Brevyeni: Description
Much of the Brevyeni water was almost un-fished for the first ten years of Ryabaga Camp history. It was a long way and not easily accessible from Ryabaga camp and the water was only really used out of necessity when the Fall run had stopped out of the normal Ryabaga water, when non-Ryabaga guests were being entertained or when journalists wanted to be shown around the full extent of our water.During those periods memories of incredible spring numbers, wonderful skated dry fly fishing in the tail overlooked by the Brevyeni Camp today and great wading for Fall run fish all come to mind. But, exact patterns and trends were not fully established; we just knew that each time we went to Brevyeni we had good fishing.
Therefore, as the need to fully utilise our water and occupy our territory became advisable, it was with confidence that we first built the Brevyeni Camp in 2004. The camp is located beside the Brevyeni tributary. The tributary is a fully-fledged river in the spring reducing to a trickle in the summer but with some of our best brown trout fishing a half kilometre walk upstream. The camp is built into the side of the hill overlooking a wonderful tail out before the big, un-navigable rapids below.
The scenery around Brevyeni is much more dramatic and wild but very beautiful. Here the river has cut a deep canyon hundreds of metres deep. On the top is the tundra plateau where swans and ptarmigan breed in peace, undisturbed except by the occasional helicopter. Brevyeni is on the way to nowhere, if Ryabaga camp is not true wilderness then Brevyeni surely is.
The camp is tucked on a shelf above the ice marks scoured by the spring floods. During the first few seasons it was a tented camp exactly like Ryabaga but for six to eight guests only. In 2007 the camp was completely refurbished and it now offers 8 guest’s single wooden cabins with wooden walkways about the camp. There are three flush toilets, a very spacious shower facility, a fine banya or sauna that any Russian would be happy to use. There is still a ‘big tent’, which is used as the dining and sitting room. It is spacious with a warm stove surrounded by leather sofas and armchairs one side and a full dining table and chairs the other. There is also a bar and even an iPod dock for you to enjoy your favourite tunes! The camp has full communications with good telephone communications and wi-fi for email and internet. In summary, the camp has been designed for private use by intact groups who not only wish to enjoy the wilderness fishing that Brevyeni provides but also a more private and intimate social hideaway.
The Brevyeni Camp is fully equipped for fishing, as one would expect. There is a full compliment of Ryabaga style boats with the more environmentally friendly 4 stroke engines plus the necessary spare. The tackle shop provides not only modern equipment for sale but also premium brand waders, wading boots etc for loan. All you need to bring is a good waterproof jacket and some warm clothing and with some advanced notice, we can almost supply you with the rest.
The Brevyeni fishing is perhaps the most varied on the river with two major rapids and one real bottleneck in the beats. Our experiences test fishing in the springs before 2004 proved consistent with our experiences since. Fish are stacked in the Brevyeni water when we start, most often in the upper beats of the 12 kms of water (with more once the rapids have reduced to summer level) but this varies from year to year. As the season progresses the fish spread over the beats more and the added ingredient of the summer run kicks in around mid-June. There is endless wading but good boat fishing too for those less able to wade. The summer run sees the Spring season at Brevyeni out, for it continues all the way through July. Though the camp has been used by private groups of varying sizes and fishing abilities who fish varying hours, we believe that a good average number of fish per rod for a week is about 15 to 25 fish. Many more have been caught and of course less too.
We currently have less experience of fishing the Brevyeni water in the autumn other than the experiences we have had from Ryabaga. The camp has been used less in the autumn and Ryabaga camp has yielded water to Brevyeni reluctantly. However, we now feel we have found a good border which does not take too much autumn fishing from Ryabaga and still gives Brevyeni well-known excellent autumn fishing. Indeed, it was the autumn fishing plans which dictated the boundaries between the two camps as we recognise them today and provides Brevyeni with 12kms of water. Famous places like ‘Alex’s Restaurant’ are included in the Brevyeni water. Beyond this knowledge, to this day we do not feel we have really scrutinised and tested the Brevyeni water in the autumn. The autumn runs are less predictable in general and the fish tend to stop in different places each year whichever beats they are in. One fact is for sure, the Brevyeni beats get the first of the famous autumn fish and we know that literally ten of thousands of them run past the camp in August and September.
The Brevyeni camp offers a very different experience. It is a beautifully remote place with wild and interesting water. The camp is intimate and private and offers great peace in an untamed wilderness. Combine this with the opportunity to catch 15 to 30 fish to a rod in a week among friends and it is almost the perfect Atlantic salmon camp.
