Jämtland June 2018

This June we spent 10 days fishing in  Jämtland, my home county. 

In this story I will tell you all about it and try to give you an image of what it was like, but most importantly... I will tell you about the beautiful fishes we caught.

A hand full of small ones

The first stop this trip was to a beautiful stream that I keep close to my heart. It's a fishing spot that I've been visiting since I was a child and probably will cherish until I'm old and dusty. The river is about 50 to 100 meters wide, slowly slithering down through the forest beneath the mountains like a big blue, shiny snake.

As most of you know, most fishing spots are personal secrets and we fishermen don't give out information about these streams to just anyone. These locations are something you share only among family and close friends. Although I can tell you that this is a stream which is a part of Indalsälven near the popular ski resort Åre in the west part of Jämtland.

All members of Team Mylta were present at this cabin, including my younger brother Anton. We had warm, sunny weather, but it was a bit too windy and therefore sometimes there where troublesome to cast and I had trouble with the presentation of my fly. However we managed to reel in some small brown trouts at least.
But this first trip was of a more social trip than a hard core fishing trip. We spent most of the time around the fire, sharing stories, enjoying a couple of beers, playing with Tess the dog (see The Team) and just enjoying being outdoors. And I think it is quite common that the first fishing trip of the year becomes more of a social event with your fishing buddies, and the chase for the trophy fish does not start until later in the season. Maybe because you are a bit rusty after a long winter, or maybe you just have to get that social stuff out of your system so you can focus fully on the fishing the rest of the season. I don't know the reason but I believe it's a good thing. Don't stress it.

Anyhow there was not much more to say about the first stop on this trip more than that we had a great time. I will visit the same cabin later this season together with my dad and hopefully bring back more interesting stories that time.

Fugitives and Monsters

The second stop on our trip was Otto's family's cabin, located on the shore of a big lake called Ströms Vattudal in the north of Jämtland. Anton could not join us so we left him at his apartment in Östersund. Earlier this spring a rainbow trout fish farm had bursted in this lake and 3 ton of rainbow trout between 1 kg to 4 kg had escaped. Since Rainbow trout isn't native to Swedish waters they pose a threat to the natural inhabitants of the waters, they intrude the pike's hunting grounds, they eat the grayling's eggs and will disturb the mating grounds for the trout. Therefor we set out to catch us some rainbows. A win win situation. We would help restore the natural fish population and meanwhile get some delicious rainbow trout to eat. Otto had already been there just when the farm had bursted and he alone had caught around 20 kg of Rainbow trout. There would not be as much this time but there was still a chance.

The first days there were hard winds blowing and we spent most of the time hiding from the wind. We drove around searching for bays were the wind wouldn't blow but the wind was all around. Good thing we had Tess. A lot of dog walks and dog play is a good way to pass the time when the wind is to rough for fishing. But however, on the afternoon of the second day a man living in a cabin near us came and managed to catch a rainbow trout that weighed about 2 kg. I immediately grabbed my 7 weight rod equipped with a brown and purple articulated streamer and started casting. On the second cast I managed to hook something. It felt like I had caught a log at first, it was so heavy, but it started to jerk hard from side to side so I realized that I had something big on the other side of that line. After a couple of minutes I managed to get a look at it. It was a Pike, and a big one at that, and there I was, no waders and no net. But as luck would have it Otto and Jacob came out to help me. After about 20 minutes of fighting this sweet water crocodile we managed to get her in the net, barely. It was the biggest pike I had ever seen with my own eyes, and I had caught it. I was happy, as you might be able to see in the picture. It weighed 7 kg and was about 100 cm long. After we had taken some pictures it was time for the sweet old lady to swim back in to the lake. 

When we later sat down, celebrating the catch with a drink I started feeling a bit disappointed that it wasn't a Rainbow Trout but then Otto talked some sense in to me. He said that to catch a pike that big on a fly rod from land is something that happens once in a life time and that I should feel proud of my catch. I do feel proud of her now and hope that she is feeling well and enjoying her life on top of the food chain in Swedish waters. 

The following day the winds had stopped. The lake was still and the sun was shining.
We went to a small lake were we saw trout rise consistently for the first time this trip. Otto managed to catch a beautiful brown on a dry fly but Jacob and I was not as lucky. I had three big rises on my flies but did not manage to hook them. Better luck next time! We stayed there for a while, had some lunch, watched some mayflies dance and then we went back to the cabin. When we got back we walked over a tunnel were a creek ran out in to the lake. There we saw a beautiful rainbow trout, placed in the middle of the stream swaying back and forth feeding on fish spawn. We pulled straw to decide who was going to catch it and Jacob won. Otto and I stayed to keep an eye on the fish. Sometimes it got scared and swam away but it always came back to the same spot. Otto and I stayed at Jacob’s side for about an hour but without a result we decided to leave him on his own. We went out on the lake to try and catch some grayling instead. I managed to catch a small but still a beautiful one, but that was it, they were a bit shy. Jacob was still sitting by the tunnel trying to get that rainbow trout hooked. We returned in to the cabin to start making dinner. I was standing down by the water with a bucket to get some water so we could boil some potatoes when I saw Jacob lifting up his rod and hooking the fish! I immediately dropped the bucket, grabbed a net and ran to help him. It was a good fight, the fish had great energy and when it started getting tired we managed to get it in the net. A beautiful fish, weighing about 2.5 kg it set a new personal best for Jacob and he could finally rest for the day. 

That rainbow trout was the last fish we got at that cabin but not for lack of trying. I managed to hook another big pike but the leader didn't hold this time and she got away. Otto saw a shoal of arctic char rising far out on the lake but I\m sad to say that he did not manage to hook any of them. I also tried to catch a rainbow trout at the same spot were Jacob caught his but without any luck. The next day it started to rain so we packed our bags and started moving towards the third and final fishing spot for this trip. Sadly Otto could not join us any further since he had to get back to work, so I replaced him with my parents dog Sally.

Who let the dogs out?

With two dogs in the back seat and with new supplies we were ready for the last spot on our journey. Once again I don't want to reveal the name of the fishing spot but this river is also near Åre, just like the first one. I actually spend most of my time fly fishing in that area.

I was happier than usual in the car on our way to the fishing spot. You see Sally, my parent’s dog, is very dear to me and I have wanted to bring her on a fishing trip for several years but my mother have never let her come. Not from ill will but because she could not stand the thought of being without her dear dog for a couple of days. But this time she needed someone to take care of Sally for a day and I than managed to convince her to let me bring her fishing that whole weekend. 

When we got to the cabin we let the dogs run around freely. Since we were the only people there for miles there was no problem to have the dogs loose. We let them get comfortable with their new surroundings and when they had settled they fell asleep in the cabin so we took our chance and sneaked out to the stream.

In the middle of the river there was a small island and on each side of the island there were two beautiful necks were trouts were rising. We got out to the island by boat and picked one side each to fish on. I walked down stream first, a bit away from the water to not scare the fish and then walked carefully up stream to the neck There was very low water so it got deep very fast so the trout was rising very near the shore. I casted up stream with a dyret/the animal dryfly and it landed just an arm’s length from land.

Rise! On the first cast and it was a decent fish. It immediately swam out in to the current and became so strong that I had no other choice then follow it down stream. Below the island there were calmer water and there I was able to reel it in. it was a fine trout at 40 cm. I decided to keep it to eat. I like to keep one so I can cook a trout dinner for my girlfriend but I only like to keep a couple of fish per trip, and not too big, min 35 cm and max 40 cm. When I was done with the first fish I walked back up. I saw that another fish was rising just a couple of meters upstream from were i caught the first one. I carefully started to cast and managed to present the fly perfectly. Rise! Again! Two fishes on two casts. I immediately felt that this one was even bigger. Just like the first one it swam out in the stream so once again I had to run after the fish downstream. I had no chance against it when it had help from force of the current. I managed to guide it in to the same spot where I landed the first one and now Jacob had joined me. He grabbed the net and I tried to guide the fish in towards him. I was a bit nervous because this was the biggest trout I had ever had on and I really wanted to get a good look at it. When the fish went towards me I spooked it so it turned 180 degrees and swam straight in to Jacobs net. We caught it! It was the prettiest trout I had ever seen, beautiful brown skin and big black spots and it was a fat one, it had been eating a lot.

After a quick High five we unhooked it, I gave it a kiss on its head and released it back in to the water. It was a cigar fish. A cigar fish is just another name for trophy fish, just like the pike I caught, but it implies that you’re supposed to celebrate your catch with a cigar. But when I caught the pike I did not have a cigar, but now I had purchased one for just this kind of moment, which I kept in my gear bag and now was allowed to enjoy. We did not weigh the fish since we wanted to release it as fast as possible but it was about 60 cm long so we estimated it to be around 2 kg's since it was very fat. After that I felt satisfied. I had caught a pike on 7 kg's and now also a trout on 2 kg's. I decided to go back to the cabin, let dogs out again and star making some dinner. Jacob kept on fishing. He went to the same neck where I had caught my two trouts and he caught a lot of fish. On almost every cast he caught a trout from between 20 to 35 cm. He was very happy when he came back to the cabin. It was the first time that he had experienced such good fishing. When they just rise and keep rising. 

The following day we spent more time with the dogs instead of the fish. We went for a long walk through the woods and came to a nice open field with a wonderful view over a Lake called Ånnsjön surrounded by mighty mountains. But all of our batteries were out by then so we could not take any photos. The dogs ran around on the field while we cooked some hot dogs over an open fire. When we got back to the cabin we decided that our fishing needs were fulfilled for now. So we packed our stuff, cleaned the cabin and went back home.

THE END.