The Visitors - Day 1

The visitors day 1

Global FlyFisher

The roles - just to make it clear

Two teams.
Two days.
Two different weather conditions.
Two difficult situations.

Two times I got invited by a team of fly fishers visiting the south Swedish waters in 2007.
The first message was from Rolandas from Lithuania and the second from Raoul from Germany.
This article is to give the impression of 3(4) * 2 fishermen and their struggle to catch a Swedish sea trout but at the same time having a great time and some good experiences.
Well, just to let all you readers know we made the deal, that they should cast, fight, land and pose. The only role I had was to play The Photographer.
Now, no one can blame me for more casting pictures than photos of big chromers...

The following is short description of the two terrific days I spent with 2*3 great guys from different regions of Europe accompanied by a sparse selection of the photos taken on location.

Kasper Mühlbach

Meeting the enthusiasts

I logged in and could see that a guy from Lithuania was going to Sweden and needed a bit of advice. Rolandas was his name. We emailed back and forth but a question kept finding its way to the keyboard: "Are you skilled fly fishers?"
Not a rude question, but the Swedish coast is a challenging task to fish, and it's not easy to cast, wade and find the fish.
That certainly opened the box. The next email was full of fish, destinations, gear and so on. Rolandas decided to share one of his stories with us, and within short the article Kola on a Budget was published.

Kasper Mühlbach

We met one morning - not too early. The three guys Algis, Sasha and Rolandas were ready to go and stood in front of the rented cabin. I got my stuff in their car and soon we headed south. The wind was hard from West and NorthWest. Really hard. Almost stormy.

We were in a good mood and had to celebrate that we actually had met. Rolandas opened a bottle and we all had a squeeze - well, most of us as some had tasted it the day before, maybe too many times...

Kasper Mühlbach

Suddenly a Swedish rescue team appeared both from the forest behind us and an environmental protection ship in front of us. A barrel was on the beach! What did it contain? Dangerous? Was that the reason for our modest catch of zero fish?

When I asked the team leader he did not hesitate but claimed - with a smile - it was a Danish coaster which had lost it.

Kasper Mühlbach

We gave it a serious shot. Fished the big reef and the long narrow one. Two persons on each. It could not go wrong. The conditions were windy, but OK and the water slightly colored. After three hours we had a coffee break. Sitting on the beach listening to Rolandas saying " Listen, I tell you a story...".

We are not giving up

We decided to go up north. I picked out a little spot not difficult to find but rarely fished - except for this day. Only one guy was present when we entered. He had seen one fish. That information took us to a whole other level of joy, trust and enthusiasm. Rolandas and I went right and Algis and Sasha took the hot spot to the left.

After a quarter Algis ran around on the beach finding the landing net as Sasha's rod exposed a threatening bend. After 10 minutes he landed his first trout on a fly rod - ever. A kelt of 86 cm/35". Surely a big fish. He was happy, exited and hungry, so unfortunately it was killed but made a terrific meal, soup and barbecue for three days for three persons.

Kasper Mühlbach

Algis also caugt two kelts. One close to 2 kg/4 lbs and the second one the double. Sure, they had a great afternoon while Rolandas and I was casting, casting, casting and trying to defend "our" small reef for the incoming Danes and Swedes. When another angler is so close, that I can easily snap of his cap placing a size 2 Grey Frede 1 cm above his head, he has crossed the border of my personal fishing sphere.

We fished until prime time of the evening. I had to go because of my pregnant girlfriend and thanked no to a great invitation: barbecue and Lithuanian drinks. The next stormy days were fishless for the three amigos, but they had a cozy time anyway - just not the luck.