A difficult but revarding trip

Hey again, it's been a while.

Yesterday I did my first whole day trip for pike this summer season, and what a trip it was. It quite made up for the fact that I've missed pretty much the whole spring season as I've been busy with other activities.

The trip took me and a friend of mine to the western side of Helsinki into Espoo and as far as the tip of Porkkala peninsula, in search for some new fishing spots. the day started with heavily overcast weather and a steady south-eastern wind, nice fishing weather, the forecast though promised clearing weather and the wind turning east so we expected a difficult day.

The first spot we stopped in, by a couple of small islets and some reeds outside a wide bay area, made our hopes for the day go up as we caught a pair of angry small pikes with some jerk baits and lost or didn't hook around half a dozen more. But as we made our way farther towards the Porkkala tip the weather started to clear up and for the next few hours we only had pikes nibbling at our baits as we combed through or made notes of any spots that looked worthwhile. when we reached the Porkkala tip we took a break in the nice guest harbor of PorkkalaMarin where we spent an hour or so, where after we started our journey back.

As we made our way back towards home we stopped at a couple of spots that we had scouted when we came, but here the same trend continued, we only had some nibbles on the tails of our baits, until we came to a narrows by a wide bay. Here we found some active fish, ending up with a couple of angry takes that we could not hook, ending in a beautiful 93cm pike that took my firetigre colored spinner bait with force. the fight that followed was short but full of action as the fish tried constantly to swim under the boat in less than 1meter of water, but in the end my friend was able to get it in the net and in the boat for quick measurements before it was returned in its own element.

After that spot we continued to come back towards Helsinki occasionally stopping at some good-looking spots, without any further success.

As the sun started to set we came to a narrow inlet into a small bay where we on some earlier trips had had good fishing, and I decided to try out with the fly. we started fishing on the western side of the inlet with the plan to fish first that side and the return  on the eastern side. the same pattern continued here too, we got some nibbles from here and there without much success until we were on our way back on the eastern side of the inlet. at that point we were fishing an area with around 2m of water almost up till the shore. I was casting my green and orange fly with a sink 3 line and suddenly felt the line tighten as if being stuck in a rock.

I began tightening the line to loosen the fly from the rock it started to move slowly to the side which vas when I realized it was a FISH, I tightened the line more to put some pressure on the beast to get it to the surface so that I could see the size of the thing, but with no success even though I bent my 8 weight rod to the handle. at first the fish seemed docile enough as it just swam slowly near the bottom until it seemed to tire a bit, at that point I got it of the bottom and up to the surface so I could se the fish for the first time, and it was big, not very long but the size of its back was astounding. when the fish came to the surface it became spooked of our presence and decided to take off, I bent my rod till the handle but even so the fish managed to drag a good amount of line , probably around 25 meters, before I could get it to halt, after that it still made a couple of shorter sprints but in the end the net was calling. As my friend netted it I looked at the beast, and the size of it, in awe before releasing it after fast measurements which showed its length to be 107cm, even though it had quite substantial damage on its tail, and girth to be 51cm. a truly magnificent creature.

After the fish was released we continued to fish the eastern side of the inlet, but did not get any more fish from that spot and decided to return to the starting spot to see if we could catch some of the fish we had seen in the morning. we fished the area again but with the only contact being a nice pike of around 3 kg that my friend caught with a spinner bait in the reeds, and decided to move on to the last spot of the day as the daylight was slowly fading.

In the last spot some reeds almost facing the open ocean we found some fishes although they continued the same approach as so many before them just nibbling at our baits. as the last rays of sunshine fell behind the island we were about to finish for the day as one last pike slammed my red and black spinner bait. after a short an uneventful fight my friend netted the last fish of the day with the length of a respectable 98cm

And after that it was time to head home

So in the end it was a difficult day as expected, with some really good summer pikes in between. The water temperatures varied from around 19 degrees Celsius in the shallow bay area's to 13 degrees in the deeper open areas.

Till next time. 

Fishing for pike 3.12.2015

Hi
Some weeks back I went out to find some pike with a friend of mine. So I taught to share some of the feelings and pics of  the day, with you.

The day started heavily overcast and windy (wind speeds around 10-12m/s). the sea level was +60cm in the morning and due to climb still higher in the day so, the plan was to fish in areas that I had had successes in high water condition before.

The first spot we tried was a bay located in a strait between two islands, a place that quite often hold some better sized fish. Here the wind was so hard that I, being in charge of maneuvering the boat choose to fish whit a jerk bait as my friend chose the fly. we fished the bay without much success as the only contact was a bite from a small pike to my red and black Pig Jerk. so after this we decided that we would try out a couple of a bit more sheltered bays closer to the mainland so that I too could fish with the fly.

So after a short drive we were at another bay that is located in between two points of the mainland stretching deep into the mainland itself. we started fishing deep in the bay in an area that on normal water conditions only has around 0.1-1m of water, but as the sea level was high the place seemed as a decent place to try out.  we fished in the shallows with my friend getting a smaller pike and a heavy take myself having no contacts, until just as we were about to switch into another location my friend had another heavy take some 10m from the boat. he realized immediately that it was a decent fish, and after some minutes of fighting it the beast showed itself for the first time, and we saw that it was better than descent, it was big. a short while later he managed to get the fish beside the boat so that I could land it on the drier side of the rail.

A quick unhooking and measurement later the 105cm long beast was released into its own element.

After this we continued to fish the same bay for some time more, but without further success so we decided to move on to the next bay on the other side of one of the points.

At the next bay we decided to start by fishing the outer edge of the reeds, a place we had a good time on an earlier trip to the same area. though we combed the area thoroughly we didn't have any luck on the area (only one take, which I managed to screw up as I was in the middle of untangling my running line) and decided to go deeper into the bay, right into the small "canals" in the reeds. after fishing sometime in the more narrow canals we came to a wider section of free water with around 1 meter of water. from the beginning we had a good feeling of the palace and combed it thoroughly until my friend had yet another heavy take, resulting in an short fight during which the fish tried several time to swim under the boat. even so my friend kept the fish hooked until it was ready to bee landed. after unhooking, measurements and a quick pic the 98cm land beautifully colored (seemed as she had had some sort of infection which had cured) lady was released back to her own domain.

After the release we continued to fish in the shallows of the bay for a while further but, didn't find any more hungry fish. so as the daylight was slowly beginning to fade we decided to try out yet another shallow bay closer to the harbor.

So a short while later we arrived to the last bay of that day and started to fish, we decided to ignore the deeper waters on the outer rim of the reeds and went straight into the shallow canals in the reeds, as this tactic had given us the best result so far in the day. we both decided to fish whit flies and so the hunt for yet another water wolf began. we arrived to a wider part of the canals whit around the same depth as the places where we had caught the earlier fishes, and I decided to change one of my favorite flies (the "Shiny Roach") into the game. some 10 or so casts later I had a violent take as the pike hit the white fly just a couple of strips after it had landed. The fight was short and brutal as the pike tried to swim under the boat on four different occasions and in the surrounding reed for just as many times. but after a short while I was able to get the beast beside the boat so my friend could safely land it to bee unhooked and measured. The tape showed a length of 104 cm which was a new fly-fishing record for me.

After the unhooking, measurement and a quick pic the mean eyed beast  was returned into its own element without further delay

As the fish was released the light started to fade more and more and we decided to fish for a while more in the shallows before returning to the harbor. my friend caught one more pike around 70-80cm which managed to snag the line in the bow mount engine, but still staying hooked, and I lost one smaller one which managed to get into the reeds and unhook itself. 

As the light kept fading we decided that 5 pikes with the combined length of +4 meters ought to be enough for one short December day of fishing, and returned to the harbor.