By Kirk Deeter

One of the greatest assets of the Ponoi River Company is its staff of fishing guides. It's literally an all-star international team, and I was pleased to find a number of familiar faces in the group—I had previously fished with Joaquin Arocena for dorado in Bolivia, and Max Mamaev for sea trout in Tierra del Fuego.

Ryabaga camp manager Matt Breuer is one of the anglers who figured out how to catch arapaimas on the fly in Guyana. It makes sense that the best of the best would gravitate to the Ponoi, since it's one of the world's finest fisheries. It makes sense from the lodge perspective too—if you're running a fishing operation east of Murmansk and north of the Arctic Circle, you don't want your guides to be semi-pro.

By Kirk Deeter

Greetings from Ryabaga Camp on the banks of the Ponoi River in northern Russia. 

The Ponoi has certainly lived up to its reputation as one of the world's greatest Atlantic salmon fisheries. Prior to coming here, I fished for Atlantic salmon in Canada and Ireland for a total of eight days, and only landed one fish. I landed nine on my first day here, and I did even better yesterday. The 12 anglers who covered this section of the river accounted for 205 caught salmon, the largest being around 20 pounds. 

By Kirk Deeter

I will say this on writing about fly fishing for a living: It won't make you rich in the material sense, but it definitely affords a wealth of adventure. And I'd never trade the latter for the former.

I've now lost count of the number of times I've found myself in a surreal setting: Sitting at a table and drinking Coca-Cola in a sweltering conference room with a Bolivian army colonel; Grilling fish over a fire on a desolate beach in the Baja with a retired member of the "Hollywood by the Sea" gang; Casting in downtown Ballina, Ireland, as the nearby church bells chimed; Climbing out of a bush plane to stare at a Kodiak bear fishing the other side of the river; Riding a dugout canoe at night amidst an array of glowing red caiman eyes after an evening of chasing giant arapaima in the jungle in Guyana—the list goes on, and on...

So here I am in Helsinki, Finland (pictured here, several hours ago on my walk to dinner). It's 3 a.m. Last I heard, my luggage was still in Amsterdam. I will meet my friend Chris Santella in a couple hours, and we'll join a group to take a charter flight to Murmansk, Russia. From there, we'll board a Soviet era Mi-8 helicopter to fly two more hours down the Kola Peninsula to reach the preeminent Atlantic Salmon fishing camp in the world: Ryabaga, on the banks of the Ponoi River. 

By Kirk Deeter

I've been fortunate enough to have fished with many professional athletes in recent years. You'd be surprised by how many actually gravitate to fly fishing as a release from the rigors of playing sports under bright lights for a living.

I'll be honest though—some are way better than others when they put on waders, and I think that has to do with the dynamics of their professions. Golfers, for example, are usually really good fly anglers. After all, one could argue that fly fishing and golf are kindred pastimes, both born in Scotland centuries ago. It's all about planning the next move, and adapting to the current situation. The way the wheels spin in golfers' and anglers' minds are very similar, so it's not surprising to know that Tiger Woods, Mark O'Meara, Nick Price, and Davis Love III (among many others) are all avid anglers.