Cape Cod, week 25 – 2018

This years trip to Cape Cod was more or less with the usual suspects: Thomas, Peter, Carsten and Caspar. We also fished with some of our American fishing buddies Scott and Tom. The procedure was standard as we know where we want to eat and where we and how we want to fish but the weather may force us to change plans. This year the weather was very nice to us as we could go out in our kayaks five days and that is our preferable way of fishing as this often give us the opportunity to sight fish.

 

We started out on Brewsters Flat which is a  nice place but also quite popular so do not expect to be alone.

 

Most of the days we went kayaking and sometimes we could not leave the  beach fast enough as there a LOT of sand flies that literally would enter every opening around your ears and eyes.

 

But when we left the beach the weather was nice the water was clear and we got into fish. Here Thomas is fighting a fish in his shorts and boot outfit.

 

He lands the fish….

 

 

and presents it before the release. As always the big majority was schoolies like this but we saw good numbers of big and very big fish though we did not land them this time but some keepers were also landed.

 

 

Like always a lot of horse shoes crabs, here one trying to date our anchor.

 

One day Thomas got a small striper with a mark. We could not see any number so we just released it again but some scientist want to know more about this.

 

In very shallow water Scott hooked a nice fish that passed between us.

 

It turned out to be his first keeper of the year

 

 

So he was a happy man presenting his fish before the release.

 

We met some og our Danish friends several times this time wade fishing. To get to the bar you have to wait for the tide to drop which Jacob had a hard time waiting for but he managed without getting wet.

 

The ospreys are nesting and with plenty of fish around they have a high success rate in raising the young birds.

 

We had a good trip with a lot of exciting and many times quite frustrating sight fishing.  Everyday we wade fished I met American fly fishers using my Linekurv so that made me glad and a bit proud.

We had breakfast almost everyday at HangarB at Chatham Airport which by a good margen is the best we have ever tried in the States and we had burritos at the Corner Store and twice we grilled big rib eye steaks at the summer house so the food was good and the beer were cold so we will come back next year.

 

 

 

 

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Rena week 32 – 2017

Like last year a week planned for dry-fly fishing at Rena drifting from pontoon boats. This year I was joined by Henning, Anders, Gunnar, Inge and my wife Lise and we all had pontoon boats. We stayed at Rena Fishing Camp where the plan was to fish, eat drink and have a lot of fun.

Rea is a beautiful river but a lot of places it is hard to wade fish and that is one of the reasons we are very fond of drifting down the river. it also adds variation to the fishing but when you do not anchor up you only get ones shot at a fish.

 

We fish to fish that feeds at the surface but we also blind fish with dry flies and that can be quite productive when you have learned where to do your fishing. The trouts are wild thoiugh some fish are stocked and they are marked with the fat fin cut off. I have now caught probably more than 200 trout and still haven´t seen any stocked trout. The largest trout are caught at nighttime but we did not fish in the dark so for us nice fish are in the 35 – 40 cm range.

 

Here Lise has hooked at trout

And presenting the fish before release

 

I normally fish primarily for trout but when I see a grayling I go for that as well. The average size for grayling is very good as it is around 45 cm. You may kill one grayling and one trout per day and they must be in the 30 – 40 cm range.

 

The fly I used most of the time was Dyret or the Animal.

 

It is an imitation of a sedge or a stone fly, not anatomically correct but it works fine.

 

 

When you want to release the fish and want a photo I seem to end up with two kinds of photos. One in the net..

 

or one in the hand. When sitting in a boat alone and  wanting to release it as fast as possible I end up with a bit boring photos.

 

 

There is a 5 km stretch that is only for fly fishing and no boat fishing. This is part of the fly zone that is very promising

 

 

We typically drifted 10 – 12 km so a bit of logistics were necessary everyday. We managed to transport all 6 pontoon boats inflated on two cars and a trailer.

 

Inge managed to find a handful of big very good-looking and tasting Karl Johan, one of the best edible mushrooms and we had a fantastic starter one night.

 

Everyday we started out with freshly baked bread. The eating is an important part of the trip.

 

  One day Lise was the master fly-fisher as she caught the two largest fish of the day here presenting one of them. We all used my stripping basket but they probably felt that they had to 😉

 

There are also many birds and we all also saw beavers so always a nice experience in the nature.

 

‘    The best fish on the trip was this 1,5 kg trout that I got in the afternoon after Gunnar promised two free flies to the biggest fish of the day.

 

It was taken on a Dyret like most of my fish.

We were lucky that the wind was very calm almost all the days and only one day rained away. We got a lot to drink and eat and had some nice fishing and a lot of laughs. I only paused one day du to my shoulders so that was Ok and I am sure we will come back next year.

 

 

Cape Cod, week 30 – 2017

I haven´t been fishing for a couple of months to spare my bad shoulder as I hoped that could be ready for our annually trip to Cape Cod and that is the reason that not much happens in the blog. This year I went with Thomas, Peter, Carsten and Henning and we naturally hoped to get to fish with some of our American fishing friends as well. And we did get out with Scott, Tom and Bruce. During our stay Tom became a grand father so it was hard for him to wipe of his smile and congratulation to him and his family.

 

The first morning we went to Brewsters and we got into a lot of action.  Carsten this morning got 70 stripers which is a new record in one session for our group. It was mostly schoolies but good fun and a good start. Thomas also got a keeper so not only small fish.

 

We as maybe a bit too often timed the fishing so we could have breakfast at Hangar B at Chatham airport. This is by a big margin the best breakfast place we have tried at the Cape. A bit more expensive but very good.

 

This is how American pancakes should be served and no matter what we order it looks good and tastes even better. And the coffee is also top-notch I am told as I am not addicted to that.

 

The next day we went wade fishing on the bars and got many schoolies but also some nice fish and Thomas got this 31 inch fish that later were served with sweet corn, asparagus, potatoes and homemade hollandaise. This we normally do once every trip but we can only do it if we get a keeper.

 

Thomas and I have bought a tandem kayak and the other guys rented kayaks so we could go on an expedition. The conditions were fantastic high sun on no wind.

 

The first day in the kayaks Scott really pulled it of as he got all the keepers but we all had a terrific day with sight fishing and a good number of fish in the 25 – 27 inch range.

 

We had four days where we went kayaking and that is the first time we could do that and especially three of the days we had terrific sight fishing and the last day the fish just kept coming, it was really world-class fishing.

 

Carsten did not get a keeper but many time she was close and that suited him quite well as he then has an excuse for coming back next year.

 

The action went on so the time to take photos should be limited.

All fish except one were released and the big number of schoolies promise some good years to come.

Thomas fighting another nice fish in the shallows

 

and presenting it the standard Thomas way

 

Peter with a nice fish

 

Thomas with a big smile and a big fish

 

A bit blurry but you have to see my life-preserver from the 80´ies. That gave me many remarks maybe I next year should bring shoulder pads and leg warmers.

 

We had a terrific trip with lots of fish and a good number of keepers but not any really big ones and several days with fantastic sight fishing that we can only hope for and be happy for when it happens. We met our American friends, had some good things to eat and drink so what more can you ask for? We will come back next year for sure.

 

 

 

Mariager Fly Cup 12/9 – 2015

After a month without fishing due to bad excuses I fished from early morning to noon on the South bank of Mariager Fjord. Bombayfly held the annual Fly Cup and with 176 contestants we can say that this is the biggest fly only contest in Denmark. As member of the arrangement committee I was naturally very pleased and to me it looked like the participants agreed. We were lucky that the weather was very good as it was quite warm and a bit windy and mostly clouded so all day was fishable. Despite the number of people I fished more or less alone all the time.

 

I had many contacts and caught 14 trouts but not in a size that gave any hope for a Price among the 10 largest so everything was released.

 

Around noon Michael and Morten from Bombay fished their way to me. After some chatting Michael went into the water and soon after he was into a nice fish.

 

He landed a very nice 1,5 kg very well conditioned trout that earned him a 7th place in the competition.

 

One of the prices that was in the Draw, was this stripping basket decorated by Simon – the house artist of Bombayfly.

 

Here the fished just before the weighting ended. The top five were all above 2 kg and the Winner was Torben “Pip” Kondrup with a 2,9 kg fish. The fishing this year was much better than last year and I think that everyone got fish  but there were many small fish that was released.

 

The parade of the Winners – the top 10 largest fish.

 

 

 

 

Barsø, 3/10-5/10 – 2014

A weekend trip with the Bombay Fly Guys always gives many laughs and sometimes a hangover. This trip did not disappoint and any way. We were 14 fly fishermen and it was my first visit to Barsø, which as a small Island app. one mile² in the Southern part of Denmark. We had rented a nice house with plenty of room and only 100 feet from the water.

all around the Island it looked like a hot spot for sea run Brown trout.

 

The first afternoon I got 6 fish but they were all like this – too small and the rest of the Guys did not do any better.

 

The second day I got 4 and one was actually big enough to kill (42 cm) but it was released. The bigger trouts were all coloured maybe due to the upcoming spawning but maybe it is like in Mariager Fjord were the sea run brown trout most of the year looks like a regular brown trout.

 

Henrik got this nice 52 cm fish on a new fly created by Ove Monrad. It only took 5 minutes from he tied on this fly until he landed the fish.

 

Despite most of the fish were small we lost some nice fish and here Allan presents a nice fish. All in all a good trip and I would like to come back and give it another try and then we hope the wind will be kinder to us next time.

 

Glomma week 27, 2014

A week of fishing from pontoon boats in Glomma and Folla with Lise, Henning, Gunnar, Anders, Harry and Art.

When the weather is nice the norwegian landscape is hard to beat and we had several good days like this. Furthermore as we wanted to fish with dry fly is was a big advantage with no or just a little wind. The fish is easy to spot and they simply did not feed at the surface when the wind picked up even if there were plenty of insects.

My wife Lise is now handling the pontoon boat as an experienced user and she is doing a fine job with the fly rod as well. Here she is fighting one of her many graylings

Later she could display this grayling that was released as almost all the fish we caught.

 

As I  casted with both left and right hand I was a bit extravagant as I fished with two stripping baskets

 

Anders got this nice fish that later was smoked. We did not get anything much larger than this.

 

This flattering photo of Gunnar shows that we actually needed sun screen at times

 

The last day we had terrific weather and fishing and Gunnar, Art and I got a LOT of fish and there were more good sized fish than the other days. In 3 hours I got 10 fish in the 16-18 inch range plus a lot of smaller fish. It was the perfect way to end this week in Norway. Art that came from the States to fish grayling got all that he came for and hopefully we one day can visit him and fish for steelheads in his backyard

 

 

 

Cape Cod week 24, 2014

This year I went with Thomas, Jacob, Frank and Kim to fish for stripers at Cape Cod. As this was my fourth consecutive year I knew more or less what I was in for but three of the guys were rookies and it is always a pleasure to show new fish and places to other fishermen.

The first day we fished nothing happened the first hour or two but then I hooked a good fish and everyone were excited

The first striper turned out to be a keeper (28 inches) but just barely and it was released

 

Later the same day we hit some very nice sight fishing where the fish were smaller but it was very good fun and everyone caught fish. Here Kim presents one of the fish.

 

When a school of stripers passed we several times had a double or a treble hook up.

 

The fish were all (minus one) released

 

There were a lot of horse shoes crabs and they were in the mood for love

 

Due to the tide and the wind we fished quite a lot at night time. The first night we went out Jacob got this 32 inch keeper.

 

This was the only fish during the trip that was killed. We made a very nice dinner out of it. We tried it fried on the pan and oven baked and we must say that it is an excellent fish to eat.

 

We had a schedule with fishing both at night and during the day time and we got many fish, most of  shoolies but despite this is not a keeper it is a very nice fish to catch.

 

We fish primarely with sand eel patterns and that was for a reason as there was an abundance of sand eels.

 

One day we rented kayaks and went out with Bruce and Scott as guides. We had two extra memorable spots on this trip. The first was a sand flat with 1½ feet deep water and we could cast to hunting and tailing fish. Especially Frank had succes here and it was nice sized fish.

 

Later Bruce, Thomas and I went to another spot where really big fish cruised around us. They were not eager to take the fly but Bruce hooked up a very strong fish.

 

It was not only strong but it was also a big fish

 

and he was very content when he could present this 39 inch striper

 

15 minutes later I hooked a similar sized fish which was a new personal best for me but soon after we had to leave as the tide was rising.

 

Franks camera had a dramatic effect switch and that could presents som very interesting photos.

 

Here Jacob presents a keeper in dramatic mode

 

One morning we met a couple fishing with the Linekurv and it turned out to be an italian couple. They were as most fly fishers very nice to talk with and I had a blast fishing in the States meeting italians with my basket.

 

We were cut off by bluefish several times but Jacob and Frank each managed to land a bluefish.

 

We caught a lot of fish mainly schoolies actually Thomas the last day got 11 fish in 11 casts so there were many fish. We got 5 keepers but many just below the 28 inch mark and as I had two keepers and a new PB despite my left hand casting I was very happy. As always it is nice to meet our American fishing friends whom ¨we can not thank enough and everyone would love to com back next year for another round of striperfishing.

 

 

 

 

Ystad, Eastern 2014

The annual trip til the south coast of Sweden fly fishing for searun brown trout from pontoon boats. This year we were six persons: Henrik L, Henrik V., Thomas, Lars A, Jan and myself.

One morning we did see two mooses, which is a quite rare sight this far south in Sweden. Beside this we also saw foxes, squirrel, deer and birds like kites and osprey.

 

On these trip we normally catch a majority af kelts but this year we got many good conditioned blank trouts but generally in smaller size than normal. But as you can see we also this year got some kelts. Here Jan presents one that needed another 3 lbs. The minimum size here is 50 cm or 20 inches and we had to release many of the blank fish as they were too small.

 

One day Thomas got this ide. We have caught these on other trips but not a common sight. From my own experience I can tell that they are not big fighters.

 

One very windy day I got the fish that was in a surprisingly good condition – it was app. a 8 pounder – but after the landing it still had energy to jump so this is how the presentation photo came out. Everyone like this photo.

 

Here Henrik presents one of the nicest fish on the trip, it is  a 5 pounder in top form taking on his new pet pattern which is a shrimp pattern. Shrimp patterns proved productive on this trip. I fished with flies tied by Ove Monrad and they are very well tied and incredible durable. I have to take a course from Ove in how to improve the durability on my flies.

 

Here a lineup of six pontoon boats during a break. A very unusal sight at these waters though I find fishing fly from pontoon boats by far the best way to flyfish here as the beaches are not easy to wade as there are many big and very slippery rocks and you are not that depending on the wind direction.

 

The last day some of us fished at Kåseberge and here Henrik V. got this beatiful 6 pounder which came out as the top fish of the trip. Henrik had not got many fish until then so he was very pleased.

 

The stomach of the fish showed why it was in top condition. There were  large sand eels, many shrimps and smaller fish.

 

 

The last day I ended with two nice fish and it at allways nice to look Down on your stripping basket filled this way after a morning of fishing.

 

Thomas on the last day got several blank fish like the one presented here and this sums up the trip in many ways.

I was very pleased with the trip as I got some fish and also nice ones but especially as I due to a shoulder enjury was forced to cast with my left hand and therfore had low expectations. After some days I actually casted resonably and I started to feel that I was fishing and not just struggling with the cast. So I was reborn as a fly fisher and my plans about cancelling trips later this year was cancelled. I really hope that my shoulder will come back to full functionability but in the meantime I can flyfish – or at least sort of flyfish 🙂

 

Tange sø 3/1 – 2014

We started in the morning drifting down the Gudenå river. We were 7 pontoon boats so it was a bit crowded at times. But except from the start and around the breaks when everyone got together we were spread out so it was not a big problem.

 

In the river part we only got seven pikes. Here Søren presents one from his red Scadden boat.

At the lunch break Søren used the stripping basket as a table when he heated his instant noodles.

After the lunch break we came to the delta where the river turns into lake. Many pontoon boats but we still got fish here.

The pikes this day were big in numbers but not in size. We got app. 60 pikes but the biggest were app. 6 Pounds. For me the best fish were from the river but as I got 12 pikes plus some I lost during the fight I had plenty of action and it was a nice way to start the new year.

Glenstrup sø, 22/9-2013

After the visit to the empty coast of Djursland yesterday I went for something different as I with Allan and Michael went to Glenstrup sø flyfishing for pike from our pontoon boats and bellyboats.

Today it was cloudy and quite windy. As a matter of fact the wind became stronger and stronger during the day  and in the end it was very hard work just to keep the boat in place. I started with a flash fly and soon I saw a perch following the fly. Later I had one pike that refused in the last second. I then followed Allan and Michael into the shallow water and there we had plenty of action. We had many fish that followed the fly or tried to grab the fly. My breakthrough was when Allan gave me a big white and red fiber fly. It was tied in something called hollow tie style (or at least I think so) that made the fly swing randomly  from side to side when retrieving. It looked very good and it worked very well. I still had many fish that was not hooked but in the shallow water it was a very visual and exciting experience.

 

After a few smaller fish Allan got this nice fish around 32 inches.

 

Soon after he was into another nice fish

 

it was about the same size, also a nice fish

As you may see all the pikes were caught near the bank in shallow water and due to the wind it would have been easier to wade with a stripping basket and I am sure today it would have been more efficient.

 

The I hooked a big fish and I really enjoyed that both Allan and I saw the take

 

To land it I had to go to the bank

 

A pike at 40 inches with very nice colours and wide and deep

 

At the same time Michael landed this fish, which was his best of the day.

 

Later I got another fish at around 34 inches

 

 

Allan ended with his best fish of the day which was 36 inches.

Finally we had caught allmost 20 pikes and had many more takes and many of the fish were of very nice size so I think that we all agreed that this a fine day with lots of action but also some frustration. Despite the Danish animal ethical commitee has just announced that it wants to ban C&R, we released all the fish and we are quite confident that the fish prefer to be back in the lake than to be in the botton of our freezer.

Cape Cod week 26 – 2013

For the third year in a row a trip to Cape Cod for striped bass or stripers as they are nicknamed. This time with the rookies Lasse, Henning and Thomas. Thomas had fished for stripers two day about four years ago but without luck so he is also labeled as a rookie.

Thomas had rented this Jeep at Dollars and we can´t recommend either. The Company tried to get us to buy more and more and the car did not have the roof rail that was promised. And the car was actually too small for normal grown-ups which normally is not a problem in the States. Here we are outside Scotts house planning the coming days.

The first afternoon Lasse had a very nice hook-up on one of the flats

The fish was like almost all bigger fish pulled on to the sand bar

Here he presents his first “keeper” which is a fish above the allowed size which is 28 inches so all keepers are really nice fish. this was a 33½ inch fish.

despite it was a keeper it was released like everything else we caught

and it took off in a splash.

In the evening Thomas hooked his second keeper and he had a very hard time not to show his happiness which is a blessing

The baitfish was sandeels which popped out of the sand when when the tide pulled out turning the sand bars into a smorgasbord for the sea gulls

We used allmost only flat wing flies to imitate the sandeels, here a view in Thomas´s fly box.

Thomas had a hard time finding the sadlle feathers at a reasonable price so he bought a dry fly neck and on the internet he had found a recipe on how to dye the feathers with Kool-aid. It was something with adding a bit vinegar and then put it into a micro wave oven. It worked very well and he could control the intensity of the colours by the time in the micro wave oven and the colours did not fade when exposed to salt water or the sun.

We fished most of the times on flats or sand bar that only could be waded at low tide and therefore the tide chart is the bible for the striper fishermen and  despite we were told that the night fishing was much better than day time fishing we sticked mostly to day time fishing. It does not ruin your sleep and you have the visual aspect which adds a dimension.

We did not catch as many schoolies as last year but naturally the majority was not keepers. But even the schoolies can put of a decent fight on our 8-weight rods.

Another schoolie caught when the weather was fine.

One day the weather forecast predicted a not too heavy wind and we rented and borrowed kayaks and here we (Scott, Bruce, Lasse, Henning and myself) are ready to start early in the morning. From my experience last year this could be the highlight of the week with sightfishing in shallow water.

On the first bar we did catch some big schoolies but on the second beach we found good sized fish cruising into the very shallow water. First Lasse got a keeper and a bit later it was my turn.

Same procedure as last year …

  and away it swims in a big splash.

That day Henning also got a keeper and then we had got at least one and that was one of my hopes for the trip. The problem with this fantastic sight fishing after good sized stripers is that it spoils you. The following days we did not feel the ususal urge to go out on the flats and blind fish so the fishing intensity went down and the beer drinking intensity went up.

at the end of the kayak trip this big grey seal showed up and that is not improving the fishing

Lasse and I one morning fished a river mouth in very bad weather. The photo do not show how bad the weather was – at time the wind made the rain feel like needles stuck into your bag despite we wore jackets.

That morning we ran into some bluefish – not big ones but in the 22 inch range. Some cut the leader but I was lucky to get a couple.

We also fished other than sand bars, here I got a nice 31 inch fish at a rocky point with plenty of current.

There were many ospreys in the area and several times we saw ospreys flying with fish in the claws

A close up of the star of the show. We had a fantastic trip with World class sight fishing, everyone got keepers, nice company and a lot of help from our American friends Scott, Dick, Bruce, Frank and Tom whom we can not thank enough. I was naturally very pleased that everyone fished with my stripping basket the Linekurv.dk 🙂

We all hope to come back next year.

Los Roques February 2013

This February I went 2 weeks to Los Roques in Venezuela to get away from the cold Danish weather. I have done so many times before and contrary to many others I do not mind going back to where I have been before. It gives you advantages to know where to find sleep, where to fish etc. and it also nice to see some of the people you have met before again. So for the umphth time I went to Los Roques. this time I went with Gunnar and Ib. Ib is not a fly-fisher so his agenda was to relax, read, swim, drink rum and have a nice time and as he nicely puts it: be with passionate people.

This time I fished a lot on my own which is Ok but when you release the fish and want to do that quite fast it does not give many photo opportunities and therefore the quality of the photos this time is even worse than normally.

This classic sight from the airplane before landing can always make long for the coming days

 

The first day we went to Madrisqui and Pirata and here Gunnar amongst other caught this bonefish.

 

Around Los Roques many of the bonefish primarily feed on small baitfish at many occasions the gummi minnow is the preferred pattern despite they in the wind are quite annoying to cast.

 

The black market exchange rate has skyrocketed the last months so everything was more or less half price compared to last year and we had a very inexpensive trip. Here I am with my lunch one day, a lobster prepared with side dish and dessert – app. 20 USD. Actually we sometimes had fish for lunch as we were tired of lobster, that is luxury.

 

I the morning I often fished from the main island Gran Roque before breakfast. I hoped to catch some of the few baby tarpon or some of the schools of jacks making attacks at the minnows close to land. One morning I got the smallest bonefish (app. 2 lbs.) on the whole trip on a black and red tarpon fly – the Black Death.

 

We fished a few days with guide and here Gunnar is on a pancake flat with our guide Antonio. Gunnar has hooked a bonefish which is hard to see at this distance but unfortunately he later lost it. It was not that easy to get a guide as there were many customers and due to the exchange rate their salary had  more or less doubled as they are paid in USD so they did not feel the need to work that much.

 

I found many times tailing fish but as I am more a fly-fisher than a photographer I did not get nice shots of one of most thrilling sights I can think of. But here you can see a single tail near the mangrove to the right.

 

All fish were released here a bonefish from one of the flats start its return.

 

and way it goes.

 

After a day on the beach or on the flats we went to the beach bar drinking mojitos and piña coladas in the bean bag chairs. Here Poul a Danish flyfisher on is own has joined us.

 

The sunset from our bean bag chairs – not the worst option in February seen from a Danish point of view.

Bonefish was our main target but whenever we got the chance for something else we tried to grab it and sometime other species just grab our fly.

 

a small grouper

 

a pompano – a small version of a permit

 

a blue runner – many of the schools of fish that attacked the minnows near the beaches this year were blue runners

 

but there were also some horse eyed jacks at times.

 

and sometimes yellow tail snappers

 

There are some big fish in the waters around Los Roques – here Ib pose with a ray the local fishermen had caught

 

The last day I did not want to fish much but as there was a school of blue runners chasing in front of us I had to grab the fly rod.

 

All in all this trip was business as usual but the fishing was a bit worse than normally as it was extremely windy and therefore the waters were a bit more murky than normally and there were more clouds than normally which also makes it harder to sight fish and finally the water was cooler than normally. The good thing was the exchange rate that made this trip the cheapest in many years.

 

 

 

 

Enebær Odde 29-30/9 2012

A weekend trip with the Bombayfly guys to Enebær Odde. This is a beautiful spot at the entrance to Odense Fjord where we should stay at the light house for two nights. Due to road constructions and heavy traffic everybody arrived very late and we could not fish friday evening. Saturday morning some of us started early while others were taking care of their hangovers.

I fished with Michael and we soon found a spot with lots of activity. Many fish showed at the surface some head and tailed while others jumped. It was a mixture of coloured and blank fish and small and big fish but despite the activity within casting reach we did not catch much.

At one time Michael casted to a small fish and hooked a much better fish.

It was a 53 cm very nice trout that turned out to be the best fish on the trip and thanks to this he won a bottle of Bombay Sapphire and a table from Brd. Andersen.

This morning Michae ended up catching four trouts and I got five but expect the fine fish everything was released.

I do not know how but after fishing an hour or so I discovered this little fellow in my stripping basket.

This trip was not as productive as we had hoped for. I got 8 trouts but only smaller fish but we did see some nice fish jump and I will definately join the trip next year if it is possible and we did have a lot of fun and that is an important part of the game as well.

Alvdal week 26 2012

A week fishing in Alvdal in Norway which means in Glomma and in Folla. We were 8½ persons if Olivia (4 months old) counts as a ½. Besides Olivia it was Inge, Augusta, Henning, Harry, Anders, Gunnar and my wife Lise. Most of us wanted to do dry-fly fishing from our pontoon boats as this earlier has been very succesful and very entertaining.  Here we mainly fish for grayling but trouts may also be around but in smaller numbers. The weather forecast was more or less awful with lots of wind and low temperatures.

Lise entering the pontoon boat for the very first time – something you need to adjust to.

On her second trip Lise was quite familiar with the boat and could focus on the fishing and not without pride she called me to take a photo of her first grayling on a dry-fly.

Here presenting the fish – a grayling around the 15½ inch mark.

That night we had smoked grayling for dinner.

after 4 days we finally got some warmer days with less wind and the fishing then really improved as there were more insects hatching and it was easier to see the fish and to cast for them.

One day Henning was hot as he got lots of grayling and also this 19 inch brown trout, which turned out to be the biggest on the trip

Soon after his trout Henning also landed this 17½ inch grayling so everything went his way this day.

That day we brought back a nice basket with fish for dinner and lunch despite we only killed a very limited number of fish of the fish we caught.

The largest grayling on the trip – a 20½ inch fish. The dorsal fin has fantastic colours that looks even better in the water when the sun is shining.

The last day was quite cold but there were many small mayflies and many fish showed to this buffet. That day I got around 15 fish with 2 in the 18 inch range and many  other good-sized fish.

Inge despite being norwegian and a fly-fisher had never fished for grayling before as they are eastfish to him coming from the northwestern part of Norway. But here he presents one of his graylings in very nice surroundings.

After a week fishing we were content and had our share of the action. I got more or less 100 graylings and two trouts.  I also three times saw beavers and one otter and a crane. I was also very happy that Lise caught fish on the fly and really enjoyed the fishing and the rafting in the boats so there may be another pontoon trip next year.

Ystad 11/4 – 14/4 2012

A delayed Eastern trip to the southern part of Sweden where we would fish for searun brown trout from pontoon boats. We were this time only three: me and Henrik and Lars

We fished at Svarte, Skillinge, Vik and Ystad and we caught fish at all spots. The weather was better than predicted so almost no rain.

Normally at this time of the year most fish are kelps – fish that has spawned – and they may be blank but still not in good condition. The average size is normally around 60 cm and statistically you need to catch between 10 and 20 fish to get a Blänkere as the locals call the fish that skip a spawning season and they what we always hope for.

The first day we got a handful of small blank fish in the 40 – 45 cm range and that is not normal.

This was the largest fish on the trip. A trout around 85 cm but as it needs several pounds to be fit it was released.

 

This is also a big fish and close to good condition but it had been up spawning this winter.

 

I was lucky to get two blänkere. The biggest was 60 cm and they were both on top condition. This is superb sushi material.

 

The largest of the fish I brought back home had meat with an extremely dark  red colour. The stomach content showed that it had a preference for shrimps so there was an explanation.

Four days of fishing and we ended catching 17 fish evenly divided between Henrik and I. Lars was out luck on this trip but I am sure he will come back for a better round next year.

 

 

Los Roques february 2012

As the temperatures in Denmark was well below the freezing point (actually down to -20 degrees below) it was nice to go back to Los Roques once again with warm weather, sun and plenty of fast swimming fish.

The Danish Los Roques team was Rene, Ib, Eigil, Niels, Niels and myself. Christian and Berit that lived in a posada a few blocks away from the Plaza was also present but not at the moment of this photo. Eigil and Niels travelled by themselves but were at LR in the same period as the rest.

We stayed at posada Doña Magalys which is in the budget end but we were very satisfied with the hospitality and the food. Magalys is apparently a big fan of Hugo Chavez – why I don´t know.

Lorenzo is the name of the posadas pet parrot which was very fond of Rene.

Our primary target fish was the bonefish which can be caught blindfishing with minnow patterns in deeper waters or sight fished on the flats. I definitely prefer the sight fishing despite that it often not is a productive, but it is better fun.

When unhooking a bonefish it often makes the fish much calmer if you put it upside down.

Rene with a nice bonefish. The average size on Los Roques is quite good app. 4 lbs. This year I did not catch any big ones but even fish in the 4 -6 lbs. range can produce spectacular runs when hooked. Actually all kinds of fish down here are much stronger and faster than what we are used to back home.

We fished some days on our own and other days with guides. With our first guide Jesus we had several double hookups on the flats but every time one of us lost a fish during the fight. This was the first time we succeeded landing two fish at a time but from the boat. We did it later again with our other guide Alet.

One day fishing with Alet we fished for fish hunting at the surface. This is always very intense and I really like the action of this fishing. We kept the fish so we could have it for lunch as Alet promised to cook it. As you can see we got to lobsters not by fishing but by exchanging some of our fish.

Here Alet prepares our lobster and fish lunch on some Venezuelan design furniture including both chair and table in one.

A bonefish in its right element just before landing. It was hooked at this depth as well so one of my favourite hookups on the trip.

We caught also other species than bonefish – here a snapper

And a carite – a spanish mackerel. You need luck or a wire leader to land this fish and a plier to unhook it. They have incredible sharp teeth.

a small tuna

a blue runner

a pompano looks like a permit but never grows big. An austrian flyfisher got a 14 kg permit one of the days, a very impressive fish.

Eigil with a false albacore

Rene with a yellow tail snapper

A lady fish. Also called poor mans tarpon. They jump like tarpon but don´t grow big. I caught 3 ladyfish in 3 casts and then Rene tried for 20 20 minutes without any luck – I could not get my arms down 😉

Rene he caught a tarpon on the main island. That is really an achievement as we almost did not see any and even when you see many it can be very hard to catch one. Rene fished most af the time with a head cam and he got all of his tarpon fight on video. I hope and expect that I later can put some of his video on the blog.

Cape Cod week 43 2011

Last year a kind Linekurv.dk user from USA wrote that if I ever wanted to fish striped bass on Cape Cod he would be glad to help. As I have wanted to fly fish for stripers for many years I wrote back that I would very much like to try that and so this year Thomas and I went to Cape Cod for a week. Scott (the kind man) told us that we were a bit late but as the flight tickets were bought we would come anyway.

We rented this 4WD Kia which in our world is a quite big car but many times it actually looked small parked next to the standard 4WD here in the States.

The first place we visited together with Scott I got this hook-up….

soon after I cold land this striper on the beach

and present it before the release. I think that Scott was more relieved  than we were after this catch because due to the late season he was afraid that we wouldn´t catch anything at all on our trip.

Later there was a small blitz outside Scott and he got this mackerel which was his first ever on a fly rod.

In the evening we also got a couple of very small pollacks which was nice as the stripers feed on those.

Scott and his friends Dick and Bruce really helped us a lot as they both fished with us and gave us tips on where to fish and when to do it. As the tidal difference was up to 12 feet the fishing is very tide depending and therefore local help is crucial. Besides the help they were all very nice people as almost all fellow fly fishers are and they also supplied us with some very nice flies (flat wings) which we now try to duplicate here in Denmark. We fished in very different environments as we fished in estuaries, rivers, sand beaches, sand bars, canals, jetties etc.

One day we came to some sea gulls that dived and we could see that there fish chasing in the shallow water as well. Here Thomas started to hook this fish.

Which he also landed. As you can see the fish are nice but not that big, they are what the locals call schoolies but still good fun especially when you’re on your first trip for stripers.

The action was pretty intense and several times we were both hooked up simultaneously.

Here I got the biggest fish on our trip a fish around the 26 inches mark but it has to be 28 inches to be a keeper.

We fished early in the mornings and during the day and late in the evening. Due to the tide many times each trip was only a few hours but this gives a lot of variations.

This morning Scott got a schoolie as well.

I can´t remember the name of these ancient creatures but you found them on all beaches.

On one of the trips I got two bluefish. They were not big ones but I was surprised that they did not bite the line as I have heard that they normally do that when you do not fish with a wire leader. Thomas lost one due to this.

If you wade out at low tide you shall remember to come back in time. This time we were a bit late and Scott had to swim while Thomas and I just made it with only a bit of water in our waders.

When you are on a fishing holiday you fish in weather that no normal person would leave the house in. we did that one evening with heavy rain and more or less a storm.  This is one of the fish we got that evening and we thought that we really deserved those fish.

At the hotel we every night had a beer with the fly tying and the talk of the day to come and we tried different american micro brewed stuff. Some were quite disappointing but these two which Thomas grabbed because of their fish motives were actually very much to be recommended. Later we checked on ratebeer.com and found that we were not the only ones that found them very good.

Despite the fog in Frankfurt that delayed us 24 hours and the storm that prevented us from going in kayaks and that we never got a keeper we had a terrific trip. We got fish on every trip we made except one morning trip when two duck hunters had taken our hot spot and some times we got more than just one or two (up to 8 fish). We met some new fishing friends and tried some interesting fishing and had a wonderful dinner at Scott and Grace´s place so as the Terminator says: ” I will be back”.

Æbelø, 8-9/7 2011

I have been on Æbelø with Michael before and sometimes with very good results so I was not hard to talk into another trip to this very beautiful island.

Preparing for the boat trip. The british fleet destroyed the Danish fleet app. 200 years ago but now we are back in business. We are now focusing on inflatable boats: a Creek SUB, an Anderson pontoon boat and the mothership: a rubber boat 😉

The first evening Michael got this 55 cm trout so he was very content.

 

 Later that night he got a 50 cm trout.

 

We also got some small cods and several small trouts. I only caught one trout above the minimum size – a 44 cm fish but as we had cooling opportunities everything was released.

 

When we returned to our camp this little fellow was caught in our gravy from our dinner.

 

The next morning started with a beautiful dawn.

 

We met two fellow fishermen in kayaks and they really had something to brag about. This fantastic trout was just above 10 pounds and was caught on a wobbler the night before.

 

and a closer look.

 

This morning we wanted a fish for lunch and I got this nice 43 cm trout which was perfect for this purpose.

 

Here  the same fish after 10 minutes in the fire – maybe not as beautiful as before but way better to eat than canned food. Michael also got a fish just above the minimum size which was released.

 

In the evening the rain came but we also had some sun so this rainbow which was full but too big for the camera was produced. In the evening I got a nice 60 cm trout but unfortunately I did not get a photo when it was released.

 

Turning our backs to Æbelø when going home. The last morning I got another nice trout for a dinner for two – a 42 cm trout. So to conclude we got fish above the minimum size every morning and evening and we even got some good-sized fish and more fish below the minimum size and we saw a fantastic trout so our expectations were more or less fulfilled. We will come back later and then we hope that we will get the big one.

Mariager fjord, 3/4-2011

An afternoon trip wadefishing in Mariager Fjord with Stig and Michael. We could see that the seagulls at times were very active and looking in the shallow water it was revealed why – there were plenty of worms. Some of them were quite big so they hold a lot of energy. But we did not see any action from the trouts regarding these worms.

A worm in the stripping basket, this was one of the smaller worms.

AT first nothing happened but after a change in the tactic and a shift to a red Christmas tree which was fished at high speed I first hat a strong hit on the fly and five minutes later this very nice sea trout was caught 56 cm and just above 4 lbs.

Here a closer look of the red Christmas tree fly. 

Later I got another hit on the fly and soon after released a trout around the minimum size as it despite being blank needed some extra weight.

Gudenåen 23/1-2011

A lot of work, a wrecked car and very low temperatures and ice have kept me from fishing in more than 3 months. According to my wife this has never happened before.  But today on a sunny day with temperatures just above zero degrees I went with Søren and Henrik on a drift trip down the lower part of Gudenåen for pikes.  I must be a bit rusty as I forgot my stripping basket and that really was annoying as I many times had my force fins tangled in the line. There was a lot of talking but also a lot of fishing but unfortunately not very productive fishing.

Suddenly Søren yelled that had a salmon or sea trout and that was not a lie.

But as you can see this fish had seen better days. It was a dead trout around 7 pounds.

A bit later I was lucky to hook a fish that actually was alive.

It was a very fat and nicely coloured pike around the 15 pound mark, so this was a very welcomed start on a new season. In app. 2 weeks time I will leave for Los Roques to get some sun, warmth and hopefully some nice bonefish.