Fishing with new big ties 17/8 2013

Sorry for not posting anything for a while,have been busy with this and that,and of course I have been lazy also.
Anyway there's not much to tell you about,was out fishing last weekend,this time with flies only which was a bad decision because of a wind lying around 10 m/s and flies big as seagulls and a 9 weight rod,think my longest cast was no more then 15 meter.
Surprisingly I still managed to catch some fishes,but still dropped a lot ,two of them felt a bit bigger than the fishes I caught.

Not any monsters as you can see,no matter,love them all.
One thing that I have to deal with is that fishing with flies wasn't effective as it would have been with lures in this wind,was at one of my better spots,the wind direction was nearly perfect.Only it could have been a bit less of it,4 maybe 5 m/s and it would have been perfect.
can't really explain it but I left this spot with a feeling I didn't fished it effective enough,I'm almost sure I left some big guns unhooked here,
One reason might be that I have increased size of my flies,fished all day with my new creations which are 30-35 cm (11-14 inches) long,might have been too early for flies this big ???
Didn't fish systematic either,some casts here and some casts there and then moved on,that's not the way I use to go for,some mental training will cure that problem :)

Here is some of my newest ties,big hopes on them later on when the water cools down a bit.

And finally some photos from the trip and after it.
Will go out both Saturday and Sunday with some new tricks in my pocket so hopefully there will be something to write about.

A pike adventure 3 August 2013.

If this would be a fairytale it probably would start someway like: four guys,one target etc,etc but this is a story of last weekends adventure chasing pikes on a big shallow area in our beautiful archipelago in southern Finland.

Me and my brother planned this trip for about two weeks by carefully study maps and finally yesterday I found myself sitting in my kitchen drinking coffee 4.00 am,tired but still felt excited into the bone.
have packed and checked my stuff all week so everything was ready in my car and after three cups of coffee I jumped in my car and begun the seventy km:s drive to the meeting point down at a familiar dock.

was down at the shore right before 6.00 am,unloaded my car and waited couple of minutes for rest of the guys to arrive with the boat to get me and all my stuff.

Our destination was at the outer islands a very rocky and shallow area so our plan was to go with my brothers boat to a small islet and splashing and paddling around with floating tubes and me in my kayak.
have to say that my brothers boat,a Buster L looked very small with three floating tubes,one kayak,fly and lure boxes,rods,reels,food bags and as a cherry on the cake four more or less excited fishermen in it.

The weather was shitty for fishing,very calm,a small northern breeze,sunny and warm,but we were still hopeful that there would be more wind far out at our destination area.

We arrived to our camp islet about 7.00 and started by unload the boat and loading floating tubes and my kayak,then some coffee and some tactical talk,how where and when we were going to fish.

It was a inexplicable nice feeling when my kayak came of the shoreline and slowly glide out from the bay where our boat was.

As you can see,no wind,no clouds and I can guarantee you it was warm too.
At this stage I thought that Murphy's law was a heartless,ruthless bitch.Whole week we had rain and wind while we all were forced to work and now.....
Anyway,still hoped for some deeply bending rods because we also had a chance to fish in some deeper water too but there was more to come.

It really was more to come,in form of a boat race close to were we were fishing....Bad karma or something,don't know.
Anyway,started to fish a long shoreline while I let my kayak drift along the shoreline,two,maybe three minutes and I heard/saw my brother land his first one,couple of minutes later I grabbed my first one too,a small one but the game was on.
Couple of minutes later I landed my second one,checked were the other guys was but they were pretty far behind already,decided still to let my kayak drift along the nice looking shoreline.
I went into a large bay with a water depth from 1.3 meters to 3.5 meters and some rocks here and there,reed too,landed couple of fishes but XXXS sized pikes was not was I was looking for,still took some photos.

Took a call to my brother but nothing revolutionary there either.
I paddled further down the shoreline until I arrived to a small bay which looked good so I decided to anchor here.
This place seemed to be a good place but only in numbers,not size,caught at least seven,maybe eight pikes and a small pearch too,first one this year I think ?

Anyway,to catch small jack's one after one on same spot is not that entertaining I could do for hours when I got a huge area to explore so I lift the anchor and paddled further but not too far before the noice and traffic from the boat race made me turn back,started to fishing the outer area and all small islets of the shoal we were on.
Landed some fishes and took some photos too.

On my way back I met the other guys and we had a break and they told me that no big guns for them either.

After a break I paddled on the edge of the shoal fishing in much deeper water but no hits at all so after I had arrived to the camp and had me a warm meal I went on my second round fishing more shallow areas again.
After some time I reached the other guys and fished with them all the way back to the camp were we had a short break and started to pack our stuff  back into the boat,eleven hours of fishing resulted in decent amount of pikes,lots of fresh air and experience to all of us.
Murphy's law decided to hit us one more time,when we was on our way back  the wind increased just enough to be at least decent "pike wind".At this stage we just laughed to that.
Next weekend I'll have to work but after that I hope the autumn fishing start seriously.

Updates and tying.

So,five days more to go for a new pike adventure I wrote about in my last post,study the shoal on a map closer and with no hurry and noticed it's going to be a tough task to fish every inch of that place in just one day so MAYBE a tent....and two days of fishing could ease the pressure here :)
I'm also unsure if I will fish from my kayak or is it gonna be floating tube

The area is huge,it's about seven km long and nearly two km in wide with reed pockets and rocks both on and under the surface,pot holes here and there but with water level from two to six meter and outside the shoal the water level is from ten to nearly thirty meter so many different fishing situations can be faced.

Have also updated some things behind the scenes which I'm gonna introduce to you now:
First of all I bought me a new DH-rod,Vision Cult 13,8 ft line weight #9.
As a reel to that beauty I choose Vision Tank #11.

Hoping for one Autumn trip to Langinkoski later on...

made also an impulse buy: a ABU rod made of glassfiber for an old reel,maybe some nostalgic fishing sometime...Who knows...

And my latest add is not for just fishing even if I had that in my mind too when I decided to buy me a new car (not a brand new),a Wolkswagen passat,a stationwagon model mostly for my fishing gear.

 Closing in for early Autumn fishing too so even if I really didn't need new flies I still wanted to tie some.
These are tied in Niklaus Bauer style  with dry fly hackle,big fly fiber and Lateral scale as a tail,then different flash in a dubbing loop and finally Sculpin wool as head except that green/gold fly which has Marabou as head because I didn't had any orange colored Sculpin wool.

Hope to get these flies in test in front of judges next weekend,especially the green/gold because I have not caught too many fishes with that combo even if I have heard so much praise for it.
It might be my next mission,a pike with green/gold.

Summer 2013 Memories

Have to admit that my summer season is over but what a season,9  +100 cm fishes landed and a bunch of fishes between 90-99 cm made this season my best ever.
Not only the fishes made this summer memorable,also my paddling trip to my early childhood fishing places were nice and a pretty small jack was my most memorable fish in many years,about 40 years since I caught my first pike here.

Also my bad sunburn will get a place in my memories,like my bleeding thumb too.
I can't really find nothing but nice memories from this summer and a big thank's to that belong to my kayak,a Commander 140 which opened a whole new world for me.
My fishing is not anymore just fishing,it's a combination of silence,no hurry,enjoing nature,landscapes and taking photos and my latest add is to make my trips cosy and peaceful is to have real warm food in a food thermos with me,waiting for cold autumn afternoons sitting on some small islet eating real warm  food and listen to the silence and feel nature getting ready for the long cold winter.
Anyway,have made some collage of "better fishes" and some other things from summer 2013

This weekend will not be anything else but work but next weekend will be an early season opener for my Autumn season,and I hold my fingers crossed up to my elbow that me and my brothers plan will become true.
We found on a map a huge shoal pretty far out from the shoreline.We gonna go with boat to a islet close to that shoal and from the islet we gonna go fishing with floating tubes or maybe I will use my kayak,have to see weather conditions...Can't wait,stay tuned :)

15.7 Fishing of my life.

Once again I have to keep a pause in my fishing because of different reasons,no wind and extremely hot on top of all reasons.
Was very early out at sea this morning and even if the forecast promised some wind and a bit cooler there was no wind at all and a air temp around 20 c degrees already at 7 am,not what I wanted but nothing I could do about it so......
I was just about to launch my kayak when my brother called me,he was out fishing with some of his friends and we decided to meet at  one of mine spot.
With no wind at all paddling was quick and easy,I came to a shoal and made just one cast and to my surprise I managed to land a very small jack with my first cast on a place I never had succeed earlier,maybe not a bad day after all.
Made some more tries but nobody home anymore.
Paddled to our meeting point and talked to guys but no fishes for them this morning.
We were fishing on a spot that has been kinda productive this year but with no wind and five guys fishing a small area wasn't that fun I would have loved to continue,maybe I should have....
i wasn't too far when  in a short time get two messages of some decent sized mam's caught in no time,well,you can' always win.
Went on trying to find some windy places and no long before I came to a place were i had a + 100 cm landed not so long ago.
A small breeze but at least in right direction made me parking here,at least until I found something better to do.
Fished some time here and landed 6-7 pikes but the size was XXXS.Here was really a lot of these small buggers.

No need to stay here longer teasing these baby's so I decided to have a lunch and while eating my brother and his friend arrived but when I told them here was only baby's they decided to go on to a bay not long way from here.
After finishing my lunch I slowly started to paddle after them but stopped at a reed edge to let them finish their fishing first,at this spot I landed my biggest fish so far at this trip,probably at least 60 cm.....

Well,soon I saw my brother and his friends came out from that bay waving me goodbye so I decided to paddle in but started to from the other end than they did.
Can't describe the feeling but somehow I had faith in this place and believe me or not but after some minutes I had a real fight partner at the other end of the line,and minutes after that I posed with a ma'm measured 106 cm.

My "dream season" seem to continue,oh maaaaaaan this really made my day but there was more to come.
from the same anchoring some casts later among all reed I felt a big heavy tug and If possible this ma'm was even more aggressive then the first one,she made a super nice jump high up from the water,and "danced" on the surface with only her tail touched the water,shame I didn't have my GoPro cam with me.

A 102 cm very skinny ma'm Made this day to one of my best this summer,Had to just sit and enjoy this feeling,it might be ordinary stuff for someones but for me this was dream fishing.
Had me some coffee and sandwiches and wonder should it be better stop fishing here with a superb feeling or just continue even if it could be blank from now on.
Had my kayak in perfect position to cast in every direction so I decided to make some more casts,dropped some small ones,landed some small ones and I was just about to move on couple meters when i once again felt something bigger at the end of the line and even if it wasn't a + 100 cm it was big enough for me to call this a "big gun" and made this to my most memorable day for a long time

Even if there would have been hours to fish I decided to not tempt fate,no need to be too rapacious now when I already have had the time of my life so I started to slowly paddle back to the shore with a big smile on my face and with a happy mind,this is how all hobby should feel.

3 days of fishing.

Was a bit afraid if the water has become too warm for pike fishing but decided anyway go out paddling  with some coffee and food with me just in case that my day would turn into a fuckin picknick instead of fishing.
I had a four day off from fishing because last time I was fishing I got me a bad..no...I mean BAD !!! sunburn on my legs which was aching so much I barely could walk.

But everything except the weather was fine for some fishing/paddling so out on the water was the name of the game.
The weather was extremely hot so I had no big expectations for today  but I love to be out at sea so no panic.
paddled around casting every now and then,landed some small jacks,took some photos and just enjoying the silence and the landscapes.

After a couple of hours paddling around I stepped on a small islet to eat something,and while I was eating I noticed that the wind went stronger and stronger and after 15 minutes there was whitecaps on the waves.
Now I started to believe that I could land some bigger fishes but very soon I found that it was too dangerous to continue fishing so I paddled along the shoreline back and ended this trip.FUCK YOU WEATHERMEN !!!!!!!!

Next day seemed to to be a bit better even if it was very hot there was at least some light breeze so....why not.

Knew the wind direction and planned my trip on that base.
from the first three-four hours there's not much to tell you about,some small jacks and coffee breaks.

Was already about to give it up but decided to checkout one more place and go home for dinner.
Thank god I decided to fish this place,landed three pretty decent sized fishes in no time.let my kayak drift along the shoreline and about two hundred meters before the end a train hit my fly and I knew it was more then just a "nice" pike,put some pressure on the fish and with a landing net I managed to land the fish before it was too exhausted.
a nice 102 cm mam was the result of the last spot.Fishing feel so good right now.

It's always nice to end fishing after a 100 cm (39 inch) fish.

Next morning when I woke up I had a strange feeling inside me,I wasn't sure if I wanna go fishing,had me some breakfast while I was looking out from my livingroom window.
The sky was grey,no wind,very hot.
after an hour of thinking should I go or not I finally decided to go.

I was at the shore about 10 am and a 150 km driving changed the weather too,it was sunny,not so warm because of a pretty fresh wind and of course it was against me first 4 km:s but it console me a bit to think that on my way home I'm gonna go with a tailwind.

Anyway,it was very heavy to paddle so I was in a need for a break right after the first planned spot which gave me a blank draw after an hours trying.
 I wanted to have something to eat but not in my kayak,saw a small islet and decided to have my break on it.

i felt much better after some sandwiches and coffee and started to paddle to my next spot which wasn't too far away.
Not too far before I landed my first one and a minute after that I dropped two in a row,fished a couple of spots until I arrived to my final destination,expectations was sky high....
Two hours later and only four small buggers was definitely not what I expected from this place...
I was sooooooooo fuckin disappointed I needed a second break right now......

While I was drinking some coffee I desperately tried to figured out what to do,got two solutions:
Number one was to paddle back to the shore which was almost first on my list.
Number two was to go a bit further to a place which I had not fish for a while.
I decided to paddle back......Paddled about hundred meters before I suddenly changed my mind,fuck,I'm on holiday,where and why hurry,took me about twenty minutes to get to my destination.
Weather had also  changed from sunny to cloudy and the wind was even more fresh then at morning,whitecaps here and there,thought about my paddling back,4 - 4.5 km with a sidewind and rest 5 km: with tailwind.
Biggest issue was:is there a thunder on it's way?

 
I was here now and nothing I could do about it anymore,looked at my watch,an hour max to fish.
Started to fish among the reed but after about 30 minutes I had only one contact which I dropped just behind my kayak,a very small one so no matter.
Changed the position a bit and with my third cast just outside the bed of reed I felt a heavy hit and the battle was on.
A very aggressive mam who dived under the kayak,30 meter long runs into the reeds,at one time I thought I dropped it and that my lure had twisted itself round some reed.I ripped and ripped and felt she was still hooked,Oh boy what a ride but after some minutes she was landed.
Could not get an exact measure of her but somewhere between 100 and 106 cm,who care,a big gun at least for me.

As you can see she didn't wanted to co-operate in photos either.
This really made my day,decided to start paddling home,but just a couple casts more and with my third or fourth cast (can't remember) BOOM, once again a heavy hit,
Not a big fight with this one as with the first one but man.....for some of you this might be ordinary but for me it was fishing of my life,second +100 cm in 15 minutes,third in two days.

NOW it really was time to stop,felt so damn good I didn't wanted to ruin everything with "empty" casts.
The wind from side didn't felt bad at all,my thoughts was completely somewhere else.
Wonder what this fella thought about my paddling back to shore with a big stupid smile on my face.