Camp and staff

The Trout camp is run by an experienced Russian Camp Manager. He has a couple of people to take care of the running matters at the camp. There is one fly fishing instructor/fishing host to help the clients (max.10 persons) with the fishing issues. Instructor tells clients about fishing conditions and shows the way to the pools. He also tells what are the best flies to use and explains the general fishing regulations: catch and release, barbless hooks, etc. Fly fishing instructor keeps diary of caught fish per day - please write down your result in the end of each fishing day and hand it over to fishing instructor in the evening.

Camp facilities, accommodation and services

Varzina Trout Camp is situated in the middle of the river's best trout pools. The clients live in large canvas tents with wooden floor, woodstoves and beds with bed linen & sleeping bag. Usually there are 2-3 clients in a tent. The spacious tents can be heated up when the weather is cold or wet. Sleeping bags are quite thick goose down bags but they are quite old and quite basic anyway - not meant for any extreme moist or cold conditions. Sometimes when its very moist and cool the normal sheets (provided by the camp) inside the bags may become a bit damp and thus a bit cold too. It is advisable to take with you a special thin inside "Mummy liner" - (fleece or some other material) as extra to be put inside the camp sleeping bag. Some old clients even prefer to take their own sleeping bag. The camp has a nice sauna with two hot showers. The quality of the food is good and the portions are plenty and tasteful. The menu is a nice combination of traditional tasteful Russian and western dishes.

Your trip price is all inclusive, except for alcoholic drinks, gratuities and what ever items you may purchase at the camp.

The daily schedule

We keep roughly the same schedule every day, but it is flexible to your wishes and changes. Camp staff or fishing instructor will inform you about schedules of breakfast, lunch and dinner after your arrival to the camp. Lunch is usually collected by the client himself from the breakfast table (coffee & bread & vegetables etc. etc). It's a good idea to take your own thermos bottle for the coffee with you for the daily walking trips.

The gratuities

Obviously giving tip money for the staff is up to you, but is a widely used gentlemen practice at Fishing Lodges all over the world. If you have enjoyed the service of our staff and wish to express this by giving a tip, please leave tips to a camp manager.Tips are to be divided by camp manager between all staff members (so called "All team tip" ). Individual tips are not encouraged, but they are allowed. There is no required minimum with tips, but when asked, we have suggested about 5-10% of the cost of the trip.

The Bar

On the bar corner of the dining hall you can buy some beer, wine, vodka and soft drinks. Bottled drinking water (usually carbonated version available only)is for free. The bar works on an honor system, i.e. you mark down what you drink and pay-up at the end of the week to the camp manager. If you have some special and favorite wines, it is recommendable to buy them before your trip but please avoid bringing too many bottles with you as they easily double the actual weight of your luggage for the air transfer.

The Fly-shop corner

We have a small blend of flies for sale that are suitable for trout fishing in Varzina but do not trust on these only. Always bring along your own flies. In the shop we also have lines, leaders etc. most commonly needed accessories. These, and the souvenirs you may wish to buy (caps, shirts etc.) will be marked down to a list with each client´s name and will be charged at the end of the fishing week.

There is a portable satellite telephone at the camp. Please consult camp manager about further instructions for using the phone. Phone calls are charged approximately at 6 € /minute and will be paid at the end of the fishing week, every beginning minute counting as full. Incoming phone calls are paid by the caller. It is sometimes very hard for people from outside to get through to this satellite number as the connection can be weak. It is best for you to tell your relatives and friends before the trip that if there will be something urgent, you will call them and if they have something urgent for you and cannot get through directly, they can call to us (+358-40-5194095) and leave a message there to be forwarded to the camp via Varzina Russian Moscow and Murmansk offices.

Currency

All services are mostly priced in EUROS (USD is accepted as well). Unfortunately credit cards are not accepted (cash only).