Hi Folks,
I've mentioned my passion for Stockholm and the Pike fishing in the inner archipelago in previous posts and thought you might be interested in a wee report and some pics from my latest short visit.
Essentially, this is a post about FLY fishing in a vast unspoilt and unique eco-system right on the doorstep of a major european city! The picture above was taken a few years ago and is only 20 minutes out of Stockholm.
This was a family holiday break so again I only managed one day of fishing. This turned out to be the best day I've had to date
07.00 left hotel in central Stockholm
to hop on one of the best public transport systems in the world to get to my pick up point.
My usual guide, Jonas (Skarsgardsfiske Stockholm:
http://www.skargardsfiske.se/index.html) was picking me up at 08.00 on the edge of the archipelago (see aerial view here:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=
117997418618580930673.000477242b392cc245689). Everything to the right (East) of Stockholm is the Baltic and is
brackish water. The freshwater Lake Malaren empties into the Baltic in the centre of Stockholm and can be seen stretching away to the left (west).
The weather had been settled for a couple of days which is very important for the Pike fishing. Overcast and bit drizzly to start with.
Motored out past Waxholm to the first bay. First cast with large perch imitation resulted in a solid take but didn't hook it!
This happened another twice in this bay before we moved on. A good start but very unusual not to hook up straight away
The general rule when exploring the numerous bays and outcrops here is to have a few casts around the location and if nothing is showing move on. You need to find the feeding fish. The depth finder and temperature gauge on the boat proved invaluable in figuring out what was going on during the day. This was not used to spot the fish but to note depth and temperature variations.
The next two spots produced 4 more takes but no hook-ups. This had never happened to me before and was very frustrating
The Pike seemed to be coming up behing the fly and grabbing the back half of it rather than hitting it side on as normal. I didn't have any flies fitted with "stinger" hooks in the tail as I don't like these due to deep hooking and tangles if the fish are taking normally.
The only option was to put on a smaller (shorter) fly (size 3/0!)
New location, 8deg water temp rather than the 6deg at last location, same depth (2 metres), first cast with the black/orange fly and wham! the hardest hit of the day! Fish landed and things were looking up.
It was only about 10.00 at this stage and we had been contacting fish all morning. Sun was starting to break through and a slight breeze getting up.
Next bay, and Jonas was getting a bit excited about our prospects this time. He positioned the boat and dropped the anchor so that I could cast in towards the edge of the reed beds. The fly had to land hard against the edge of the reeds and the fish typically followed it out. Very exciting to see the fly a foot or so under the surface and the pike appear behind or from the side!
This time Jonas fed the rope out on the anchor gradually so that we drifted along the edge of the reeds into the bay. He estimated we'd get 6 fish in this bay but by 11.00 I had hooked and landed 8 pristine baltic pike! The temperature at the mouth of the bay was about 7 or 8deg and dropped to 6deg as we got into the shallower end of it - and the pike disappeared!
This pattern continued until I had to stop for lunch at about 12.00 to give my arm a rest!!!
Enjoyed watching deer picking through the summer houses and trees and the general peace and tranquility of the location. This was a Sunday not that far from the main centre of population and we didn't meet another fishing party all day! Fishing is very popular but there is just so much space.
12.30, another bay and the best fish of the day:
I didn't weigh it but when I think about it I really didn't care how big it was - it was a cracker! Maybe one of my future trips will result in a baltic whopper (and I know some will have looked at my fly this trip) but I have no complaints
Unfortunately, something changed after that and we "only" managed another few fish. The sun was staying out and was the only explanation we could think of.
Called it a day at 15.30 after about 12-14 Pike landed and 30+ "takes".
Absolutely fantastic action and enough to keep me dreaming until next time!
Happy to provide more info if anyone wants it.
Chris