Every once in a while we have to wander and explore new, never-before fly fished rivers in Kamchatka. It does not happen every year, but when it does it is worth jumping at the opportunity. There are very few places left in the world where one can discover completely virgin waters; Kamchatka is one of them!
We are excited to introduce two new, smaller rivers in the vicinity of the Savan into our Kamchatka portfolio of streams. We conducted our initial exploratory ventures to these rivers in 2018 and 2019, with one expedition on each stream each year. Our Russian partners in the area had previously heard of some friends floating these rivers years ago, and the stories sounded incredibly akin to what we frequently experience in other rivers in Kamchatka. As far as we can tell, only our few small groups, less than 8 people on each stream, have actually fished either of these rivers since 2012!
The rivers are the Khetick, and the Uzhich. They join to form the lower Uzhich, which eventually flows into the larger Opala River (same river the Savan flows into) before meeting the Sea of Okhotsk.
Their proximity to the sea also has shown us a few sea-run “super kundzha”, similar to fish we see routinely in the Zhupanova River. We’re hoping to learn more about these runs of migratory fish as we continue to learn more about this river system.
What we found on our two initial exploratory trips were a pair of dynamic, interesting rivers that are home to some very large rainbows. Several rainbows over 30 inches were hooked, and more in the 22 to 28 inch range. We didn’t see the high populations of trout that we see in some of our northern rivers, though the intrepid anglers who explored these rivers indicated there was enough action to keep them busy each day, especially with the above-respectable average size of the fish.
Our Savan outfitter have made arrangements to utilize a small, very comfortable hunting lodge recently built along the banks of the lower Khetik. From this deluxe outpost, a single group of 4 exploratory-minded adventurous anglers will be guided by experienced Russian crew, utilizing inflatable jetboats, to discover as much as they possibly can about these two river systems. The “lodge” is perfectly situated to run upriver to the upper Khetick, downriver to the confluence and the lower Khetik, and upriver to the Uzhich as well. There is way more water than we can explore in a week’s fishing!
You can be one of only four anglers to explore and fish these rivers. These fish will be hyper aggressive having never seen a fly before, ready to attack large streamers, mouse patterns, and even traditional dry flies!
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