Ouzel Expeditions began in1977. This marks our 35th year in business. Ouzel Expeditions became the first western guide service to operate in Kamchatka in 1991. We were looking for great salmon runs but couldn't keep the gigantic Rainbow Trout off our hooks. No one complained and the rest is history. Today Kamchatka is famous for it's huge Rainbow Trout. All of the pictures of giant Rainbows were caught on our trips. Ouzel introduced catch and release angling to Kamchatka and the use of Russian helicopters to access it's beautiful rivers for fly fishing. Ed Exum caught the first Steelhead in Kamchatka on one of Ouzel's 1992 trips! Yvon Chounaird who  owns the company Patagonia caught the second Steelhead in Kamchatka by westerners. (To see the article about this trip click here.) Exploratory trips are run each year. Join us on one if you're this kind of adventurer. The fishing is generally up in question on these trips. That's the way we first found all the great streams we float today. Today we are still finding and fishing new rivers that have never been fished by westerners before. Our staff of 6 per float trip does the work while you fish and relax. You don't have to set up camp. Ouzel's commitment to quality service remains the same after 30 years, a First Class Operation. Our camps are extremely comfortable from our Northface sleeping tents to our SOTAR rafts (which stands for State of the Art Rafts). We present three hot delicious Russian meals each day. The soups and main courses are hearty and heart healthy. After breakfast you wade off down river. Shortly camp is packed and your raft is back with you. Two guests per raft fish with a seasoned helpful fly fishing guide who rows and works hard to make your trip a wonderful experience. We wade fish all day. Boats float from hole to hole. At days end the rafts go ahead and set up camp. You can either ride along or wade fish into camp. We carry a satellite phone for emergency communications. We've caught them up to 33 1/2 inches! There are 6 species of Pacific Salmon. Arctic Char are present all summer. Kundzha (east Siberian Char) are great fighters! Salmon arrival times vary from stream to stream but generally arrive the same time in Kamchatka as Alaska. We fish for King Salmon from mid June through early July. Silvers arrive mid August and run through October. Chum run all season long. Sockeye Salmon arrive in July and August. Pinks run early August through September, but only strong on even numbered years.