Sakhalin Island, Poronai River, Part 1

Poronai is the biggest river of the Sakhalin Island; it is 350 km long. The fish fauna of Poronai is mixture of resident fish from the Amur River (pike, ide) and anadromous fish from the Pacific ocean (Pacific salmon, charrs, sea-run taimen, Pacific redfin). The river is protected by marshes and swamps; its upper part it is impossible to reach by car. To get to the starting point of the float we had to go by ATV.

This road to the upper part of the Poronai River is impassable by any car

To get to the river we had to hire an retired army personnel carrier

The float had started at the Taulan River

This is upper Poronai near the mouth of the Taulan River. The river has colored water; it is 10-20 meters wide, and up to 2 meters deep.

We were floating the river and fishing in all suitable places. A couple of times we had to saw through a log jam.

Passing another log jam

The first caught fish was the Amur pike. It is one of the most numerous species in the river.

In summer the Amur ide is feeding mostly on insects, but it is always ready to swallow small fish. Silver streamer on a bottle-tube was working well.

On the gravel bars of Poronai there are lots of pieces of good coal; we were using it for cooking

The first days were hot, and it was hard to catch anything interesting. It was mid July; time when countless poplar seeds are flying downwind

Poronai River has lots of long deep pools. It can take long time to cover even one such pool with sport tackle.