Agnevo River (part 1)

Agnevo River is 66 km long. It is a mountainous stream, flowing into the Tatar Strait (Sea of Japan) on the west coast of the Sakhalin Island. Mid June is the best time to fish for fresh bright cherry salmon. This "6th species of Pacific salmon" is spawning in the rivers of Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Hokkaido, and in the streams of the Sea of Japan - from Korea to the Amur River mouth.

At the divide between the valleys of the Tym (Sea of Okhotsk) and Agnevo (Sea of Japan)

Abandoned Agnevo village in the middle part of the river

The bottom fauna has lots of large insects. Agnevo is a very prolific stream.

One more sample of the local benthos

Dwarf brook-resident Dolly Varden charr

Most of the river is shallow; the bottom structures are formed by boulders or bedrock

Cherry salmon of the same length is heavier than any other salmon species

The fish is often ignoring spinning lures, and biting mostly little dark wet flies

Cherry salmon parr spend from 1 to 3 years in fresh water. Smolts migrate downstream in the first part of summer. Both parr and smolts are eagerly biting different flies.

Some cherry salmon holding water look suitable for Atlantic salmon or steelhead

In most places the river is easy to navigate, but in low water it is shallow

Running cherry salmon will stop in deeper places with some current

Alexey wants to tie some more flies named Black Eger - they are the best for catching cherry salmon in low water

Siberian globeflower (Trollius asiaticus)

Yellow lilies at the rock

For floating we were using small inflatable kayaks

Short stop for fishing

Here should be some running salmon – it is an excellent resting area!

The river has big gradient. It should be boiling here during the floods.

In the lower reaches the Agnevo River flows through rocky canyon