Trip Description
Most trips will run one week in duration or perhaps two weeks as there is only one flight a week from Anchorage to Kamchatka. For those on the West Coast of the US this is the quickest option, for those on the east coast it is possible to fly through Moscow which has daily service to Petropavlovsk. The main problem is you need to leave a day or two of padding as Aeroflot will cancel flights without notice on a regular basis. The new schedule for the flight from Anchorage to Petropavlovsk is:
The service will run July 7 through September 15 - 2008
Vladivostok Air lines will depart Anchorage Alaska on Monday at 8:00 am and will arrive 4:30 minutes later in Kamchatka Russia which is Tuesday morning at 10:00 am
Vladivostok Air Lines will depart Kamchatka on Monday evenings at 11:00 pm and and arrive in Anchorage Alaska at 06:00 am on Monday. Crossing the date line is weird !!
The trip begins after your flight arrives in Petropavlovsk. Depending on your arrival time we will either stay over night in town or head directly out to the river, most trips head out the same day. One Outfitter fly's his own planes directly to his base camp, others will board a helicopter for a 30 - 90 minute flight your destination on one of the premier rivers in Kamchatka.
The only true lodge is on the Zhupanova River with some tent camps that are "almost" lodges.. There are float trips on many different rivers, First the routine for the lodges, then we will go over the float trip schedule.
The Lodges are well equipped with electricity and heat. You can have a hot shower any time you want, tie some flies, relax, basically enjoy this beautiful mountain setting in relative comfort. There is a drying room just for keeping your gear dry and warm! Breakfast and dinner are served in the dining room each day while lunch is server stream side. The fishing day begins at 8 am and ends at 6 pm. There is time to fish on your own after dinner especially early in the season when the days are long, but the truth is most people are so satisfied with the day they 
do not fish after dinner! There is good fishing all up and down the river close to the lodge if you do have the energy.
The Zhupanova is a large river but lots of classic water and great fishing - it is closer to PV, You will use a jet boat to get to the chosen section of river for the day. There is not much pressure in Kamchatka yet so fish are still stupid. A river in Alaska can get more pressure in a single day than these rivers get all year long!
The rivers are pretty long but the fishing is so good near the lodge we rarely go further than 15 miles in either direction . A private river which is still in its original state. Imagine Alaska in 1900. Imagine very large rainbows rising freely in this rich river system. The river is also the spawning ground of all 5 species of pacific salmon which can be an added bonus to your trip. Still the bows are the best reason to visit as this is the last place on earth they are native and undisturbed.
At the end of your week you will board the helicopter for the flight back to Petropavlovsk. An overnight in a hotel may be needed but the city is very interesting with some great Russian architecture and culture. It is a highly educated society and many people speak some English and you may want to spend some extra time here.
The Daily fly out trips are a new way to fish 5 different rivers each week. The helicopter stays with the group to shuttle us from river to river or even one run to another 2 miles away. Like the float trip this is done from a moveable camp, not a lodge. Just a little more expensive than some float trips!
The float trips consist of moveable camps which are very similar to the Alaska trips we have offered for years. You can go a slow or as fast as the group desires setting a different camp each day. This maximizes the time on new water. The beauty of the helicopter is that it can pick us up on any gravel bar or clearing, if we go slow no problem it just lands on our gravel bar! In Alaska we have to make a predetermined pickup point where we know a float plane can land. There are hundreds of rivers still unexplored in Kamchatka. Not all of them fish the same. Lots of Char ( or Dollie Varden ) in one with few rainbows and more rainbows than Char in another. Some rivers have tons of medium large fish while others have fewer ( by Kamchatka standards) but larger fish.
Depending on the outfitter you will either fly by plane to a base camp near you river then boarding a helicopter, or you may board the helicopter directly in Petropavlovsk. The flight can be anywhere from 45- 90- minutes . We may stop to load up the rafts and other camping gear and travel another 30-60 minutes to reach the river. Bad weather is always a possibility in this area which can ground the flights. A quick unloading of the helicopter and we can get organized, set up a rod, and get that first Russian rainbow under your belt. It may very well be the biggest bow of your life! You will have a combination of an American host with Russian guides and cooks to create a wonderful cross cultural trip. The food is American with the best of Russian cuisine always present. The camps is comfortable with large tents and a separate dining tent. It is a bit more work than the tent camp but there are rewards. You will camp at a different hole each night which gives you unlimited access to fresh stretches of the river. You will be fishing a stretch of river that has only been fished a few times ever. Only a few float trips go off each year so you will be fishing over water that only a handful of fly fishers ever have seen. The rainbows are large, hungry and unaware that their could be a problem eating that big fluffy caddis on the end of your line. Just give it a twitch to make it skate and hold on as a 24" trout acts like a juvenile, attacking with abandon!
Breakfast and dinner are served in camp while lunch is served on the river if we can tear you away from the fishing. We will average 5-10 miles a day as we make our way down stream. As we near the end of the float the helicopter will be the first noise we have heard in a week. No float planes passing by, no jet boats, no phone, no radio, you are out in a remarkable wilderness few westerners have ever seen.
So whether you choose a lodge, a fly outs, or our nomadic float trips you will be assured that we will have good people, new American equipment, and more pounds of rainbow trout than you can imagine. Please come!!!
Did I mention that these bows are up to 32", 15 pounds and they take dry flies!!! Yes, this is fly fishing heaven all right.
RUSSIA
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