FishTwits Blog

06-26-09

Midsummer at Sjöberga The fish that got away

Last Weekend was Midsummer, sadly marking the middle of summer and ruining my illusion of its beginning.  In Sweden however Midsummer is a jubilant day perhaps one of the biggest party days in Sweden up there with new years. The tradition in Sweden is to spend the day outdoors and sing and dance around a big phallic symbol dressed with flowers. The day is yet another excuse to drink too much and eat nothing but herring (strangely enough every Swedish event involves eating herring). I also believe that this might possibly be the day that all Swedish people are conceived.

Anyway for midsummer I was invited to the country side of Sweden to a friend’s stuga (a country house). The country house was at Sjöberga about 20 minutes from Höör. It seemed like this cottage was in the middle of nowhere as we drove through the endless forest on dirt roads. We finally got to the place to discover the cottage overlooked a beautiful lake. My first thought was I wish I had brought my fishing pole but to my surprise after exploring the tool shed of the stuga we found some ancient fishing poles. These things must have been sitting in the shed for years at first I was not sure if the fishing line were spider webs or actual line. My next thought was how could I justify to the rest of the group to get away and fish. At first it didn’t seem like I would be able to get some time to go fishing but after a couple hours of drinking and singing people started to get hungry and as they started to prepare the food I started suggesting how great it would be to have some fresh fish to eat. Of course everyone loved the idea and demanded that I had to go catch some now. So I headed down with one of the guys, Nikolaj and my girlfriend to catch some fish.

Heading down to the lake we came across several people already fishing the area who greeted us friendly saying the fish were not bighting. Apparently they have been there for hours with no luck. We however were more confident and told them we had a secret weapon and showed them our great fishing poles, they laughed and wished us luck. We continued to walk around the lake to find a nice spot. We ended up finding a dilapidated dock half sunken half afloat and decided it was a great place to use our matching poles.

I first started by teaching my girlfriend how to fish showing her how to cast. She did a couple casts and became quite bored and disappointed that she didn’t catch a fish with her three casts and decided to go back to the rest of the group. Now it was just Nikolaj and myself. About 15 minutes more go by and we start to see fish jumping everywhere. Next thing we know we’re hooked up and pulling in our first Pike.  We re super excited now thinking that we can have a fish feast for dinner now. We get hooked up again and it must be a big one the pole is bending all over the place. Suddenly however I hear a big snap and I see half of the pole fly out to the lake cutting the line as it flies away. I couldn’t believe it the old ancient pole snapped under the weight of the fish! After that there was not much we could do so we had to head back with our one fish. The other fishermen were really surprised that we caught a fish especially since we had only been there for about 45 minutes. We told them where we were and suggested they go there. They actually two hours later came by our place to show us a monster perch they caught. All in all a very nice experience I will definitely come back more prepared and catch the fish that got away.

06-21-09

To Catch a Mocking Fish

‘You never really understand a fish until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his scales and swim around in it.’

After two cold, windy, wet and miserable days, finally on Sunday the sun came out here in Lund and Eric and I set off to Östra dammen, hoping that the rain had washed some food into the water and the fish would be actively feeding.  Last time we went to the dam, it was pouring with rain and windy as hell.  It is amazing what a difference the sun can make to the beauty of a place.  We couldn’t help but be taken aback by the still dam surrounded my greenery, with a church in the background and a plethora of water birds ducking and diving all over the place.

We had decided to change tactics a little this time.  Thanks to a fantastic graduation present from Eric’s girlfriend and her parents, we now finally had two fishing rods between us and were able to diversify our tactics.  Eric started with a burley dispenser sunk below a small hook with sweet corn to try and catch some perch or carp whilst I used our now expanded selection of spinners to try and lure a big pike.

After an hour or so, neither of us was having any luck when suddenly a perch appeared almost at our feet.  It had come to eat the burley that was left behind where we had been soaking it.  It was a good size perch and I quickly brought my line in, attached a bit of corn to a small hook and dangled it right in front of its mouth, at one point I swear I managed to drop the corn right into its mouth…but the perch just wouldn’t bite.  It stayed there and stared at us, mocking us, as if to say ‘you guys are idiots if you think I am going to take a bite of that corn’, for another minute or so and then disappeared back to the depths from whence it came.

The mocking fish...

After this, we both decided to switch to sweet corn.  Eric using the store bought burley dispenser and me using a pair of old panty hose filled with wet burley.  It wasn’t much later and Eric spotted what appeared from a distance to be a very large carp heading toward my bait.  I felt two sharp tugs and on the third, I struck for a brief moment I was sure I had hooked him but then he was gone.  As I brought my line in, my disappointment changed to exasperation as I realised that the fish had bitten straight through my line taking the hook and sweet corn with him.  We will never know how big he might have been but we will know to use wire leaders next time!!! ARGGHHHH!!!!

As the day wore on, I continued to get some nibbles using my home made rig and finally I managed to hook up with a couple of small fish, which I believe would have been perfect to use as live baits for pike but unfortunately, we didn’t have the rights rigs with us.  As small as they were I am still putting them up on the scoreboard, putting the Aussie ahead by two!

Small Carp Bream

Eric, frustrated with his lack of catches, decided to wander around the shoreline a bit further and try out some of our new Zander soft lures.  In pursuit of the perfect cast, next to some logs in the middle of the damn, Eric managed to snag his brand new lure and had to take the traditional FishTwits plunge into the freezing cold water to retrieve it.  It wasn’t five minutes later and I heard a loud snap as Eric’s line broke and his freshly retrieved lure went flying off to sink irretrievably into the middle of the damn.  Eric came back, soaking wet, lureless and slightly p*ssed off and as if it knew, the mocking fish returned.  Again we generously offered it some corn again it politely refused preferring to stare at us with derision before disappearing to the depths again…time to call it a day.

Eric staring in disbelief at the mocking fish...having just tried to get inside its head by plunging into the water..

06-16-09

Roadtrip with Dad to Norway: In Search of a Fishytale

Fast Facts for Norway

Total KM travelled: 1920

Number of Lakes: ~450,000!, Number fished: 6

Number of Rivers: ~ too many to count, Number fished: 5

Number of Fjords: ~ 4000, Number fished: 2

It begins

Having just graduated from my MSc at Lund University in Sweden, I met with my Dad and we headed off for the road trip of a lifetime, up the coast of Sweden, across the south of Norway and finally down through the north of Denmark and back to Lund.

As soon as I knew we were going on this trip I got excited, a quick look at the map reveals a vast series of lakes, rivers, streams and a staggering coastline of fjords, if a fisherman was to design a country from scratch, I doubt he could do much better than this.  At this time of year the sun sets at around 3am and rises at about 3.10am making it possible to fish basically 24 hours a day.

The vast array of fishing possibilities is almost Norway’s downfall, as Dad and I looked at the map and started planning our route, I started saying things like ‘oh if we go this way we will go past 12 streams, 6 rivers, 3 lakes and we can get to 2 fjords the next day.  Dad was quick to point out that this would hold true almost no matter which route we took.

Day 1

Having had our graduation party the night before (it was lucky enough to study with a great group of people from around the world – I will miss you guys!), I was in barely any state to even get my bag packed (which might be why I ended up hiking through snow on sandals – but more on that later) and I slept through what my dad informs me was a pretty boring drive up the west coast of Sweden.  But by the time we got to the ferry port in Stromstad, I had recovered from my hangover but decided to stick with a Coke whilst Dad had what turned out to be a $15 non-alcoholic beer! As I sipped my Coke and Dad guffawed in astonishment at the most expensive non-alcoholic drink he’d ever had, we discussed the plans for the evenings camp site, the pipe dream of building a yatch together and sailing it around Scandinavia and finally settling on the fact that neither of us knew the first thing about how we should fish the Norwegian lakes and rivers that would pepper the first part of our journey.

We struck up a conversation with the bar tender and it turned out that what he lacked in decent beers, he more than made up for in fishing knowledge.  He described several promising lakes and rivers which were within a short driving distance from the ferry terminal in Sandefjord.  Eventually we settled on Lake Goksjo.

We set up camp in an idyllic location next to the lake with sun low in the sky and I strolled down to the water’s edge for a fish.  Unfortunately, my spinner did not hold much attraction for the trout and redfish that were continually breaking the glass like surface of the lake to snack on the smorgasbord of insects that ventured too close to the water.  This was a fly fisherman’s paradise and I have promised myself that I will return here, fly rod in hand.

Beautiful Lakeside Campground

My spinning rod just wasn't cutting it in this fly fisherman's paradise

Day 2

The next day we stopped for breakfast in a small town where, much to Dad’s delight (he is an avid cyclist), a local cycling road race was about to take off.  We chatted to some of the officials and Dad managed to wrangle a free shirt and pair of socks from the local cycling shop who was sponsoring the race.  It just so happened that this shop was right next to the local outdoors shop and as Dad continued to talk cycling, I wandered across to talk fishing with a very helpful Norwegian.  We looked at a few different fly fishing setups that would be good for a beginner… but after consulting my wallet, I decided to settle for a selection of his favourite spinners.

Back into our rental BMW (which we managed to get for the same price as a Ford Focus) and we headed westward through the Ryfielke region with a lot of territory to cover if we were going to make it to Preikerstolen the next day.  We consistently took the most minor roads we could find and as Dad put it ‘It was astonishing. Climbing high above fjords, clinging single-lanedly to fjord-side cliffs then over into valleys through snowfields, the road often cut through snowbanks on either side past lakes covered in iceflows, fields of boulders, forests.’  We managed to time our rest stops to coincide with some of the most beautiful fishing spots I have ever been to.

This looked a likely area for Salmon..

Alas, no fish.  Half an hour per spot does not even come close to doing these spots justice but I am treating this trip as reconnaissance..

Day 3

Not much to report on the fishing front, Dad and I climbed Preikestolen, known as the Pulpits Rock.  A steady climb through mountain forests and past small artic lakes to a  spectacular, pulpit shaped cliff top, 604m above the Lysefjord.

I fished a few times whilst we were waiting for various ferry’s to take us across the Fjords but apart from spotting a pretty impressive Garfish, the Norwegian fish remained uncooperative.

Day 4

Today we headed for another hike, this time at the other end of the Lysefjord, to Kjerag.  A boulder wedged between two cliffs with a 1000m drop either side.  As we set off on the hike, we looked at the sign recommending that good footwear be worn as conditions could be icy and slippery, Dad glanced sceptically at the sandals I had borrowed from him asking if I was sure they were the ‘best’ choice?

As I slipped and stumbled my way up the steep granite rocks and wondered how long it might take frostbite to set in as I walked through shin deep snow, Dad climbed up like a mountain goat, leading me to question not only my choice of footwear but also whether my lifestyle over the last year of beer, meatballs and the occasional walk to uni may have had a negative impact on my fitness when compared to Dad’s 200km plus of cycling each week…

This is by far one of the most spectacular hikes Dad or I have ever done, the sparse moon like landscape of granite and snow littered with thousands of small rock sculptures (if any one can tell me the significance of these, I would be very interested!), surrounded by snow capped mountains and sheer cliff leading jagging down to a turquoise fjord below.

Weird rock sculptures everywhere in Norway

The wind started to blow pretty hard right at this moment...

We settled in for the night at Lysebotn Campground which has to be one of the most beautiful camp grounds in the world.  The photos don’t do it justice, if you try to imagine the perfect camp ground you might say ‘it should be soft and grassy, maybe with some snow capped mountains in the background’ you might also include friendly staff and a nice little pub nearby.  This place had all of that, but to top it off it was located at the end of a beautiful turquoise fjord with a waterfall cascading down the side of the cliffs finishing almost on top of our tent.  Not to mention that the pub had a chef that could make a roasted half chicken, pork filet and dessert to die for.

Satisfied from dinner, Dad and I shared a couple of beers and wines as we watched videos of base jumpers in the local area (I am definitely going back to Kjerang to do that one day!) and played an epic game of Uca.  As Dad wandered off to bed, I wanderd out to the jetty rod in hand and fished well into the night, knowing that this would be my last night in Norway… still nothing… but I can’t imagine much of a better spot to catch nothing…

Final Day in Norway

It was a perfect morning as we opened the flaps of our tent to gaze out onto a calm fjord and watch the sun glisten off the waterfall.  It wasn’t a hard decision to rent a canoe and spend our last morning in Norway paddling and fishing the Lysefjord.  There is nothing quite as relaxing as fishing from a canoe and Dad and I spent a good few hours paddling about, fishing, talking and just generally taking in the natural beauty of our surroundings.

Dad fishing the Lysefjord

As we started to head back to shore, I was beginning to give up on the idea of catching any fish in Norway but in my mind that did not matter so much, I knew there were fish to be caught in this beautiful country, I had spent five amazing days with my Dad driving through narrow twisting roads between snow capped mountains, fjords, conifer forests, vast lakes and crystal clear streams hiking some of the most spectacular trails in the world,… and I had fished some of the most beautiful places in the world.

As is usually the case when you are fishing, as my find started to drift, I was suddenly brought back to reality with a sharp tug on my line.  I almost fell out of the canoe in excitement as the fish pulled against my light tackle, I couldn’t say exactly how the long the struggle lasted but finally… I managed to land… this monster salmon!?

Monster Salmon!

06-08-09

Some Dry times… or were they

So Steve and I have finally graduated which I might say feels great. As you may have noticed we have been a little inactive for the past weeks which solely had to do with the exams consuming all of our time, meaning no fishing. We were so excited to get back on the water we decided to set out to go fishing the following weekend. This proved to be  not as simple as we thought.

Now I must say one of the consequences of graduating is a celebratory drinking binge to make sure you forget everything you have learned the past year. I must sadly confess that our Bacchanalian exploits that weekend did cause us to oversleep the next morning. Everything however was not lost, waking up still drunk I somehow convinced Steve to go fishing. We somehow managed to get to the river lodde. It was a beautiful day, sunny and the temps in the 30s. We started by walking down the river to find a nice secluded spot. We found a nice spot and started fishing. Very quickly though we could not help but take a nap, a bad idea since we both completely fell asleep which proved to be the end of any chance to catching some fish. We ended up waking after several hours with some severe sun burns.

We also managed to get some more fishing done later that week. Our class managed to rent a beach house at Skanör to celebrate so we thought it would be some great multitasking skills to party at the beach house and fish at the same time. The beach ended up not being the typical beach I am use to. First off it resembled more of a marsh than a sandy Californian beach, secondly half of the beach was for nudist which at first I thought was great being in Sweden until we quickly realized it consisted of nothing but old men,  thirdly the beach ended being a huge sand bar which you could end up walking out for what seemed forever and Fourthly there were absolutely no fish!  Walking out on the sand bar the water was perfectly clear so I kept an eye out for any sign of life but the beach was barren, I didn’t see any bait fish seaweed or any bones of what once may have lived there. This beach trip quickly changed the focus from fishing to drinking after that.

All in all we ended up having some dry lines but some wet gullets.

All in