Fishing Seasons

July is the warmest month of the year in Kamchatka with day time temperatures usually between 60 and 80 degrees. As such, this is the peak of the Sedanka’s wonderful dry fly fishing. While mouse and streamer fishing stays consistent from the very beginning to the very end of the summer, the mayfly and caddis hatches are heaviest in July. It’s a sight to behold to float silently around a bend and be confronted with 50 trout noses puncturing the smooth surface of the river in elegant head-dorsal-tail rises. There are no salmon in the river at this time of year, so trout feed exclusively on bugs, mice and salmon smolt. Present as always are also kundzha (white spotted) char. Being the warmest month, July is also mosquito season. Most people find the trade-off worth it for the surface fishing opportunities, but if you have a low mosquito tolerance level, consider a trip later in the season.

August is the middle of the season. The salmon enter the river and the full cycle of life in the spring creek is laid out before you in full magnificence. Rainbows are targeted with mouse and streamer flies, and dry fly fishing comes on usually in the evenings in the middle miles of the river. Though the salmon are not in sporting shape by the time they arrive to this headwaters region, the dolly varden char definitely are, and they add even more action to the day.

September is fall in Kamchatka. It can be chilly, in the 50-degree range. And with sunny weather can come frosty nights. It is also the most photogenic time of year to be amid the sub-arctic taiga and tundra foliage as it turns to blazing yellows, reds and oranges with a backdrop of snow-capped volcanoes. Trout are easily taken with surface skaters like mouse and floating baitfish patterns. Salmon are in full spawn in late August and September. Literally millions of fish bring the river completely alive. It is an overpowering, sensory experience to see an ecosystem so healthy and pristine. Important to note also is that trout in Kamchatka do not get “tunnel vision” for salmon eggs as they do in Alaska, so no need for egg patterns, beads, split shot and strike indicators. Mice, streamers, dry flies and a floating line is usually all you need.

There are 3 fishing methods used throughout the Sedanka River drainage:

Mouse – Real mice slip and fall into the river from overhanging limbs and grass and then swim like a cork at a down-and-across angle. As they swim, they throw small V-wake contrails off their back end which the trout key to. Anglers replicate this action by plopping their flies against the opposite bank and skittering them across the river, on tension and under control. What follows has got to be the most exciting thing in freshwater flyfishing. Since a live mouse in the stomach of a rainbow trout can do some damage, they tend to take the fly with a ferocious, bone-crushing chomp with the intention of killing the mouse before they swallow it. This behavior is obviously on the surface, totally visible to the angler. The skill comes in controlling your nerves to NOT set the hook when the fish merely swirls behind it - sometime 2, 3, 4 or more times - before actually committing.

Dry Fly – Traditional floating line and size #10-18 gray bodied caddis and mayfly imitations are used with staggering success on the Sedanka, especially in July, less so in August, and again quite successfully in September. The fish tend not to be picky on the specific pattern. However, with so much food floating past their feeding lies, it is sometimes critical to deliver a reasonably accurate and truly dead drifted presentation. If the fly floats within an inch or so of the trout’s nose the chances of it rising are very good.

Streamer – Salmon smolt and other juvenile fish make up a significant portion of Kamchatka trout and chars’ diets. Clousers, woolly buggers, string leeches, baitfish and sculpin patterns all work very well on the Sedanka throughout the season. Small fish elicit a chase response from their predators, so often it is best to give the fly a little movement as it swings through the water column. And like with the mouse, it’s best to learn to identify likely structure in the river (tree roots, riffle-pools, rocks, undercut banks, etc.) that offer rest areas for the fish adjacent to heavier currents where they can surprise-attack their food.