Some of you might have noticed that I have not posted anything new from fly frontier but it doesn´t mean I have been lazy;to be honest I have tied a lot of flies.
All my flies I have tied lately has been meant to be easy to cast (from a floating tube),big profile and to could be used in super shallow water so as all of us know it has had to handle of some kind of compromise and I have tried different solutions and I honestly think I have been successful with most of mine experiments,only one total disaster.
This was the basic from were I started to think the best solution for me and here is some different testing both in dry and wet look.
Also tried some flies with a muddler styled head but it wasn´t exactly what I was looking for.
This one has been good,at least one fish everytime.
There might be some flies more that I don´t remember but I also tried some baitfish pattern.
And finally my latest two flies in which I have big expectations.Inspired from Simon graham Muskie series.
Next weekend will be a two day session and so far the forecasts have been gently so I´m living in a hope to get something to report to you.
We decided with Pietro earlier at the week to go for a floating tube session on sat 17.11 and after some coffee at a gas station we went down to the shore and noticed a nearly perfect weather conditions for both fishing and floating,six,maybe seven degrees air temp,probably close the same in water.
No rain in sight but foggy and cloudy.
We trampled the short way over a channel to some good looking places and started to fish.
I made one difference to my usual starters and started with dark colored flies,one that was tied just for this trip.
But no contacts with this one,Pietro had some brighter colors but no hits on his flies either so we decided to move on a little bit and soon arrived to a long but narrow channel were I last session had many contacts.This time there was a heavy flow and at least I had some difficulties to maneuver my floating tube so I felt pretty exhausted when I finally reached a shelter bay.
Pietro who is younger and is in better shape than I fished more accurated in the channel but no contacts for him neither.
This bay was sheltered and super shallow no more than 80cm water on it´s deepest part.
I moved close among the shoreline and headed my casts away to the middle of the bay when I heard a splash 20 cm:s from the shoreline.A rapid perfunctory cast close to were I heard the splash and before I started to retrive the line I had my first contact for the day.
This was probably the smallest catch for the season so far but the game was on.
Pietro also landed his fist one close from were I also got mine.
Clock was ticking and we decided to slowly let the flow take us back but of some reason I moved to an another channel and after a while I thought I saw an even better looking place and moved further away and after a while still further and after some time we both were at very good looking place fishing in a pretty heavy wind.
It would have been easy to let the waves and flow take over and just drift back to the shore we were so close to another sheltered bay at this moment so we decided to check this out as a last mission for the day.
I tested different flies but with no success until I found my Pink/Chartreuse fly (SBS earlier in this blog) and almost immediately I started to catch some fishes,or almost catched.Dropped too many this session.
All pikes were barely attached,not any rage in the attacks so that might be one reason.Several times I thought my fly was among some waterplants and ups..it was a fish,
Anyway,it´s autumn and the water is cold and we had been in the water for several hours without any break at all,darkness was on it´s way and it started to rain so we decided to start moving back,just before we left Pietro landed a fish but a small one this too.
On the way back to the shore I had a heavy hit on my fly but dropped this also without any eye contact but this one felt like a better one,not a twenty pounder but maybe ten....Who knows.
Even if the tube drifted almost by itself back to the shore I was exhausted.It took me some minutes before I even could walk But the positive thing was that I didn´t freeze at all.
The biggest positive for me was that I really enjoyed this trip,no moaning about all dropped fishes,it was just awsome to go out fishing with good company.Really looking forward to go out again and if it´s about the forecasts then I can set my sights on next weekend.
Was lucky to be able to go fishing last weekend.It felt very nice even if the weather conditions was freezing cold,but this time a very heavy wind was a bigger issue then the cold.
I went to the shore about 7.15 am,twilight and a air temp around one,maybe two degrees,watched at those massive waves banging the shore endlesly and decided to lay out my floating tube from a less windy place even if I had a bit longer way to my scheduled spots.
After I had get my immersion suit on and my tube paccked I start to kick myself out to the sea and the first spot.Very soon I knew that this would not work.
Had no enough power to go against the wind so I decided to let the tube drift and made some casts while I was drifting along the shoreline but wasn´t surprised when I didn´t had a hit on the fly.
After a while I arrived to a small "canal" where it was calm enough to handle the floating tube and also to fish,the canal was so narrow I was able to fish both sides and even if it was meant to just find a sheltered place to fish I think all the fishes was in this canal too,had a lot of them from both sides while I was slowly drifting to the other end and came to a good looking bay,there was an issue,a big issue,it was covered with ice so no fishing there either,the only solution for me was to fish the canal over and over again,you might think it was boring but I can tell you it wasn´t.
Landed something between 10 to 15 pikes at 6 hours,small fishes this time but still I enjoyed every minute.Here is one video recorded from that session.
After that I or let me say my feet needed to get away from that water so next issue was to once again start to splash against the wind but thank god it wasn´t so long,but it was pretty painful with nearly no sense in my feet at all.
Felt very strange to walk from the shore to my car when I couldn´t feel my legs,but after some time and several cups of coffee it was time for the second round,it was shorter,much shorter with just three landed pikes before my feet started to aching that much I didn´t enjoyed my fishing anymore so I decided to give up.
Forecasts promising some warm weather for the next three weeks so Still some hopes to go out freezing my legs and balls of me.
Anybody remember the time when you just grabbed your rod,your tacklebox and jumped in your boat or took a walk to the shore and started to fishing ?
Not that you couldn´t do it again anytime but how many of you honestly do it anymore ?
A lot of electronics has come to our fishing or in some equipment close to it to stay as a natural part of it.
Cameras,mobile phone,hands free stuff to it,sonar,navigator and trolling motors for boat use and not so usual but still excisting reel that start to spooling your line just by pushing a button.With a fish on it also handle the brake if there´s too much tension on the line.
Someone likes a "helping" hand in your fishing and someones don´t,my opinion goes pretty much in middle of it.
I´m using a hands free ear-bud while fishing,on my I-phone you can find a app called fiske loggen where you can do some notes About your cathces including weather conditions etc,etc...,I have camera with me,a waterproof made for though conditions attached to my boat with a rubber legged stand,very handy and cheap.
It really help you if you´re alone in the boat and land your dream fish,instead of pics like this
you can have pics like this,it really makes a difference :)
Newest member in my "Electronic" family is a GoPro hero helmet cam and have to admit it´s nice to watch videos after your fishing,you will deffinately see more videos here on my blog next season,and to be honest I think that even if it nice to watch photos videoclips is the natural trend to let you live your moments again in the long cold winter.
I´m also hoping to have a Minn kota bow motor with I-pilot installed on my boat next season and some update to my sonar/navigation system should also be done but these two is in my long term plans,needs to fix all the necessary things first.
Still working on my allrounder fly,trying different variations,trying to make a compromise of
-Easy to cast
-Big profile
-Good and nice movement
-Made for shallow water
Got some different solutions which will be tested on Saturday,so stay tuned.
Weekend is over and the fishing also for at least a week,just watched at forecasts from TV and I heard a chocking news,we will have a heavy snowfall here in southern parts of Finland.
News like these always cause some nervous palpitation in me,is my season over,still living in hopes of some sessions with my floating tube.
The biggest issue with the snowfall right now is can i get my boat to any workshop.I don´t wanna drive with a trailer in slippery conditions.
Would love to have this repair done this autumn.
If not,it´s gonna be a busy spring.
Have some plans to equip my boat more suitable for fishing but have first to see how much money it will take to fix all the necessary things.
Noticed that surprisingly I can´t take equal amount of flies in my tube as I use to have in my boat so I have tried to figure out some kind of a allrounder fly in my best colors and tied up some test flies which hopefully will be tested next weekend,at least the "bath test" was pretty promising But I will come to this after I have introduced the flies to the judges next weekend.
So...What can I say,went out with my floating tube this morning with a hurry no one has never seen before,I forgot my lunch bag,I forgot my wallet but those things were not important.
I had my fly rod,my tube,immersion suit ETC,ETC.....Only things that count´s.
Went to the shore just some minutes over 7am,small breeze,heavy rain,dark clouds and fog,what more could a pike angler ask for.
In no time I was ready and heading out to my first spot,had my Black/ Silver combo ready for some action and not long after that I arrived to the first spot I landed my first mam,a big fat but very lazy.
Fished from a drifting tube and landed some fishes when I suddenly remembered...My camera,almost forgot I had a helmet cam with me,put it on and continued fishing when suddenly BANG a heavy hit on my fly and immediately the cam on --->
Even if this was a small one it put some pressure on my rod,the fight was over in some minutes and I was slightly disappointed when I saw it was a small one,thought it was bigger.
Even the best sessions have to end at some time,so even this.Eight hours fishing with nearly twenty landed pikes,biggest 6,4 kg (unofficial) and many between tree to five kg:s so have to say it was a pretty memorable day.
Here´s some photo shoots from today´s session.
Not too many photos but the water temp around six degrees kept my fingers in my pockets as much as possible
As it seems to be right now the forecasts has promised me at least one trip for this season which is planned to be at Saturday,+6 degrees,small breeze and rain so not just be able to go for some fishing,even the weather seems to give me a good chance to get some catches.
Was to Lovisa yesterday but only to get my boat out of water and now it´s on trailer at my brothers frontyard waiting for some measures to be made so all fishing for the rest of the season will be from a floating tube which will be nice,it gives you a new perspective to your fishing by getting much closer to the fishes and allow you to fish out places which is impossible with a boat.
So,am I excited ? Oh fuckin yes !!!!! I really am,gonna enjoy every minute of my time spent on water.
Also got some new ties made.Big hopes on my Black/silver combo here without a conehead so hoping to be able for some long stops in shallow areas.
Probably will also try out some poppers with a slow sink line to see if it still work.
Got me a "pearch" pattern tied with some extra flash in case of muddy water.
Gonna go with one rod,one reel (cassette)three lines classed floating,intermediate and a sink2.These equipments should cover most of the situations I can think of.
Two days to go.....
