06-06-10

Saturday

A jubilee

Although I'm not so much into celebrations, people's birthdays or even national events like for a couple of days ago; the Swedish National Day, still I call this journal a jubilee. That is because this web site is closer to my heart than all the above mentioned things. Yes, now it has been out for almost exactly half a year. When I started out I thought I'd gave it a year or so. Optimistically I thought that it only would take a couple of months to reach my aim but no. In half time, which is now, I have not even got close to it. The goal was simply enough to get more visitors than my original Swedish version of this site. Or at least one or two hundred readers by now. 
Instead I have about as many visitors as I catch pikes in a day!
It won't do. It's a scandal and catastrophe to say the least!
Of course I know the concurrence is overwhelming here on the Internet. Millions and millions of blogs, plogs and sites about fishing. Although I have not said a word of this international version on my original Swedish website, I know that a couple of persons read both versions. And that makes the few, original foreign visitors even fewer! 
There's one saying; quality prevails that I had hoped to do the trick for me, but no. Also I had hopes that by now I would have the nice problem of choosing which one to concentrate on. In the long run I can't write both. Although it might not seem so, it takes some time to write even one. 
In this blog business to get many visitors the thing is to fool the innocent reader to return. In order to do that it's obvious that they will like what they saw and read the first time. Not only that but they have to find it so attractive that they spread the word around to their friends that why don't you take a look on this or this web site?
That's where I failed obviously. It just isn't good enough. Well, it is a jungle's law out here on the Internet and I have to face the losing consequences of it.
It might also be the language problem. It's hard to express yourself in a natural way in a foreign language I find over and over again. 
But at least I have some nice photos to show today:

This one I took on the way home from today's fishing places. The fog is thinning out and the sun will soon show herself in her usual shining splendor.  Now, the summer is on. The big change in my fishing has begun. The pikes have left the inner shores, bays and islets on their way out to the sea. At least the big ones. And I try to follow them in my little boat. Still I have been able to fulfill my ambition to go ashore and continue to fish in waders with a floating line. It's a more noble and distinguished way to fish than with a sinking line from the boat. It's the equivalence to ordinary fly fishing's dry fly versus streamers and nymph fishing in old days. Or is this attitude still going strong?
But mainly it is because I think it's much more fun this way. 

Why not shock everyone with this picture of a rather big pike? (Everyone...? All ten of you, that is!) Seven kilo is a pretty good weight for my pikes any day. In other words a big whopper of a fish for my part.  If you got a well structured mind, keen on sorting and dividing things you could say that this day consisted of three parts. Two good and one bad.

And mind you, only the fishing part of the day, not mentioning the football part of it! There's a World Cup going on and I think that most of you foreigners know about it.  I'm not a particular keen sports fan myself but I use to follow the World Cup a little. But needless to say, this pike was one of the top events of today. On the right side of the rod you can see a mark. It's the 90 cm mark, beginning at the handle. I estimate it's length to 96, 97 cm.  I also took out my little... little... What's it called the little contraption to weigh things...? Scales? Balance? But the technique is based on spring although it's summer. Always this language barrier! 
But I weighed it though and seven kilo the scales said.

Generously enough I give you a closer look on the pike's head. And the tiny blue streaked White Pike Sara.  In order to get it out from the starving pike's gullet I had to perform an advanced peephole operation through the gills. Then I had to cut the line and take it out that way also. Talk about deep throat! Yes, the pikes are generally very hungry and very thin this time of the year. It's just after the spawning season and now they are out to get their stomachs filled. I would lie to you if I said that it was my fly's excellent resemblance to a little herring or my skill casting and presenting it that did the trick. No, they'd strike at anything. Maybe even a wobbler or jerk bait, I don't know.

Of course it's always fun to catch a big pike but before that happened, the day's first peak occurred. It was when I found a new good fishing spot. A little lagoon I hadn't noticed before. I've been around in these waters for about 30 years but until a couple of years ago, only from the boat.  Now, I park the boat and go ashore. Then you get a new perspective of things. In some places it's far too shallow or too many stones to be able to fish from the boat. But in waders it's just perfect. So between a weedy and reedy shoreline and some shoals a bit out in the water, I found a shallow stretch of water in between. A lagoon with a perfect deep and rather sandy bottom surrounded by stony and weedy parts which looked very promising. 
There I had a great experience catching pikes almost as fast as I could. OK, just ordinary sized ones but what a thrill when they struck in the shallow water! 
Even ordinary sized pikes are wild, strong and very hungry these days and make good sport on a #7 rod and floating line. They attack just like a torpedo immediatly under the surface, pointing out the direction just like a plough in snow, aiming straight at the fly. 

Now it's time to reveal the bad part of the day. How I almost fell into the water from the boat. A rather silly thing to do. It was later in the day on another islet. I was ready with the fishing and prepared to leave. Dressed in waders I just slips into the water when it's time to go ashore. Of course I chose a side of the island where the water is shallow and secure and often on the lee side of the island or islet. Often I park the boat a bit out in the water with a little anchor in the stern and a long line from the stem to a point ashore. Usually it's not a problem to get aboard standing in the water, say, up to my knees. I just weigh down the stem a little, put up the right leg on the gunwale and then heave myself on board. A picture of a walrus moving about comes easily to my mind thinking about it.  
But this time something went wrong. I failed in the follow up movement with my left leg. I slipped back and the boat moved and I got stuck. There I was hanging with one leg on the gunwale, the other somewhere under the boat, hopping about and my center of gravity well outside the boat! 
The boat almost turned over and I could neither get aboard nor regain my balance and try anew! 
Soon I had to let go and fall backwards into the water, cell phone, digital camera and all. My back was already wet but luckily enough the waders go almost up to my neck. But in the last moment I remembered my wading staff. It was still hanging in it's line from the waders and I fumbled after it with my right hand. At last I got a grip on the handle and managed to strike it in the bottom and h-e-a-v-e myself up into the boat. Phew, that was a close shave!

The first thing I did was to scan the surroundings after witnesses. Luckily enough there were only some seagulls about. I saw some boats but they were to far away to have noticed. Someone missed a good opportunity to win prize in some silly TV-show like "America's funniest home movies".  One goal with my fishing is to take pictures on a jumping pike. This almost five kilo pike did make a nice jump but I wasn't ready with the camera.  OK, this is it for this time. Today I didn't stay out so long. By now the World Cup is well under way but this day, Saturday the 10 of June, both England and Sweden played their first matches. By no means I'm an expert on these things but if I say that both teams played worse than I fished today, I think I'm not exaggerating.  I sincerely hope they get better because both are favorites of mine. As well as a few other countries. Will Lineker be proved right in saying that Germany will win in the end? Or Brazil?   One thing I can guarantee though is that the World Cup final will have more visitors than this web site!