06-07-03

Monday

Almost a perfect day

Another top summer day. A day to dream about during autumn and winter. I'm aware of that the climate, seasons and weather conditions change a lot in different countries but surly most people know what I mean by a top summer day? Around 25-26 degrees Celsius and sunny. Light breeze and plenty of people bathing along the beaches. Some like it hot, right? 
Hm...? I recognize that phrase... That must have been a film title...? I'm honest but I can't pinpoint it down... An American 60's picture? Aaah! Now I got it! It was that movie starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in drag. At least the last two. 
But what I meant to say was that such high summer weather often is considered completely worthless to go fishing in.

But today it didn't stop me from ripping one fine pike out of the water after the other. It was great fun.  Well... Now we reach the problem involved writing a fishing diary...  Yes, it was nice and fine for me being out on the Baltic sea, fishing away all day. But is it on the other hand, nice and fun for you to read that statement? I mean how much can you vary the same simple behavior for my part? I get up in the morning, drive down to the coast, jump into my little boat, drive out on the sea and start to cast with my fly rod. And take some pikes eventually. And then go home again. So what's new or exciting about that? Nothing! It's just boring. Boring to write and thus boring for other people to read. There is a mutuality between those two, if you didn't know it. In previous diary entries I sometimes got away with it, describing some odd Swedish customs and behavior.

By the way, my own odd behavior in releasing the caught pikes isn't typical Swedish. On the contrary, I think that's considered rather odd here in Sweden. I don't know for sure but I think it started in the US of A. So a lot of good things comes from across the Atlantic if somebody perhaps doubted that I thought so. Here in Sweden we have had a big debate about that going on. Is it good or bad? Or right or wrong. And if so, why? 
Or maybe it's still raging, I don't know for sure. I don't read any fishing magazines for the moment. 
In America it concerned even trout. I mean that a trout is a lot more vulnerable than a pike in this aspect.  A pike is considerably rougher and tougher compared to many other fish, I think.
But on the other hand... There's one big, bad thing originating from the States... Typical American way of fishing... That mechanized, beer drinkin', sitting-in-a-chair, lazy, driving around with lots of rods kind of fishing... You all know what that is, I suppose?
Yeah right, trolling!

Trolling is one of my absolute favorite hate objects when it comes to fishing.  But we have it all inside us. We fishermen. Or hunters. That's an interest of mine nowadays. Our prehistory. I find it interesting reading of our ancestors.  I mean how we originated. And, still speaking about USA,  I don't mean them settlers who came by the Mayflower in the 1700th century.  But still you are a very young people living in the USA. The New World is still a very proper expression. The first people crossing over did that as short time ago as only about 20 000 years. Well, I better stop here... You don't believe this all anyway, if it's true what I read in the newspapers. I, on the other hand find that very hard to believe. That you abolished Darwin, I mean. Or that some very strong religious and political groups love to do that anyway.  But the amazing thing is that they apparently have succeeded in some states. Well, if this goes on for a long time, this return of the Dark Ages I mean, it will end up that we here in Sweden will stop handing out all these Nobel Prizes to mostly Americans! I think you're in lead of getting them prizes in many scientific fields up to now.   I don't know why it is so but often my diary writing is slipping away from the subject!

I was just about to explain that we have this urge to hunt and fish deep implanted into our flesh. Into our very genes. Not that I mean that we have one certain gene for fishing and one for hunting and maybe two for collecting. Not in the same way that you (still you Americans) have at least two rocking genes, namely Simmonds and Vincent! 
Oops, sorry about that! 
It's not my fault, I blame it on your English language. It's far too easy to make simple and bad puns out of it! I will try to stop!
Anyway, the fishing gene is a little gentler than the hunting variant in that it is sufficient to keep it happy to make the actual catch. To know that you are smarter than the fish. To know that you can. But you don't have to kill it and drag it home. You just can release it and both parties will be happy about it. No hard feelings and no one gets hurt.

Today I caught a satisfying number of pikes. Not too many and not too few. It was only one thing that stopped me from giving the day an absolute top ranking. And that is that I lost the biggest pike. I seldom lose pikes during the fight but today it happened as often as three times.  One of that threesome was a really big pike. At least 8 kg but probably bigger. I know I have that tendency to underestimate fish I see in the water.  Two of the lost pikes had the same dirty trick going on. They dived down to the bottom into the sea weed, in and out, up and down, hither and dither, to and fro, behind stones with the fly line dragging after. And they succeeded at last. The line got stuck. Then they just broke the leader.  It went snap! Just like that. The big pike the wire leader at that. Didn't I say that no one got hurt? Aah, but the Kamasan hook I use it so tiny small that the pike not even notices it's there.  Furthermore, often no one's loosing any blood but when the blood starts to ooze, more often it's my precious blood that start to drip drop from a finger. Do I get a lot of fish? I mean, it must be hard for you out there in them foreign countries to estimate that. Maybe other fishermen catch more than double, both sizes and numbers than I do? If I'm not of course, making the whole thing up.  Remember, this is the Internet, right!

If I travel to Sweden, rent a boat, goes out fishing, will I also get a lot of big pikes?
That's a fair question and I don't know the right answer. 
Or the other way around; If I was to go to Florida, for instance, look up one of them Florida flats, wade out and start to cast with a white pike sara tied to the leader, will I get a lot of fish?
Probably not.
But one thing is certain and that is that if I got any luck in fishing, it stops there. And I'm aware of that and that's why I didn't go gambling on the World Cup's final match. Now as I write this, I know that neither Germany nor Brazil will be in it. I was completely wrong. 

One more last by the way: It was you Americans that started this Internet thing, right? A big applause to you for that! And I mean it! 
But on the other hand it was also you that started this ¤@€€!!! spamming thing! God, I hate that! 
I don't want to buy shares! I don't need all these love pills! I will not help Nigerian ministers getting all them millions of dollars out of the country! And worst; who do they try to fool with all this phishing! Me! Sauren, Lord of the Pikes! Don't you think I recognize a baited hook when I see one?
Well, let me tell you all spammers out there that it's meaningless! Will you stop harassing me, or I will tell the Internet Ombudsman about it!
I know that it's partly my own fault. When I started this website thing I should have written down my mail address on a piece of paper with a marker. Then I should've take a picture of it. And then cut out the address and placed it as a JPEG picture onto the side. Then the address would've been invisible to them evil web spiders crawling all over the place, hunting for web addresses!