Tyresö; 6th April 2008

Karl and his first fish of the year....

Simon getting some exercise...

Al and Roach...

BBQ!

An early trip to Tyresö proved worthwhile in the end, even though nothing of major note was taken. The first day that fish have been biting freely this year, with plenty of Roach coming to ladgered worm on all rods, the largest a .21 kilo fish to Jim Kelly. A single Bream of over a pound slipped the hook at the last minute on my rod. (First signs of spawning Pike also today, with fish active deep within the reeds, though none hooked)

A nice day and evening capped by a makeshift BBQ, full credit to Karl and Maria for bring the grub!

Burbot! Tyresö; 6th March 2008

One of the reasons I love fishing is you never know what's next and occasionally you get a very nice surprise. This Burbot, caught whilst deadbaiting for Pike in the middle of a sunny afternnon must rank as the biggest surprise yet! After five hours float ledgering two stromming deatbaits without a sign of a fish, just as I was thinking about packing up at 13.25, one of the floats slid away and I struck into a rather dour, dogged fighting fish. I was thinking it had to be a Pike and was amazed when is came to hand and I saw what it was. The fish tipped the scales at 2.87kilo(6lb 5oz.) and is worth 8 points.

Burbot are members of the Cod family, feed at night(apparently sometimes during the day!) and are active in the winter months. They are very rarely caught around Stockholm and this is a very large individual. a super fish, an absolute zoo creature! These fish hunt and scavenge on the bottom, mainly by scent. Would be interesting to try a night session in the same spot and see if there are more to be caught. Certainly one of the best fish I will ever catch...

From now on will try to record weather and other data here on the blog as reference for the future, may help to keep a diary of these details for future reference...

Weather; Bright and sunny. High pressure, though dropping.Light Northerly wind; Temp; +5 Centigrade.

Moon Phase; (New Moon-1), Trigger times 0920,1120(South),1320

Lures....

Broman Rattler
Tiny deep diving plug, good Perch Lure with vigorous action...

Broman Minnow

Deep diver, takes mainly Perch, Zander ant Trout.

Broman Wobbler

Small wobbler, takes wideerange of predatory species

Abu Tormentor

Classic Plug. Large model great for Pike and big Zander.

Buster Jerk

Superb taker of Pike, often larger specimens.

Was rather bored before my Burbot grabbed my deadbait today, so much so I was photographing lures for something to do! Would be a shame not to use the photos, so here they are!

Stora Vartan, 7th Febuary 2008

Stora Värtan, Täby.

Took a trip out to Täby this morning to check this area out. The entire water is huge and is part of the achipelago, lying just north of Vaxholm. It has a reputation for being one of the better Pike waters in Stockholm, as well as holding very good Perch, Seatrout and Zander amongst other species. Lure fished here for 90 minutes without result, proved to be a little snaggy and I would say this water would come into its own around April/May, perhaps with live baits being a good option. A boat would be a huge aid as most of the bank is reed fringed, making land fishing impossible for most areas, which look really, really superb for Pike. Some access though around lightly built up areas. There is a path running along the bank all the way to Näsby Park for several kilometres which may be worth checking out...

30th January 2008; First fish of 2008...

Finally after several trips out this year in the winter cold a fish to show for the effort. Made the trip up to Kungsangen with Simon today to lure fish for Pike and duly caught this fish of around 3.5lb after an hour or so on a double bladed american style bass lure. The fish is worth just a single point but was most welcome after several blanks whilst after Pike and Seatrout over the last four weeks. Hopefully a lot more to come in the coming months, rather hard work right now in cold weather, though Pike will soon be returning to the spawning grounds and giving oppurtunities to catch that elusive monster fish...

2007 Fantasy Fishing League Results

Fantasy Fishing League Results 2007!

Another year passed already and time to add the bonus points for the biggest of each species caught. Biggest fish of each species caught as follows..

Pike; 12lb 8oz., Tyresö Slott; 5th April 2007; Al.
Perch; 1lb 10oz., Tyresö Slott; 30th August 2008; Al.
Roach; 2lb. 8oz., Dalarna; 15th July 2007; Rafal.
Rudd; 1lb 9oz., Drevviken; 18th June 2007; Al.
Bream; 3lb 3oz., Tyresö Slott; 30th August 2007; Al.
Tench; 4lb 3oz., Drevviken; 27th August 2007; Al.

This gives Rafal 12 bonus points for what was without doubt the best catch of the year for his huge Roach at Dalarna. Al picks up 60 bonus points for the remaining five species. 12 further points are awarded to the biggest fish of the year, the Pike caught by Al in April at Tyresö...

With the 2008 Fantasy Fishing League now open it is worth noting that a lot of species were not caught at all in 2007. Notable absentees include Salmon, Brown trout, Sea Trout, Rainbow Trout, Grayling, Chub,Dace, Eel, Carp, Crucian Carp, Flounder and incredibly Zander. Any one specimen of these species, had they been caught in 2007 would of yielded 12 bonus points for their captor.With this in mind 2008 could well be a good year if certain species are pursued at the right time of the year. Seatrout are available until the end of Febuary and again from November onwards. Pike spawning will be in March/April. Drevviken for Rudd and Tench from May to July. Zander from May through the summer months is a species long overdue. Eel in a simular time frame to Zander. Rainbow Trout are readily available at several fisheries from May until September. Brown Trout, Grayling, Dace and Chub require a trip north to the rivers where they are readily available too....

Final 2007 Table as follows...
Al; 130 Pts.
Rafal; 30 Pts.
Karl; 11 Pts.
Linda; 6Pts.
Simon; 3Pts.
Kev; 2Pts.

Jim and James both failed to score, though only got out for one day in 2007. Baz failed to score as he was not out at all once during the year! No armchair award is available Baz! The table pretty much reflects the hours spent out fishing and there is no real shortcut to catching a lot of fish, hours on the bank pay off.
Here's to a great 2008 to you all and hope to see you all out there! Thanks to all for a great year in 2007 and some great days out... Hopefully can organise a trip or two away in the coming year and encourage a few more people to get out into the fresh air. Though it is not easy for us all to get out as much as we used to due to family commitments and work, hope 2008 will be a good one for you all in every way.
draft

Tyresta Slott;26th November 2007

Spent a few hours at the Slott today. Really cold. Simon had this Pike of 1.63 kilo(3lb 9oz.) on a green atom spoon after it had followed his plug twice, taken once and not hooked up. Then returned a little later when the spoon did the trick. The fish gives Simon a point for the league table.

Updated Points Table

Updated points Table is as follows;

Al;58 pts.
Rafa;18 pts.
Karl;11 pts.
Linda;6 pts.
Kevin;2 pts.
Simon;2 pts.
Jim;0 pts.
Baz;0 pts.
James;0 pts.

With just three months left in 2007 several species have not been caught by anyone. These include Eel, Brown Trout, Sea Trout, Salmon, Burbot, Dace, Chub, Grayling, Cod, Flounder, Ide and Zander amongst others.
A great time of the year for fishing over the next 6-8 weeks. Seatrout start to run in earnest in three weeks, as do Salmon in smaller numbers in Stockholm Strom. Perch, Pike and Zander are all feeding heavily in deeper water and the next 6 weeks are the best chance of a monster fish. Bottom baits are by far the best, though perch may come to lures and jigs too.

Vaxholm; 23rd September 2007

Vaxholm Sunset

Perch for the table...

1lb 2oz. Perch

Harry with a Perch of around 12oz.

2lb 3oz. Bream

A very enjoyable day today at Vaxholm fishing for Perch. Ran into a good friend, Harry Byrne, who had popped out to do a little fishing for the day with Marika. Karl soon followed us and we had a cracker of an evening fishing away in glorious indian summer weather.

First good fish was a suprise in the form of a .99kilo(2lb 3oz.) Bream on the legered worm.(1 point) Soon after we were all catching Perch with plenty of bites coming on the rods. Karl and I got one Perch each weighing 1lb 2oz. which gave us 2 points each. Soon after lost what felt like a very good perch which took a livebait off the bottom. The evening closed out with a glorious sunset over the water before we left, taking a few fish with us for the table...

Vaxholm; 19th September 2007 2007

9oz. Perch

15oz. Perch

Superb three and a half hours fishing today in deep water. Ledgered worm was the method, though I was sorry I did not carry some livebaiting tackle out after two very large Perch snapped on to smaller Perch while I was playing them. About 40 Perch caught altogether, many of them over a half pound, several went very close to a pound, though none did manage! A lot of feeding fish attacking baitfish at the surface towards dusk and live bait may well be the way forward for some very large fish...

Äldalalven; September 2007

... a few days out with the lads up north. The fishing was a little dissapointing to be honest, but all but six of the eight present managed to catch Perch on the second day. Beautiful area to spend time in and another day would of been very welcome.

Tyresta Slott; 30th August 2007

3.10 Kilo Pike

.75 Kilo Perch

.96 Kilo Pike

1.46 Kilo Bream

1.46 Kilo Bream


A great evening out at the Slott with Simon today. Simon took his fist Pike of the season on Sunday and was hoping to add to his point today. Shortly after arriving he hooked a nice Pike on a Zalt plug, unfortunatly the hookhold gave just as it was about to be taken from the water and he lost it, somewhere around 4lb..

After a small Perch on the legered worm I was then really suprised to land a really good Bream of 1.46kilo(3lb 3oz.) The fish is worth 3 points on the table.These fish are obviously in the area and perhaps a large amount of ground bait might bring some more large fish to the net.

More action soon followed when my Perch livebait was taken by a super 3.10kilo(6lb 13oz.)Pike which gave me a great scrap before it was banked. This gave me another 2 points. Another Perch livebait went back out and was taken soon later, this time by a cracking cannibal Perch which weighed in at .75kilo(1lb 10oz.) This was worth 4 points to me and was perhaps the best fish of the day. It also gave a really good account of itself and battled all the way to the bank. Simon then wrapped up a super evening with a lovely .96kilo(2lb 2oz.) Pike which also fell to the Zalt plug and gave him a point for the day..

The fishing seems to be picking up as the water cools and the fish begin to feed hard to build up tone for the winter months.

Tyresö Slott

Tyresö Sunset

Apart from the wonderful fishing at the site the scenery here is stunning. The sunset that brought the curtain down on the evening was stunning....

Drevviken, 23rd August 2007

.38kilo Bream

Kevin with Bream

Roach

Went down to the lake for the afternoon with Linda, joining with Kevin, Sandy and young Ciara. Fishing was fairly slow though a few Bream were taken, the best weighed in at .38kilo. Kevin took a nice .24kilo(1/2lb) Rudd and also had a Roach. Linda had decent sized perch of around the half pound mark. Though there was a bait out for Pike no runs resulted.

Drevviken, 17th August 2007

Dragged myself out of bed and got to the swim at 09.30. The first bite led to a Tench of 1.18kilo(2lb 80z.) at 10.20am. The fish is the smallest to date at the site and will easily be identified if taken again due to a scar on the flank of the fish, presumably from a pike attack at some stage in the past. It is interesting that to date the five Tench I have managed to land here have all been different individuals, I would of thought that that perhaps one or two fish might have been caught repeatedly from the swim, assuming they are territorial and faithful to one feeding area.

Other fish did follow with 3 Bream between 10.50am and 11.00am up to 130z. in quick succession. Sporadic small Rudd followed for the next 90 minutes before anothr 15 minute spell brought 2 more Bream and an 8oz from 12.15pm to 12.30pm. Rudd. After this feeding speel things really died off with small rudd the only fish to come to hand. These feeding spells are remarkably predictable. Moon Rise this morning was at 10.50am, so feeding would be expected between 09.20 and 12.20 with noticable peaks at the these precise times and at 10.50am, when the rise occurs. It is uncanny how the bigger fish react on cue to these times!

Drevviken, 14th August 2007

A rather quiet day with the notable exception of a 1.67kilo(3lb 11oz.) Tench that fell to my rod at 17.50. The fish falls short of 4lbs, but still gives 3 points for the tableThe fish took a red worm, despite the fact I also had a boilie in the same area. Linda and Rafa also fish through to the dusk with me, but apart from modest Rudd and Bream no other good fish came to hand, in fact as the day grew later the fishing got noticably slacker, a trend that has beeen noted before at this swim. Rafal visited the swim earlier in the morning, cleared the weed by draaging the fishing swims and prebaited it.