Fly Fishing Russia

This is an interesting fish caught in a creek, tributary to the Amur River: it is dwarf male of cherry salmon. Cherry salmon is ancestor of other 5 species of Pacific salmon.

I own 3 or 4, but I do not use them any more. For many years I am tying almost all of my flies with thin mono-line (0,1 mm sowing mono-thread).

Flathead asp and Amur pike caught 2 days ago in the Machtovaya River, Amur River drainage.

This is a popper I am using for catfish & snakehead. The body - soft foam on #2/0 hook.

I've watched a lot of UK/Eu videos of perch fishing and I think there are a few other differences.... I just saw a picture of the new state record Yellow Perch for Pennsylvania, it was just shy of 16" and weighed 2lb14. It looked like a huge fat belly with a perch top side... I know occasionally you guys can get perch to 5lb. My thought is in europe perch fill a habitat niche which here in North America is filled by smallmouth bass in similar types of waters. You have Zander, we have Walleye which are quite similar but not identical, even your pike have some "average" differences to look at compared to ours. All the same, all a little different. ============= I agree - really large perch is foung in the waters with low competition with similar species. This is the example of a perch stocked into a lake with the fauna of only salmonids and minnows - here it is top predator, weight up to 8 pounds. Location: Uega Lake up the Okhota River, 200 km from Okhotsk in the Russian Far East. 100 years ago the yellow persh was stocked into the Shilka River (source of the Amur River). Till now the species is totally absent in the lower reaches of the Amur - the river has diverse fish fauna with numerous predators which occupy all possible niches...

I wrap a hook with copper wire and glue in a slit in a foam body made of the beach slippers.

Some of the Daddy-Long-Legs flies I am using

Some of the Daddy-Long-Legs flies I am using

I am using "wobbler-flies" with a plastic lip for 20 years. I fish with them a lot, especially when the water is not clear. Very efficient flies. A small fly could attract a big predator. My record - 50+ pound fish with a #4 fly a little over 2" long (see the pic attached). More details on different types of the wobbler-flies see here: http://flyfishingrussia.com/posts/408dea70-wobbler-flies-1 http://flyfishingrussia.com/posts/d5788f6b-antiwobbler-1 http://flyfishingrussia.com/posts/5732108b-belly-up

Depends on the fish you are planning to catch. For grayling in the rivers under ice I use the same nymphs as in summer, but 1-2 sizes smaller. A nymph # 14-16 is a dropper tied with a short piece of 4 p test mono to a loop located 4"-5" above a heavy main jig of the rig.

I keep my self-made scissors put on the fingers of the right hand. I do not spend time on taking the tool from the desktop and putting it back after clipping. Other tools at the photo are also selfmade.

I was lucky to land a 3' long skygazer (so called "Korean tarpon" which is actually a predatory carp). Amur River, Russian Far East.

Try wobbler-flies: they consist on marabou tail, foam back, and plastic "blade". Very efficient for any predators.

I am using self-made tapered furled leaders out of 0.11 mm mono line. They have a loop on the heavy part, and a tippet ring on the thin tip.

On all my F lines I make a loop (thread + glue) to attach the leader. On the tips of the S & FS lines I put a tippet ring, and tie a tippet using Improved Clinch knot.

I am often using sinking line, first of all on the days when there is no action at the surface. When fish is not active (it happens in winter rather often) it is a good idea to fish a small Wooly Bugger deep, along the bottom.

I agree with Mr. salmobytes - with wobbler-flies we try to imitate not plugs but live fish. These "flies" work well, especially in situations when a regular streamer will fail (dirty water, laze fish, etc.).

I am using poppers to fish in weedy areas for catfish & snakehead. The weedguard is made out of 30 pound tippet material (steel cable in plastic cover).

Before I start tying I make dubbing brush out of all my dubbing. The brushes are conveniently stored in a box. This saves lots of time, espeacially if one has to tie lots of flies. The brush is made with 0.06 mm wire, so the lfies come out much stronger.

Mongolian taimen lives in shallow, clear streams and is very much surface oriented. In Siberia I catch it mostly with streamers and sometimes with wobbler-flies. All my taimen streamers are tied as String Leeches - with a weighted head & a trailing hook. The hook is normally from2/0 to 4/0 Octopus. The mouse imitations work only in some waters and not every day.

One of the ways to catch big fish with small flies (and light rods) is to use "flies with action" = wobbler flies. They ofter attract predators as well as twice biger regular streamers.

Big luck: 55-inch "trout" landed with 6-7 wt & #6 fly (yellow wobbler-fly).

The most beautiful place I've fished is the Yudoma River (Far Eastern Russia)

Sometimes a smaller fly on a 20-25" tipper tied to the hook bend if the 1st fly does the trick.

I have seen a little mammal swimming across a river several times, and twice it was grabbed and eaten by a fish. I had also dissected a 5-pound lenok (Siberian trout) with 10 voles and shrews in the stomack. Some fish (taimen, lenok) stun their prey on the surface with a tail, then turn around and grab it. I have seen this many times. The biggest fish I have landed after a "tail-strike" was 52-pound Siberian taimen. The time gap between the 1st boil (I had seen the red tail) and the pull on the line was about 4 seconds. The fly was a 5" long deerhair mouse. Probably some big brownies also use their tail first?