Kamchatka Steelhead Project

The Kamchatka Steelhead Project from ryan peterson on Vimeo.

What to expect from a Kamchatka Steelhead

Running, jumping, screaming, silver, sea-liced,big, Kamchatka, and steelhead—among the most exciting combination of words in the world of flyfishing today. A protected species under Russian law, the Kamchatka Steelhead Project is a joint project operated under the aegis of Moscow State University, the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Federal Government, The Fly Shop, and The Conservation Angler. The aim is to monitor and protect runs of big-bodied steelhead within their micro-range of a few key rivers.

This trip is a bonafide non-profit program, and as such fully tax-deductible in which sponsoring anglers help science by catching steelhead. Tough work, but someone has to do it. These 11-day expeditions split time between base camps on the Kvachina/Snatolvayam and Utholok Rivers.

Rates: September through mid October.
12 nights, 11 days fishing package $10,500

Download the latest in Kamchatka news 2011 PDF:

• 2011 Kamchatka News

Only since the disintegration of the Soviet Union have we begun to understand that what lies behind its jagged North Pacific coastline - the most abundant and biologically diverse population of wild rainbow trout, salmon, and char that has ever existed on Earth.

During Russia's Tsarist period, Kamchatka existed in the minds of Europeans as nothing more than a blank spot on the map and rumors of a land abounding with natural resources. In 1724, curiosity, a sense of adventure and the booming European fur trade persuaded Peter the Great to commission an eastward exploratory expedition. The leader of that expedition, Vitus Bering and his crew were to become the Lewis and Clarks of the eastern hemisphere. The results of their expedition are famous, having led to the founding of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatksy and ultimately the discovery of Alaska by Europeans.

Centuries went by and not much changed on the peninsula. Then in 1991 the cold hard borders of the Soviet Union melted away. At that moment, serious flyfishers everywhere spun their heads in unison toward a distant peninsula on the North Pacific shore. Kamchatka had been a closed military zone for the previous century (it’s where the Soviets kept their nuclear subs), making it a de facto 160,000 square-mile wilderness preserve with no roads or development of any kind, and very few people. Looking westward, across the shallow Bering Sea from Alaska, anglers had long wondered if Kamchatka, at the same latitude and with the same climate, might harbor similar populations of trout and salmon. Sure enough, the early rumors filtering in from the first intrepid explorers hinted of rivers and volcanoes of intense grandeur; landscapes rife with fish and wildlife. Those in the know started making plans.

Kamchatka today, while mapped, remains basically the same; wild, spectacular, inviting. But words simply don't do Kamchatka justice - it has to be experienced first-hand to be fully comprehended.

The Fly Shop® has been going to Kamchatka since the mid 1990's, and today we spend a good chunk of our lives seeking out the best fly fishing opportunities it has to offer. Rivers like the Zhupanova, Sedanka, Tigil, Pirozhnikova, Turuscheva, Ozernaya, Kalgauch, Kvachina, and Utohlok have become famous over the last decade and were pioneered under the auspices of The Fly Shop®.

Whether your passion is for softly presenting traditional dry flies to free rising rainbows, swinging big streamers for bone-jarring grabs from trophy-sized trout and kundzha, or you're addicted to the intense rushing surface take of a fish on a mouse pattern, The Fly Shop® invites you for a week (or two or three!) of fly fishing that will overload your senses, hit you with adrenaline, and leave you with unforgettable cultural experiences.

Our camps are in equal part fittingly rustic and ultra high-tech. Our Russian outfitting partners are masters in their field and are respected as such among their peers. Our North American camp directors are consummate professionals who've gravitated toward Kamchatka out of the same sense of adventure and pursuit of high quality angling that has led you to think about going there now. And our staff at The Fly Shop® will pull out all the stops to advise, coordinate, and insure that you experience the same Kamchatka that keeps us and our guests going back year after year after year...

We’re completely smitten by Kamchatka.

The time is now to make a pilgrimage to Kamchatka, the new epicenter of wilderness fly fishing. Give us a call, we'd love for you to feel it.

Download the Kamchatka Travel and Outfitting PDF:

• 2010 Kamchatka Travel and Outfitting Guide
• 2010 Kamchatka Steelhead Project Outfitting Guide