Atlantic salmon are finicky creatures. Some battles won, many others lost. Each one of those has become a memory to cherish.

Again, Anatoly played the role of a perfect host. His cozy lodge, great cooking and friendly hospitality made every single day we spent - fish biting or not - very enjoyable.

I too managed one last fish, to round up my series of salmon pilgrimage to the Russian north.

Not big but a beautiful catch under the blue sky.

Hama, who had been left with poor luck since landing his big one on Day3, was finally rewarded with a solid hook up.

We traveled 490 km back to Murmansk, where our Moscow bound flight was awaiting for us under the big blue sky.

До свидания, Good Bye, to the Kola peninsula, salmon anglers' cursed playground.

- Movie (narration in Japanese)

- End

Time to bid a farewell to the landmark of Varzuga.

Here is the statistics of salmon catch at the renowned high-end lodge 'Roxtons'. After several years' poor catch trend, 2019 turned out as a year that returned to the 'average' of the blue ribbon fishery.

The world that was looking still winterly 5 days ago, now looks much greener and summer like.

5th day fishing. We took our positions in our usual beat upstream of Varzuga.

No big ones, but I caught two feisty fish 60 and 64cm, to blow away the previous day's depression.

Day 6, our last day.
A warm morning with the sun shining generously.

Perhaps because of the changing weather, the glow of the evening was exceptional. To be precise, this is no evening but midnight already though.

Mysterious change of colors in absolute silence, a lovely moment worth staying up late.

Water level looked ideal. We heard the group who had fished here the day before caught almost 20!

We started the day, and fished on with a great enthusiasm. But we managed only one contact each, nothing more. So inconsistent is salmon fishing.

Back in Varzuga, we called for a boat to cross the river back to the lodge on the opposite bank.

The forlorn village of Kusomeni. A truck that has not moved for three years, has already become a familiar object of the square.

Day 4

A short break away from Varzuga, we went fishing in Kitsa, a smaller river about 30 km to the east.

Kitsa seen from the air. The beat is located very close to the river mouth, in fact, within the tidal zone of the White Sea.

Anatoly made a bowl of seaweed salad - of the kelp we picked up on the beach. Though not as often as we Japanese, Russians also eat seaweeds.

When the tide is low, the sandy beach works as a (much smoother) freeway.