Pike fishing and beer...

Spend the weekend a few weeks back with my friends in Särkisalo which is at the southwest corner of Finland by the Baltic Sea. Had a very, very fun time fly fishing for pike, eating mediocre food and drinking lots of beer and red wine.

Mother nature was not cooperative with us because the weather was terrible the first two days we were there, but that's okay cause it left more time for you know what... DRINKING!:).

Even though our time on the water was limited we had about 30 small pikes in the boat that weekend so it was not that bad fishing wise eather. I really enjoy pike fishing, but don't have any real passion for it - it's more of a pass time then a real passioned sport for me. Still it's the best fishing we got here in southern Finland and that makes me a bit sad...

Here's a few pics of the trip.

Tying a tube...

Here's a shitty step by step on how to tie a "intruderish" tube fly. Can't tell you if it works or not? Probaply not:). Sorry about the bad quality pics.

Tie your thread to the tube:

Make a tag/butt with super bright red dubbing:

Tie some white bucktail reversed style. Keep it sparse:

Reverse it:

Repeat it on the other side of the tube and add in some flash:

Tie some peacock on both sides. I tie these also reversed as the seem to last longer that way:

Tie a collar from yellow(dyed) pheasant hackle:

Tie some lead wire on the front section of the tube:

Tie some Pearl flat braid or similar to the back section of the body:

Tie some Caddis green dubbing to the front section:

Tie some white bucktail as a wing the same way as we did the tail:

Add some green dyed amherst tail in the mix. Two strands on both sides:

Tie in a collar from yellow pheasant:

Secure and finish, add some glue and slide in a silver conehead:

The finished product and some...

Let me know what you think about these tubes and the step by step. Now it's time to dig in on that bottle...

What is it about fly casting?

What is so addicting about casting a fly line? This is the question I've been asking myself lately.

I guess it has something to do with getting better at something you love to do and watching that loop unroll nicely in to the horizon. Or is it the agony of those bad days when you feel like this is the first time you've touched a fly rod and you got that feeling that it can only get better the next time you go out?

What ever the reason is, there's just something about casting a fly line and for me especially casting a spey cast with a double hander.

The down side to this addiction is that I have lost a lot of intrest in my local trout fishing. I basically only fish a spot where there's very few fish but lots of room to spey cast:) Which is kinda retarded. And most of my pike fishing is all about casting and spending time on the water and not so much about catching fish.

However...If (and when) I go to a fishery that really motivates me I don't think about casting at all. It's all about fishing and how to get that fish to bite. I couldn't care less about how my loops look like or am I doing something that shouldn't been done. So I'm not totally lost or one of those jokers who can just talk about loops and casting technique even when there's fish to be caught:)

Here's a few clips of my early season casting: http://vimeo.com/39768797 http://vimeo.com/40081752 http://vimeo.com/40225924 http://vimeo.com/40226366

Well, now I'm off to the river again... I just wish this bloody winter would end as I'm itching to do some pike fishing.

Tour de Tuna!

Hi all,

Back home from Panama. Actually I've been back home for a week now but I haven't had the time to write a report.

First off I'd like to start by saying my hat is off to all you that chase Tuna year after year. That's one hard fishery!

We had a hard week of fishing. Hard winds every night and morning. Cold water and small bait. All this combined made the Tuna stay below the surface most of the time.

The good thing was that the fish were there and it is just a matter of time before things blow up! Some calm, warm days and some bigger baitfish and it's on!

We saw lots of dolphins and lots of Tuna with them. There was also a healthy amount of inshore fish in the waters surrounding the island. The fish were just so passive that it was almost unbelievable.

Well, all and all the trip was an amazing experience. Fishing was tuff as hell and it really tested me as a angler. That week made me look at all the other fishing that I've ever done in a different perspective. Going 30knots after the fish and making a good cast from a boat that hasn't stopped and your almost going overboard was no easy task. I have so much more respect for Tuna chasers after doing this trip that I'm lost for words. Of course if the conditions would have been easier it would have been easier, but still my hat is off to all you Tuna dudes:).

I personally need at least two years before I'm going on a Tuna trip again. Need to do some easy ass river fishing or chill on a flat casting for bluefish or bonefish before I can even think about tuna:)...

A special thanks to my friend Sakke for making this trip happen. Your one Hardcore Tunaman:)!!. Also a big thank you to our guide Pete and good luck on your "film" career... Looking forward seeing episode one...:).

Some pics.

Da beach

Me and Pete having a gay moment...

The camp

Pete caught us some lobster

Bonita, bonita

I need a beer!!!

Burning it up

Blood on the dancefloor

Sashimi!!!

My man Sakke having a beer in Panama city

Matching your equipment to the right fishery?

Hi all,

I'm in the process of sorting out my gear for the up and coming fishing season and thought I'd write something about the subject.

When I'm going somewhere to fish for species X, these are the things that influence my fly gear selection the most:

- How big of a fly I'm going to use?
- How windy is it?
- Is it tight quarters or a wide open flat with tons of room?
- Am I wading deep, fishing from a boat or something in between?
- How big are the fish?

From all of those things I try to do a compromise that won't let me down even if condition get worse, but is still enjoyable and fun to use. I personally like to sacrifice some rod power to make fighting fish fun and lose a bit on effiency, but there are some fishery's where this is not an option and you have to be as efficiant as possible to get the fish. Also the thing that I like in my lines is that they have enough power. For most fishing I don't like finesse tapered lines - they are just too gay for me:)... If I need to have a more subtle presentation I usually do it by adjusting my casting stroke and the leader and not change my fly line. I believe that you have a lot of room to adjust this way to different fishing situations. By using finesse tapers you don't have the same room to adjust and you are pretty much stuck with using small flies and "wimpy" turnover. 

All the same points are valid for both single and two handed rods.

It's all about compromises and personal taste. So if your shopping for new gear you should stop and think about what, where, how and when your going to use that new equipment and not just look for the shiniest and newest stuff that just came out of the factory. Especially if your like me and fish for many different species with a fly rod. I really have think about what I buy, because I need a lot of different gear for different fish/fisherys. I work at a factory for a living so my budget is limited. I don't have the funds to go out and buy all the expensive stuff that's out there so I have choose carefully what I need and what I don't.

Just backed some of the stuff that I'll be using next week for tuna. We'll see if I made the right gear choices or will it be a bust...

Backed up for yet another dissapointment:)

Sorry...

Hi all,

Sorry I haven't been writing anything lately. The last month has been terrible. Complete chaos at work and the weather has been extremely cold. The result of all this has been a slight case of depression and a big case of fly tying and alcohol drinking:).

I've tied all kinds of flies, but mostly saltwater patterns and salmon tubes.

Now it's about time to get my shit together and start working on a few articles and also focus a bit more on this blog of mine.

Here's a few pics of the flies that have come out of the bench lately.

That time of the year...

Hi folks!

It's that time of the year that there's really nothing fun to do. It's cold, there's snow everywhere and it's very, very dark... I'm getting a bad case of cabin fever here!!

The good thing about this is that I have lots of time to tie flies. I've been doing lots of saltwater flies for my up and coming tuna trip and some bigger salmon flies for the start of salmon season on the 1st of June when I'm going to make a comeback to the Gaula. Even managed to tie up some trout flies for my local river.

Tying flies is fun and all, but I'm really looking forward for the 1st of  March when we start up for the Pacific ocean and the search for those big tunas begins...

Some new salmon tubes

For Tuna and what ever is willing to bite!