Here is to Russia where I lived 4 eventful years, and to the knowledge, the friendship and the memories of troubles as many as those of occasional successes, Cheers!

- End

Again, no sign of Taimen in the downstream section. They apparently were either inactive having eaten salmon eggs or moved up river where salmon go spawning.

Anyway we spent the last day under the big blue sky.

- Film on YouTube

Captain Okamoto kept his head cool - not being able to speak Russian was his big advantage in this situation.
He kept casting with respectable tenacity and accuracy, which was eventually rewarded. Congratulations!!

Natasha fed us soundly, with generous portion of tasty meals. Wanya was the helping hand - in fact, worked hard running the lodge, most importantly the wood stove and sauna bath.

If only Ivan the guide was half as professional.

The morning chill of Day5, our last day, was severe.

Though nothing, compared with the severity of the true Siberian winter with temperature dropping down to -45c.

Ivan drove the boat up river for a change - not down river where we had spent 2 fishless days.
To our delight, the river here in the upper section was much narrower and the current slower - much more suitable for flyfishing.

And sure enough, there was thick presence of fish - darting and flashing visible even in the poorly lit water. Why, Ivan, did you not bring us up here earlier (I had explained multiple times what type of venues suitable for flyfishing were).

And then, fish on!

We finally found a worthy venue, let's go for more!! There Ivan our guide disagreed, insisting it was time for lunch. What lunch!?

He insisted we must head back to the lodge for lunch break, saying we would soon come back after lunch. We couldn't believe it and we shouldn't have - as he drove the boat downstream after rather painfully long lunch break (he needed a nap).

I asked him why we were going down instead of back up. He snapped, saying he did not have a license to fish the upper section and would be fined if he would. Yeah? Why didn't you tell us earlier!?

I cautiously played the fish, my very first fish of the trip, which felt a lot heavier than it really was. At the boatside I realized it was a Chum - a foul hooked Chum salmon not Taimen I was after. Anyway, a good warm up exercise.

No need of disappointment because the stream was rich in signs of life - apparently lured by the eggs of Chum salmon, all other fish were attracted to this particular stretch of the river. Now I see why!

Change of weather on Day 3. Winds picked up from the wee small hours followed by cold rain. How would that affect fishing?

But fishing had been bad enough, couldn't go much worse anyhow. We stuffed our stomachs with the high calorie Russian doughnuts, to brave the chilly day out.

Ivan in this sense was a typical old Soviet timer - utterly inconsistent and irresponsible. Sure, he had stopped casting his lures over our flylines - after I told him to stop on Day1. But he became a horrendous chain smoker busy playing games on his phone ever since. Unprofessional in every sense of the word.

At times he gave up guiding, beaching the boat, suggesting us to go walk about as we please. In fact, it was a relief to take a moment's break from him - even if we may have been under the surveillance of the more watchful eyes.

Thanks to the much slower speed of the drift, we could cover sweet spots by the banks much better. And at the end of the swing, a solid strike came to my line hand.

Only a juvenile, but a taimen is a taimen. All the effort I had spent - researching and planning, months of preparation not just days of actual fishing, were rewarded.