Klarälven
Four happy, Danish boys go hunting for grayling in the southernmost Swedish river, which holds a decent number of this beautiful fish. Author Kasper Mühlbach joins GFF partner Martin Joergensen and their common friends Jens Groenlund and Asger Olesen on the journey.
So four fly fishers went to practice classic dry fly and nymph fishing in the most southern river of Sweden, which holds grayling.
The fishing started in our heads as we drove north. Martin and I in one car, Jens and Asger in the other, a bit delayed. Obviously, they did not know the saying: Even the worst day of fishing is better than the best day at work.
It was off-season. It was the beginning of autumn just before heavy rainfalls, but there was still warmth enough in the air to keep hatches going on and the grayling active.
Why grayling? Well, we are fascinated by its eagerness to rise to a dry fly on the surface even though there are no other fish rising at all. Fascinated by the colours, the dorsal fin and just fascinated by fishing in the larger rivers where it lives.
Sysslebäck is a small village, probably getting its economic base from tourists, some of them maybe fishing and skiing. Only one small supermarket supplies the citizens and travellers besides the gas station and a few smaller restaurants.
We tied a bunch of flies. A variant of the Swedish Rackelhanen and a new low-floating caddis tied on a Klinkhamer hook. We later named it Preben Elkhair Caddis because of the similarity between "Elk hair" and "Elkjaer" (Preben Elkjaer was a world famous soccer player in the 80s, playing for the Danish National Team).
The next day we commenced our fishing one of the calmer stretches just downstream a bridge. There were no fish to spot, but we gave it a serious go. The action was missing so after a couple of hours we gave in. Drove to another spot where we found a riffle with some boulders. Dozens of smaller fish were on the edges of the currents. The water was steadily flowing and not white or wild. Was it too calm? The fish averaged maybe 10-15 centimetres or just 5-7". They were fast, and we fished concentrated not to miss one... maybe a bigger one.
We took one grayling to do an autopsy to help us crack the code. We also took many photos of its fin, and we ate the filets as an entree so it did not die in vain.
The stomach contained lots and lots of grass seed (quite hard to imitate) some larvae and ants.
It is also a good idea to take a sample from the bottom to see if there are any larvae, shrimp or other grayling food items. It may give you a hint about size and colour
We fished different stretches: necks, riffles, white water, and calm water the following days but there were no obvious changes in size and numbers of the fish.
But as you know we enjoyed ourselves even though the fishing was not that good. We had great food, great company, great weather and a great time off work. So what is there to complain about? Nothing, really!
Money
Credit cards are used nearly everywhere. Euros (EUR €) may get you around as well, but do not forget to bring Swedish kroners.
License(s)
Fishing licenses, can be bought at camping grounds and be ordered in advance on the Internet.
No state license is needed.
You will have to buy a license for the particular water. In Klarälven it costs 200 SKR for a week.
Accommodation
There are plenty of reasonable hostels/cabins/camp grounds and smaller hotels placed along the roads. We paid 2,000.- Swedish kroners for 5 days.
If you are camping you may take advantage of the Allemansrätt (every-mans-right or the right to public access). This is a rule that gives you the option to camp for free in the Swedish nature as long as you keep a certain distance to farms, houses and other private property. Remember to respect the rules about open fire and take out the garbage you brought in. One more thing - cans cannot burn!
A 7-9' rod class #3-4 will be sufficient in most cases. If heavy nymphs are used, consider a class #5 rod.
The leaders should be tapered and turn over nicely, so you get the most control in your cast and may place the fly where needed. I used 18' leader with a 5X tippet.
Nymphs: size 10-18, pink gold head, hares ear, caddis larvae and brightly coloured.
Dries: size 14-18, small mayflies, caddis, red tags and parachutes.
An indicator is useful when fishing nymphs. Use a yarn indicator as described by Steve Schweitzer or a large dry fly. If you are using heavier nymphs and the yarn indicator seems to spook the fish, simply attach a brightly coloured piece of backing between the leader and the line. Grease it and you will have a wonderful indicator, which you will not have to remove when shifting back to dry. A killing, flexible setup.
The fish
The most interesting species is of course grayling and brown trout, but there is also whitefish to be found, as well as pike, perch and pike perch.
Food
Try some Swedish beers. Notice that you can only buy modestly strong beer in the supermarkets. If you need beer stronger than 3.5% or wine you have to go a liqueur store.
Tourist?
Are you taking a break from fishing? There is really not much to do besides hiking and canoeing. Maybe some white water rafting, moose or beaver safari.
Links
Sysslebäck Camping - a camp ground with cabins close to the river
Torbjörns page - a local angler's page on Klarälven.
Update June 2018: the above link is dead, I'm afraid.
Here are some more recent links:
Fishing in Klarälven
Laxfiske.nu
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Comments
Hello Martin, Inar
Hello Martin,
Inar 2012 we intend to make a timber-rafe trip on the river Klarelven from BRANARSAENG to BJOERKEBO;during the last week of June
As a flyfisher i should be happy iff you could give me some hints about licenses and flies.esspecialyfor grayling
Best regards
john
Tove, Klarälven
Tove,
Klarälven is actually a very nice water to fish, and your family is lucky to have a cabin on its banks. The grayling fishing is probably the most renown fishing here, but both trout and salmon can be caught in the river.
You can find plenty information online most of it in Swedish like on the web page of http://klaralvfisk.se/ Sysselbackens Fiskevard.
Hope this helps.
Martin
I wonder what sorts
I wonder what sorts of fish you can get in Klarälven ? My daughter, my son in law and my grandchildren have bought a summerhouse in Uggenås and they are living by the stream for holiday. They want to learn about fishing in Klara. We used to fish forell in Norwegian streams. Pardon my bad English, I`m an old lady and I have forgotten a lot of what I learned in school 60 years ago.
Grandma.