ice fishing
January has surprised us with very warm weather. There is hardly any snow left and the smaller lakes are covered with less than 15cm of ice. No serious fishing so far but a small local lake produced the first 3 pike for 2020. All taken on herring close under the ice.
end of 2019 season
Below a nice fish to end the season with. Within on week the weather changed rapidly and we entered winter season. The next fish might be one from the ice...
float trolling
The first float trolling session in mid October gave a result. A well conditioned pike that was standing close to the shore in shallow water. A week later I fished the most promising spots with big pelagic lures. Two fish, not far from the meter, took over 20 respectively 30 meter deep water.
Connemara
Not much time for fishing but it is always worth travelling with a rod. The rock fishing for wrasse and mackerel with light spinning gear was great fun. Even brown trout could be caught from a tiny stream next to our house.
char fishing - Vättern
Vertical fishing for char does really work!
Below you can see a fish that followed the jig from 25 to 20 meters and turned away.
summer`s end
The summer is coming to its end pretty soon and first plans for the autumn season are made. Besides a few trips to a nearby stream and a couple of zander fishing tours I did not fish that much. The water is still quite warm and within the next days we are expecting very warm weather.
Below some pictures from the local stream that holds both trout and pike.
competition result
Time for the result from our recent competition: I lost 3:1 ! On the first day I took the number point with a pike of 109 cm which also was the biggest of the whole competition. The fishing was very slow throughout the whole weekend which probably was the result of the very warm weather. And honestly my opponents did very well with lots of fish over 90cm and a top of 106cm.
warm-up result
Time to present the warm-up result for next weekend´s fishing competition. 3 days of fishing resulted in 25 pike on spin while the longest fish measured 99cm. So there is still potential regarding both numbers an length. I am going to compete against a team of 4 anglers in Germany. They will fish a water where only rowing boats are allowed. Every pike from 60 cm upwards counts and there will be a number point and a big fish point. In a draw situation the longest fish will decide about victory. As we won´t be able to fish the same days each team may choose it´s top 2 fishing days from the coming bank holiday weekend. Tight lines guys!
a hard fighting 90+ fish from the warm-up
Värmland crocodile
With only one hour of fishing left it looked like a normal fishing day on this huge lake. A day without the slightest sign of fish activity. At 9 pm then a pike grabbed my swimbait. The lure, a 25 cm long SG roach, was fished 2 meters under the surface over deep water. A strike like any other. It was also no problem to navigate the fish to the boat but the netting was tricky and took three attempts. After a few less successful fishing days in a row a solid esox at last. The fish had of course spawned but it had not started feeding yet as the scales should reveal later.
cold again
During the last days night temperatures dropped to subzero again and this morning the landscape was covered with snow. Due to the very high temperatures in late April the water temperature is rather stable, between 8 to 11 degrees. Small and shallow lakes in northern Värmland were even up to 14 degrees near the surface last week. The spawning is over now but in some shallow areas pike are still present. Seems like they are waiting for roach, bream and other species.
The weekend had been ok with the majority of pike caught on jig close to the bottom at 10 meters of depth. Strangely shallow trolling over deeper water did not result in a single fish. On Sunday I went for size instead of numbers and ended the day with a 90+ and yet another 100+. A really big one is still missing. But I´ll give it another 4 weeks!
prespawn
Together with Nisse I enjoyed a very sunny but also cold fishing week. On Sunday we spottet a few local anglers but no fishing tourists so far. Except a very few fish the majority of pike had not spawned yet. Float trolling with herring worked pretty well as the water was still cold. The first day we ended with 17 fish in the net. The following days we also tried jerkbait in big shallow bays. And there was one bay that fished a bit better than the rest. 4 out of 14 fish were 100+!
On Friday we decided to go all in. Size instead of numbers at one of Sweden´s deepest lakes. The problem was that we totally ignored the very low overnight temperatures (-8). The surface water was just too cold and no fish wanted to come up. On our last day we drove home with empty hands.
winter´s end
The explanantion for the lack of reports throughout the last couple of month is simple: This winter I skipped the ice fishing and went skiing instead!
Four and a half month have gone since the last fishing trip on open water. On Tuesday I went float trolling and spin fishing. The afternoon session ended with 7 fish and a top of 102cm. Yesterday morning I drove to a water I was so excited to fish but found it still frozen. No matter, as the alternative I chose delivered quite well. The second meter fish for this year and a 90+ in addition.
The water is still cold (4 degrees). In the early hours of the morning you might find even bigger waters covered with a thin layer of ice. In a big spawning bay I had one follower on a tailbait. Otherwise no signs of pike in the shallows so far. But the most annoying thing we are struggling with at the moment are very strong winds.
12+
Wow! November 13th was THE day!
I visited a big fish water for float-trolling that day. The first four hours passed without the slightest sign of a fish. At quarter past one a screaming break indicated fish action. It did not take long to realize that this was the fish I was waiting for. The pike measured 117 cm and the scales showed 12.3 kilos – mission accomplished!
Two hours later I saw my left paravan moving and the rod tip indicated another take. I striked instantly, followed by an unpleasant cracking sound. First time ever breaking a rod and I was into a good fish again. Pike no. 2 was smaller and netted after a quick fight. Admittedly 107 cm and 8.1 kilos were not bad either.
October full moon
No big autumn session this year but I managed to fish around the october full moon. The past two years the fishing around full moon i late autumn had been of great success. This year I caugt quite many fish but the biggest measured just 99cm. Wind from the north and sunshine slowed fishing down and destroyed my plans.
The last ten days were warm with plus temperatures even at night. Water temperature in the small lakes is currently at around 6 degrees and the big lakes still have 8-9 degrees.
Float trolling has so far delivered a few fish but the big one for this autumn is still missing.
river fishing for zander
Two weeks ago we went on a day trip to the Netherlands to fish for zander in a big river. We did not catch any giants but the numbers were pretty ok. Very strong winds around lunchtime made fishing almost impossible. While three of us caught around 35 fish together, there was one more guy catching around 35 himself!
