A Road Trip with Fins

What could be better than a mega Euro-road trip? A road trip with a selection of fishing tackle sneaked into the car, of course. This years break was a long, long drive. Five countries, various bizarre food stuffs and a frightening total of 16 different beds slept in- most on the low budget end of creaking cabins and campsites. Our eventual destination was Finland- via Holland, Germany, Denmark and Sweden in that order. Where do I even begin?


Sweden is somewhere I want to return to. We whistled past perhaps the biggest lake I've ever seen on the way out, and had a stopover on a little campsite with a lake. Predictably, I had some cheeky casts but the fish were elusive in the scorching hot weather and only the odd little jack pike proved willing to bite. Nevertheless, I loved it. Above is a typically traditional Swedish scene near Gripsholm castle, not far from Stockholm.

A ferry across the Baltic Sea came next. What a place! Countless islands and little hideouts, a real playground of the rich (like so many beautiful and secluded areas!). The ferry was fun too. Tacky cabaret bands, general lounging and gypsies gambling on the decks. A mixture of excess sleep, coffee and high cholesterol foods saw us roll on into Finland late- another day, another campsite, another random look at stacks of passing rivers and lakes.


Finland was, unsurprisingly, beautiful as always. My other half wanted to visit in the balmy weather of August this year- great for catching some rays, not so great for catching fish. It gets bloody hot and they tend to switch off or go deep. In fact, try as I might, I struggled at first to grab more than the occasional jack. Jigging over deeps was little better for sullen, sleepy zander. The trick was to try the less sociable hours of the day with lures and flies which resulted in a good few zander in the end, along with perch and pike. They were nothing huge, but I always find it a thrill to connect with this perplexing, challenging species.


Random catch of the holidays was to arrive in the shape of this bream to a Rapala plug. It felt for all the world like a zander. Sadly absent were the other unusual species I've managed to catch on previous visits, such as ide and whitefish. Never mind- the lakes were beautiful and there's nothing quite like a hot sauna and chilled beer when you're cld and tired after an evening paddle in a float tube. The tube is an absolute must here, with access tricky and boats and guides for hire fairly scarce.

It is with a tinge of sadness that I think back now on Finland- with property for peanuts out here, we had invested in a little summer house, hence my annual visit to Finland. With harder times and more places on the hit list though, it was time to settle up and move on. The old haunts were as beautiful as ever- albeit devoid of big pike this year. For anyone thinking of a Scandinavian trip I woudn't recommend August, May and June have been miles better for fishing. Nevertheless, the place has a stark beauty and is as much about freedom and true wilderness as anything else. I spent as much time with a camera as fishing, just trying to capture the feel of the place. Below is the Great Woodpecker- a more perfectly primitive pike lake I may never find in my life time:

Even with the fishing slow, it's always fun to go lure shopping in a fishing mad country. The market in Mikkelli, central Finland, is always an eye opener for local, home made specials along with the world famous Kuusamo and Rapala classics. I also like the fact that the market seller has his own tank allowing you to see each seductive wiggle in action for yourself!

creations range from the deadly to the brash to the downright bizarre. Fancy catching a pike on a mermaid?:
The hand made, home rolled lures are a particular joy and I was keen to track down some intriguing central Finnish specials which combine the wiggle of a plug with the fluidity of fly materials. The main man for these in the area is now dead (as indicated to me by locals with the international finger drawn across throat "kicked-the-bucket" gesture). Time to stock up on some of these beauties- now a (very) limited edition you might say:


Our long road trip thus made a mazy route back across Scandinavia. Stopping south of Stockholm, I was again taken away by the granduer of the Baltic sea, a place where pike rub shoulders with prawns and herring. The biggest pike I saw in the whole trip followed a lure I cast into a boat yard on a morning stroll. A great sight, and I only wish I'd stayed longer. On any travel though, it's the unscripted experiences which you remember best. Like meeting Aussie artist John Dullaway- who uses techniques inspired by native Oz to create authentic works. As an angler, fish are a real focus and I felt that the shape of the pike went perfectly with his primal, bold paint schemes- so much so that I now own one of John's great pike canvasses! When i get hold of John's new site address I'll post on my links page so you can see more of his work.

The beauty of a road trip is thus that you see so much; the disadvantage is that you never stop long enough in one place to really get your teeth fully into whats around, although I now have no shortage of interesting leads for next time! We tried a Danish trout fishery on the way back, but alas with baking hot weather the fishing was poor again. A shame, because I thought I had stumbled on possibly the ultimate in crazy mixed fisheries- a trio of interconnected lakes containing trout, zander, salmon, pike, roach, perch and carp! Only roach resulted from trying every trick in the goddamn book.

More gratifying was the Netherlands. In fact I loved it there. I've always had a bit of a thing about canals and so I felt right at home- plus the Dutch are such civilized, laid back, great people. I caught pike and perch in a little rustic river, before trying one of the canals in Rotterdam. Surprisingly beautiful: birds nesting below motorway bridges, bicycles everywhere, house boats among highrises. Strangely stirring.

Last Euro stop of all was Amsterdam. No fishing this time, but what a great city. Rather than get wasted or trawl the sleazy end, I enjoyed some of the interesting bits and, you guessed it, more gorgeous canals. A great place- we have city foxes, the Dutch have city herons!:

Meanwhile in blighty, we'd been informed by various European neighbours that London was ablaze with riots, looting and general chaos. Not what you want to hear when you're stopping in... London, shortly. In fact, ever since departure abroad it seemed the world had gone mental- shooting in Norway, Amy Winehouse dead, then the riots. What next? I decided to escape the madness in London Aquarium for the afternoon. Well worth a visit- if only to test your photography skills against the fiendish combination that is dim light and subjects which refuse to keep still. A worthwhile exercise, and some terrific displays of British sea and coarse fish too I might add. Great displays:

Euro-Trek

Typing this on a bumpy Scandinavian B-road, there's just enough time to reflect on an eventful trip so far. From the flat lands of Holland (a bit like Somerset, but with added windmills) through to Denmark, Sweden we now hit Finland. It's sweltering hot. I have about two dozen mozzy bites and a beard.


The image above, hastily taken on the phone, could be any one of the hundreds of beautiful, often untouched lakes out here. I've also been marvelling at strange foods and the odd corker of a mullet hair cut.
Trouble is, the fishing has been rock hard. It's just too hot for much except jack pike. Last night was a minor breakthrough though.
Zander are the real target out here- but they tend to frustrate. Just when I manage to tempt one and think I've cracked it, they play silly buggers. The locals all say I should be trolling with about six rods- but this is not my idea of fun. Plus, the lack of a boat doesn't help. Failing this then, I've been jigging over deep holes with the float tube. Thus is where the Zander lurk in the day, albeit thoroughly bored and not especially hungry. The theory is good then- the Practise lacking. Until I got bored and decided to try the edges of the lake on a couple of hot evenings. With the water cooling a little, the predators come to the edges to hunt. Bingo! some Zander at last, to small pike flies and lures!
The other fun of the tube is the looks you get from locals; you know that not quite convinced smile that says "you're really quite fucking mad aren't you?" to which I doff my hat and speak in broken Finnish.

The only other remarkable fish spotted was at the "Ripleys Believe it or Not" museum in Copenhagen. Above is a strange, fur covered trout. It was thought these cold lake fish had developed little coats to keep warm. The original freak trout generated so much interest that later on tourists spotted one Scot putting a little fluffy jacket on a trout! Weirdness seems to follow me out here though- including a nutty Swedish lady convinced that nuclear subs are hiding all over Europe, releasing brain washing chemicals into the atmosphere. If that's true, then I'm a Viking.
Well, on that bizarre note I should sign off before the data roaming charges leave me broke. Later on I will have the unfamiliar pleasure of eating a Zander that I kept for the table. Feels weird for a Brit, but so very different out here with some 180 000 lakes and no shortage of fish! Still, I'm not about to fish like a Tiverton laborer and swap my landing net for a Tescos bag and a blunt object.

A long stay in Lakeland

A blog by very definition is something of a quick, diary type format. So how exactly do you fit nearly a month in the land of a thousand lakes into a few paragraphs? The numbers are daunting enough: several thousand kilometres of travel. Around two dozen mosquito bites. Countless casts on a river and perhaps ten different lakes. A few big fish and lots of smaller fish. Bite a chuck fishing and dead tough fishing.

Perhaps I should start with perhaps the real highlight of a trip to Lapland to visit the legendary Kuusamo lure factory, in the town of the same name. It was a long haul across miles of road often empty aside from the odd reindeer. We were lucky enough to be hosted by current director Kimmo Korpua who was proud to give us the grand tour. How refreshing in this age of cheap far east labour and mass produced dross to see a company operating along different lines. We witnessed for ourselves how Kuusamo make the most of experienced staff to cut, polish and paint a terrific array of beautiful spoons such as that classic pike catcher, the "Professor".

Next day saw us try out a selection of spoon designs both old and new in search of pike on a vast, clear water lake. Whilst it feels strange at times to be piking in June, the season starts very late in Lapland, where there was still ice a fortnight before our arrival. Our short session here was truly a lesson in the value of finding the right colour for the day. After a slow start of switching hues, a new orange spattered silver design proved absolutely deadly for pike lying up in shallow water. I was already having fun with some fit, lean, head shaking pike before a bigger sample grabbed hold. Terrific fun on fairly light gear- this one made some awesome runs before shooting straight under the boat before she hit the net.

Talk about a new "confidence" lure! And anyone who thinks all spoons are alike should try a Kuusamo- attractive in steady motion, but I love to break up the retrieve and stop these spoons too. They wobble and flutter beautifully on the way down. Quite often the pike then smash the spoon before you continue reeling. A shame that we have only a limited selection of these spoons in the UK- although Andy Lush's shop The Friendly Fisherman is well worth a visit. A feature should provide more interesting details on Kuusamo in the not too distant future. The notes on the history of these lures and some of the processes involved should make for something juicy I hope. For an early taster, here's a step by step look at the colouring process:

Further south, I took to the waters in a float tube and had a blast with pike, perch and other lake fish. Arriving a little earlier this year, the waters were cooler. Not as comfy on the toes, but better prospects for pike. The key areas seem to be not simply shallows, but those shallow areas close to deeper holes, where pike can lie up in cool water before raiding the margins when hunger strikes.
One rocky island on the Maavesi, a giant lake, provided a real hotspot, albeit requiring a mile of paddling to reach. Whilst I've enjoyed the UK season this was something out of this world. My best fish took in the evening, careering around boulder strewn water with incredible power. It was the kind of fight where, even with strong braid, I feared I may be smashed up. Luckily I had some idea of the worst snags from a previous visit and eventually I got her in. No need for nets or other gear on the tube- scales and a sling would also be excess baggage, not to mention more stress on the fish and so I tend to measure the big ones. This one was 105cm, around 18lbs at a guestimate and yet took a fairly small spoon- a 3" Rasanen. The figures seem a bit of an irrelevance to an absolutely white knuckle fishing experience!

With a distinct lack of cars, people and houses, it really has been a bit of a hangover to return to the UK. Finland is simply more peaceful and unspoiled. Where in England can you fish a virtually untouched lake and not see another human being all day? Perhaps my favourite little Finnish lake is a mere eight acres, but deep. I had always fancied it to hold one or two nice fish and this year it provided a
strange encounter.

I had been getting good hits on surface lures when something bigger churned up the surface by a sunken tree. The fish then powered away from the branches along the margin- out of danger, or so I thought! More branches waited here and it became a stale mate. The fish then surged and I had that sick sensation of slack line- submerged nasties had sheared off my end tackle!
A few days later and I was tackling the same water with a fly rod, when I had the strange sight of a small, light coloured fish following my fly. Next moment the rod was hooped over with a big fish which then let go before I could strike. It quickly dawned on me- the following shape hadn't been a strange coloured roach but my lost lure, still attached to the pike! I just kept casting, praying for another chance. Five minutes later and there was a huge boil at the surface. To say the rod bent would be an understatement- it took a curve like a rod builder's nightmare. Was it the same fish? As soon as I saw the shape of the lost plug I resolved to get her in pronto- but the pike was in no mood to cooperate. When she headed for the open water of the middle I just let her run and paddled out. As soon as she was within arms reach I picked off the offending plug- before she surged off again. At least now I could enjoy the fight, since whether I lost her or not, the fish was now free.
As I got her in I was amazed such a modest if long fish of eight to ten pounds could run so hard. Bizarrely, the plug had been stuck in her shoulder. The fish's head was unmarked, suggesting that it had never been fairly hooked the first time. I think she had surged across the lure, missing but being nicked in the side as I tightened up. What a relief though! The feeling of leaving a fish hooked up was a horrible, lingering one and I was overjoyed to set the pike free again, unhindered by my interference!

So many more stories could be related. I found a lake absolutely stuffed with perch and took a few for a fry up. I caught Ide on small jigs and spoons, and even a whitefish (pollan in English I think?). I also managed to catch a lovely two pound brown trout on some rapids- a feat I failed to manage on a two day trip last summer. A lucky trip overall then- although two previous stays of less success but some homework certainly didn't hurt.

The only real failure was with the zander. Just one small fish in several attempts, despite promising areas found. Then again, there's always next year. Perhaps the only thing I won't miss about Finland is the mozzies.

As for the most surreal experience, this has to be the sight of "The Silent People"- a weird collection of almost 1000 humanoid figures at the roadside on the way to Kuusamo. Really odd- turf for heads, random clothes and I'm not entirely sure what it all means. All the people society forgets? A black joke? Unexpected, a little eerie... but is it art?