Recent comments

Re: May 14th: The unforgiving Danish wind

Yup! That's coastal fishing for you... the wind is an ever important factor. It only takes about 10-20 years to learn all the tricks: casting backwards, going to the right places in any wind direction, finding spots with wind but no dirt etc.

I have fished ide on the coast (right by Tryggevælde outside the protected zone) and other places. They seem quite content with almost anything, but prefer stuff on the bottom it seems. I'd go for some bream nymphs or just bright, shiny, heavy nymphs or buggers on a sinking line.

Personally I would much rather sight fish for them in the clear ocean water, but your mileage may vary...

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Martin

Re: Garfish fishing

Some people consider them a plague, and hate the fact that they are so numerous.

The flies I use are my usual sea trout flies. But if your want real success with garfish on a fly, use very small (12-14-16) flies on wet fly hooks tied in bright colors. Bright red, orange and chartreuse seems to be their favorite.

The autumn season is very different from the spring. In the we see a lot fewer fish and they travel quickly through the Baltic and into the Atlantic. If you want to join the feast, come the first couple of months in May. That's when they're plenty and large. The smaller ones come later and slowly the numbers drop.

Martin

Garfish fishing

It sounds like a dream to catch over 100 garfish. One friend of mine spent last week in Sweden and he caught some garfish too. What flies do you use for garfish fishing? And when approximately season does start in autumn? I would like to visit Denmark again and it looks like very interesting. Thanks a lot

I tried it on the A

I tried it on the Arkansas (CO) and it kicked butt. The caddis hatch was just starting in Browns canyon and "caught more than four" as John Gierach says. Bottom line; the pattern is easy to tie, very realistic and browns love it! (Try hanging it under a peacock body elk hair....and hold on!)

May 14th: The unforgiving Danish wind

Thanks everyone. :) Yesterday we spent a morning down around Køge as Martin had recommended but I found the Danish coastal wind to be very unforgiving. :? Most of my flycasting has always been done in streams and lakes, so I really had no clue what to do on a beach. :shock: Instead we turned to our spinning rods and fished with small spoons that I have made up. After several casts I brought in a rimte/ide, my first ever. I was somewhat surprised as I did not think they would strike like a predatory species. Anyways, interesting looking fish with some pretty red fins. No garfish sighted yesterday, but the locals have all talked about how good the fishing has been. :shock: Better luck next time I guess. A pretty spot down that way by the way! The drive through the narrow roads was adventurous by the way, it was like a maze while we were trying to figure out where the coast was.

I've been told about ide fishing in the Tryggevælde in the past. While we were there two days ago, I noticed the water was somewhat brown. Have people been successful with ide on the fly? I've tied up these brown/olive/black wooly buggers in size 4 to 8, I wonder if they would entice some ide and perch if slowly stripped near the bottom, or are they not even going to see it...

Exciting times ahead. :)

I think that's a por

I think that's a porgy.

Hey, if there are a lot of

Hey, if there are a lot of fish around and the population isn't really effected by a large harvest like your talking about Martin, more power to ya. Fish are great eating and are so very good for you, why not take some home. I particularly like the fact that this is a family fishery, it's great when the whole family gets out and does things like this together.

Arrived yesterday afternoon,

Good job Rod!

Tryggevælde is known for some excellent fishing for many different species. You can probably expect to see bream, ide and sea trout plus many other species as well as pike and trophy size perch.

Let's hear what your trip brings.

Martin

Any recommendations around

Rod (and others interested in garfish),

They are everywhere! Around Copenhagen I usually choose the island Amager as my goal. The beaches are easily accessible within short distance and you can find a spot in almost any wind. Look for Amager Strand, 10-øren and Kongelunden on a map and you will have some destinations that work in most wind directions. Bring waders and go fairly far out where you can. The water is very shallow in some of the places.

If you move further away from Copenhagen you of course get fewer people and more beutiful scenery.

Bring a 4 or 5 weight, small bright orange or chartreuse flies in 10, 12 and 14. Blind fish anywhere with varying retrieve, and you are very likely to hook a fish within 10 minutes.

Martin

Gz

Rodney,

Gz with the pike - always a fun fish to catch.
Enjoy your stay in Denmark.

/Peter :)

I found this article

I found this article most enlightening. I can't wait to try dryer dubbing.

Rodney

The gars are all around the place Rodney... I also thought I need to go up north to Helsingor for a good fishing day, however, I went to Klampenborg (north of Copenhagen), Jyllinge (Roskille Fjord), North of Helsingor - they are everywhere.
To judge if the spot is a garfish-successful - just look at the beach - if you manage to spot hundreds of gars' heads, then you know you found the right place. Sad but true.
Re: Martin - I couldn't possibly write it better than you 😄

Arrived yesterday afternoon,

Arrived yesterday afternoon, did a short fishing trip this morning to Tryggevælde Å. I managed to connect with a pike and a perch. 😄

Sounds like the beach fishing

Sounds like the beach fishing is really good now for garfish. We are looking into trying it out for the first time but not exactly sure where we should go for some beach flyfishing to C&R some gars. Any recommendations around Copenhagen would be fantastic. :)

Garfish

Just to set things straight about garfish.

These guys come into the danish seas (and the rest of the Baltic) in millions every year in May, and it's tradition that everybody gets out their rods and go fishing. And its tradition to kill everything you catch and eat it. Nobody (or at least only an extremely small fraction) of the Danish anglers kill for fun. Garfish are very delicate and are eaten i large numbers every May.

And let's get an other thing clear: no matter if 100 anglers were standing shoulder by shoulder and each killed 10 or 20 garfish would they be able to make as much as a miniscule dent in the population. The biggest problem in that regard is the mess they leave on the beach!

I have been out today and caught about 20-30 garfish while hooking at least another 50. I released them all, but certainly expect to bring home some another day. They taste great on the barbecue or filleted and deep fried or fried on a pan.

I don't like seeing people being mean to fish or killing for no reason, but I think it's great that people - old and young, families, couples - get out, catch some fish and bring home some for the pan and freezer. Particularly when it's a fish so common that you almost can't avoid catching one in each cast.

Just my two cents...

Martin

Re: Garfish

I do not know any "trash fish" at all. Anything that is in water is meant to be there, thus killing for fun makes no sense to me. BTW, when I was releasing my third garfish in a row, one of the locals came to me saying: are you nuts, why the hell are you releasing them? its food! ...I am not so hungry today...I replied 😄
Tight lines.

Re: Garfish

I barely took 3 garfish home to eat. Those are my friends' garfish. The garfish slaughter I have seen in Helsingor was just unbelievable. :evil: About 60 fishermen lined-up along the coast, each taking more that 10 garfish home...Nothing could have escaped. I gave up after 10 minutes and moved to more quiet waters.

ZipCast cleans, lube

ZipCast cleans, lubes and protects the line in just one pass. Makes line maintenance much easier. Found out about it on this site's review and ordered a bottle. Amazing stuff. Best I've ever used.

Garfish

Garfish are actually a fine tasting fish. 😉
Although killing so many is questionable. But who am I to comment?

Ripley

Garfish

Do you eat those Garfish or do you just kill them? I didn't know if they were a trash fish or a bad fish of some kind. You Europeans seem to take home a lot more fish than us in The States. Of course most of our fish are poisonous to eat from the mercury.

It has really been an

It has really been an explosive day - garfish would not stop eating for a minute. The water was "boiling", garfish all around the place...just could not believed it.

I tried to contact K

I tried to contact Ken at Sirrus.com and by phone, but could not get either.
any sugestions?

KentP

KentP
Here on the East Coast (South Jersey)USA, the TFO is a very popular fly rod. I really haven't hard anything bad about them. I have to assume the blanks are just as good as the finished rod. I use an 8 wgt rod for salt water, and I have fished it out in the Western Pacific during a couple of visits to Guam. The wind was a pain in the butt. I would think the 10 wgt would be a good choice fished with an intermediate sinking line. Unless you're going for really large fish the 12 wgt would be overkill. If I were building two rods, I'd go with the 8 wgt and 10 wgt.

Really enjoying your

Really enjoying your growing series on fishing photography. I always bring the camera along - recently have moved up to a DSLR which I reckon is the perfect one for fishing - an Olympus E-1 - relatively compact, but the biggest plus is it is *splash-proof* and the only comparable DSLRs (canon EOS 1 or Nikon D2 ) cost two or three times the price. Rain and saltwater are no problem , just rinse off under the tap at home!