Here’s short film, made at Varzina River Club, that presents accommodation, infrastructure of the Lodge and fishing in our river.
Main news & about us
Our Company was founded as a result of the searches on Kola peninsula for salmon rivers minimally affected by civilization. In the 90s of the last century, the wave of salmon fishing in Russia was just beginning to roll, and many rivers inaccessible by land transport remained a complete mystery for fishermen. The exploration was crowned with success on the north-eastern coast of Kola Peninsula, washed by Barents Sea. The presented salmon rivers: Varzina, Penka, Sidorovka and Drozdovka, perfectly met our expectations. The rivers flow as far away from human habitation as possible. At the moment the nearest settlement is located at least 70km far from our Main Lodge. Coupled with the lack of any roads in our region, it's almost impossible to meet strangers here, not to mention the poaching press close to zero. The second important reason of choosing our rivers is the quality of salmon in these waters. It is no secrete that it is the salmon herds, entering the rivers of Barents Sea basin, that have the best weight indicators on the Kola Peninsula. This factor is namely the most important criteria in choosing the river by an already experienced salmon hunter, and this is exactly what the founders of the first camps in these places were.
The first stationary tented camp was founded on the Drozdovka river. To the rest of our rivers - Sidorovka and our main river Varzina, fishermen flew by helicopter. In 1997, the construction of our nodal salmon camp on Varzina river began, right opposite the merge of Penka river (the main tributary) into Varzina. As we explored and understood the fishing in our rivers, we discovered the largest herd of residential trout in the upper reaches of Varzina river. The size of brown trout resembled a good salmon, and since the number of trout hunters is not less than the number of salmon fishing fans, it was decided to build a stationary camp in the upper part of Varzina. Where, by the way, in the second half of summer both spotted fish usually share the water.
After a while, having realized that we did not physically exploit salmon water area of four rivers, basing at one point on Varzina, we began the construction of mobile tent camps. The first of them was built on Sidorovka river in Paradise canyon. Next camp was revived on the site of our first bivouac on Drozdovka river. By doing this we caught two birds with one stone, reducing the expansive helicopter traffic and the cost of fishing accordingly, and evenly distributed the fishing press on our rivers, reducing it on Varzina and increasing it on Sidorovka and Drozdovka rivers. The rivers, which during a normal daytime helicopter drop, were not exploited even by a third.
In 2014, summer camp Cliffhanger was built in the middle part of Varzina river. Almost all salmon pools of Varzina are accessible by foot from this camp. What was impossible from Main Lodge, located in the lower reaches of Varzina, in the tidal zone near the sea.
Finally, in 2015, our Main Salmon Lodge underwent global transformation, which turned it into one of the most comfortable Lodges of Kola peninsula. In addition, the changes significantly affected our fishing program. We reduced fishing pressure to a minimum during the prime time of fishing on Varzina. And now our guests can fish all day long on their personal pools without sharing them with anyone else.
Our Mission:
We provide our guests with a unique opportunity to catch a record fish «of their life» at one of the best salmon rivers in the world assuring comfort and first-class service in the face of virgin wildness, doing our best to keep it pristine.
Our Values:
Quality fishing
We set a high value on the uniqueness of trophy salmon fishing in our rivers. In terms of conservation and improving fishing quality, we propagate and carry out a «catch and release» condition, fishing with charitable fly-fishing gear, delicate and careful handling of fish while landing and releasing. Our priority in quality fishing arrangements is prudent management of stock fishery, balanced distribution of fishing pressure to fishing pools by means of rotation, reasonable relation between number of rods and pools on the river.
First-class service
Our guests must feel their pre-eminence and comfort in everything, all the time and everywhere. Starting from meet and greet at the airport, whilst being transferred, having lunch whilst fishing on the river, whilst being asleep or awake at Lodge or whilst having breakfast and dinner at the restaurant. Each of us must professionally accomplish our duties at the Lodge, on the river and in the office. We must provide a full range of services to our guests without delay, in time and to the fullest extent. In our restaurant we prepare haute cuisine and beautifully present it to our guests. We are warm, welcoming and hospitable.
Reliability
Accomplishing our duties, each of us in his or her place, will primarily take care of safety and security of our guests on the river, in the air and on the ground. Each of us has a dedication and commitment to work, being part of a diligent and professional team, conscientiously doing his or her part of general duties. Our priority is in doing business honestly towards our customers, partners and personnel.
Environmental friendliness
We aim to take good care of the environment, maintaining the uniqueness of fishing and nature of the Russian North to pass on this heritage to future generations.
Decency
Our priority in doing business is decency in relation to customers, partners and employees. We respect our competitors, never criticise or evaluate them. We value our product and services and provide information that is confirmed by our staff and guests. Especially when it comes to fishing, where the feature of increase in number and weight of trophies when summing up is known. We will provide you with honest information before the trip and after it about fishing in general and its details. We do not make statements embellishing our product and its properties for the purpose of selling. Truth works, lies don't. If you want honesty in assessing the quality and quantity of fishing trophies, you come to us, as this is our responsibility. We are not traders in the market to inflate the weight of fish, especially since it is already rather good. Our mission is to ensure that our guests enjoyed their time with us and are not disappointed in their expectations. We ignore the negative on the Internet. We listen to the criticism, but do not waist time arguing with uninformed people. We have a good motivator. It's a gratitude of a huge number of people who have visited our rivers and more than once. We work for you, the future of salmon fishing and our North.