TR, Somewhere in Swedish Lapland ;-)
On Sunday the 4th of August 2002 we set off on our yearly recurring fishing trip to the mountain region of Swedish Lapland. My two fishing companions and myself were to have one of the best fishing trips ever had by anyone of us.
We had met in May over dinner and a couple of different
malt whiskeys to discuss where we should fish. Our choice was one fairly large
mountain river in Norrbotten County, something that with facts at hand proved to
be a very good choice.
First I’d like to introduce you to my two companions.
There’s Fred Risberg, a very good fly-fisherman with an intuitive approach to
fly-fishing. He might not know the name of all the different casting and mending
techniques but masters most. The other companion, Hans, on the other hand
hasn’t been fly-fishing for quite as long, but even spin fishermen are bound
to learn one or two things about fishing given enough time (just teasing). If
you by chance ever visit the sea trout river Ricklea, northern Sweden, you
should definitely contact Hans Berggren, Bygdea, since he knows that river
better than most and is a very cunning sea-trout fisherman. Hans is also an
excellent cook, which is never bad to have with you when camping.
My friends in the pictures above, and me in the picture below.
After a five-hour drive we came to the helicopter site, and then only twenty minutes of flying remained. To fly three people a distance of 25 kilometres (15 miles) with 25 kg (lb 55) of gear per person costs about 1500 sek (US$ 158.00) per person. The fishing license for a week is about 200 sek (US$ 19).
Talking to the pilot we learned that water levels were low due to the dry and early summer. Fishing, we were told, was descent but not at its best.
Arriving at the spot where we had planned to stay we made camp and rested. After the long drive and the helicopter lift the silence was stunning. One of our first observations once we had settled in was the lack of insects, this has its positive sides as well as negative. We did not once have to use insect repellent during our week in the mountains, this is one of the things that made this trip so unique.
Water levels were indeed low, and the water was crystal clear. The combination was going to prove a real challenge. I’ll exclude all the testing that was done the first two days from this story and tell you what conclusions were made.
I have seen films from New Zeeland where the guide tells
the fisherman how to cast the fly, and this from a position where the guide
actually sees the fish. I never expected this to happen to us but this was
exactly what happened.
On the third day we fished the neck below a major calm stretch. The fishing was such that only one fisherman at a time could stand by the neck whilst the other two fishermen were watching the feeding fish. I started out with a Wulff fly with yellow body, anything close to olive was good enough, and cast over the closest feeding fish. My first trout of some good size, we had gotten quite a number of fish in the 0.5 kg (lb 1.1) range, was a 0.8 kg (lb 1.8) fish. On this neck we caught, the first day, 2 trout at 1.6 kg (lb3.6) and two at 0.8 kg (lb 1.8) but also several at 0.5 kg (lb 1.1). I’m a bit irritated by the fact that Fred’s fish look so much bigger than mine. They were both 50 cm (20 inches) long and weighed exactly the same. Not irritated at Fred mind you, but at myself. I should have learnt by now to hold the fish in one hand and not too close to the body, makes the fish look much nicer ;-).
Both these fish were released.
One smaller fish saved for dinner.
On the evening of the fourth day I found another neck that looked very promising, and indeed it gave me a trout at 1.1 kg (lb 2.5) that was 47.5 cm (19 inches) long. The same neck would produce several nice trout to Fred the evening after, but also give him grey hair as half of the fish he hooked broke free. One of the trout that he lost could easily have been a personal record for him, on the other hand it’s the ones that you loose that you remember best. The reason for the many lost fish was probably that his #5 Gatti fly rod was way to stiff for 0.14 ( 6X ) and 0.12 ( 7X ) leaders.
By now Hasse had also caught a nice brown at 0.8 kg (lb 1.8) and this was a really nice fish that gave him a memorable fight. The fact that we all caught so many trout in the 0.5 kg (lb 1) range and the fact that these were just as difficult made it continuously interesting to fish even after a 10-hour pass.
The last day we all went in separate directions, I made the 40 minute walk up to the neck that produced so many of the nice trout caught during this week and my fellow companions went downstream to fish some promising calmer stretches. I know that Hasse lost a really big trout on that afternoon, but also that they both caught several fish above 0.5 kg (lb 1.1).
For me this last day of fishing was going to prove to be one of the nicest riverside experiences that I’ve ever had. In four hours I caught 4 fish weighing 1.0 kg (lb 2.3), 1.2 kg (lb 2.7), 1.0 kg (lb 2.3) and 0.6 kg (lb 1.4).
This fish was released,
and this one,
this one also.
Dinner last day.
During our stay we consistently released all fish except for one in the 0.5 kg (lb 1.1) range (if possible) per person and day, which was saved for dinner each night, but also two fish in the 0.8 kg (lb 1.8) range was kept for trout cured in salt and sugar with white pepper and dill.
Dried reindeer meat with black coffee, a luxury when in the mountains.
Our entire stay was blessed with sunlight and we found a small sand bank that we made our beach. It isn’t quite normal to be able to take a bath every day this high up in the mountains since the water normally is to cold to stand for more than one bath in the middle of the week.
The stretch we fished was 6 miles long, but the license covered more than 50 miles of running water. During a week we saw 4 fishermen of which two just walked past and the other two was at the outskirts of the stretch that we fished. As far as I know only three more people had been transported to the area by helicopter. This means we were 10 fishermen on a stretch of 50 miles :-).
There's one less joyful incident that I want to bring up. We found an abandoned camp within the nature reserve that did not look nice. Litter everywhere, glass as well as paper and plastics, even a butane-propane burner.
Whoever you were, if you read this, - STAY THE FUCK OFF THE MOUNTAINS, IDIOTS.
Yours/ Roger