Season 2011 recap.

This season is almost over, so I figured this would be a good time to do some sort of recap on the whole year. It was an intresting year that gave me lots and lots of new experiences. There where ups and down, but hey, that's fishing!

Costa Rica in march

This wasn't a real fishing trip as my wife was with me... This was actually our honeymoon... Never the less I managed to sneak a few rods in to our luggage. We spend 7days in Zancudo and I had three days of fishing booked in advance of which two were inshore fishing and one day of offshore stuff. Well, the inshore fishing was a total bust!! I had only one shot at a Jack Crevalle and I actually managed to get the fish bite, but then I messed up setting the hook and the fish got away. It looked so dead(the inshore fishing) that we cancelled the second day.

On our offshore day the weather was terrible - raining sideways with high winds and big swell. The captain(John Olson) told me that it's going to be ruff but he's sure that we will find some fish. To my total suprise we did hook up with some offshore creatures!! One Dorado which I lost and three sailfish of which I got two to the boat. The second sailfish was a real cracker and it tooks 150meter of line from my reel at least three times and ending each run with a series of jumps. Even though the bait&switch fishing isn't my favorite style of fly fishing, it was an really nice experience and we had a nice time with John who was a real, proper professional. Some pics and a youtube link on  the second sailfish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XibUqzvcJV8

My second sailfish.

A few more jumps before the boat.

A nice morning at the point.

Looking sharp!!:)

 
Cape Cod in June

This trip one of those things that me and my friend Ilkka came up with in late spring while it was reaaaally cold(-30centigrate) and we were a bit drunk...Even though there was a few problems with the arrangements, I'm really, really clad we made this trip! It was the highlight of my year and the best saltwater fishing I've ever done!!

We fished five days for Bluefish and Striped Bass in a variety of spots. There where blitzes of huge schools of bass, there where fish that we had to dredge for, there was super shy fish on the flats, etc, etc... It was a very intresting mix of easy(ish) fishing (blitzin bass would bite anything) and hard stuff on the flats and shallow water where everything had to go right to have the take. Perfect size fish(10-28lb) to fly fish for with #9 and #10 weight fly rods. Pretty much the perfect package for my taste.

We fished with some amazing people = Jeff Smith and Gil Berke. They were simply amazing, the best guides I've ever met. You can get a hold of them from these emails: flyfishsaltwaters@comcast.net for Jeff and gberke@outermostexcursions.com for Gil. You can also check Jeff's website for extra info: http://www.finaddiction.com/

If someone is looking for a great quality saltwater trip that isn't going to brake the bank, I strongly recommend Cape Cod. Contact me if you need more info.

Here's some photos and a youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5f2fptkHAw

A basic 33" Bass.

Bluester.

Bluefish on!

Beer is good...

Humpies.

Capitano Jeff Smith

Il Capitano Gil Berke

Double.

Humpy.

River Reisa in July

We fished eight days on this beutiful river in north Norway. The water was really low and had been like that for a while. It turned out to be the slowest week of salmon fishing I've ever done - in total we had two fish and lost two, so it was not the kind of week we were expecting on a prime week in this river. I bit of a contrast to last year when we were there on a not prime week in july/august and managed to get 19fish and lost a few very big ones.

As if the slow fishing wasn't enough, we had some problems with our licences and the crowds on the river were at times a bit overwhelming.

Well, the scenery was stunning, we cooked really good food and drank lots of beer. So it allways beats home, if you know what I mean. Photos:

Sashimi.

Some gear.

Midnight inside the artic circle.

Catch of the day.

Ike casting.

 
Vancouver island in September

This trip was the main trip of the year and I had a bad case of salmon and steelhead fever before this trip.

Well, after a 28hour journey to the island we weren't welcomed all that well by mother nature = it had been raining for a week and all the rivers were blown! It took five days before the waters came down. But, that's fishing for you, you never know what happens.

We worked really hard and spend 9-12hour days on the water, but didn't find a lot of good fishing. We fish only for fresh and moving fish and the fish were not coming in to the rivers or cruising the beaches so we didn't hit it big. We had three good days of fishing when we got silver fish in decent numbers.  There was old Chinooks in a few rivers that we could have fished for, but those stale spawners are just so booring to fish for that we decided to skip the dredging and stick to the few fresh fish that were coming in.

There was some very positive things too = our guide Perry Wilson was terrific, the variety of species was great, the scenery was stunning and the beer excellent. You can get a hold of Perry via he's website: http://www.northlandfly.com/index.htm

....

Cohohoho.

Bowen island make excellent beer.

Aiming for the mountains.

Ike putting some pressure.

Home beach.

Having a good time, even though the river was a "bit" high.

My friend Perry.

Local stuff all year long

It was a bit of a change year for my local fishing. I didn't fish for trout all that much and mainly fished for small pike. To tell you the truth I didn't even really fish for pike all that intensly - it was more of a mix of casting practice and fishing. The great thing about lake fly fishing is that you can really relax and enjoy the solitude of nature. On the local trout streams it's a totally different thing as they tend to be really crowded. Well, maybe next year I'll get some motivation to fish for trout again. They are a better eating fish then pikes so that would keep the wife more happy:)

Local lake.

Local stream.

Meiser magic.

Pike fishing.