06-01-11

Wednesday

Hard time for pike lovers

And that was due to the weather. Not for my sake or that I was cold, far from it. But last week it was almost like in Narnia; eternal winter. Too cold for me to fish, which says a lot. But for today the weather forecast promised a change of wind. From east to south west. From down to minus ten degrees Celsius to three or four degrees of warmth.  And in my waters it meant a chance for me at last to go fishing. But the cold and ice and snow lingered on, despite the meteorologist. But  I wouldn't give up without a fight. 

My biggest fear and problem was not to get stuck in the snow. For that reason I had bought a little snow shovel. Otherwise I hadn't dare to drive aside to park the car. The roads where I drove is rather narrow and you couldn't just leave the car on the road.  Here I'm ready to change costumes.  Now what is the best fabric or material for a gentleman's fishing and wading outfit one may ask? Is it neoprene or is it gore-tex? I think neoprene.  Some years ago I bought myself a goretex equipment but got really disappointed. Maybe I was unlucky to get a what we here in Sweden call, a Monday copy. That means a specimen made on a Monday when supposedly at least 63 % of the workers suffer from hangovers and make a bad job out of it. A rather biased phrase if you think about it.  Anyway, they leaked like the proverbial sieve. But that wasn't the main reason I returned to the material our grandfathers and their ancestors before them  always had used; neoprene.  All the goretex waders I've seen have the most ridiculous construction at their feet. They end in a pair of neopren stockings!  Why? I don't know!  But you've got to have a pair of heavy boots as well. Not only do you've got to have one or two pair of socks on your feet inside the neopren stockings but as well

on the outside of them. If you don't, sand, mud and little sharp stones that soon enter your boots, will gnaw and eat up your neoprene socks. And when thy day is done the (outside) socks and boots are a mess! They have to be cleaned thoroughly each time when you get home in the evening from the sand, mud and dirt. When you're exhausted and just want to do other things. Certainly it's not because I'm lazy or anything but because I don't have the time for it.
Another thing is that goretex isn't so tough and resistant as neoprene. Often I crash through the under vegetation and shrubbery like a big moose among the thorns, bushes and brambles when I move from one fishing place to another. Little trees fall and the ground shakes when I plow my way through the forests and woods between points and bays! The thin goretex would rip like paper!
Another thing that talks in favor for the neoprene is that you fall much nicer and softer, dressed like the Michelin man. I have found that I hurt myself 57 % less (even on rock) when I slip on a spot of ice or trip on a stone or the other foot and take a fall. You almost bounce back.  Like a rubber ball I come bouncing back to you to continue to fish my pikes and tell you about it.
But not today. I'm very sorry to tell you that today was a total failure. I didn't get one tiny pike!
Of course I put all the blame on the weather, as I usually do. Or to put it in another way; I should have waited a few more days to make my move. Today was too early for the change of weather to take effect.  But it was today I had my day off and a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

Instead I had to put up with this here rainbow trout. Sometimes I call it at steelhead but of course that isn't it.  No, this poor creature is a fugitive from a fish farm in the sea. This specimen hadn't enjoyed a longer stay than, say, a week before it had the misfortune to lay eyes on a One size fits all . That is the smaller model of my White pike sara. I used it today because I thought that the pikes would prefer a smaller fly being as cold as it was.  When I first saw it glitter, flash and glimmer in the water I thought it to be a sea trout. It's not the best season for them to appear just yet but this season but not year, I have already caught two sea trout. The reason I point it out that it was the last year is that the sea trout was protected December out. And being a nice and kind, law abiding member of the society I released both of them. But from January the first it will be fair game for everyone.  But a rainbow trout on the run is like an Outlaw in the Sherwood Forest, free for all to kill the year around.  But nowadays it happens only about once a year, the reason being that the fish farming business is decreasing

But taking home a fish for dinner (In this case two dinners) increases the understanding and credibility from the home base. They, like many others just don't seem to understand the reason for first spending the whole day out fishing and then just put the fish back in the water. Like I do with the pikes that is my main goal. Sometimes I ask them why it's considered quite all right for a golf player for example not to take home his balls and cook them for dinner. 
Eh... Oh, of course I mean his golf balls!
What I try to say is that many activities for pleasure and fun doesn't mean you have to bring home the bacon doing it or it will pay your bills. Then it's a whole different story that your hobby or interest will bring you a few bills.
But I'm willing to discuss that matter as well for once you got yourself started it doesn't cost you that much money. Not here where I live anyway for in the Baltic it's free to fish. 
Not compared to other hobbies anyway, it's expensive.  Like golf f'rinstance! 

It's like bird watching.  It's completely free to look at them but maybe not so free to get yourself a camera with a lens one meter long.  Some birds I like better than others.  This is a heron. Well I think anyway for is it one thing I don't know it's the names of different birds. Or more correctly, I know a lot of bird's names but I wouldn't recognize them even if I met them on the street. But what I like about herons is that they fly away as soon as they see me. And usually they see me long before I see them. But this time I got him! They're not like the swans that always swim just outside my casting range and... Sorry... We've already been through that topic the last time. Another thing I like about a heron is that it reminds me of Incredible String Band but that's another story.

Well, that's about all for now. I didn't get a pike and thus can't show you a new, decent photo of one. These are hard times for pike fishers, right. And harder they will be if the weather forecasts will come true for the next days.
But if the winter strikes back, at least I will have some more time to fix this site. For the moment it's a half-baked mess but I'm working on it.
Hm... Seems that I didn't screw this diary up too much... Otherwise I would've had the tedious Internet Ombudsman breathing down my neck. By the way, did you know that Ombudsman is a Swedish word? 

OK, then we had this problem with my fishing statistics... The best solution of the language problem would be that you took a course in Swedish, right?
The next best will perhaps be that I put a little wordlist right here. Like a free lesson to get you started. Watch out for it the next time! So stay tuned, you'all foreigners out there, for my next broadcast all over the world!