On a Scouting Trip

The final event of the season 2012 in Kurre Cup is held on Wed 15th. The competition area consists of the waters nearby Vaasa including Gerby and Västervik region and the sea lane area where the borderline goes along the edges of the Sundom archipelago. The area is fairly unknown to me so I decided to make a scouting trip a few days before the competition with Eki to maybe find some decent areas to fish. Unfortunately we only had a limited amount of time so finding the fish didn't seem like an easy task.

The weather was beautiful, thus finding the fish would truly be a challenge. Warm and sunny with mild wind. Nevertheless we tried to be optimistic and hold our confidence high.

We arrived to the first area which looked like it has potential. I steered the boat so that it would drift alongside the reef and we could fish the area efficiently. We tried our best to go through every rock, weed and reed to find some fish but it wasn't easy. After some twenty casts Eki caught his first, a small pike under a kilo. I had a bite too but the fish pulled itself loose. The area wasn't convincing at all considering our success in the coming competition, for we had no other contacts with the fish there. However we decided to come there on Wednesday after all.

Not a bad weather for trolling.

We continued our scouting near a tip where there was deep water close by. Our tactics were the same as before, drifting with the wind and efficient fishing. We caught some perch in a fast pace but there were no pikes around. In the competition the fish allowed are pike, perch and ide, but we're going for the pikes of course because they are generally bigger. This wasn't a very convincing place either.

We still went through several different places with varying features. Shallow and deep bays, rockpiles in open water, wide shallows and such. We also tried some trolling along some underwater banks but the fish were really hard to catch, for even though we did all we could do and only caught a few small pikes and around ten perch. Eventually our limited time ran out and we headed towards home admiring the glaring sunset.

Our scouting trip came out to be as bad as we were afraid it would be. We managed to stay positive however. After all, the weather was wonderful and it's always refreshing to be at sea. Maybe this bad scouting trip will mean the competition day will turn out fine? Who knows, we'll see how it goes on Wednesday.

Flat out on the sea lane.

Pike Paradise

The Kvarken archipelago is being marketed as a pike paradise. Sometimes that name seems to be a little exagerrated, but every now and then everything goes as planned and the term is more than suitable. Wednesday 8th August 2012 was one of those days.

My day at the office went by slowly but finally I got off from work and headed over to Foppa's place to pick him up. Foppa had been rather impatient all day, for he had sent me numerous messages telling me to come and pick him up already. I understood him well because my expectations for the coming trip were at least as high than his. The venue of the day would be a rather unknown bay in Köklot. Foppa had been there a week earlier and the fishing had been really good, lots of pikes and perch all around.

Our route to the bay went through numerous rocky narrows, so we had to go really slowly through them. Once again Foppa was the skipper and I was in the bow looking for rocks. We finally arrived to our destination at around 6 pm. Just in time for the fish to start the evening feed! We lowered the anchor and started to fish with large spinners.

The first anchor spot in pike paradise.

 The first cast and Foppa caught a pike. Not a huge fish but still a nice one around two kilos. The fish had a lot of strength and didn't give up easily, but finally Foppa grabbed the fish by the neck and pulled it into the boat. While Foppa was releasing the fish, I caught my first one. It was my third cast I think. The fish was around the same size as Foppa's and in the same condition, very lively and powerful. I grabbed the fish and quickly released it. At the same time Foppa was already pulling his second and at that point we realized our biceps would get a good workout tonight.

We caught around twenty pikes at a rather fast pace from our first anchor spot. All of them were in very good condition and the average weight was very good. We caught several around three kilos and a few bigger ones weighing four to five kilos. Foppa even had a 5+ fish on for awhile but the fish pulled itself loose and got away.

Foppa with a 750g perch.

We continued to fish around the bay, moving fifty meters and anchoring, then moving again and anchoring. Every anchor spot provided us some good fishing and we truly got a nice workout during the evening. Towards later evening pikes started to passivate, but at the same time perch started feeding. We caught a decent amount of them and they were very nice, most of them around 500g, the biggest one being a respectable 750g.


Eventually the sun started to fall behind the horizon and the fish stopped feeding, thus it was time to sum up the day. We caught more than fifty pikes and around twenty perch and our arms were aching due to the extensive workout. The average weight of the pikes was around 2,5kg, so the secret bay in Köklot showed us it's best. Two pikes with Siek M jerk, two with Laxman spinner and the rest of the fish came with Mepps 7 spinner, which has been the ultimate superlure of the season. Not bad for four hours of fishing!

We started to find our way back through the shallows and rocks. The nature was all quiet, not a single sound. The evening sky was absolutely beautiful with shades of orange and purple reflecting to the water surface. I was already thinking of our next trip to that gorgeous and bright-watered bay. Without a doubt, that bay in a secret location is truly a pike paradise. Thanks again for Foppa for being the skipper, next time were going to catch that dream pike!

A hypnotic evening sky.

In the Shallows of Värlax

My fishing had been quite bad lately so I was more than excited when my friend Foppa asked me to join him into a trip to a secret location in Värlax and didn't hesitate to say yes.

The weather had been awful for the past few days, continuous rain from Friday to Sunday morning. Catching a glimpse of the sun just before leaving for our trip made me anxious to get into action. The fish would definitely be on the move and ready to bite our lures!

The beginning of our trip didn't go as planned though. We went through a few beautiful hotspots but the fish just weren't there. I started to feel jinxed allready, for we only caught a few small pikes and some decent perch weighing around 500g.

Finally we decided to move in closer to very shallow(<0,5m) and rocky water to try and see if the fish would be there. It was quite a surprise, for on Foppa's first cast he caught a decent pike around 3 kilos. A few casts later I caught my first, then Foppa and then again me.

The pikes were lurking next to big rocks.

 My next pike was a good one. Only 30cm of water and a cast into the middle of a rocky spot. Almost instantly a heavy bite and after some screaming reel action I pulled the fish up. It was not a giant but still a very nice pike weighing 4,62kg and it ended up being the biggest of the day. Nice!

We went through the shallow area thoroughly and summed up the day at around 30 pikes and 20 perch, the biggest perch being exactly 500g. The trip ended up fine after all, and at least we found out the fish were in surprisingly shallow water. Thank you very much for Foppa! Allready looking forward to our next trip!