Welcome to Sporting News

Since I was at Los Roques these past days, I inform you as follows:

Good numbers and size of bonefish. Had a group of 8 and 6 of them told
me it is the best place on earth for saltwater.

They also had a very good number of tarpon. Almost every day they had
tarpon. Baby tarpon and big ones too.

We saw permit everyday and anglers had a media of 3 to 4 shots to them.
Only one angler caught one about 25 pounds. He was using an avalon fly.

One day, your clients Niles told me they had 6 different species in a
day, tuna, barracuda, blue runners, tarpon, bonito and of course, bonefish, as
I recall.

Swenson seems to bring dinner everyday to the lodge. The other day, he
brought a 15 to 20 pounds snook.

In some areas, we have seen large bonefish (5 to 8 pounds) and in
others, smaller ones (3 to 4 pounds) but seems that larger ones are more
common as the anglers told me each night.

Regards,

Ramon

For further information on Sight Cast, Venezuela, please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 5 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk

Our last group of the season to Desroches was the Vacek family who returned with these great images and catches that they shared with us. Always nice to see the young-guns getting involved, upstaging the parents in the process...

Congrats on some great catches from all at Frontiers.

News just in from Laguna Verde' lodge manager.

"Yesterday, while doing a video shoot, our head guide, Juan Pablo Marcheletti, caught this great fish that measured 38 inches, and weighted 24 pounds!

It´s all on video, soon when we have it edited and we will send through the link.

The amazing thing is that for the video shoot they were fishing new waters that we just have opened up a trail to go with our atv´s. I guess this new area will become popular for our clients pretty fast!!!"

The last time a film was made about fishing on the Ponoi was 1992! The camp, the fishing, the facilities, the conservation and technology have all evolved and matured since then but the fishing is the same or better and the comparative calibre of the camp and staff remains the best on the Kola Peninsula. It was then and it is now.

The Incomparable Ponoi is a 20-minute brief look into the world of the renown Ryabaga Camp and its incomparable fishing. It is the result of numerous hours of filming by Gin Clear film maker, Nick Reygaert, and PRC CEO, Steve Estela, and his team. Filmed mostly on a Red One Mysterium Sensor camera it shows some remarkable footage of life on the Ponoi and the wonderful fishing that draws people from all over the world. It is a 'must see' so click here, sit back and enjoy 20 minutes of salmon fishing pleasure!

Latest camp updates and useful clips will be included in a version available in DVD to be released this coming Autumn. Sign up to receive yours. We hope you will enjoy this presentation and it will either bring back happy memories or inspire you to come and join us at Ryabaga soon.

You can see the video here on the Frontiers website, or here on the Ponoi River website.

For further information please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 5 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk or Steffan Jones on 0845 299 6212 Ext 3 or at sj@frontierstrvl.co.uk.

We often get asked what our preferred way of carting our fishing tackle along with all of our necessaries across the World is. Many choose to have a layered bag, with a zipped compartment at the bottom for waders etc. Others choose to carry cumbersome rod tubes and then a normal suitcase.

The most practical way I have certainly come across is a large duffle bag, large enough to fit a rod tube carrying either 3 piece 10ft rods or 4 piece 13ft rods in. After a lot of trying and testing, this has become my preferred option and is one that I would gladly recommend:

http://www.simmsfishing.com/site/dry_creek_duffel_138l.html#

Available here from Tweedside Tackle (make sure you opt for the large version):

http://www.tweedsidetackle.co.uk/productdetail.php?productId=506

Nick Armstead at Gamefish Ltd in Edinburgh stock them:

www.gamefishltd.co.uk

I have also seen them at Farlows recently, so they would be worth a call.

It carries very little weight before filling, is long enough to house the aforementioned rod lengths, and is soft-sided, as called for at many destinations. Fits the bill perfectly. Only addition that would be welcomed would be some wheels, but that would add weight, which may outweigh the benefits. Another useful feature would be to have a lockable design, which this doesn't. But you could always fit a lockable strap around it.

The roll-top design also allows you to carry huge amounts of equipment, if needed, or very little as it is easily compressed.

I have thrown this bag around on several trips now and it has done me proud, being of the quality expected with Simms.

A good purchase and highly recommended if you’re in the market for a new travel bag and are deliberating over your options.

Steff.

The entire population of one of the most isolated islands in the British Isles has backed demands for the waters that surround them to be protected to boost fish stocks.

Islanders from Fair Isle, between the Shetlands and Orkney, have applied to the Scottish Government for the waters around the island to be designated demonstration marine protected area.

The creation of the demonstration marine protected area (MPA) would allow research to take place that would allow restrictions on fishing to be introduced to measure how effective they are at protecting wildlife and in increasing the number of fish and other creatures in the region.

The islanders gave the proposal 100 per cent backing and have now sent a petition to the Scottish Parliament calling for an MPA to be created because of the international importance of the seabirds and surrounding marine environment.

It is hoped the Scottish Government will agree to the demonstration MPA, including a no take zone of up to 10km2, being extended five km out to sea. Such a zone is expected to boost commercial stocks of fish and to help the critically endangered common skate recover.

The proposal has been made with financial support from the Blue Marine Foundation, sister organisation to Fish2fork, which was impressed at the determination of the islanders to be able to care for and protect the waters round their shores from overfishing.

Fair Isle residents wanted a full-blown MPA but were told by the Scottish Government that they didn’t qualify. But a demonstration MPA, which lasts for a set number of years before being lifted, would give marine life breathing space to recover.

“There is enthusiastic 100% support from the island community, all of whom derive direct or indirect benefit from a healthy, fully functioning marine environment,” the application stated.

Nick Riddiford, who is coordinating the application, said the sea is an important resource for the 70 people living on Fair Isle and fears that conditions will deteriorate if not protected.

“If it’s done properly there’s all sorts of benefits not just to us but to other small communities in Scotland. And it would offer Scotland the opportunity of demonstrating it is sustainable and looking after its marine resource.

“We are just trying to do our bit to make sure we are going to leave to the next generation what we had.”

Waters around Fair Isle have been heavily fished in the past and little commercial fishing has taken place since the collapse of the sandeel fishery which at its height in the mid-1980s saw landings of 1,000 tonnes a week. Other wildlife which has suffered include lobsters and crabs while bottom dredging is blamed for destroying a range of species such as sea fans.

However, the area remains an important nursery ground for commercial species including whiting, haddock, flounder, saithe and pollock. Juvenile cod can also be found in large numbers.

The loss of the sandeels has hit birdlife on the island and as long ago as 1989 the islanders were raising concerns that fishing levels were affecting animals such as puffins. Bird spotting is one of the primary reasons for people travelling to Fair Isle, which relies heavily on visitors for its economy.

One of the main aims of the proposed MPA is improve the availability of food to sea birds by banning fishing techniques that take sandeels and other small fish.

The islanders hope that technical measures such as limits on the size of vessels operating around Fair Isle and new rules on the types of gear used will eliminate catches of juvenile fish and bycatch of non-commercial species.

They are also anxious to restore lobster numbers to levels in the 1950s when one lobster would be caught for every two creels set. The no-take zone and limits on the number of creels allowed to be set are among the measures that are designed within five years to restore numbers to one lobster caught for every four creels set.

Common skate were caught historically by fishermen trying to catch haddock but none have been taken in the last 40 years – nor are there any commercial catches of haddock left.

In the mid-nineteenth century common skate were landed by the boatload around the UK but crashed with the advent of steam-trawling in the 1880s. They are now classified by the IUCN as critically endangered and Professor Callum Roberts, of the University of York, estimates they are “at least 1000 times less common today than they were in the mid-19th century”.

However, the MPA is expected to help the species to recover in number and the proposal document notes that there are indications, such as fresh egg cases washing up on the shore, that the common skate may be staging a comeback off Fair Isle.

RUSSIA - PONOI - WATCH THE TRAILER OF THE UPCOMING NEW PONOI VIDEO WITH OUSTANDING FOOTAGE OF FISH TAKING SKATED FLIES...

During the 2011 season, a wonderful film has been made about the Ryabaga Camp on the Ponoi. It has some amazing footage of salmon flying out of the water to take skated bombers and dry flies as well as showing the wonderful river and camp set up.

To see the trailer please click here to view.

We still have space during some of the weeks that are featured in this trailer.

2nd to 9th June - this week is perhaps the most reliable Atlantic salmon week's fishing in the world with an 18-year average of 41 fish per rod.

23rd to 30th June - this week is a wonderful week for skated fly fishing with an 18-year average of 34 fish per rod.

Please contact Tarquin Millington-Drake on 0845 299 6212 Ext 5 or at tmd@frontierstrvl.co.uk or Steffan Jones on 0845 299 6212 Ext 3 or at sj@frontierstrvl.co.uk.

The number of British restaurants choosing to serve sustainable seafood and dropping fish from overfished stocks has increased dramatically over the last two years, according to a Fish2fork survey.

More than 45 per cent of restaurants improved their rating in the first re-review of British restaurants by Fish2fork, the campaigning fish restaurant guide, since it was launched in 2009.

Among them are some of the biggest names in cuisine, including Scotts in London’s Mayfair and Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons in Oxfordshire, but also locally recognised restaurants, such as the Porthminster Beach Café in St Ives.

The survey results are believed to be the first firm evidence of changing attitudes and priorities in the restaurant sector, following the creation of Fish2fork as a campaigning online restaurant guide in the wake of the release of the award-winning documentary film, The End of the Line, which highlighted the way the seas were being emptied.

Research shows 82 per of the world’s fisheries are, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, fully exploited, overexploited, in decline or in recovery from overfishing.

Fish2fork’s aim was to drive change by judging restaurants on where their fish came from and their approach to sustainable sourcing.

Of the 443 restaurants Fish2fork has re-reviewed since the 2009 launch, more than two improved their rating for every one that slipped backwards. In all, 202 restaurants (45 per cent) improved their rating, 89 (20 per cent) got worse and 152 (34 per cent) remained the same.

Caprice Holdings, which owns and runs several leading restaurants including The Ivy, J Sheekey and Scotts, is one of the organizations that now place sustainability at the top of their agenda.

Their seven top London restaurants now all score 4.5 blue fish, the highest score Fish2fork has yet awarded. To do so they had to improve the level of information available to customers and to take hard-pressed species, including the endangered eel and blonde ray, off their menus.

Tim Hughes, the chef director at Caprice Holdings, said public attitudes to fish were changing. Little more than a decade ago he experimented with species such as pollock and gurnard but found little appetite for them, whereas now there was a demand for them and for other replacements for over-fished species such as cod.

“We are very conscious about overfishing and discards. It’s our duty to try as hard as possible to know where we get our fish from and to get it from sustainable sources,” he said.

Restaurants with Michelin stars have done better than average in improving their marine sustainability ratings, arguably a reflection of their understanding of the better-resourced restaurateur’s ability to appoint staff to deal with sustainability as well as other compliance issues.

Of the 22 Michelin-starred restaurants that have been rated by Fish2fork, 16 improved their record, four got worse, one remained the same and one was new to the reviewing process.

Charles Clover, founder of the Fish2fork website and author of The End of The Line, said: “To get 45 per cent of restaurants we reviewed last time improving their scores in two years is a phenomenal figure. Even though a few have slipped back, they are outnumbered more than two to one by those who have grasped that sustainability is now important to consumers of seafood. At the moment the UK is showing the rest of Europe what can be done if restaurateurs create a demand for sustainably caught fish.”

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall said: “Fish2fork is doing a great job of injecting a sense of responsibility over fish sourcing into the vital restaurant sector which is of course a massive consumer of fish. It is independent and uncompromising and by putting us restaurateurs on the spot makes fish sustainability an issue we can’t ignore without the risk of losing business.”

Fish experts at the Marine Conservation Society, which compiles lists of seafood species that should be avoided by consumers because of overfishing and other problems, were delighted by the shift towards sustainability.

Richard Harrington, of the MCS, said: "The overall rise in sustainability ratings for the restaurants and chains is a genuine step forward.”

In 2009 only two restaurants – Am Birlinn and Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles – managed to get a rating as high as 4.5 blue fish but in 2011 the number has risen to 27. They include The Captain’s Galley in Scrabster, the Porthminster Beach Cafe in St Ives, Raymond Blanc’s two-Michelin starred Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons as well as the entire Caprice Holdings group.

A factor that has helped the drive to sustainability since Fish2fork launched in 2009 is the decision by chefs at the Relais & Chataux hotel and restaurant chain to issue a six-point pledge in which they recognised “devastating levels of excessive fishing” and promised to stop serving bluefin and other endangered seafood species, and to buy from sustainable stocks.

Fish2fork’s reviews are on a downloadable iPhone app, compiled jointly with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s FishFight, which has already been downloaded by nearly 100,000 people. A new update is now available.

June 20, 2010

First Summer Run Salmon Arrive!                       

It is the pleasure of a fisherman to arrange his calendar according to the changing seasons as they relate to angling.  In my native New England, changes in the season correlate with certain mayfly hatches, runs of spawning trout, or with those times when the flesh of cold-water fish is at it’s sweetest.  Here at Ryabaga, nothing quite denotes the onset of the finest summer fishing more than the arrival of the first summer-run fish.

Nearly a week ahead of schedule, anglers at Ryabaga have begun catching summer-run salmon.  Many of these salmon have arrived in Ponoi with sea lice still clinging to their flanks, and as sea lice perish quickly in a freshwater environment, we can only assume that these first-run fish are moving up from the White Sea with blistering speed.  As for the timing, it seems that the trend for the 2010 season is ‘early’; an early ice-out, followed by a rapid drop in the river to prime fishing level, and now, only week 4, the first summer-run salmon have arrived, eager to ascend the river as they position themselves for the autumn spawn. 

The changing season, and certainly the arrival of these summer fish, cannot, however, ensure the incidence of fine summer weather.  As far north as we are, conditions are mercurial at best, and it should come as no surprise to the travelling angler that mother nature can proffer the full spectrum of weather conditions, particularly on the remote reaches of the mighty Ponoi.  Sloppy conditions were indeed the case on Sunday, the first day of  third week of fishing in Ryabaga.  Wind, rain, and cold temperatures attempted to stifle the fervent efforts of our freshly-arrived anglers.  Though dreary weather loomed, the team managed nearly 100 salmon for the first day, not a bad tally for what proved the lowest number day of the week.   The rest of the week produced fantastic weather and fishing conditions, and the Ponoi held at a perfect rate of flow and level for the use of floating lines and medium-sized double flies.  Anglers keen to catch Atlantic salmon with hitched plastic tubes or dry flies found success this last week.  Salmon landed for the week totaled 753.  Nearly twenty fish over fifteen pounds were taken, and the Kolmac and Tomba beats, top and bottom beats, both fished beautifully.  Moreover, the ‘quality’ of the fish taken was superb.  These first summer-run fish, even the smaller of the lot, can really get the reels screaming, and many of the week’s sports were impressed by the sheer bravado of the fish taken.

Anglers from Scotland to New Zealand, Latvia to England, the USA to South Africa, combined to compose a pleasant group for our third week of the season, 2010.  Notable as well were the group of lady fishers that completed the group.  As Doreen Douglas put it, “Matt, what will you do when we ‘wags’ have gone?”  Well Doreen, I don’t know if I will make it to next year without you and your troupe contributing to a very pleasant air about camp.  It was my further pleasure to see that, with the World Cup raging in South Africa, anglers from our represented nations were able to find common ground both on the river and in camp…  incidentally, the US side is making a fine showing, is it not?

With week five upon us, the river could not be looking better, and I am encouraged to think that this season at Ryabaga might indeed be one to remember.  For those who shared last week with us, it was indeed a pleasure, and for those who have yet to arrive, grease your reels and get your fish-fighting muscles loose…  you are in for a treat!

Sincerely,

Matt Breuer

Current Conditions in Ryabaga: 

Date:                                                       Friday, May 14^th, 2010  

Time:                                                       1300 local time

Snow Pack (in RYA):                                  20cm and melting, all roads in camp clear and in service

Temperature:                                            12 celsius

Skies:                                                      Clear and Sunny

River Condition:                                        Open water, occasional ice flows.  From upstream of Kolmac tributary; Ponoi is still frozen.  Below Kolmac, already clear.             

The Ryabaga mechanic team departed on May 11 for camp.  Upon arrival Sergei Zhurin reported significantly less snow than last year, and broken ice flows gliding freely along the banks of the swollen Ponoi.  This bodes well for our first spring week, beginning on May 29. 

Murmansk has been enjoying sunny days with temperatures reaching the low to mid twenties, Celsius.  Unseasonably warm temperatures give cause for the local citizenry to turn up at day’s end in the streets, sipping from cold bottles of beer, driving around without a bit of glass between their vehicles and the balmy outside air.  This vision throughout Murmansk gives us the strong feeling that we will soon experience the insatiable sensation of Ponoi salmon at the end of our lines…  Just as the winter was fierce, spring has sprung a bit earlier than average. 

It is impossible to ignore the sun, blue skies, and warm temperatures any longer.

See you on May 29!!

Matt Breuer

Ryabaga Operations Manager