Spey clave

sunnuntai 29. joulukuuta 2013

28.12-2013 Season over.

this date will be remarkable for some reasons,first of all,it was definitely last trip for season 2013,mixed up feelings with that,I mean..season 2014 continues 1 of January so only four days after 2013 ends,does it make any sense ? well,who really care,about starts and ends,nice to be able to fish.

I rather remember this trip for the second reason because it was one of my best ever.
woke up before 6 am so for once I was in time at the shore.In fact I was there so early  it was dark as in Batmans cave so I really took my time to load up my gear,even if there's not many boats out this time of year You will always end up in second place if you collied with a boat so I wanted at least some daylight before I was going to push out my battleship.
Have launched my kayak several times from this place so I saw immediately that even if the wind was strong it came slightly from a bit different direction than last time which meant I was able to get to that bay I had study from the map for a time already and often drive past it with my boat,I was pretty excited.
Had my kayak ready at shore,had changed my clothes including my new "lucky hat",fishing gear was ready so I had some time to think about what fly to use.
decided to go big immediately and ended up with a bream pattern I tied just a day before.


38 cm of ass kicker.
Couldn't wait no longer so I jumped in my kayak and I would have wanted to stay at some nearer places I resisted the temptation to do so and paddled straight to that bay I had in mind.
A very tough trip to paddle I have to say but I was SOOOOO pleased when my battleship slowly glided in to position at dawn.

I rested a while after that paddling,put everything ready for use,pliers,hook out pliers and my landing net,now it was time for my first cast,felt a bit bit strange because of the darkness,I didn't see the fly at all but who care,there was somebody else who saw it :)


A good start.and there was more to come.
Had some daylight even if it still was dark outside,bright enough to see a big splash when a slightly bigger mama attacked my "bream" and we had a fight on.surprisingly much energy in these pikes caught lately even if the water temp is no more then maybe 3-4 degrees celsius.anyway,couples of minutes later I managed to land her and was pleased when she posed with me like this.


After this fish I just sit and enjoyed a cup of coffee and think of my next move.
Decided to continue with same fly at same place and after two small jacks I once again felt a better hit at the other end of the line,and without more talking I posed with the second mam.


must be my lucky day :)
After this one I fished this spot for a while without more contacts so moved a bit but only 15-20 meters and immediately I had jack after jack landed,five or six in a row at best but felt it unnecessary to tease this small ones more and moved again 15 meters.

At this spot I just had to change the fly because of a massive amount of reed just under the surface and my bream was tangled in them almost  every cast,I choose my reliable color combo.


A pattern that is perfect for a place like this and not many casts before it started to deliver fish after fish and also some better ones like this for example.


Fished for a while with many small fishes.
Landed something between 30-40 pikes with some really beautiful mam's.Used only five flies at the whole day,no need for more if you only choose the right ones :)))

Anyway,I didn't fish places on my way back,had so good feeling about this season ender that I didn't wanted to risk that of blanking a spot.
from here it's really good to go to 2014 season.

Boxing day fishing

Now the weather is really cherish us fishermen,can't remember when I last time was able to fish this time at year,but no complains about that,just to enjoy.
So even today,way too much turkey,casseroles and other Christmas delicacies has been eaten in last two days so it was extra nice to come out in fresh air a bit.
Weather was windy as it had been for several days so no suprice when I saw those big waves when I arrived to the shore.
Only thing that they changed was that I knew that I wasn't able to fish on the windy side at all and to fish in totally calm water which was gin clear would be very challenging.
Decided to paddle to a place that had delivered fishes earlier in autumn,spent many hours there and landed some fishes which was small,in fact very small.
I was a bit frustrated because only a short way from here there was a place which I was almost sure would be some big guns available but because of those big waves I wasn't able to get there.

Not much more to tell you about from this trip I'm afraid.Fished some smaller places on my way back,landed two more XS sized jacks and of course this was to happen too,it was a while since I hooked up myself.



But nothing to worry about,it was barbless so it was just to rip it of and continue to fish.
Didn't for long,felt it was not worth it when you're not able to get to those places you wanted to.
So trip was much shorter than I thought but on other hand,why continue i f you not feel for it,looks like the season still continue.





tiistai 24. joulukuuta 2013

Merry Cristmas

Merry Christmas to all of you.Hope you have a nice and peaceful holiday.


maanantai 23. joulukuuta 2013

Fishing 21/12 2013

Stearing at forecasts like a fool whole week and finally came Saturday when I had some plans to go out fishing again.
Last weekend I had to fish in freezin conditions but now while I was driving to the shore it was like any ordinary autumn morning,+4 degrees,a small breeze around 3-4 m/s ,cloudy and as top of all water level +1 m.
Had a good feeling when I arrive to the shore about 8.30 am and took my time to load up my gear and jumped in my kayak and started to paddle to my first spot just 200 meters away,it was a sheltered sunny place with a water depth around 1 meter.
Started all too well,third cast,first fish on a pink/white fly tied day before.
Fish for a while but no more contacts here,it might have been because gin clear shallow water and a clumsy angler padling all over that made all mam's clouse their mouths.
Moved 200 meters further to a place pretty much same looking as the first but with some wind included.
After some casts without contacts I decided to change tactics,usually in COLD water I use big flies and in FREEZY water I go for smaller flies,now I took a 40 cm copper/orange fly with black head even if the water was freezin cold.
Not many casts before I had my next one landed.Had also a better fish dropped from the trailer hook just behind my kayak.
Decided to make two more casts before paddling to my major target where I had in mind to stay for the rest of the day.
First of two..a cast close to the reed line and immediately I felt that someone attacked the fly,after some seconds I knew it was a better fish.
Cold water made the fight short and it was soon over,not a giant but a nice fish tough,or at least so nice it had to pose with me.seem to be a nice trip this one.


Anyway,had a huge area to fish at my next destination so I moved on,

Weather conditions was almost same as on my last location so I continued with my new favourite fly.

Of some reason I thought fishes would lay close to the shore so that's where I started to fish,
It felt a bit strange to lay your fly on places I had coffeepauses earlier this year.Landed many small pikes before I felt a train on my fly,this must be a bigger one was my thoughts after it ripped almost every inch of my line off the reel and anchored itself to the bottom.
I ripped and ripped to get her on move but honestly she moved when SHE felt for it,at some stage I remember to switch on my headcam and managed to get an epic landing on video which I will remember for probably rest of my life.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10201307685390258&set=vb.1116437012&type=2&theater



It was awesome,pity I didn't took some decent photo of it,as u can see on the vid u don't see the fish too well,anyway,not the biggest but still a nice one and also one of the best fights I have been a part of.
The fish was so exhausted ( me too) so I didn't wanted to harm her more so I just let her recover in my net a while before I gently released her,really hope to meet her again.

Fished for a while without any contacts so I moved a bit and changed my fly to a blue/silver +40 cm now when I saw they worked.First cast,stripped the line and just when I raised my rod for a new cast a small jack jumped after the fly and I had it for some seconds before he shaked his head and disappeared into deep.
Fished for maybe 20 minutes at this place,changed back to copper/orange and started to land fishes again,not any big guns but some nice fishes anyway.
Once again moved a 50 meter deeper into that big bay I was at and anchored my battleship in good position to fish but first I had me some sandwiches and juice,needed some energy after all paddling and fishing.
After I had finished my "lunch" I looked in my boxes after some new fly to get into water but of
some reason I continued with that copper/orange fly which had worked so well so far.
And it continued to work,many landed pikes and also couple of dropped fishes.
Among these all fishes I had also this beauty landed so no wonder I had a big smile on my face while I was paddling back to the shore,packed my car and drove home.


Probably not the last trip of the season,even if I would be happy if I could end my season after a trip like this.

maanantai 16. joulukuuta 2013

Season over NOT !!! Fishing 14.12 2013

Well,what can I say ? Last time I wrote it was about my season over.Guess what,it's not because we have had temps up to 8 degrees and there's still open water so even if the forecasts promise -4 degrees,it also will be sunny and acceptable wind that should be lying around 3-6 m/s so I packed my floating tube in the back of my car and some light setup too.
My new Vision Big Daddy with a foam grip will be combined with a slow intermediate line and a handful of flies will hopefully do the job.




Went to shore at 7.30 am,air temp -6 degrees,a small breeze made it felt much colder.Water level was about  +1 meter.
Major notice was that  the shoreline was open but only 2-3 meter out and there was a fifteen meter wide frozen slice before open water and as I couldn't see it melting quickly or that I was able to go trough it I had no choice then to find another place to launch my tube.






Drove around for a while and finally found a place with open water and quickly changed my clothes and pumped up my tube and went out in the freezing water.
Normally it would have been annoying to see that ice blanket lying all the way on the shoreline but it was nice now,I was at some kind of extra time when I once thought my season would be over,but here I was,laying out some line.




I let my tube go with the flow,making casts closest to shore I could make,every 8-10 casts and I had remove the ice from the line guides.





Frozen line guides wasn't the biggest issue,but a leaking pontoon was close to it.had to go back and get the pump with me.
Once again I let the flow take care of direction and made casts while I was drifting.
Landed my first fish on a place I had already drifted trough,nice....
I was enjoying my life now,sun came up and warmed up the air a bit,and Thought it was time to go for a Orange/ Red fly instead of the Pink/White starter,and not many casts before it payed of in a form of a biggest fish of the day,still a small jack around two maybe two and half kilo.
Now it was once again time to clean my line guides and to pump some air in the leaking pontoon.
Had some problem to get my way through the ice to a small islet but with some PERKELE and SAATANA I managed to get my feet hit the ground and decided also to have a sandwich and coffee.
Of some reason I didn't felt too comfortable.
The reason was that fuckin pontoon,why the hell didn't I take my kayak instead,warmer….faster….more gear…
Sun started to shine while I tried to get that frozen pump to work,I didn't managed to add much air so I decided to end this trip here.
With very little air in one pontoon I started to kick myself back to shore,casted some casts and surprisingly managed to land a small bugger,look like the sunshine activated pikes a bit but unfortunately I  had to think of my own safety so went back to the shore and packed my car and went home.
Good news is that our always reliable forecasts promise temps up to amazing +6 degrees,if that's the case you can still read about at least one trip out there for pike.Now I got some new ties in mind which need to carry out to reality.

perjantai 6. joulukuuta 2013

More experiences of fly lines.

It has been a while since I have talked about fly lines,still I'm not an expert of fly-lines but I got some more experiences now a few years later so I can tell you my opinions.
Please notice that what I'm writing about here isn't any absolute truths,just my opinions !!!


Well,what have I learned in these years,at least I have learned that there's big differences in weights even if they are classed for example nine weight,also I have learned something of how different tapering affect my casting.
Also gonna come up with durability which has left me a thought that at least one famous fly-line should do something about it.

My first line (for pike) was a Guideline pike in eight weight which I can't say much about simply because I didn't have any other lines to compare it with,bought it because heard so many praises from many users.
Fished with that until I heard big boys using nine weight equipments and after buying me a casette reel I was able to easily change lines in middle of a fishing session.

Will remember my first nine weight lines were
-RIO Scandinavian pike
-Guideline pike i/s2 ?
-Guideline pike floating

RIO and sink model of Guide was mostly in use and both are IMO good lines,they both fitted all my rods,I might like a bit more RIO line in extreme cold conditions,and don't get me wrong here,RIO will turn to very stiff too but not as much as Guideline did.
Durability of both lines were good,still got Guideline left and RIO came to it's end this spring after 4 years intensive use.

My floating Guideline is still not used a single time,have not needed it.
Vision Big Mama was also tested but didn't like it with big heavy wind resistant pike flies,too thin running line and too long head IMO.
Also my next lines were from Vision,Big Daddy,a natural choice to my Vision Big Daddy rod,they fitted most of my other rods too.Slightly overweighed with a short head but they really matched each other and worked well in freezy conditions too,still wanna point out that no line work perfect in cold water IMO but this was the best I had tried so far.
This combination was mostly my first choice for a long time until a guy built me custom line,or two actually,one slow sink and one fast sink mostly for boat use.
These lines are heavily overweighed,built of a DH shooting head and a running line welded together and works like a full long line in action.
Built from a DH head means that it has to be cut from the back part which means it has no front taper at all which mean it turns over big flies even if your casting technique isn't perfect or if you cast in tough windy conditions like I often do.They also work quiet nice in cold conditions.
If I have to say something negative about these lines it's that they not match all my rods,in fact they fit only my Vision GT4 SW and Big Daddy,well no line is perfect but these are close to it,at least for my use.
Anyway,I had searched for some "normal" lines that could be bought from shops too and after read many praises from different users I felt I need to give a try to RIO Outbound short.
My first experiences from this line was that it felt also heavily overweighed but not annoying much.
It worked well with my both Hardy Zane and Guideline LpXe RS V2 rods and I thought I finally had found it,only action in cold water was a mystery.
Had already heard some rumors of shitty durability but my line was just fine,but suddenly under just one trip big parts of the coating just fell of and left the line core left.





For me it proves that it's not just some few examples that has bad quality,it's a bigger problem with the quality,too many coincidences here.

My latest addd to my line family is Airflo 40+ Sniper for cold water use which has been tested just couple of times so it is a bit early to say anything absolute about it but my first sentiments was it is a bit overweighed,and it felt surprisingly stiff,it wasn't that cold yet,it might be smoother after some more use.

I'm still searching for a perfect line or should I say I'm looking for a perfect rod/line combination,I'm still hoping to get some more tests with my Airflo line with my other rods than just Visions not to mention rumors that there's a new rod/line combo from Vision coming out in February.
Until then my testing will continue.


Season over.

So,sitting at home on my couch "celebrating" Finlands 96 birthday in a heavy snowfall and stormy wind finally admitting my season is over,had a plan to go out fishing today but a phone call from a friend confirmed my suspicions were right,shoreline had a ice  cover on it and this heavy wind at latest ruin my plan but funny how I don't feel so devastated I use to feel in these situation.
It might reflect from my outstanding season memories,almost feeling my fishing has raised to a whole new level.
This winter I got a lot to do,biggest thing is to feature my boat for next season,with a Ipilot front engine mounting as a main target,including battery and wires and main switch too,also got some plans to add some rod holders.some smaller things too,like some solution for fly/lureboxes to be easy to get to but still be out of my way,small maintenance to the main engine.

Only one thing annoying me and that,s my latest trip,it was a fuckin blank draw,in other hand,maybe it was a reminder that even a good season include bad days.
Took some landscape photos because the fishes didn't wanted to co-operate.



As you can see on those photos winter was on it's way even then.
I don't have much more to write about right now so I thought to add some photos of my latest ties here,more to come,four to six months time now to tie.











perjantai 22. marraskuuta 2013

Catch the moment release your passion Part I

Have wrote this blog for about four years now but fished long before I started with it.And there has been a lot of changes in both fishing methods and in my fishing conduct and scheme of things.
Even if this season has been fantastic in many ways,not least because all imo big fishes landed they have also made me think more and more about pikes welfare after releasing which mean some proper handling of it.


I live in Finland,I fish in Finland and I fish for pike so I'm gonna talk mostly of how I see our fishing culture of pike here but everyone can and should take a break and think about their own fishing and is there something that could be done better.I would be very surprised if the answer would be no.
I have gone through times when every catch was killed and eat while I was fishing with my dad,not because we were forced to,just because it had always been so.My grandpa learned my dad who learned me,the cycle has stopped now when I have tried to learn my kids,especially my youngest daughter who fished a lot with me some years ago,for proper fish handle,And have to say she is very good in for example pike handling,she has never used lip-grips or jaw spreaders,not even when she was ten years old,she's study now so she don't fish much these days but hopefully she will continue with it some day and spreading her knowledge of pikes welfare to her kids.



Pike protection,two words our ministry of fisheries who decide of all fishing probably never heard about even if there has been big debates of salmon protection.
Nothing wrong with protecting salmon,I just feel it's a bit annoying that a land with over 180.000 lakes,a land with 4600 km shoreline has been able to drive our salmon population to the brink of extinction.
Now because of the ongoing discussion something is on way to be done for lake-trouts and for salmon,but what about pike ?? Right,nothing...
So far we have a strong population of pikes but an increasing fishing pressure on many places has made me think that it would be good that some kind of protection should be done already before pike population is in same condition as salmon,sea-trout for example.
Lake-trout is protected for it's spawning time,I think pikes should also be protected for the spawning time,concerned about to see 4-7 boats with 4 anglers in each boat in a small bay where pikes have come for spawning,throwing lures and flies all over disturbing them.
Another thing that concerns me a bit is in how many photos on Finnish sites including posing with bogas,slaughtered pikes and in overall lack of respect for their catch,I can't say that's wrong because it's not illegal,still hoping for some common sense here.Only on couple of sites from eastern Europe including more these kind of photos.
Sweden and UK sites is a example of how I would like to see our sites in future.IMO much better photos when fish has been treated properly.



Anyway,I can't change laws so only thing I can do is to influence my own behavior.
These days you can find a lot of knowledge and information from internet,Youtube is a place you can find information with short film clips included.Nobody are professional from beginning but with right attitude and will everybody can learn proper handling,and because pikes has no laws or rights to protect them it's all up to us anglers and our common sense.
For me treating a pike properly with respect is a lifelong training because I don't think there's just one way to do it.There are some basics which I have refined with pikes welfare in sight,and many things that helps me to.

Lip-grips and jaw spreaders remind me more of some medieval torture device than some helpful tools for any responsible angler.
Unhooking mat,weighing bag,a scale and some good quality pliers belong to basic gear,but I'm using only pliers of those basic gear anymore.
Mostly fishing from kayak or a boat with low sides I have found out that Savagear XL landing net has been an outstanding help for me,when getting the pike near me I just take it into that net,it's so big I don't need to lift the pike from the water,the fish is in a "cage" and usually calm down when I ease the line pressure and it's much easier to handle the fish now.

MY new things for pikes welfare starting from next season is that I'm not gonna measure it anymore,gonna go with three basics,Small,average and big.No more cm or inches for me but gonna give a serious thought for using a glow when landing a fish.
For those who wanna be a part of spreading the word of pike welfare or learn proper handling for pike please go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/352288061560645/  and find out what it's all about.

The direction of pike handling is on the way to right direction which is good even if there's still along way to go.
Most of my foreign friends says all the same,we got a wonderful nature,huge potential for fishing tourism,why the hell aren't you making most of it ? Good question…


maanantai 11. marraskuuta 2013

Fishing 9/11 2013

My first plan was to go to Hanko to catch some seatrout and to test out my new Vision Silver rod and same manufacturers Kust line but after series of coincidences I ended up to some familiar places to fish for pike,and also to test a new family member,Airflo 40+ Sniper line for cold water.
Was that late down at the shore I knew I would be able to fish for no more than a couple of hours.
Weather was nearly perfect,small wind,water level was high,cloudy and some rain showers now and then so I was pretty hopeful of some good moments.

My first spot was on a windy side of a islet only 20 meters from the shore.
I started with my new line also using a big Pink/White/Silver tie that worked very well in Kemiö last weekend.



Fished for a while but I was really struggling to keep the fly under the surface.It has to be the line because I had no problems with otherwise the same setup before.
I tried for a time but was a bit annoyed because I wasn't able to stay many hours just testing gear,I also wanted to fish a bit.
After maybe thirty minutes I had enough,The line felt stiff,I knew I wasn't going to catch anything with a fly that acted like a dry fly so I decided to go for my reliable custom line built from a DH shooting head and also wanted to test my new or should I say latest tie I had inspired from my last trip to kemiö.
Believe it or not but I have started to tie synthetics again,and much smaller flies too, maybe 15-18 cm long.



Pink should be the color because of the cold water.
It felt amazing how easily I grabbed five more meters with much less power with this setup and also pikes started to co-operate more now.landed some small buggers in a short time but decided to go to a bay not far away in a attempt to find something bigger.
Stopped on my way there every now and then and made some few casts,landed some fishes here too.
When I arrived to that small bay I was like WTF...Three boats were already there,no need for me to go in there anymore this day,wondering a short time what to do and because the clock was ticking I had no other choice than to start paddling back and fish the same places I just came from.
On my way back I of some reason thought of a bigger very shallow bay I don't use to fish too often and decided,hell,why not give it a try.
There was only max two ft water and in most part of the bay only one ft water which was crystal clear so I did not except anything from here.
But amazingly I grabbed fish after fish and even if they were small I really enjoyed my life here.
Was already on my way back when I saw a small hole in the reed wall and because it was a sheltered place I had my first cast perfectly placed into the bottom of that pot,sloooow retrieving,two second stop and BOOM...It was a powerful strike on that fly and at least a bit better fish on,after a couple of minutes I had the fish behind me and put it into my landing net and put my camera ready for one more in my opinion big fish photo.



What a feeling to end my day like this,well,not quite.Made some casts now and then on my way back,with nothing to mention about.
At least I have to say that even if I'm not able to fish for pike anymore this year I will put my rods in store waitng for springtime with pretty good mood.