röding
Second giant char for this year! No weight taken on this one as it was quickly released. The cold spring weather makes it possible to catch them still close to the surface. But with raising temperatures they will get more tricky to catch. Then it might be worth trying some perch fishing.
swedish carp
Last weekend I took a break. Not from fishing in general but from pike fishing. Instead I travelled to Skåne to meet up with Robban for some carp fishing. I was very impressed by the number of really good fish he had caught so far. So I ordered my carp tackle from Germany. Everything was well prepared and conditions seemed very promising. In the end only one carp showed up for a photo shooting. Not a monster but a real beauty. A few hours before Robban had got into contact with a carp that was much bigger than mine. A perfectly bent rod, some headshakes and then slack line. Gone. However, my first swedish carp - mission accomplished.
10+ from Småland
Finally I got my first 10+ from Småland. A fish with a very wide back and a length of 1.15m. On the picture it looks rather small. No wide-angle and other photo tricks. If I check my statistics from this lake I will probably need 10 more fishing days to catch the next meter .
a new pb
All the optimism and confidence I took with me from Skåne a few weeks ago is almost gone. So far the spring fishing for pike was really slow. Just a few days left and we're finally heading towards Värmland - the glorious place. The positive thing is that it can hardly get worse.
But sometimes it's a single fish that can save the day. Yesterday the magic catch was a cracking 5 kilo char! Probably as difficult to catch as a 10+ pike.
2 days in Pike Mekka
Last weekend Robban and I visited one of Sweden's most famous pike fishing waters. The first evening we slipped the boat and prepared everything for an early start on Saturday. We shared the place with lots of crazy fishermen who had travelled from far away places to pike fishing Mekka. The first information we got was not very promising: the fishing had been very slow throughout the past two weeks. Nevertheless a pike of 12.5 kg was caught on Friday. Our first spot on Saturday morning was the 'bream bay' where I enjoyed excellent fishing three years ago. After two hours of fishing Robban had one follower. That was all.
On the way to our next spot we met some other pike fisher who could not believe that we are spinfishing and not trolling. Only five minutes later Mr. Kannibal hooked a pike of 6.06 kg.
Then the sun came out for the rest of the day and no more fish showed up. Some trolling guys we met in the evening had caught 3 fish up to 5 kg, with six rods within almost 12 hours. Not good at all.
Sunday was really awful with rain, wind and a temperature of 4°. We saw only two other boats out fishing. The best proof for very bad fishing. In the early afternoon we surrendered. We fished hard but no more fish showed up. After we had changed clothes and enjoyed a cup of tea in the warm cottage the rain stopped. Time to go home. Tack för en trevlig helg!
Sportfiskemässan 2015
2015 the sportfishing fair was back to Jönköping again. The Friday highlight was without doubt the live final episode of 'Fly vs. Jerk'. The Finnish guys grabbed the bigfish point on the last day and made Team ABU win. This year more than ever before specialised fishing boats and (unnecessary) marine electronics were shown. For the upcoming season I bought a few rubber baits and tackle boxes. Some more exclusive lures could be bought from a couple of Swedish lurebuilders. All in all 14.810 visitors came to the fair. The best proof for a still growing interest in sportfishing.
Skåne - 2nd attempt
The originally planned icefishing trip with Robban got cancelled. Instead I travelled down to Skåne where we could fish in open water. Bank fishing with herring and roach - no boat, no plastic lures! To make a long story short: The pikefishing was so much better then I would have expected. Not least due to some pre-baiting and other guiding services. Thumbs up, you did pretty well Robban.
back on ice
Lots of small perch caught during pimple fishing on Saturday.
Sunday it was time again for pike fishing. At 11 o'clock I had already caught 5 esox, one of them was caught twice within half an hour. The quickest pike of the day took the baitfish instantly after dropping it into the icehole.
poor ice fishing
Only two small pike on Saturday that were released straight away. As a bonus I got surprised by two heavy snow storms. I had better days in the past...
Happy New Year
Have a great start into the 2015 fishing season! Greetings from beautiful Dalarna!
clearwater esox
This weekend I tried out a nearby clearwater lake. The over 30 m deep lake is the home of arctic char and as it seems also pike feel comfortable in the oligotrophic environment. The water temperature is now down to 5°C and some shallow bays were covered with ice. For some strange reason the lake is closed for fishing from the middle of September to the end of November for 'normal' people. But the fishery owners are obviously not subject to the rule. The same story at another 'closed' lake where I saw a fishing boat recently.
However, the decision to stay away from my home lake was rewarded with an esox of 100cm. Further three pike were hooked but none of them came close to the fat lady.
float trolling
Fishing in my 'home lake' was really poor throughout the last two weeks. Jig fishing and float trolling delivered small pikes only. So I tried another lake. Three strikes on trolled herrings but only one fish in the boat. I realized too late that the pikes were standing and also feeding close to the surface, only 1 to 1.5 m deep!
And the problem with the non existing boat ramp got solved with a smaller boat...
october update
Some pictures from last week's fishing. A pretty good start with a fat pike of 9.4 kilos. Falling temperatures and heavy rain in the following days made fishing not really comfortable. But however, we caught some more.
pike season opening
Last Saturday I enjoyed some great pike fishing with Christian and Gustaf. Some more fish were caught but not photographed - top at 104 cm.
szczupak & sandacz
'pike & zander'- a funny fishing trip with Jacek from Poland. The real potential of the lake will be checked in autumn!
summertime
Blue sky from morning till evening and temperatures above 30°C - that's what we had last week in northern Värmland. Two short flyfishing session after sunset brought two small trout and two grayling. Activities like mountain biking, hiking and picking berries were good alternatives.
Klarälven north of Sysslebäck - not far from the Norwegian border
amazing scenery but no evening hatch at all
hjortron
a day's trip to Fulufjäll in Dalarna - some snow being left from winter
low water at Forshaga Forsen.
Vättern - oldscool delivers
On Saturday I got invited to a spontaneous tour on lake Vättern. Char fishing, the traditional way!
Believe it or not, there is more fish in Vättern than you might think. It's all about the right method, and lots of local knowledge. Four fish in the boat, top at 55 cm. The fishing was not so good this day I was told... but I was more than happy.
prototype of a modern downrigger? check out the little bell!
Mikael with the biggest of the day
lures made in Gränna
a must - prawn on the treble hook
Although this method is not regarded as 'sport fishing' I think there is more sport in it than trolling 10 rods with electronical downriggers, planerboards, sonar, GPS, autopilot etc. There are definitely lots of things I can adapt to my style of fishing. Thanks for the lesson!
Värmland again
Ten pike within 6 hours are the result of a quick trip on midsummer day. Only small fish, except one measuring 90cm. The zander hot-spot was completely dead. Low water and zero current in the channel. But this was not the only obstacle this weekend. The pelagic trolling at a secret water had to be cancelled after a few hours of fishing. Too much wind...
Strike Pro - Buster Deep: Only 12cm long, took 8 pike including the biggest of the day. In 2012 the same lure delivered a 107cm Vättern pike.
perch
Summer has arrived to Småland - blue sky and 25°C. The lake that seemed to be totally dead a few weeks ago is now coming to live. Big mayflies and sedges attrackt small fish and the bigger perches are following. Three of them landed on today's dinner table.
The big session with Robban three weeks ago was the worst fishing weekend of this year, probably for both of us. Before the weekend had only started lots tackle got stolen from Robban's house.
The Friday evening session: One baby pike for me. Saturday's greatest moment was coming home and opening a cold beer. Earlier that day my car and boat trailer got stuck in deep gravel on the boatramp at Svartån.
For Sunday we had planned the big deal. Trolling on Vättern! Lots of good advice and equipment from the hillbilly neighbour should do it. Fully motivated we put out our first rods at around 5.30 on Sunday morning. Robban had his first rod out and straight away he had fish on. Wow, what a start! Only a few seconds later it came off. Shit happens we thougt. Later we found out that the Berkley swivel we used as hookling had broken. Only minutes after this misury the sun raised behind Gränna mountain and for the next 9 hours nothing else should happen.
After that weekend I spent the following two weekends mainly on fixing my boat. After 3 days of polishing and waxing it lookes like new. Yesterday then the next desaster! Water in the engine oil - indication for a really big and expensive problem...Dalsland and Värmland will have to wait
4 days in Värmland
Four days of fishing are over now. Four days of really poor fishing, regarding the number of fish caught. But not regarding size and species! On the first day with Christian and Fredrik we missed our target by only 6,5 cm.
The fishing on the lake was so bad that Christian proposed to fish the river on the following day. A great idea. But with the big boat? Please, no collission with a stone or sunken log! 'My guide' was well prepared and navigated us savely to potential hot spots. Christian hooked two pike that day but neither of them made it into the boat.
Around 3 o'clock then I got my chance. I took not long untill we had a 'Fatso-loving' pike in the net. 'Oh it's a pretty big pike', we thought. After measuring and weighing there was no doubt - this fish is huge!
Day 3 I spent with Gustaf and Petter. I was looking forward to some excellent jerkbait fishing. No big ones but big numbers. To make it short: no fish in the boat. Our fishing spots were known as safe and reliable in the past. There are lots of speculations why it was so poor...
Day 4, a break from pike fishing. Again, blue sky and sunshine all day long. Gustafs idea: Trolling for wild brown trout. Trolling is nice - let the boat do the job and enjoy the sunshine. Now we can say that his idea to focus on another species was just right. Gustaf hooked the first fish after 2.5 hours, close to the surface. Two hours later it was my turn to wind in a beautiful wild browntrout. Not too bad. The stories told by local people seemed to be true. But the illusive 5 kg trout is still somewhere out there. We'll be back!
