September. The fishing during these runs combines targeting individual salmon on the fly with the knowledge that the massive influx of protein is feeding the rainbow trout, char, and grayling populations that make the rivers so productive for the remainder of the season.

Kamchatka expeditions typically involve helicopter-supported tent camps or floating trips on inflatable rafts, covering remote river sections over the course of seven to ten days. The season runs from mid-June through early October, with July and August considered the prime months for the combination of salmon, rainbows, and favorable weather. The experience is genuinely expeditionary in nature, with no roads, no cabins, and no contact with the outside world for the duration of the trip. It is a destination for anglers who seek the last wild places and are willing to accept the challenges and uncertainties of true wilderness in exchange for fishing that redefines the concept of abundance.