Fishing Seasons

The Zhupanova flyfishing experience is about “quality” of fish, not “quantity.”

Anglers should not expect obscene numbers of trout each day. For that, you’ll want to look at the Sedanka River, or Alaska. Rather, the Zhupanova is a challenging, trophy rainbow trout fishery. An angler with beginner to intermediate experience will fish for 3 to 6 hook-ups per day on trout that average 4 to 8 pounds, and are occasionally double that size. Advanced anglers skilled in reading water, wading, and casting, and who have a modest level of self-sufficiency with tying knots and fly selection, will encounter considerably more action. Almost all anglers land the largest trout of their lives during a week on the Zhupanova, and many find it to be the finest trout stream in the world.

There are two flyfishing methods commonly used on the Zhupanova River:

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 do, they throw small V-wakes off their back-end which the trout key to. Anglers replicate this action by plopping their flies against the opposite bank and skittering them out 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 considerable damage, the fish tend to take the fly with a ferocious, bone-crushing chomp. All this, of course, takes place 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.

Streamer
Salmon smolt and other juvenile fish make up a significant portion of Kamchatka trout and chars’ diets. Woolly buggers, string leeches, baitfish and sculpin patterns, 3-6 inches long, all work very well on the Zhupanova 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. When probing for a strike, it’s cast to likely structure in the river (tree roots, riffle-pools, rocks, undercut banks, etc.) that offer rest areas adjacent to heavier currents where fish can surprise-attack their food.

Unlike in other parts of the world, the number and size of rainbows you’re likely to hook on a given day in Kamchatka is not seasonally dependant. Instead, in picking a specific week to visit the Zhupanova your considerations should be based on preferences for weather, for the different methods used during July, August and September, and whether or not you are interested in a variety of species or only rainbow trout.

July is the warmest month of the year in Kamchatka and typically has the most reliable weather, with daytime temperatures between 60 and 80 degrees. Rain and 50 degree days, however, can happen any time of the year. Mouse and streamer fishing is consistent in the Zhupanova drainage from the beginning to the end of the summer. The Zhupanova gives up limited traditional dry fly fishing in July when mayfly and caddis hatches are at their heaviest. In fact, there is probably no river in the world where a larger river-resident, native rainbow can be caught on a caddis pattern! There are no salmon in the river at this time, but sea-run Dolly Varden do show up toward the end of the month. Though the Zhupanova is the least mosquito-intense river in Kamchatka, there are plenty of them around in July. If you have a low mosquito tolerance level, consider a trip later in the season.

August is the middle of the season. Chum and sockeye salmon enter the river and the cycle of life is laid out in full magnificence. Rainbows are targeted with mouse and streamer flies; and the last three weeks of the month are the peak time to intercept the famous “Super Kundzha,” a sea-run char species found only in the Zhupanova River. They are big, powerful sportfish that take the fly well and put up a fight comparable to a king salmon or steelhead. By the middle of the month the mosquitos, black flies and no-see-ums are completely gone and the weather transitions toward fall.

September is fall in Kamchatka. It can be chilly, in the 50-degree range. Sunny weather (which is quite common) makes for beautiful fishing days, but brings with it 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 taken with surface skaters and with “big nasty” leech and baitfish patterns. The latter, fished on a sink-tip line, become more important as water temperatures drop.