Top ten Atlantic salmon rivers
Where dreams
come true
The tiny Kverka
River in northeastern Iceland is
a little-known but
spectacular gem.
26 December 2014 www.trout-and-salmon.co.uk
After much head-scratching, Matt Harris comes up
with a list of his favourite salmon waters worldwide
P h o t o g r a p h y: m a t t h a r r i s
www.trout-and-salmon.co.uk
December 2014 27
Top ten Atlantic salmon rivers
Matt Harris is a
professional
photographer
whose flyfishing images
from all over the
world have won
numerous
awards.
W
HEN THE EDITOR asked
me to put together a list of
my favourite ten Atlantic
salmon rivers, I knew the
task would be almost
impossible. There are so
many fabulous rivers out there, across two continents
and in a dozen countries, and even though I have
been lucky enough to fish a fair number, I will only
Matt Harris with
a beauty from
Tormanen on
the Upper Alta.
ever experience a tiny sample of them, so this is
very much a list of personal favourites, rather than an
attempt at an objective “league table”.
There are some glaring omissions – rivers such as
Russia’s Kharlovka and Eastern Litza, and Canada’s
Petite Cascapedia are just three that I would give my
eye-teeth to return to – but I’ve done my best to
squeeze in the most memorable and suggest why you
might want to fish there, too…
Norway
Norway is blessed with a multitude of salmon streams – from tiny, little-known
gems to some of the most famous and most spectacular rivers on earth. The
rivers have become synonymous with trophy salmon, and if you know where to
go, this beautiful country still offers the best chance of catching a real monster.
[ Alta ]
11.40 pm on the
Sautso beat at the
top of the Alta’s
remarkable
canyon.
28 December 2014 www.trout-and-salmon.co.uk
There are a million salmon rivers
out there, each with its own unique
strain of fish and its own singular
character. But there is only ONE Alta.
No other river can boast Atlantic
salmon that attain such a remarkably
high average size, and fish of 50 lb
and above are caught every year
from the river’s hallowed pools.
Although not as prolific as it once
was, due in no small part to the
wretched hydro-electro dam that
was somehow sanctioned in the
1980s, the upper river at Sautso is the
quintessential Alta experience.
Travelling up the river to Sautso’s
intimate little lodge in one of the
Alta’s traditional wooden canoes,
gazing up at the astonishing walls of
the vast canyon that flank the river as
you go, it is hard not to be seduced
by the unique history and
enchantment of this magical place.
The Alta’s canyon is one of the
deepest in Europe, and to fish the
pools that flow through it in the white
nights of the Arctic summer is a rare
and special privilege. As you watch
your huge hitched Sunray waking
tantalisingly across the lip of Vahiniva
or Gabonakken, and wait for one of
the river’s absurd behemoths to
come bursting up through the mirrorbright waters, you will know you are
in one of the fly-fishing world’s
most special places.
If you ever get the chance to fish
this magnificent river, grab it
with both hands.
Flies
Big – and I mean big – Sunray
Shadows are king here, often with a
hitch. The Jorra Gold and the classic
Mickey Finn are also big favourites,
and my great friend and Alta veteran
Antti swears by the Mediator.
Antti has caught fish to 58 lb,
so it’s hard to argue with him.
Con tact
The Alta is extremely difficult
to get on to, but there is a
lottery system that allows
a few lucky anglers to get
a few days fishing on this
peerless salmon river.
Apply at: www.altalaks.no
www.trout-and-salmon.co.uk
December 2014 29
Top ten Atlantic salmon rivers
[ Gaula ]
The Gaula – the “golden river” – is
one of Europe’s most prolific salmon
rivers. Its salmon are a handsome and
powerful strain that have somehow
adapted to run the river’s notorious
Gaulfossen rapids – half a mile of
formidable churning white water that
separates the upper and lower river.
The Gaula is the classic Norwegian
salmon river – big, brawling rapids
give way to beautiful glassy pools,
and when the sun is shining, the river
sparkles with the golden hues that
gave it its name. The Norwegian
Fishing Club offers good holding
water either side of the Gaulfossen,
so that if the river is too high or cold
to allow the fish to pass, rods can still
fish productive water below the Foss.
The river is big and rewards proficient
speycasters. Gaula fish are hard-won
and often very big. My mate Charles
Barrett had a 33-pounder from the
NFC waters two years ago and
40-pounders are caught most years.
Flies
Hakan Norling’s Templedog was born
on the Gaula and it is devastatingly
effective in various colours. Many
stick with Black-and-Green, but my
favourite is the Banana Fly, Mikel
Anderson’s dirty-yellow version that
blends perfectly with the golds of the
river to come out of nowhere and
surprise the salmon into a mistake.
Con tact
Per Arneberg and Enrico Cristiani
recently took over the NFC and have
made sweeping changes, including a
beautiful upgraded main lodge and
the acquisition of some excellent new
pools. Per and Enrico understand the
needs of keen salmon-fishers and
offer an excellent rotation system,
giving anglers access to a different
beat every six hours. This allows the
rods to fish any time of day or night.
You can stay in the lodge or in one of
the private farms up and down the
river and eat the excellent food at the
lodge or cook yourself, keeping costs
down and your time flexible. Contact
Per or Enrico at www.nfc-online.com
The Reisa is as
picturesque
as any salmon
river on earth.
[ Reisa ]
Just to the west of the Alta is
another Norwegian gem. The Reisa
may lack the reputation of her big
sister over the hill, but this intimate
and stunningly beautiful river can
offer fish to rival even those of her
more celebrated neighbour. Most
years the river throws up a 50 lb fish
or two, and the exquisitely
picturesque valley and rugged
canyon at the top of the river are as
beautiful as anywhere you will ever
cast a fly. Unlike Alta, the Reisa does
offer reasonable access, and by
staying at Reisastua Lodge, you can
fish private pools on the lower and
middle river, or hike up into the
beguiling wilderness of the upper
river with one of the lodge’s excellent
and knowledgeable guides. The
water is gin-clear and it is often
possible to see huge salmon in the
pools. Catching them is a different
matter, but this river is one of only a
small handful that offers the genuine
chance of landing a real leviathan.
Flies
The Reisa fish see your fly a mile
off in the crystal-clear water, so go
small and subtle: small, sparse
Templedogs in black-and-silver with
just a splash of blue or green are the
way to go, with minimal flash. Fish
long leaders and take big steps
between casts so that you surprise
the fish, and you may just find
yourself attached to one of the river’s
elusive monsters. The Reisa fish can
also be tempted to grab a Bomber
off the top, too.
Con tact
Reisastua Lodge is a small, intimate
lodge with a warm, informal
atmosphere and a genuine charm. Its
owner, Roar Olsen, is a wonderful
character and a salmon-fishing nut.
He knows the river well, has private
access to some of the best pools and
employs excellent guides. Roar’s
catch-book is astonishing, with many
of his clients, including my great
30 December 2014 www.trout-and-salmon.co.uk
a b ov e Matt
Harris shows off
a stunner from
the Lower Reisa.
friend and speycasting genius Scott
Mackenzie, recording their personal
best salmon here. Look no further.
Contact Roar at: reisastua.no/
Reisastua-Lodge.aspx
Fishing down the
legendary Bridge
pool on one of
the NFC’s many
excellent beats
on the Gaula.
www.trout-and-salmon.co.uk
December 2014 31
Top ten Atlantic salmon rivers
Canada
To many European anglers, the rivers of eastern Canada are a little-known
quantity. In the post-modern world of relatively cheap long-haul travel and the
almost unlimited access to information that the internet offers, I find this a
baffling shame. Eastern Canada offers some absolutely sensational salmon
fishing on some of the most beautiful rivers on earth.
Iceland
Iceland’s salmon rivers offer the
opportunity to sight-fish for salmon in some
of the most extraordinary landscapes on
earth. Don’t expect to catch a monster –
though large fish of 30 lb and over have been
caught recently – but embrace the intimacy
and rugged beauty of this country and you
will experience salmon fishing like no other.
Topher Brown and
his guide on the
Restigouche’s
beautiful tributary,
the Upsalquitch.
[ Restigouche ]
Of all the Atlantic salmon rivers of
Canada’s eastern seaboard, one river
system stands head and shoulders
above the rest in terms of the size
and quality of its fish. The
Restigouche is the Alta of New
Brunswick – it is similarly feted as an
almost impossibly exclusive river
where Atlantic salmon of astonishing
size are a genuine possibility. A fish of
more than 68 inches long and
reckoned to have weighed over 70 lb
was caught on fly as recently as 1990.
The Restigouche is a wide, stately
river, and much of the fishing is done
from canoes, although many pools
can be fished with long speycasts
from the bank. A number of the
Restigouche’s tributaries offer the
chance to target the river’s huge fish
in more intimate wading situations.
The Upsalquitch is one such. On this
mesmerising serpentine stream the
Restigouche system’s fabulous fish
can be hunted at close quarters.
Highly recommended.
flies
[ Kverka ]
The crystal waters of the
Restigouche system demand
respect. Local flies – classic hairwings
like the Nighthawk or Restigouche
Dose – tied on single irons and fished
on long and unnervingly light leaders
are the way to go, with Bombers
coming into their own in the low
water of mid and late season.
Con tact
There is very limited access to the
Restigouche and its tributaries.
Runnymede Lodge on the main river
and Two Brooks Lodge on the
Upsalquitch are a rare treat, offering
access to some of the very best
fishing and a genuine taste of New
Brunswick in beautifully appointed
traditional accommodation. Those
interested in fishing on this
remarkable river system should
contact Pete Ripin at the
The Fly Fisher Group at:
www.flyfishergroup.com
[ Bonaventure ]
Topher Browne
fishes down a
typically ginclear pool on the
Bonaventure.
32 December 2014 www.trout-and-salmon.co.uk
The GaspÉ peninsula, on the south
shore of the great St Lawrence seaway, is
peppered with stunningly beautiful
salmon rivers. Perhaps the most special is
the sparkling, gin-clear Bonaventure. The
“Bonnie” is everything that a salmon river
should be – impossibly clear water that
tumbles into inviting riffles and gleams
over deep, slate-bedded pools. The water
is so clear that it is genuinely possible to
spot the fish holding in all but the deepest
pools, and many anglers fish only when
they have spotted a target. Late in the
season, the salmon stack up in the
deepest, coolest pools and can be
targeted with dry-flies, but my favourite
time is the early season, when the river is
full of big, fresh fish: broad-shouldered,
chrome silver and full of spectacular,
high-flying acrobatics. Ensnaring a mintsilver 18-pounder on a riffle-hitched
Sunray from this picture-perfect river
with my great mate and speycasting guru
Topher Brown is a favourite memory.
Flies
The Bonaventure fish respond to surface
flies in all but the coldest water. Hitched
Sunrays work well on most rivers on the
Gaspé, and the Bonaventure is no
exception. Other local favourites include
the Pompier, the Picasse and the Stonefly.
Con tact
Glenn Legrande’s beautiful and luxurious
Camp Bonaventure is the perfect way to
experience the magic of the “Bonnie”.
Glenn’s lodge is beautifully fitted out, the
food is great and his guides are among
the most experienced on the river.
Contact Glenn via his website at:
www.campbonaventure.com
I’ve fished a number of Iceland’s famous
salmon rivers, and none has disappointed, but
my favourite is a tiny and relatively
undiscovered gem in the country’s far northeastern corner. The Kverka is a tributary of the
Hafralonsa, and it is one of the wildest and
most spectacularly rugged places I have ever
fished for salmon. The Hafralonsa is special,
but when it blows out due to rain, it’s time to
drive up into the astonishingly beautiful valley
of the Kverka and work your way into the
canyon, where the fish are piling into the
spate-swollen river. Crouching on all fours and
listening to the advice from your guide on the
walkie-talkie as he peers into the pool from a
bluff high above is a unique and exhilarating
way to fish for salmon. This is not so much
salmon fishing as salmon hunting.
It is utterly addictive.
Flies
Yet again, my favourite fly is a hitched Sunray,
and the fish will come up for this fly again and
again if it is presented quietly and accurately.
Failing that, a small conehead Red Frances
will persuade all but the most stubborn fish,
while a tiny Hologram or Haugur hitched tube
is a killer in lower, slower water.
Con tact
Pete Rippin at The Flyfisher Group has a huge
amount of experience and knowledge of what
is available in Iceland. He knows the
Hafralonsa and the Kverka very well and can
advise on all aspects of fishing these two
gems. Contact Pete via the The Fly Fisher
Group at: www.flyfishergroup.com
www.trout-and-salmon.co.uk
December 2014 33
Top ten Atlantic salmon rivers
[ Yokanga ]
Russia
The Kola Peninsula, the vast wilderness region straddling Russia’s Arctic
Circle to the east of Murmansk, offers stupendous salmon fishing. While the
southern rivers such as the Varzuga and Ponoi offer spectacular numbers of
fish, the rivers of the northern coast offer some of the biggest and most
magnificent Atlantic salmon on earth. This wonderland is reminiscent of another
time, before fish-farms, water abstraction, pollution and indiscriminate netting
had wrought their ugly mayhem on many of our salmon fisheries. I believe that it
offers the most genuine wilderness experience available to the Atlantic salmon
fisherman. Forget worries about helicopter rides and Russian bureaucracy.
If you love salmon fishing, you simply have to come here.
a b ov e
Matt Harris
shows off
a sea-liced
31 lb hen
from the tiny
Drozdovka
River.
High up on the north coast of the
Kola sits a river like no other. The
Yokanga is a big, brawling salmon
river, and in early season, it is truly
formidable. This uncut diamond plays
home to what are, to my mind,
undoubtedly the most magnificent
Atlantic salmon I have ever seen.
Deep-bodied, broad-shouldered and
shovel-tailed, the huge fish that run
the Yokanga in the early season are a
race apart. These indomitable fish
have evolved to negotiate the
maelstrom of the lower river, and
they are the most savage fighters I
have ever encountered.
Most Yokanga veterans have a
catalogue of “Harry Hard-Luck”
stories, featuring grotesquely large
fish that have dragged them down
the river, before smashing their 35 lb
leader to pieces around one of the
river’s vast and unforgiving boulders.
I’ve played two fish for well over an
hour on the lower river before the
leader or backing respectively gave
way, and I’m confident that both
were much, much bigger than the
35-pounder that is still my biggest
from the river.
I’ve caught some spectacular fish
from this unique river, but it is
perhaps the epic chases with those
huge fish that ultimately got away
that keep me going back year after
year. Fish hard and be lucky, and you
may just land the fish of a lifetime
from this river of dreams.
Flies
The Yokanga is heavily tanin-stained,
so flies from the orange side of the
spectrum work well. In early season,
look no further than the German
Snaelda. Later in the season,
Willie Gunns and Templedogs
tied with similar hues work well,
although the Green Highlander
is a great “change fly” if you
move a fish.
Con tact
Call Pete Rippin at Flyfish Yokanga:
www.flyfishergroup.com
[ Varzina and the Drozdovka ]
[ Ponoi ]
a b ov e
Fishing down
the legendary
Lilyok pool on
the Yokanga.
Few if any rivers on earth have a run
of Atlantic salmon to match the
Ponoi, on the eastern end of the Kola
Peninsula. My friend David Profumo
eloquently described the Ponoi
experience as being “akin to salmon
fishing in the Middle Ages”, and after
fishing the hard-fished fish-farm-andnet-ravaged waters of our homeland,
it is both depressing and astonishing
to witness just how good salmon
fishing can be if the fish are left alone
and allowed to flourish. It’s hard not
to catch fish on the Ponoi – I pulled
out a trio of silver stunners on a
skated foam ear-plug acquired from
the helicopter pilot early one
September morning just to see if it
could be done – and it can! The Ponoi
is the perfect playground to try out
techniques in which you want to
gain confidence. Bombers and
hitched flies, for instance, will
be taken with gusto – and you
34 December 2014 www.trout-and-salmon.co.uk
will then retain the courage to use
these methods elsewhere.
While the prolific Varzuga system
to the south-west is also a
spectacular and rightly lauded
fishery, with perhaps even greater
numbers of fish on offer, the Ponoi
offers fish of a bigger average size,
and it has one very special ace up its
sleeve. At the end of the summer
season, as the rusty hues of autumn
start to colour the landscape, the
legendary osenkas come barrelling
into the river. These autumn runners
are a special strain. Ocean-fat and
sparkling silver, these fish come into
the river a full year before spawning
the following autumn. They then stay
on a second winter under the ice
before returning to the sea, and are
thus in the river for a remarkable 20
months without feeding. This means
that on entering the river, they are
carrying enough muscle and body-
fat to see them through not one but
two of the Kola’s staggeringly harsh
winters, and it makes these fish,
pound-for-pound, as strong as any
Atlantic salmon out there. Don’t
expect to catch a monster on the
Ponoi – most are between 8 lb and
14 lb, with the odd 20-pounder if you
are very lucky – but you should look
forward to a million thrills and spills
with hordes of hard-fighting fish that
will have you scanning your fly-box
for something that doesn’t work.
Flies
Anything – fish on the surface in all
but the coldest weather for
maximum visual sport.
Con tact
The Ponoi books up fast, so contact
Tarquin Millington-Drake
at Frontiers as soon as possible.
Visit: www.frontierstrvl.co.uk
The Varzina is situated on the Kola’s
northern coast, a little to the west of the
Yokanga, and while the Yokanga is a
wild, raging river, the Varzina is a much
smaller, more manageable, proposition.
The river is an absolute pearl – both
banks can comfortably be covered with
a long speycast in many places, and the
river rivals the Aberdeenshire Dee in
terms of the classic fly-water on offer.
Don’t be fooled by the river’s size,
however. The Varzina can throw up
huge fish, and the salmon that run it are
beautifully proportioned and fighting fit.
Fish of over 30 lb are a possibility: my
great mate Rod Murray had a stunning
31-pounder a few years ago, and Sir
Seaton Wills’s fish from the seapool,
measuring a stupendous 57 inches, is
still reckoned to be one of the biggest
fish ever landed on the Kola peninsula.
The Varzina lodge sits right by the
spot that marks the start of the tidal
water, and after supper, anglers can
wander down to Golden pool and Silver
pool and fish for big sea-liced salmon
straight off the tide. I managed five fish
to 25 lb in a three-hour session here one
special night in midsummer, 2009, and
each fish went racing back to the salt
with a wild abandon that is emblematic
Matt’s friends, Mark Hewetson Brown and guide Ilya, talk tactics on the Drozdovka.
of the river itself. Another way to spend
your evening is to stroll up to Hourglass
pool as the midnight sun winks through
the silver birch trees, and hopefully
you’ll arrive just in time for a tussle with a
big silver fish in this fabulous little
boxing-ring of a pool.
The Varzina’s little sister, the
Drozdovka is, if anything, even more
beguiling: a tiny stream that plays host
to staggeringly big fish. I got a sea-liced
31 lb hen out of this cascading jewel one
afternoon, and covered two fish on the
same day that I swear were 10 lb heavier.
Flies
The Varzina seems to respond well to
black, gold and yellow flies, and the
favourite Golden Killer is a simple
variation on this theme. Sunrays are, as
ever, also hugely effective, while the
Snaelda is deadly in the high,
cold water of early season.
Con tact
Mat McHugh at Fly Odyssey organises
prime weeks with experienced host and
hugely knowledgeable guide Sean
Clarke. Visit: www.flyodyssey.co.uk
www.trout-and-salmon.co.uk
December 2014 35
Top ten Atlantic salmon rivers
Scotland
A nation whose inspiring rivers run deep with the history of the sport but where, sadly, salmon numbers have crashed as a result of
government neglect. And yet in spring, when the stream sparkles and your fly swings just so, is there any place you would rather be?
[ Spey ]
Despite the myriad issues facing
many of our home rivers, there
remains a magical quality about the
Spey that continues to cast a
powerful spell. I still love to fish the
hallowed waters of what Richard
Waddington famously described as
“The King of Rivers”: few if any rivers
are such a delight to fish. The Spey’s
brisk, lively current and its majestic
setting are as alluring as ever, and the
fish, while undoubtedly scarcer than
they once were, are still as sleek and
as beautiful as ever.
As I sit in the Fochabers Hotel,
sipping a good dram and a pint of
Eighty Shilling, and chatting with
Blair Banks, a young gillie whose
professional future depends upon
the sustainability of a good sport
fishery on the river, I couldn’t be
happier. We’ve just watched a lovely
lithe springer swim off strongly after
a good tussle in the Dipple pool,
on the Brae Water’s excellent
Beat 5, and all is right with the world.
Yet it would be foolhardy to
pretend that all is well on this iconic
stream: the incumbent Scottish
government’s refusal to address the
issue of drastically declining salmon
populations and its short-sighted and
wrecklessly indiscriminate support
for commercial netting, intensive
farming methods and fish-farming
means that the salmon runs on this
and many of the other great rivers of
our sport’s proud motherland are in
mortal danger. Many of Scotland’s
great rivers are a shadow of their
former selves and the younger
generation of salmon-fishers are
increasingly looking elsewhere for
their sport, potentially wreaking
havoc on the local economies based
around the fishing on these
once-great rivers.
We must do all we can to stop
rivers like the Spey – great national
treasures that are the envy of the fly-
36 December 2014 www.trout-and-salmon.co.uk
fishing world – becoming the victims
of cheap, short-term politicking and
cynical vested interests.
When the salmon are gone, they
really are gone, for all time. Our rivers
should be up there with the very best.
That, after all, is where they belong.
Flies
When the river is in ply, the Cascade
is all you need on the Spey. Tie it
sparse and fish it high in the water in
all but the coldest, heaviest flows. In
early season, the classic Black-andYellow may serve you better, and at
the end of the season, a stripped
Sunray might just stir up the big stale
fish languishing in the slower pools.
Con tact
The Brae Water offers five beats of
cracking fly-water. Contact: The
Estate Office, Gordon Castle,
Fochabers. Tel: 01343 820 244.
Web: www.gordoncastle.co.uk
T op Fishing
down a classic
run on the
lower Spey.