Purnache: Description
For many of us our dream of a perfect salmon river might be a medium sized wadable river, very readable, with lots of pools and runs, nooks and crannies where a fish or two might be. An interesting number of fish to warrant good expectations but not silly numbers and fish that respond to skated flies aggressively and will come back time and again might also be further wishes. The scenery would preferably be pristine wilderness with the occasional falcon, sea eagle or buzzard calling hauntingly from its lair. Maybe 25 kilometres (15 miles) of fishable water would be good and let’s be honest, the impossible would be nice, to have the whole river to yourself!
That dream river and that idea of enjoying such a river all to yourself or your party of four rods is not so impossible. The Purnache river, a tributary of the main stem Ponoi is just as described above. It is the most beautiful river which twists and turns its way through little gorges and around tall red cliff faces all the way down to the Ponoi, just above Ryabaga Camp. In the first decade of the Ryabaga story, the Purnache was fished either as specific beats which were often the highlight of a guest’s week or a treat from time to time. In an effort to better protect our water it was decided in 2004 to build a small camp for four guests to use the entire river. The camp was used with great success for two years but more recently the camp has been used as a base for dignitary hosting and entertainment while fishing other parts of the main Ponoi. The river has therefore been mostly untouched and we have only operated day or night float trips for Ryabaga guests who have wanted to do something different. We have also operated the occasional full-week float trip where guests have camped in a couple of different places while fishing.
We only fish the Purnache for a few weeks in the spring. As soon as the water is warm enough, the Purnache beat on the main river noticeably empties and the fish begin to go up the Purnache. Though each season is different in terms of the type of spring we have, melt off, rain etc, generally the four weeks following the 6th June are the prime time for the Purnache. After this, we like to leave the fish alone as valuable breeding stock; therefore the only people left up the Purnache valley are our caretakers and guards.
The first fish to enter the river are the bigger, over-wintered Fall run fish but the fresh summer run grilse and salmon soon catch these up. Both take a dry fly with enthusiasm. The river is best fished with a 14 or 15 ft rod in the earlier part of the four-week season but even during your week, you might go down to a 12 ft rod or even a single-handed rod if you enjoy using one. The wading is tricky and deep in some places, shingle and sand in others but a wading stick is certainly advisable. We recommend gore-tex chest waders.
You might start the season with some largish tubes on a sink-tip line but this will soon fine down to normal hairwing patterns on a floater and, at the same time, skated tubes and bombers of all shapes and sizes. These can be very good for locating fish, which may not take them at first but can be caught on a wet fly. As the season progresses, flies get smaller, rises multiply and the fishing becomes more delicate as the water fines down and warms up but with each day there are more fish in the river.
The Purnache camp is set on a tundra plateau over-looking ‘White Spot Pool’, one of the best pools on the river. You will often hear the cackle of the ptarmigan and will certainly see many other species of bird and wildlife. The camp is based on Ryabaga style tents – one for each rod – with a permanent structure as the sitting room/dining room annexed to the kitchen. There is a two bay shower and a fine traditional Russian banya. The river is a short walk away with a small stream running down beside the camp. There are two long drop loos at the top of the camp. The camp is staffed according to need but a full team of four rods would have a Camp Manager who would double as a head guide, plus a chef and camp helper/mechanic and a further guide.
It is no secret that the Purnache is the favourite place of all the guides and camp staff. It is a wonderful river in a beautiful place and an opportunity to fish the whole river for a week is one that we would all relish!
