Every time it is different -- last year it was a bit too cold, this year it was opposite -- almost 25 degrees during the Easter was for sure a bit too much for  sea trout’n. When the water temperature exceed 10 or even 14 degrees, one must have enough patience to hook a silver bullet  during the daytime. Especially under the clear blue sky! So the hot time for  fishing was  from 4-10 at the morning and vary late at the evenings.   Cast after cast  it was all about the patience, feel of the strip and intuition! Flies was not so important as they are sometimes, and not surprisingly  Grey Fred was hanging on the other end of my line at least more that others. Some focus on flies some on  presentation! Here you can see how it was, yeh and it was not too bad…

Share and enjoy!

Fresh fish from Klovstein

Salmon and Norway  are too things that really stick togeather quite strong, and for me its not about farmed fish that can destroy the whole thing in the near future, but about wild ones. This year I had a chance  to visit our EFFA Master instructor Hans Spinler at Orkla in middle of the August – week 33. Of course, as one may suggest it was hard to refuse! In general, Trondheim area, where Orkla enters the fjord, is well known for salmon fishermen since around 1830, when gentlmen from Great Britan came here to catch fish of the liftime! Still you can find reports about 200 fish in 20 days and so on if you are keen salmon fishing historian.  Impressive… However, it was not yesterday – times have changed, but, yep, still Norvegian rivers in this area such as Orkla, Gavla, Namsen (enters different fjord) and also Verdal, are amongst the best world wide and have a plenty of fish to catch. First three mentioned rivers are in top 5 during the last years in Norway. But what is more important – its not about the numbers, but about the size – annually there are reports about fish ower 45 lb and 20lb fish are quite freequently landed. In Orkla, The largest salmon caught and registered weighed 25 kg,  so – it is worth to try!

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That is what its all about!

Just back from what seems to be one of the Europe’s least impacted areas – Lapland. It does not matter, if its Norway, Sweden or even Suomi – if there is some wilderness left in old world thats definitely there! Mountains, valleys, rivers and lakes, crystal clear water and specimen fish are just what all fly fisherman are dreaming about. This time our trip was focused on, yet for us undiscovered mountain area, where trout was the name of the game. Then after, we moved down to valley to catch some grayling too. In the mountains, it is all about how lucky you are with weather and how carefully and cautiously you are with fishing. Trouting in this areas is like hunting – some times you have just one or two casts – not more. These trouts are hard to find and easy to scare – thats why this type of fishing is what i like the most! (more…)

Typical Latvian

Its getting better and better! During the last 3 years our trout stream population have increased in numbers, at least in rivers where I love to fish. Of course, there are no scientific evidence and these are only my observations, but if you constantly land more trout than year before with the same fishing techniques and tactics, this is the only logical explanation one can give. And the best time to judge how many trout are in the particular river stretch is during the mayfly time! One, two or , wow, even more fish in the same corner quietly picking up mayflies in a drift, is just what a dryfly fishermen can dream about.

Kristaps on the move

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At work

Yepp, bit late, but its better now than never. Here is the report from our seatrout trip! You can never know… Last year we where bit late, so we have planed our seatrout trip few weeks earlier this year. It is allways hard to predict when to come, because weather can change pretty fast. In the best case we expected that whater will be arround 6 degrees at arrival and will warm up constantly during the trip. From the wery begginig, actually it was friday’s evening, things seemed pretty good.

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First bow

Its all about temperature… And higher is better, because its spring after all. Last weekend I was exploring some Northern Latvian trout streams, with the aim not only to land some fish, but also to experiment with some new trout flies I have tied specially for this season. As you might remember last week was quite hot and dry, by this waking waters from a long winter sleep and definitely this was the time to get in a waders. Quite a lot of options at the moment one may suggest: chub, asp, sea trout and salmon kelts in Salaca, as well as some trout in our tiny rivers. And also pike season is around the corner! But this time for me it was all about the trout and tiny streams.During the snowy winter time I have tied some flies for the spring and besides all time classics (Woollys and Mudlers) I prepared some new stuff to experiment with. So, this was the moment these flies where waiting for.

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Autumn Bow

Autumn and early winter  of course is spawning time for Salmonoid species – not only for those  from sea but also for freshwater trout. Week ago, I was visiting Armands place in the Northern part of the Latvia, to see how he is doing with his hatchery and to catch some fish. I would say, that this is one of the most beautiful hatcheries I know- located close and taking water from Virgulica creek , it is perfectly suited for hatching different salmonoids including Brown trout, Arctic char, Grayling and even White fish. So, those who are not shure about their fishing suceess, can prepare some nice pictures of fish from the hatchery.  I don’t know a lot of places in Baltic states  where you can see 2+kg brownee or char. I was even more lucky – Armands prepared such a fish for evening, that of coarse was best addition to whiskey, that we shared during the evening talks. Because the different reasons, this year was not so good for business, but don’t worry, numbers of trout and grayling still is enough to supply the rivers and lakes, where Armands  is in charge of stocking.

Opportunities near his beautifully located house are plenty: big stream, small stream and plenty of pounds, offers different opportunities for almost any fly fishermen.

Checking the corner...

During the late autumn, sometimes even in mid November, you can expect some snow here, that virtually makes day longer and fishing somehow funnier. However, the nasty hands of global warming, are also putting some fingerprints here, by changing the snow to rain and freezing temperatures to muddy river banks. Water level in the bigger stream Pededze was a bit more than enough for fishing,  so I focused my fishing activities to Virgulica – small tributary, which holds wild trout, grayling and rainbows. No doubt rainbows are foreign species that are stocked all around the places in Europe, and because of that in general are not so interesting objects for fishing. But here as well as in few more places in Northen Latvia it is little bit different… First reason – some part of fish was stocked years ago, and is feeding constantly on their own, and second, even more interesting, they have spawned successfully few times, so you can expect a take from 100% wild bows. So, its worse to take a try with a fly rod in your hand. Because of the spawning time I was fishing only in the spots where I was not disturbing brownies, with the aim to see how  nice the bows are in winter here.

Brownie after spawning

Fishing was high in spite of the low temperatures, and more surprisingly there where no rainbows in between first five fish I landed. Guess what? Yepp, the brownies. Most likely they where hungry after spawning – even the smallest fish was quite slim, but apparently fast enough to be quicker than rainbows. I did not landed trophy sized brownies, but biggest one was big enough (around 40 cm) to put a decent bend in my beautiful Opti stream rod. When first activity calmed down, I felt a gentle touch to my minnow type streamer, but with no afterword… Hmm… I made another cast, waited a bit more to let the fly sink deeper, and after the second strip – yes! It was a nice take. Completely wild black colored Rainbow was fighting with attitude until I was able to land it. You can not see such a healthy bows in many waters in our region – beautiful tale, powerful body and natural water type color. Armands tend to think that there are few wild rainbows here, so this was maybe the one. During the next hours I landed few more fish, mainly taken on grey minnows, size 8, so I was happy about this short winter day. All the fish was safely released, and lets hope to meet them again next year.

Absolute beauty

At the moment I have launched a Catch and release contest, so get ready for the next year. Authors of best videos will receive awards from LOOP  and certainly size matters here. More info here.

Also for my Latvian friends – I am working to implement a forum in Latvian for 2010, so come back soon to discuss.

All the best,

Reinis

It is well known that in Sweden’s coastal area (Shera garden)  lives one of the biggest pikes in Europe. And so? From the first look 15 kilo fish seems to bee quite good reason to tie some flies and get there as soon as possible, but the main question is where? Especially if you are going to chase the crocks with fly rod! Shera garden is quite big area with the thousands of islands, bays and peninsulas,  where water depths varies from just a few  to 50 and even more meters. Hm, and if you are going to wade instead of fishing from a solid boat you are in trouble, some one may suggest. May be…

Releasing the esox mammy

Starting from nothing but the good map (Thanks to Noris) we where  facing the sea with the fly rod in our hands,  looking for descent fish and deeply bended rods. Bended by pike of coarse!

Getting started

Small harbour and typical shera garden

First evening came with first impressions. In general waters in between sheras was like a endless lake system with the reeds or stones, and of coarse no sandy beaches. Just as expected – this was not our first year here in Sweden. So, we where looking for the spot that is shallow enough to wade and located close to deep waters. Location close to deep waters  would increase the chance to hook really big ones. In my opinion pikes, because of different reasons, are usually laying close to the places where depth are changing suddenly.

The place where we started during the first evening, gave us first impressions – shallow water located far from main sea in between the reeds was muddy and hard to wade.  And opposite  – spots located next to the  stony banks was too deep to wade at all. To be honest, this was not surprising, because from the very beginning I knew that spot search would be essential part in a way to success.  At the evening we continued  search in the map, looking for the shallow places located closer to the main sea. In principle it is not hard to distinguish see depth close to the bank, if you know the topography.  If there is flat land, the sea will also be quite similar and opposite – if there are a hills or cliffs don’t expect to get a wadable waters there.  So during intense discussions we found tomorrows spot.

First attempt!

That`s the place

For sure – next mornings  hopes and expectations was skewed by weathermen. Temperature during the night time was few degrees below zero, and there was only few clouds in the sky. Good day for walking in park or sightseeing, but not for piking. Even worth, a light breeze from the North was not promising at all …  Besides the weather, discovered spots was beautiful – stony, weedy sea bed with a lot of places to hide, some sudden depth change in between flat sections and above everything perfect place for wading. That was exactly the place we where looking for.  But… After six hours of fishing we had nothing more than few lazy takes.  Apparently fish was not active!  Few hours before finish we met  two swedes jerking from a solid boat. They where kind enough, and brought us on the opposite side of the bay, by this saving some hours of walking back to the car. But unfortunately for them, we where the biggest catch of the day.  After the short discussion we figured out that they blanked too and constant lure change was just a poor answer to pikes lazyness. So, if they not take today, they will tomorrow.

Getting better!

There where no significant weather change during the next 24 hours, so situation was quite the same in the next morning. We decided to investigate one more perspective place north from our camp. From the first look this place was similar to Baltic lakes, with a lot of reeds and weeds in the water.  Just a solid stones and cliffs was constant reminders that we where on the shera garden. Surprisingly here was much easier to wade, than in similar spots with reedy banks.  Second cast next to the bank, reeds moved a little and finally small pike around 1,5 kilos was trying to bend my rod. If there was one at the  beginning others will follow.  I continued to fish the reedy section and finally was in the touch with the  fish. During the following hour i landed few pikes and missed some takes too.

Pike is not food, but however...

Unfortunately i did not notice any decent crocks weighting more than 3 kilos, but it was just a beginning.  As all good things end some how, also this perspective spot ended with revelation that we must move from here.  Other fellows did not found appropriate and productive areas so we decided to move. Such a decision was made because wading in the other spots was shity hard, and fishing was possible only from boat or float tube.

In my opinion moving away from here was a bit of a mistake – i had a float tube as well as Noris,  so at least for us it was a good chance to investigate these waters. But, hence we decided not to split, we moved from here all together as a team, continuing for the spot search till the end of the day. Some pikes was landed, but not in the size we where after.

I gotta feeling!

Wind gusts 25 meters in a second at the beginning of November, seems to be the worth weather for fly fishing. At least some one may suggest so…  Serious wind, big waves was what we where facing next morning. Perfect, if we would know the place better I supposed. Wind can be very helpful in pike fishing, because sometimes by escaping the waves and searching for calm and warm waters pikes concentrate in certain spots in enormous density. I had an experience in such a situations before, as well as others, so we where hopeful to get the bingo again. Re searching the map and looking for correct wind direction with a compass we found a new promising spot some 50 kilometers from our camp.

6 kilo crock

Bending around the small peninsula, wind was blowing water directly in this perspective bay, forming the quiet spot with a bit calmer water – just the perfect place for pike party. And by coincidence – it was nice place for wading. During the day we examined different parts of this area, with the growing feeling that big ones are around the corner. I was fishing with sink tip line and suspending fly that gave me a lot of possibilities during retrieve – fly was slowly rising during the stop, and jerking down and a side wile stripping. It was already four a clock at the noon, when I reinvestigated the spot that we tried during the morning hours and that gave us few pikes nothing more but up to 2.5 kilos. Wind was blowing constantly so there was a hope that fish would gather here all day long. For sure pikes was active, I hooked one fish just immediately after few casts and another one in following minutes. Size was increasing too – biggest one was around three kilos, still not the size we where dreaming about. Hence here were a lot of potential holding places for big pike I was fishing slowly and carefully. Another cast over the deepest spot and finally – yes a nice touch! I paused, the pike attacked the fly once again and we where connected. Some 90 centimeters of powerful green steel was bending my rod until I landed it. Around five kilos I suspected. Not bad but there should be more. Acting in a same way as before, I landed and released fish around 4 kilos, just from the center of the bay. Another one jumped out of the reeds, missed the fly and was gone. Not bad, for 30 minutes of fishing. It was already quite dark when I still had a feeling that there should be bigger fish in.  Because of the approaching evening I changed the fly to similar but brighter one and moved on. Essential part of the game here is the feeling where to cast, when to pause and yeh, when to finish. Within next few meters I recognized significant depth change where the small ditch was entering the bay. This should be the right place I supposed and landed the fly precisely where I wanted. Water moved a little and… no not yet another strip, fly is suspending and – significant turn indicated the moment when to strike! Wow, that one  was bigger -for sure! A big pikes does not run like hell, they are like submarines cruising down below not allowing observing them until they are exhausted.

Mmmhhh...

When I landed this beauty I recognized that fly is deep and with in the gills, that was bleeding like hell! Fuck, I need to take it in spite of the fact that we already had some fish for evening. Measured at home it was 95 cm and 6 kilos – decent fish but still not the one.

Other fellows also did well by landing one 3.5 and one 3 kilo fish. Noris missed bigger one, because his mono titanium wire came a part. What a pity! That’s the reason why I don`t like mono wires and use a braided instead. My religion for pike is braided titanium, and so far I don’t have any bad experience with them.At the last evening it was time to prepare some nice meal and flies for tomorrow. I knew what I would like and tied it just after the dinner. It should work – no doubt.

Last move!

During the night time nothing was changed in terms of the weather, so we moved to the same spots for the last time. Hence I was the luckiest so far I gave a chance to others and wished all the best when they started to work on my yesterdays beat. I moved little bit North to potential spot recognized from map. Unfortunately in real life situation was different – there was significant depth change just next to the reeds, so wading was dangerous and fish most likely was not here hence wind was blowing the waves in the shore. I moved back and recognized that guys have left, so it was my time to reinvestigate the yesterday’s spots. Approaching was quite difficult here, hence you must walk throe wide sections of reeds and you will never know where you will get. Besides that wading is a little dangerous hence you can easily stuck in some deep and muddy ditches in between this yellow forest. When I finally get to the water I recognized that  somebody was here before – Noris most likely. Anyway, there is always some fish left, so I started to work as careful as possible. Same technique with slow retrieve was good enough for that day too. First fish that I landed in between 5 or ten minutes was something special. But not because it was big – actually it was around 2 kilos. This fish was seriously injured – I suspect that this pike was missing some 30 % of the scales and had some 3 different jaw tattoos on her back. What a survivor! Deep respect, and she did not refused to take my fly! But, what was more interesting – all the injuries was 100% fresh and most likely yesterday was a nightmare for small pike in this bay! So, it was a chance I could not miss…

What a beauty!

At the moment it is quite hard to count precisely how many pikes I landed that morning, but there was quite a few. Within two hours there was some three or for 5 kilo fish one around 6 and several nice pikes around 3 kilos. I did not recognized any small fish here (Not surprising!) and all crocks I landed was laying in the area not bigger that 1 ha. My blood pressure jumped a little, when I recognized that one five kilo fish had a nice triangle tattoo on here back from bigger sister. Of course I was happy about what happened, but still I needed the fish of the trip. 5 and 6 kilos are nice ones but, sometimes you need more. Eriks was watching the action from another bank, and we agreed that after 30 minutes we should finish. Ferry would not wait for us, even if the reason is so important as pike fishing. From the very beginning of the trip I had a feeling that sooner or later I will get what I was after. All morning I was fishing the same spot as yesterday and same one Eriks tried this morning. No chance you say, may be, but not in the case when you have deep belief! When I landed my fly just a few feet from the place where I hooked a 6 kilo fish yesterday I knew, that somebody will stay in this empty living room next to the reeds and deeper water. First strip, water moved a little and I was waiting. You know that feeling when blood freeze for a while until everything starts. Descent take and fight was started! Unfortunately my running line tangled so seriously, that I decided to spool it on, so I had only 20 meters of line to fight the this crock. It took some 5 maybe 10 minutes to land it and yes, this was the fish I was after. I carefully handled it and asked Erik to come over for photo session.

This is it - 104 cm!

Fly was so deep in the jaws that only 3 centimeters from 25 cm titanium pike wire was hanging out. Thanks good my pliers were long enough! Wee took some pictures and measured the fish – it was 104 cm and around eight or nine kilos in weight! Magnificent. Thank`s Erik for pictures! When we released the crock i recognized, that it is enough! Mikus also landed one pike around 4 kilos, Noris had some nice takes so everyone was happy. At least we found what we where looking for!

The moment...

Few things for those who would like to try!

Our team and appropriate car

Instead of possibility to wade, please take into account that water was quite low this year, so it is better to bring or rent a solid boat. You will always have a chance to jump out of the boat and wade a certain sections if you would like to!

Take a good map of area where you are going to fish, and think about the weather impact on certain spots.

Bring a different density lines with you – some places require floaters others not.

If you wade in the dangerous spots dont go on your own!

Always believe that luck is just around the corner, and dreams will come true!

Those whou are not shure about what flies should click here.

You can never know how big it can get! Just a light  touch to your fly, you  pause, pause, pause.. then strike and wow!,  your rod is bending deeper and deeper! Autumn is the time to go out if you are dreaming about big ones. Usually people are tended to think that October is the best month for green alligators here in Baltic states, but i would say its just the beginning for Pike Madness. Why Madness? Hm, maybe because usually people are siting next to the TV when there is cold and windy conditions outside, and not chasing the  fish by standing deep in the water or drifting with some boat around the lake, river or even sea. Sometimes it takes hundreds of casts to get a take, some times ten is enough, so you can never know when it will happen.

Esox Lucius

So, its Pike time, and i`m going to Sweden for the last time this year to chase a big pikes in shera garden, so i decided to put some info here about flies and other essentials to be successful.

Fly Mystery

Many newcomers to pike fly fishing think that good fly is major key to success. I would say in proper hands yes… What i mean with it, that pike fly is not just another fly…  At least for me, pike flies are like a lures for spin fisherman. When i am thinking about new flies I,m  always thinking about how they would swim, look and of coarse  how i must play with them. There are heavy (jig type) flies, suspenders,  deceivers, classical strip bunny’s and many more, each with its own behavior. Late Autumn pike fly for me is big or very big fly that i can play as slowly as possible.  It should move around like a jerk or even dead fish so that pike will get crazy as soon as fly appears. But… And this is the big difference with summer piking, that during the late autumn, pike are not so aggressive on takes. They can watch your fly for ten and even more seconds  maybe follow a little, and sometimes its all what you  expect.  Key to success is to be as slow and as interesting with your strips as possible. That is the reason why may flies are not heavy, at least if i`m fishing in typical mid depth spots.  After the strip  fly should not go down like a hammer, so you can wait and then play with it again in the same layer. Pike is nice fish for us, not only because it is big and take our flies time after time,but also because these fish are always looking up. Even if  your fly is hanging just below the surface in the deeper spot, you can be 100% sure, that if the pike will like how your fly is dancing it will rise and take.  So if you are out, prepare the neutral density flies, so you can adjust to the layer you would like to fish, without grasping the bottom all the time.  I adjust float ability of my flies by adding the  foam,  dear hair or sometimes other material that are tooth resistant. Also it is quite important to use a body materials without natural wool in them. Not only because these flies  become extremely heavy hence absorbing a lot of water, but also because pikes tooth can stuck in the wool and by this prevent a proper hook up of the fish. During the last years i use mainly synthetic materials for  my pike flies, and from natural ones i still like  the buck tail, ostrich or big feathers from a capes. Here I have attached some flies i`m currently using, so you can judge by yourself what is what.

Landing the monster

Aigars with the decent pike and my grip

OK,  finally you have a monster on the other end of your fly line, how you are going to land it? If you are an expert you can land the big croc with your hand by grabbing it by the lower jaw (from below of coarse!), but if you are a novice or you dont like to risk you can use the boga grip. These tools, especially made for salt water big game usage, are pricey and cheaper ones designed for pike are sometimes hard to get. Last Autumn i found a solution by redesigning some  plastic tool from carpenters shop. It was just  30 cents worth and was handling a pike only a little bit worse than original ones. To redesign it you should remove the orange plastic jaws, cut the sides like in a picture, and mount them back.  So, you are ready to get first 30 ponder  with the 30 euro cent boga grip!

You better get prepared, crocks are waiting!

Here come the flies

Redesigned and original

How I cut

Yellow slimshape

Ostrich prey

Pinkhead

Piky

Common Popper

Diving perch

Acid Tiger

Redhead

Black devil

Yellow diver

Another pike box

Ok, i`m back again online, so first I need to finish with promises.

Arriving

When I arrived on 13 of June in Varzina, I recognized that this beauty is like big trout stream in northern Scandinavia – wide river with small islands and different sized pools in between them. Hence this year was my first experience in Kola and I have prepared some flies, I was interested in water color first. There is no such a thing as typical kola peninsula salmon fly – there are blue crystal clear waters like in river Sidorovka, and more tea type like in Kola and Panoi. Here in Varzina water has a slight touch of tee, but in general it is crystal clear. So orange and yellow colors should do the job, one may suggest. I have prepared a different tube flies for this trip, and more less these flies where quite big and bright, hence I was going to fish at the opening week this year, when water temperature are low, yet level is quite high. Unfortunately, when we arrived, water was already 6 degrees Celsius, and level was down for some 50 cm in comparison to typical level you might expect in this week. (more…)