Lure fishing for Pike; Lidingö; 6th April 2019

Above and below; A stunning pre spawn Pike in immaculate condition was very, ery welcome on the first session of the year afloat after Pike. The fish weighed 5.9kg (13lb. 2oz.). She took a small yellow Lunker City jig, with a 7g head, intended for Perch on the light rod combo, making for a hooped over, juddering fight on light gear. Whilst not a monster, a very good fish all the same and it certainly made my day after a long Swedish winter.

A day afloat was arrangd with Eddie Bowler on the boat from Lidingö during the week and I had looked forward to it all week after a long Swedish winter. With the boat in the water and the area now ice free we were finally able to get out fishing. We set off at 11am and headed out to a favoured spot on the archipelago, where we began to fish for both Pike and Perch, alternating between lighter and heavier outfits. In the first hour we had several large Bream on the Perch jigs. The side scan on the fishfinder showed they were here in their thousands, big slabs resting along the reedbeds over a large area of water. I had another hit and initially though the culprit another Bream, though after a short while I began to wonder. The fish seemd quite heavy and was swimming around on the bottom, whilst the rod gave slow, deep pulls. After a short while a tail broke the surface and the penny began to drop, despite the brief glimpse, I was now starting to wonder of this could be a decent Pike. I informed Ed to grab the net, who in turn was naturally convinced I was putting him on after all the Bream we had been having. I assured him I was not joking, he assured me I was. Then the fish came to the top, a few expletives echoed through the pines forests briefly, before Ed duly netted the fish. It was a stunning pre spawn Pike, in fantastic condition and it really did brighten our day.
 We soldiered on for the rest of the day, though it proved really tough. The water is only 4-7 degrees at the minute, depending on the location and this seems to affect fishing greatly. Location is the key and we struggled to find any fish. Depite this we really enjoyed the day and it was great to be back out afloat after predators once more. Lots more fishing to look forward to in the coming weeks, with lots of Pike fishing planned over the early spring period theis year. A great start and hopefully much more to come in 2019...

First Pike of 2019; Sickla Alle

 So this was the first Pike of 2019, caught on a short afterwork lure session close to Stockholm City.

The third fish of the session was the smallest, all three took within a 15 minute period

The first session on the Spring was looming over the weekend, the ice having finally melted as Spring finally began to take hold here in Stockholm. The afternoon on Thursday 4th April was particularily nice and I decided to do a short afterwork lure session, quickly grabbing a rod and a handful of lures and getting out onto the bank. On arrival, the water was found to be fairly murky, so I opted for a white bodied CWC PigShad Jnr. I wandered about on the far bank for a while without any action, before settling on a bouple of spots I had caught fish in the past for the moonset trigger time and it paid off. I had three small Pike in rapid succession in a 15 minute period, before things went quiet again and I headed off. Smash and grab fishing at it's best and a reminder how successful short seesions can be, often putting fish on the bank. A great start to the 2019 season...