Kamchatka’s trout streams are simply magnificent. Sadly, I only know this by reputation, not direct experience. I had an opportunity to go last year, but I had a conflict and, painfully, had to turn it down.
As you’ll see in the film above, the Zhupanova is loaded with big rainbows, and they’ll eat streamers and top-water skaters and the whole gamut of flies you can throw their way. It’s also a true wilderness river, like most are in the largely undeveloped Russian province in the far east of the giant country.
It’s been discovered, and trips to Kamchatka are on the shedule of a number of fly fishing travel outfits, making them somewhat affordable, given the distance one must travel to get there. But, from everything I’ve seen and heard, it’s totally worth it.
— Chris Hunt