Tournament day 2 (part 1)

We wake up at 6.30 (the day would start early, at eight). After the sauna last night we felt relaxed and fell asleep right away. So we were as fresh as one can be on a good trip. At breakfast some jokes were made about Henk-Jan and Sander always being just a little bit later then the rest. But hey, what the heck… nobody knew this was all part of the tactics (just kidding). But as I walked out of the lodge with Henk-Jan at 7.30 all of the others were gone already. Teddy (the cook) saw us picking up the last lunch packets and a can of coffee and immediately phoned Simon. “there are still two guys here!”- he said. Fortunately (or was it indeed well over thought tactics?) The Finnish team was just driving away and they stopped 200 meters from the lodge so we could fetch a ride with them.
In the car we had a small chance to overhear Tuomas and Saku and that just gave a little bit more insight on the fishing they were doing. And they did very well that first day, so the inside information of Team Vision was a nice one.
Day 2, it had to be done on the spawning areas according to most of the fisherman. I had a look at my buddy and we smiled. For us we would start out at Big Mama’s place, ‘cause we were still stoked about the blast we had yesterday.
When we arrived at the boats most people were geared up and ready. Kari stood there waiting for us…. Same boat and guide, third day in a row. But we did not mind, this guy had showed to have a good learning curve and yesterday some pointing with the rod and hand communication combined with some “nomoto’s” was good enough to drift the deeper waters (let’s say 3-4ft) of Big Mama’s place.
Harmen-Jan and Erik picked up a nice boat for this day, a skiff type with oars and a guide who resulted to be in a good physical shape to just row and drift. Nomoto’s all day, those guys were lucky! As the competition was quite close between England one and both Dutch teams we all were very eager and we wanted to give good sport to each other. We geared up and boarded Kari’s boat. It was time to get started and when Simon gave the signals the boats ran out. The English went to the left, Netherlands 1 (Harmen-Jan and Erik) to the right and we went straight out, to the passage to get into the Delta and on towards the islands a bit closer to the river mouth. Big Mama’s place on our minds.

This little friend used one of Harmen-Jan's wire traces for his housing ;-)

As we were going through a canal we saw numerous turns in the water, the bigger whitefish were active just underneath the surface. That should be a good sign! So passed the rock with the seagull we went, towards the reedbeds we had in mind.


picture taken on a later moment, but there's the seagull and Big Mama's is just a bit more to the right

The wind was still slow and same as yesterday, just perfect for the same type of drifts we made before. As we arrived there we saw one big swirl of a hunting pike. That would be just another good sign. And with just some pointing with my rod Kari understood the masterplan. Drifting the same drifts as yesterday. The first drift was just stunning. I missed a good fish and Hajee even managed to get two good sized pike on and unluckily he gave them both a so called long distance release. I guess we missed the catching part of the “catch and release”-spirit.


without words Kari would understand the pointing of a rod

The second drift it was already getting warmer and we could not see whitefish activity anymore. Hajee had one fish swirling right behind his streamer and that was about it. The third drift there was nothing to be seen anymore… So it was time to go searching for other places. We saw Erik and Harmen-Jan going into a bay a bit more Southwards so we decided to go over to them and have a small exchange of thoughts and experiences. They were indeed in that bay, close to the reedbeds and making long casts right at the edge of the reed. While we were observing them Erik took a nice bream falsely hooked, but they caught a jack-pike as well. The Netherlands 1 looked like a mean fishing machine. Both guys making long casts and stripping in. Very effective and they were making the guide doing the right drift they had in mind.
When we tried to get closer we got stuck in the mud. That’s the disadvantage of a slightly heavier boat with a longtail engine that can not be lifted up. We had some talk with the other guys, it was all happening in the shallow and they had two sized fish on the board already.


Our teamcaptain had a good sized one already

That was indeed very good news, as it was still early and as we considered ourselves one team defending the Dutch pride Hajee and I both were happy at least the others did so well. The advised us to do the same thing as they did, get into the shallows and make casts towards the dead reedbeds that protruded out of the water. We got our boat free from the mudbank and did another serious attempt, but whatever we tried, we could not get close enough without getting stuck in the mud and reedbeds that were still underneath the surface.
Time for another plan and we let the boat drift across the bay to get crashed into a bigger subsurface reedbed on the other side of the bay. Hajee and I both got of the boat and waded out. At first a bit cautious, as we did not know how it would be, but it seemed like the reedbeds would hold us quite well. The only funny (and a bit scary) thing was that you could feel the beds sway underneath you. It reminded me of the time when I was a little boy and one of my friends parents had a waterbed. Those things also sway that much when you walk on them. All of a sudden there was a hole in the bed and I almost fell into it (at 2ft the water was to dark to see any structure). Oops… scary shit and Hajee who also found a couple of steep and deep edges agreed this was not such a good plan. So we waded back to the boat, a bit more careful this time. As it was almost noon we stood next to the boat and had our lunch. Going over numerous plans on what to do and where to go.
The other Dutch team was out of sight by now and we were the only ones in this bay. We went up to and made another unsuccessful drift on Big Mama’s , but there was no action there. And still I had the feeling this was the place to be for the bigger ones.
Simon came along with some updates of the field.


Simon was making miles and miles to keep in touch with the entire field

As we heard from him, his most recent information told us that the Finnish were having a hard time getting fish as well. One of the Canadians did get a nice one, around 90cm’s. The English had some fish but Simon could not recall if they had sized ones and our Dutch buddies did very well having at least 3 or 4 sized fish, one being a big one. “At least not all Dutch were as crappy as we are” we grinned. If the other teams were not catching that much either we had to come up with some idea on how to get sized fish.

Out for the weekend.

As it has been almost two weeks and we are still flyfishing addicts above writers.... We could not resist the tempting call of the unused flyrods. They were begging us to please stay away from the computer a couple of days and take them out for a new adventure.



Let's see if it is possible to get some of these this weekend in Denmark.
Updates will continue tuesday or wednesday.
Ciao!

Tournament day 1, The aftermath

We return to the docks and the sight is wonderful. Right in front of the little bay with the dock most teams are still floating. On all boats both team members are trying to get a last fish as hard as they can. As we are totally pumped by Big Mama’s place and it is already 10 minutes to 4, Hajee and I don’t fish anymore and Kari cruises the boat right up to the docks.


The Finnish team in front of the docks.

As we get on shore the other boats are also coming in. Everybody has experiences to share and of course everyone is anxious to hear about the results of the others. Our main interest is of course in the other Dutch team, we came here as four and we hope they had an even better day than we had.
Unfortunately that is not the truth. Erik and Harmen-Jan had a lot of fun, caught their fishes, but mostly jack-pikes. They caught more than we did, but not so big. So their score will come out a bit lower. On the other hand, they had more action and to Hajee and Sander, that is a sign H&S probably did not fish the good places as it was hard working for some fish and they only had that unique moment of time at Big Mama’s place.
Erik and Harmen-Jan had a different type of boat and they went on to the shallows. They have seen lots of spawning pike in the reedbeds, where on the other hand H&S (Netherlands 2) did not see pike spawning at all during the first tournament day. Erik and Harmen-Jan fished close to these spawning grounds, looking for aggressive fish or fish that were “spawned out” (=finished with spawning, not to be confused with Finnish spawning). In numbers that did produce a lot more compared to H&S’s experience.
Then the focus sets on to the other teams. We get news from Simon, the Russians most probably will not show up anymore. They were still at the border, the trailer of their boat was not allowed to enter Finland, according to the Finnish requirements (lights etcetera).


Mostly on the reedbeds where the action was.

The Finnish team did well, they caught more pike than the other teams and had some nice ones on the list. England 1 (Mike and Guy) also had good action and probably will have had more than either one of our teams. England 2 and the Canadians unfortunately both had a bad day and merely saw fish.
Back at the lodge the four of us sit down, we try to analyze all the new information we got. The result is that to get numbers fishing next to the spawning grounds resulted in the most productive way of getting them. That tactic was used by the Finnish, England 1 and Netherlands 1. On the other hand if Hajee and Sander would have had some luck and landed two or three more of the hook-ups/ strikes they had, it would have been totally different (well, at least the score would have been).
The options for the next day are many. And as we all mingle with the others the thoughts are moving away from the fishing and start focusing on whisky, rum and beers. Erik and Hajee take some rods out of a rack and make some casts in front of the lodge. Sander and Harmen-Jan relax on one of the decks, enjoying the good company of some of the other teams.
And as good sportsman we end up the night in Finnish tradition, butt naked in the steamy sauna. And to put our autograph on this sauna-thing we introduce Benoit (one of the Canadians) to skinny-dipping-in-a-river-of-melting-water-by-night. Because nothing beats a heart stopping cool off in an ice cold river.


nice thing, that sauna happening late at night...

The first competition day (part 2)

Man… does that beer taste good or what? The practice day we did not take out any beers at all (decision of the team captain) and this morning I discussed with Hajee wether or not to bring some beers along. “At least a couple to celebrate the first pike that counts”, was my argument. Okay, we have to fulfill a lot of promises and fish or asses off, but in my opinion one fishes at his best when he fishes the way he always does. And for me and Hajee that is indeed with some relaxing and a beer every once in a while.

So the Karhu tastes good and we let Kari take the boat to a next island a bit more upwind. We plan a drift along the shore of that one. Well, Hajee and I look at the map and the winds, then send Kari towards the spot with us and call “nomoto” on him if we judge our position right for a drift. Luckily the wind is not howling today, otherwise a drift with such a high boat and no driftbags or any kind of rudder would be a big drama.

We drift along the next island and reckon there are some nice spots on it. Unfortunately there is not a single bit of action. But hey, this drift goes great and we can see that if we keep on drifting we might go a bit further away from the island, but straight into the area where Simon caught the first Finnish pike we did see on this trip, right in front of our eyes on practice-day. So we fish on with confidence. Then I hook a nice branch. I pull it towards the boat slowly (never use your rod to drill branches) and take it out of the water. I think I heard a splash.

It must have been some sort of gut feeling that made me want to mark this area somewhere out in the open, and I push the branch I just landed into the muddy bottom about 1.5 meters below us. The back of the branch sticks out for about half a meter out of the water. And then I hear the sound again, sounds like fish, so I turn to Hajee and ask him if he did see something. Nope. He says he thinks it was the little attempt Kari made to brake our speed a little bit with the paddle that was lying in the boat for so long.

Then I hear the splash again and look over my shoulder. A swirl, I am sure about it. I point it out to Hajee, but he does not see it any more. It was pike, I am sure about it. And then I spot a fish swimming right underneath the surface, about the size of a decent ide. It swims a bit distracted and it draws my attention. I point it out to Hajee. And at that moment, a huge swirl right behind it. That is pike, definitely. The fish rushes away in fear and we can follow it. Another swirl in it’s neighbourhood. And another one. There is a pike chasing down this big baitfish. Not much later we see yet another swirl a bit farther away. We call upon Kari for the moto, and I am still not sure if he saw anything of this action or just missed it all together. Then about 40 meters in front of us a huge pike strikes again in the surface. We can see it almost head and tail in a trashy fast forwarded way. With some big splashes.

And then we lose sight of this active fish. But surprisingly just half a minute later I can see the injured baitfish swimming around again. We try to stick close to it, but there’s no action anymore. Okay… at least there was a pike that was very active and chasing a fish for a longer trail. Not a place we would have recognized as a hotspot, but the fish was a whopper, that’s for sure and we both know it would have been one that would go on the scoring charts.

As we sit and wait if something more happens all of a sudden I think about the branch. I know almost exactly where the first swirl of that big pike was…. So we make up a plan (all based on Dutch polder-knowledge and imagination) on what to do with the couple of hours we still have left for this tournament day. In the Dutch polder we would leave a pike that has been moved but not hooked alone for a while. Let it set back into it’s ambush (in the polders they stand in the exact place minutes after they have been hunting) and try for it after a small break. Maybe it is the same here? We think it is a good idea to let Kari go around this area and set up another drift, aiming at the branch and hoping the big pike will have gone back to it’s place when we pass by on the second drift.

As the wind has shifted a little bit we have to start the drift a bit further away of the island than our first drift. More open water. But still we let Kari stop the engine quite a long time before the boat will be in the “hot place” near the branch, because we want to be sure not to spook the fish.

We start drifting and fishing. Making casts and retrieving, looking out for the part of the drift we both will be able to make two or three casts in that area where I suspect the pike to be. We drift past a couple of rocks and reed. I make a cast towards this structure, as it gives at least some impression of the structure in the water.

Not even a single strip completed....kabooom! A fish nails down my streamer quite aggressively. I strip-strike full force and it is quite a mass on the business end. Yessss! My first pike of the trip, and I am sure it is one for the scoreboard. I spool it on the reel, not because I think it is so strong, but just because I don’t like all that loose line in a small boat when you are also trying to land a fish, measure it and take some pictures. As I have the fish on reel I notice how nice it bends my TFO TiCrX. And it even breaks through the drag of the Vosseler... This fish has some strength, not bad considering the fact we are fishing with a 9 or 10 weight.

Hajee gets a chin grip on it and I take it over from there. We measure it and it is definitely a fish that goes on the board. The boat shivers and trembles as Kari pulls out another of these Hula-moves. Four arm movements this time and the man is running out of breath because of all the excitement. As he lights up another cigarette he refuses one of the hot beers we offer him. We do a small shootout with me and the fish and release it carefully. Cheers mate!





I take a look at the streamer, what a mess, but with some water it is back in shape quite fast.



During the shootout and drilling the drift was continued and now the boat is past the branch. But hey, who cares… we are here, 2 friends enjoying the tournament and we propose to do the same drift once more. It is great to see the learning curve of our guide. He quickly knows he has to motor the boat around this area and start yet another “nomoto” drift. We start casting again and after about five minutes Hajee takes a good strike of a big fish. Unfortunately it does not get hooked, but hey, we got action. We continue the drift as we are still not at the spot where we assume the pike we saw hunting could be positioned.

Some 50 meters further we are close to the branch as Hajee takes another strike and sets the hook. This time the fish stays on and his TFO Axiom goes into a deep and nice curve. He drills the fish towards the boat and when I get it to hand for him we both are enjoying yet another lovely fish. This will put us up on the scores for sure! Although we don’t know how the others are doing, we finally get some good fish to the boat. As I take the fish out of the water and hand it to my buddy I see another great Hula of our guide. He needs to stop for a haul on his cigarette, and then makes two more awesome swings. The boat is rocking and we are having a ball. We shoot some pictures and open up our last beer (stupid me, I only took 3 beers with me). It goes down like one of the best ever.



We don’t even need to talk to Kari anymore. A pointing of the rod and he knows. Start the engine, cruise widely around this area and set the boat for yet another drift. Meanwhile we set some alarms on my phone. We have to be back at the dock at 4 o’clock sharp. If not the score is disqualified and we do want this on the board!

On the next drift it is a madhouse. I miss a huge fish, strike it, feel it and then almost tumble backwards as the fish gets loose. I make a back cast and intend to drop the streamer in the same area again. What streamer??? It is gone! I strip in my line. The crosslock is all bent out and I guess there is a big pike mama around that got herself a souvenir. That’s why barbless fishing is so important. Pretty sure she gets rid of it within a couple of shakes with her head. Goodbye good streamer and goodbye trophy fish (you know… the one that got away).

That same drift Hajee misses a big one too and now we are both totally tripping on adrenaline. We are obviously on a good spot with quite some big fish that are in their feeding period. We call the spot Big Mama’s place already. This is fishing, in all the excitement and passion you want it. Drifting and fishing and being aware that every cast and retrieve could trigger a big fish to strike.

We make yet another drift. And the first alarm goes off. Time to start thinking about returning back in time. And again Hajee picks up a strike. Unfortunately another long distance release follows. But hey, we still got time for another drift. And as we point it out Kari already knows exactly what we want. He’s enjoying the fishing just as much as we do. Motor across to the starting point. Then a “nomoto” drift and for four consecutive drifts we had action.

On this next drift the alarm on my phone goes again. But as it is so exciting I don’t want to take it out of my pocket for a snooze. Damn...lost focus! A big fish hits my streamer and I set the hook. After a short but hard yank on the line the fish is off again. I take out my phone and shut it off. “Terrible amateur” is my silent thought about myself. Just letting that phone distract you a bit and missing yet another very big fish. But I am not the only one, as Hajee also scores another long distance release. It is insane how active these big fish turned all in a sudden and we wonder if it is happening in the entire Delta or just here.

Unfortunately the phone just beeps again. Time to head back to the docks. But hey, as we run off to the meeting point we have a euphoric feeling. Despite the large amount of missed or lost fish, this kind of action is what we both had in mind about fishing in the Baltic. On the way back we wonder how the others did and what their tactics were.

The first competition day (part 1)

We wake up at a less than Christian time. 7.15 a.m. is not that early, but still quite harsh when the evening before you admired the Finnish daylight (till about 1.30 a.m.), enjoyed a sauna and had some good company of other teams trying to distract you and intoxicate you. Well, we did our best ourselves to intoxicate the others and judging some faces at breakfast I think I did well on that one.

8 o’clock the cars head off to the boats. The tournament will start at nine. At the little marina most fishermen are eager to get a boat. Kari (our guide from yesterday) is already waiting for us. He grabs my back and takes it on to his boat. And as yesterday was not good for any of the teams, Hajee and I decide to get on board of Kari’s boat. At least we know the man a bit since yesterday and we don’t have a clue (yet) that the different types of boat could matter for the fishing.



When Simon gives the sign most teams rush out quite fanatic and everyone must have had some spot in mind he discovered the day before. A good place to start so to say. Hajee and me are into plans as well. We already have a spot in mind, the one where Hajee missed one of the few pike we saw yesterday. As for the tournament only pike bigger than 70cm will get you on the board, we hope that this pike will attempt to grab our streamer once more. Yesterday (practice day) she did not feel the hook or the streamer. She just missed it.

That first place shows us pike fishing in Finland is not like back home. We combed out the whole area where that fish missed yesterday and did not catch a thing. Not even a scale of a falsely hooked bream came out of the water. In the Netherlands missing a pike without the fish even getting hooked usually means you will hook up the next day. You know the exact spot where that fish ambushes and the next day he/she will be hitting your streamer again. But here in Finland…. Hell no, that pike does not react (maybe she isn’t there any more?).

So we think about what we did the previous day. With the practice day Hajee and I went out away from the river mouth. Hoping to hit the jackpot a bit more out on the Baltic. But that did not pay off yesterday, so now it was up to new imagination. As the other team did not get a real blast yesterday (yes, of course we spoke over each others locations yesterday evening, prior to the tournament) we still don’t know what will get fish to the boat. Yesterday most teams have seen a lot of spawning pike, and as Guy (one of the English) says, "maybe they are just not in the mood.”

We decide to check out some totally different spots and end up discussing whether the engine of the boat could spook the pike. As Kari is quite a heavy person who likes his cigarettes and his booze every now and then, he does practically everything on the motor. We make signs and tell him “nomoto (= no motor)”. We realize how bad your English turns when you try to communicate with someone who does not speak the language at all. But hey, Kari turns off the engine and we start trying to make wind drifts with his boat.

We go back to a spot where we saw the organizer hook up with a fish (more on that in another post) and let Kari just drift the boat over that area. We end up in the vicinity of a small island and put the boat against the reedlands. Time for lunch and coffee. We discuss how it’s been up until now. Not so good, but judging the results of practice day, the fish were just not in the mood. Still actively spawning it would be a matter of luck to find a pike that was willing to take one of our flies.

And even the area that would be more likely to have some action was still a point of discussion. We figured it would be worth a shot to go fishing right next to or maybe even on top of the spawning area’s and hope for some pike that were already finished with their sexual rituals.


Typical spawning grounds for pike

So after lunch we decide to drift along the small island and make as much casts as possible on a drift into the weedbeds and try to trigger something. As we reach the downwind point of the island, Hajee makes a cast just parallel to the downwind shore of the island. He strips in his fly and all of a sudden he takes a strike. He strip-strikes as a reply and not much later he can land the first pike of the day. And above 70 centimeters, so counting for the tournament… Finally, just a couple of minutes before 13.00 team Netherlands 2 is on the board! Our guide understands the joy and pulls out some kind of breathtaking Finnish hula. (well, with two arm movements he is already out of breath...).





We take some point and shoot shots and after releasing the fish we pull out some beers. Time to celebrate our first accomplishment. Who would have thought we'd be so happy with an average pike like that on our second day in Finland? Luckily, the day is not over yet....

Update postponed…

Unfortunately, two of the members had a serious fish coming their way. They tried to catch it barehanded, but it was an epic fail. But that happens when you are walking around wearing caps of the Predator Tour . Well maybe the whole picture is a bit of an epic fail….
But at least we can say we got in a shot with a huge predator ;-).

The tournament: rules

Although the main purpose was to fish and have a lot of fun, meeting other pike-anglers and sharing knowledge or maybe discuss interesting matters, of course there was indeed a competitive element and that just added up big time to the fun of going to Finland.

The first evening we had a meeting in the conference room of the Eumer Fishing Center. The organizer, Simon Graham, welcomed us all and explained the different aspects of the tournament. As there should be so many fish around, the basic would be to have a maximum of 5 entries per team member per day. Fish should be measured and released after measuring. A picture of the fish was needed to verify and there should be no blood (to ensure the fish is unharmed) on the picture. All streamers should be barbless.


Mike Green from England letting one go during the pre-tournament meeting, in an attempt to eliminate one of the members of The Dutch Four (Erik, in this case).

Fishing would be from a boat, local men would be our guides and we would be going on their boats. As there was huge difference in boats it would be ideal to swap boats each day and as the guides are monolingual Finnish we got a map of the area to point out where we’d like to go. Making an X with your arms would mean stop the boat. The old arms and feet communication, that just made an extra addition to the competition ;-)


Simon gives a rough description of the battlefields for tomorrow.

Then the team discussions came up. As the Finnish were just with 2 guys and the Canadians too, we came up with a way to make the competition better and above all more fair. I would not like to send them back home crying with the lame excuse that the Dutch were four and the English also had four members, just like the Russians (who were still on their way and maybe stuck at the border with a bottle of vodka?). Also most people agreed that neither Finnada ot Canaland sounds like a true team, so combining those teams was not an option. The true spirit of fly-fishing came alive and we decided unanimously that it would ad more fun to the Tournament to go with teams of two instead of four. That meant the Dutch would now have a team 1 and team 2, and so would the English.

Winners: There would be three different competitions.
1. The Biggest Pike. The competitor with the biggest pike caught during tournament days would win the grand prize of a holiday in Kvarken. All supplied by Simon Graham’s Baltic Pike Tours.
2. Most length. The team with the most centimeters recorded (remember, 5 pike over 70cm per person per day) would win First prize.
3. Smallest pike. The tiniest pike would win a small prize as well.

So after the practice day we already reported about, it was time for the first tournament day. Stay tuned to find out out how we went along at the first of three fierce competition days.

Did we come all the way up here for a skunk?

Like I tried to write in the first (and last update) during the days we were in Finland the fishing started out quite tough. The very first day of practice we were glad I got at least a smell of fish and falsely hooked a bream. But that was not why we came out with a shitload of awesome gear.

But hey, when is something a skunk? I mean, from the very first moment we arrived the trip was great already. Meeting the Canadians in Helsinki, when boarding the last plane of the journey. The drive from the airport in Vaasa to Merikarvia, with the English in the back of the bus. We definitely shared some knowledge and thoughts, some English said it all depended on misses pike, whether she was in the mood…


A chat with the English team in the back of the minibus.


That first day we had a little tour through the company of Jaakko and Olli Ojamo, called Eumer and mostly known for their tube-flies. All the teams felt like Charlie in the Chocolate factory, walking in a shack full of tying materials, like a kid in a toyshop or an American in the Red-light district of Amsterdam.


Am I actually here right now, or am I drunk? Oh well, probably both...



Finnish fur comes from....



Charlie in the chocolate factory



Jaakko and Olli, the proud and very friendly owners of the company

Discussing tactics and streamers

The evening before our practice day we had a small sit together. We went to the dining room of the lodge and put all our streamers on the table. Sander had ziplocs full of his favourites, while HJ, Erik and Hajee had the nice wooden boxes with them that were made for the Dutch Four by Jan Boonstra.



What a bunch of streamers, at least 200 tied with the nice materials mostly provided by Tom and Kaj. And of course there’s Dyckers for all the EP we used, and I have to admit I am becoming a bigger fan of EP by the day (the other three members of the D4 already were convinced).



So we all looked into each other’s collection and took out what we thought we would be needing. As we were sitting there, every now and then a member of the other teams would pass by and have a look, and it was interesting to discuss the streamer choice with them. It seems that us Dutchmen tie much bigger and more breathing streamers than most other competitors do. Everybody was still very confident of his own materials and we had a good laugh with the other teams about each other’s streamers. The upcoming event would show who was right and who was wrong….

The boys are back in town

As stated yesterday we're back to the Netherlands. After a long week of hardcore pike fly-fishing the mind is totally set on pike at this moment. We had an incredible week. The organizer, Simon Graham, turned out to be a relaxed South African dude who really did all he could to make our stay and tournament as pleasurable as possible. We met 4 Englishman who had the sense of humor the British are known for, team Canada were the kind fishbums you would love to have around at your campfire, the Finnish were good guys and a mean pikebusting machine with a nice “vision” on things. Hell, even François (the cook, not your waitress) was a good man to sit down and share some thoughts and many a beer with.

We were lodged at Eumer, a nice place with decks that make you sit comfortable next to the Merikarvia river, sharing some thoughts with teammates and the other competitors. When our food was ready we would all be called to sit down and enjoy. When we wanted to tie up some more streamers, we could go to Eumer's fly shop next to the lodge to get free tying materials and have a ball in the conference room stocked with vices, bobbin holders, etcetera. We could even grab a rod and fish the river wich was stocked with decent sized rainbows. Or maybe a sauna, and after that a skinny dip in the river? It was all possible over there.

We ended up doing quite well on the tournament, especially considering the circumstances and the fact that we didn’t know the area and its fishery at all.
As the tournament moved to another location just 2 weeks before it would start, Simon had to rearrange a lot of things, especially since the Merikarvia river mouth is not so specialized in pike fly-fishing yet. The biggest problem were the guides. Up in Kvarken there are guides, here they just hired some guys with boats. This made the challenge even bigger, now everyone had to discover the area themselves. The guides (most of them) would not speak more than just Finnish and that made it even more difficult to explain the things you wanted. Basically it was just hands and feet.

At a certain moment I said to Hajee, my partner for this week, that it was quite stupid and funny that we kept on trying to explain the guide where to go and how to approach the area we wanted to fish in English, because we may as well have spoken Dutch or Swahili.

There was a huge difference in boats and the idea was to swap boats every day, so at least everyone had some days on good or better boats. And during the week we learned so much. The first days were tough as hell. As most pike still had their brains on procreating instead of feeding, it was hard to get on to those little area’s and groups of fish that already finished spawning and did fancy a nice after-orgy snack. During the week things improved dramatically and on the last two fishing days the pike all were really on a roll. How amazing it was to witness all that happen. It was pure pike-heaven!

Also, because of a steady high that was sitting in this area, temperatures reached up to 25 Celsius. We fished the last sessions in our t-shirts, under a cloudless sky and we still managed to have a ball! Lots and lots of pictures were taken and yeah, we are the pitiful bastards who need to figure out which ones we want to use for all the different destinations/sponsors.

The upcoming weeks we will try to share our sweet memories with you all. Hopefully one or two pictures a day, accompanied with some text explaining a bit about the picture or telling some anecdote. So see you back then!


The first fish of the week was caught by Sander. Well done mate!

And here's one for Ralph, our reel-guy:

Back from Finland

This evening we set foot on Dutch ground again after our mission in Finland. And man, what a week this has been! Regrettably we couldn't update the blog during our week in Finland, so you've been stuck with a report (even without pictures) of just our practice day until now.

But that's going to change. There are so many things to show and write about this awesome week, that we don't even know where to start. For now, let's just say it has been a week with different faces. There was the tournament itself at the beginning of the week, and after that the free fishing on friday, saturday and (even) this morning.

And although I really need to go to bed right now, we might as well give you the results of the tournament straight away, especially since Simon will undoubtedly be posting them on his blog very soon anyway.

After the 3 tournament days, Finland came in first with around 1.400 cm., England 1 second with around 1.100 cm., Dutch 1 third with around 1000 cm., Dutch 2 fourth with around 900 cm. and Canada and England 2 fifth and sixth at a respectable distance. But of course, that doesn't tell the whole story at all. There's so much to say and show about the tournament itself and the rest of the week that, until we have had a decent sleep to recover from all this, we would just recommend you to stay tuned at this blog for quite a while.

We're off to Finland!

Well, actually, tomorrow morning. The flies are all tied, ready to be ripped apart by the numerous Baltic pike we intend to fool with them.  Here are the boxes of Erik and Harmen-Jan for instance:





And there's a major change too: the tournament is moved 150 km. south because of the current ice situation in Vaasa. The ice there is still not gone, and even if it was, the fishing would have been bad because the pike would still be spawning. So Simon took the tournament to the Merikarvia river mouth and we'll be staying at the Eumer Fishing Center.

To be honest, we have no idea how the piking over there will compare to the Kvarken area, because we've never been to either of those places. But then again, we just feel very lucky Simon managed to move the tournament at all and didn't have to cancel the whole thing. From what we heard, all this would probably not have been possible without the very kind coöperation of the famous Finnish tube fly brand Eumer, who offered their lodge for accomodation and also took care of other logistic problems. Thanks for that Eumer!

We'll probably arrive at the lodge sunday evening, and monday will be a day for practicing and exploring the fishing grounds. Then there's 3 days of tournament, and after that 3 more days of free fishing. Of course we'll do everything we can to put some raw stuff on our blog from Finland on a daily or two-daily basis.

So stay tuned and fingers crossed!

The Dutch Four

BTW, how nice would it be to catch a pike on a rod like this, with a reel like this and a streamer like this:







All these colors just scream "Holland" and "Gold".....

Seeya!

Perch

Preparing for the tournament means tying a lot of streamers. Not just 2 or 3.....hell no, at least 6, but preferably 10 from each type you have in mind.

For me there are new things to try, but also some proven patterns from the past. Pike just seem to know who’s competing with them for the baitfish. Probably that’s why they take their rivals out first, and what’s a better way then just feeding on your rivals?

When we were at Tom’s place for tying materials I already knew the Perch would be one of the streamers I would tie. And when I saw all the nice and good quality materials Tom and Kaj sponsored us with, I already got the perchy itches. Nice perches, I think they will do well on the pike down (or better: up) there in Finland. And if not, they still make a great decoration in a tropical setting.



Will this be the streamer that does it all? We will see, just 3 days from now!

Sander

El Negrito

El Negrito is Spanish and it means Little Afro-American. I think it is a nice name for a totally black streamer with just some bling on it to attract all those big ass mama’s! And that will be the purpose of my negrito. Going out there in the ice cold water and busting up some of the biggest lady pikes that are out there. ‘Cause we will need all the charms a streamer can have if it is about winning the tournament next week.

As you can see the tying went well down here in Aruba. I bought myself a bottle of rum and poured some out for the fish I caught. But I poured out a lot at the improvised tying bench too. Just because when you’re sitting in the shade and sipping rum, life seems the easiest thing there is to deal with and tying streamers becomes great fun. Oh, and by the way, if you try to judge the size and efficiency of my little black homeboys by the bottle standing next to them: how much do you think a Caribbean pirate would drink on a regular training camp?

Sander

Bunny bugs for picky pike

Although so far we didn't feature many patterns with them at this blog, it's no secret zonker strips are one of our favourite tying materials for pike streamers. They're very durable, cheap, incredibly non-air-resistant and - last but not at all least - they have an almost unparalleled action while waterborne. What I especially like about zonkers is that it takes only the smallest twitch to give the streamer a very attractive, totally 'alive' impression.

We all know how often a pike will just follow the moving streamer but not charge it; both an exciting and frustrating experience. The first reaction to that is usually stripping even harder. While this sometimes may be succesful, it's my experience that more often than not this only means doing the same thing just a tad faster. Also, the faster you strip, the earlier you'll have the pike at your feet and spook it.

Therefore, when a pike is only following, I prefer just letting the streamer stay put for a while in front of the pike, with an occasional small twitch that will show the pike this thing is both alive and not planning to move out of the pike's territory. This proven tactic will often annoy the hell out of the pike and provoke the longed-for strike after all. A positive side-effect is that this is a good training in self-control and a one of the most exciting ways to catch a pike.

Like I said, for this purpose, zonker strips are the bomb. And while we were at Kaj's place to stock up on zonker strips, we noticed he had some great coloured rabbit skins too. So we went for those instead, and after some practicing and cut-off hairs, Harmen-Jan and Erik got things down and produced a long-lasting stock of strips in a range of different colours. It's cheaper, you can cut your own preferred sizes and, above all, it's fun!

Losing your virginity in (training) camp

It sounds like a regular phrase in the Boy Scout handbook and I never would have dreamt that something like that could happen to me. But it did. And not somewhere in the late eighties, beginning nineties when I was a teen. No, as a matter of fact, it just happened a few days ago.

And it was a big turn on, since the partner in crime was someone I had my mind set on for quite some time already. For years we had been flirting. Well flirting....maybe just a small blink, some flashing to each other and some serious denials on my advances were the biggest achievements up until yesterday.

I took the Echo 2 SW 9 weight out for a hike on the flats. It was not as early as I wanted and the sun was high enough to seriously emphasize local warming. Steam coming out of the armpits as it burned right on top of my head. And as I wandered on my flat I was thinking about the moon phases. Full moon at the moment… It means tides are almost dead. It had been low tide since I was out on the flat (and probably hours before) and still no sign of tide going to rise. And that’s just what every saltwater junky searches on the flats. A rising tide.



So I did not see Bonefish yet and was wondering if I should stay (or should I go now). And all of a sudden she was there, like a mirage, for a very short moment I could see a stiletto shaped black tip. Just peeking out of the water at maybe 45 meters distance from where I stood. I looked better and harder, did not see much more and the water was just rippled by the wind. So I continued to walk. Once more I thought I saw something, just so elegantly waving towards me. It had moved from when I first saw it and I knew right now that this was one of those confrontations with that hard to get bitch that you just would love to nail, to make all your wildest dreams and fantasies come true.

But well, I won’t make a long novel out of it. I chased her for more then one hour, noticed at a certain time that she was not alone. They were about 10 smaller sized fish and 2 bigger ones in the back of the school.

At first you try to go for the biggest ones, but that sort of spooked the little ones two times, so I decided I wouldn’t mind letting one of the smaller sisters taking the premiere. And at a certain point I felt a yank on the line, I set the hook and a strong rush, something silvery flashing away from me. Oh my… it is on!

Luckily I had 16lbs test tippet on the rod and the Vosseler S3 set tight enough. The flat is way too rocky to give the fish any space and why would I do so if not necessary? With the right gear, there's no need to let the fish run whereever he wants; it only increases the chance of a break-off.

Still it took me over 3 minutes to get the fish to hand. And I felt amazed when I landed her. Weeeeeeehaaaaaaa! I rushed to a rock nearby for some shots with the timer and took some of the fish next to the rod. It might not be the biggest most beautiful one, but here is my first ever Permit!!





And just like the real virginity deal, I felt like a huge king afterwards, I got that monkey off my back...period!

Sander

Pike eat pike

It's a well-known fact that pike occasionally eat themselves too. Well, I mean other pike. Maybe just because they're hungry, but it could also be that their territorial instinct tells them to do so. Either way, it's not a bad idea to have a more or less pikish pattern in your fly box, I mean flure box.

Now pike fishermen with 'conventional' tackle just take a piece of painted wood that actually looks like a pike, but in our elite fellowship of the fly, a vice and tying thread somehow really have to be part of the construction process.

So here's a rather impressionistic approach using only the traditional pike-streamer materials bucktail, zonker strips, feathers and some flash (you all know the eyes are just for the pictures....).






And here's the model:



O.k., o.k., I can almost hear you saying this pattern better be fished with some speed.....

Style follows function

When we were at Hot Spot Fishing a couple of weeks ago to shop for our sponsored goodies, Tom showed us a streamer with a remarkable functional approach. It was designed to be a weedless streamer, but instead of the usual nylon weedguards, he just used a zonker strip! Here's how it works:


This design requires a huge worm hook that most fly fishermen usually would shy away from. It is essential to tie the zonker strip (take a magnum) just below the eye of the hook as shown in the picture above. This way, the strip will be perfectly in line with the flattened hook point.

After you've tied all the additional stuff required for your particular design, it's time to pierce the hook through the zonker strip as shown in the pictures below:




In the end, the whole thing may or may not look like this monstrous design :



The advantage of this pattern is not only the zonker being a weed guard, but of course also the fact that the hook point will face upwards while travelling through the water. In my pattern (as in most patterns) I also kept the hook as clear as possible to facilitate hook setting. If you dress the whole hook with stuff, the hook may not be able to slide anymore once the pike has its mouth shut, and you cannot set the hook properly.



You might also notice the way the bucktail is tied in. This keeps the silhouet of the streamer wider when looked from down below (like a pike normally would see it). Don't be too generous with the amount of bucktail though, or you'll end up with a sheer uncastable projectile.

And there you have it: style follows function. A threat to the eye, but a treat for pike!