The Andros adventure 2016

Decision

When you one day get the green light from your wife, you find that your bank account is on the positive side for once and even your boss promises that you can have two weeks of work. What do you do? You pick up your phone and start calling all your friends to find out who's ready to go on a DIY flats fishing expedition.

In the end of 2015 I had this situation and got my friend Saku excited about the trip. He had never fished saltwater/flats before but he was ready to try it right away. We did some research for a couple of weeks and ended up choosing North Andros for our destination. We wanted a DIY destination that would no break the bank but would offer some great flats fishing for different species. The decision was easy after a friend of mine told me about a place called Hanks Place located in Fresh Creek. He told me that they could give us a package deal including room, food and a skiff. After that it was just a matter of contacting Hank to book us the room and start making plans on how to get al the way to Andros from Finland.

Hank turned out to be very patient and helpful as we had to use his knowledge a lot to plan our flights to Andros. After some sorting we finally got out flights in order and we were set to go the 1^st of February 2016. Now all we had to do was to get the gear ready and wait for couple of really long months.

Trip

On the 2^nd of February we found our self on the airfield on North Andros. Because everything about the place was new to us we had by mistake taken our flights to an airport situated a long way from our hotel. So our Andros adventure started with a long ass taxi drive down to Fresh Creek. Live and learn!

Finally after a couple of hours on a extremely crappy road we got to our hotel. As was to be expected out hotel was not a 5 star resort but our room was big enough for two, clean and with nice big beds and running hot water. This was all we needed for a two week stay. We found out that the room was next to Hanks restaurant so not a long way to get some dinner after fishing.
Our skiff was old but the engine had been maintained frequently so we were really happy with it. Everything had a real Bahamian feel to it and even though things seemed to be a bit shabby, we were excited to be there and to go fishing with our own skiff for the first time.

Fishing

As it is with all things new we had to get to used to the skiff fishing and the tides on Andros. I say tides because even though I had a tide table for Fresh Creek with me the times of low and high tide inside the creek had a timetable all of their own. This took some getting used to but after a couple of days we got the hang of it and started finding fish. We mostly did fly fishing for bones, barracudas and jacks but we also brought a spinning rod for difficult days and some night time trolling.

I had been reading a lot about the great fishing for bones on Andros and those stories in my mind are accurate but it still was very different than I expected. The weather in early February did a number on us as we first had a couple of very nice and hot days with mild winds but the last part of the trip was in pretty cold and windy conditions. The weather was the biggest factor why we were having difficulties finding any fish with heavy clouds, cold, rain and high winds. But on the good days the fishing was just awesome. We found nice sized bones cruising on very shallow waters and they were hungry as hell. Pretty much every fly worked as long as the presentation was ok.

There were no really huge schools of bones in the creek or the surrounding flats but there were a lot of small groups of bones coming and going with the tides which were easy to spot.

Fighting hard

Biggest of the trip

First Bonefish ever for Saku!

There were also a lot of huge and I do mean huge barracudas on the flats that gave us some headache by stealing our hooked bones and not taking anything artificial we tried to get them to eat. Also a lot of smaller sharks were always cruising at the flats with us but that's the name of the game and usually that just means there should also be some bones around.

Always C&R

A cold morning in the creek

At the end of the day we usually did some trolling for anything big that might like our flies and lures. We used our small skiff and trolled just in front of the lodge where at the right time a lot of big horse eye jacks, tarpons, barracudas and groupers swim into the mouth of the creek to feed.

We managed to catch a couple of very nice jacks, smaller barracudas and a really big grouper that almost spooled me right after the take. My friend was just able to turn our skiff around so we could chase the fish before the line ran out. In the end everything went our way and the grouper ended up as dinner. It was the first grouper I have ever caught and I have never ever fought a fish that strong before. Very cool stuff!

Our skiff

I think that's enough of the stories and I'll just let the photos speak for themselves. Enjoy and thanks for reading.

The warmest day and also the best day fishing

First Jack of the trip

One of the coolest flats I have ever seen

The big guy that almost spooled me

My tips for float tube fishing

 

 

I've float tube fishing for pike in Finland for over 6 years now. I have seen the style grow to a popularity. Every year I get to give tips to newbies who are interested in fishing with a float tube. So now I decided to write a blog about the tips I've given in the past years and also the things I have found useful while fishing from a tube.I'm not going to tell you that my way is the only way. It's just the way I enjoy float tubing the most.


1. Buy a good quality float tube like Fishcat which I've been using for the entire time I've fished with a tube or Berkley, Vision keeper or Guideline drifter. The main thing is to buy a tube big enough to carry you on the water without you sitting under the water. So if you are closer to a 100kg I do suggest you get a bigger model from any of the brands.

2. Buy a good pair of open heel scuba flippers in size xl or even xxl if you have a big foot size. This will allow you to use a scuba boot or a wading boot inside the flippers which makes getting in and out of water much simpler. Also I have found this to give you more airspace for your toes which keeps them warmer in cold waters.

3. Use neoprene waders or a drysuit/survival suit in cold waters. Neoprene waders are a bitch on shore but in the water they are much warmer than the normal waders. Also neoprene tends to last longer in tube fishing and they usually are cheaper to get.

4. Get an inflatable life-west for security or even a survival suit like the Ursuit MPS which I use under the top layer of clothes.

 

5. I use a line basket attached to the side of my tube as you can see in the picture. This keeps the line from tangling and also gives me a correct line stripping motion. You can also use the basic line net which comes with most tubes and is set to your lap but I personally find it to be in my say when handling a fish.

6. Get a good and big enough dry sack to stow your stuff in as usually everything gets wet while using a tube.

7. Make sure your tube comes with shoulder straps that you can use to carry the tube around when on dryland. These will make it easy for you to walk longer distances with your tube.

8. Last but not least. Never ever over fill your tube on a sunny day. Your tube will work perfectly even if it is not filled to the max. It should always have room for a little expansion.

 

-          Janne Vuoristo

My point of view about French nymphing in Finland

I love to see new places and learn to fish in different areas. It’s really important to me that I can use as much time as possible for fly fishing.  I want to learn by doing myself, not just reading and watching from the internet. I usually have at least three rods with me on a fly fishing trip. Something for a dry fly action if we get lucky, nymph equipment for the daytime and streamers for the moonlight. I want to have the knowledge about different kind of fly fishing styles because that’s how I can apply and develop my own skills for different conditions. The importance of multi- skills got more notice this year when I spent a lot of time on the rivers in my homeland. The weather was cool and the water level was high on the rivers. Thanks to the conditions even the biggest fish stayed in the river areas over the summer.

Most of fly fishermen agree that fishing with the dry fly is the best way to fly fish and so do I. But nowadays generalized nymph fishing divides people’s opinions often radically in half instead.  I have faced some negative and dismissive points about it but also seen how some fly fisherman get inspired on it after many years of fishing experience. I think it’s really great to see when anglers want to learn something totally new and step away from their comfort zone sometimes. When they are ready to be amateurs on something again after many years as professionals on another. So I don’t see any point for negative words about any style.  I think we should be happy because we have different ways to fly fish and we can always learn something new. It provides us variety and new perspective on things.

I have given a lot of time and thought for French style nymphing during the last couple of the years.  Today, I have much more information about the spots where the fish are, their food habits and the way of their behavior.  Furthermore, my river reading skill has grown a lot because of last season.

At its best, French style nymphing is fascinating journey of learning, which provides lots of information about the things under the surface. Because this style of fishing usually happens near of you, it requires a lot of wading. The more you wading the more skilled you became at it and often nymphing challenges you to move quiet and carefully in the difficult areas like on the rapids with strong current or dense with rocks. At the same time you’ll learn much about the river and its flow.

When you are nymphing you should turn your focus to the flies and how they are swimming in the depths. The take of the fish largely depends on the successful swim of the fly. Be sure that you keep in contact to your nymphs all the time so you don't miss the bite or lose your flies to the bottom. Most important thing is that the line is always tight and you follow your nymphs. Not far behind or pulling the front. Let your nymphs swim free with the flow. All the other tricks you will learn with time and experience.

With nymphing you can find a fish from really challenging and cramped places for example in front, behind or surroundings of stones and their gobs and pockets. People who don’t know much about the style, might think that it’s not possible to nymph on the deep water or from the long distance.  But that’s not truth at all.  Even if you don’t really cast with your nymph rod you can throw the line pretty far with the small movement by your wrist.  Make sure that your nymphs are heavy enough for going through the stronger flow of the surface. Cast them upstream and let them dive to the lover current on the depths where the biggest fish usually are. Hold your rod up and remember to keep in touch with the flies.

Working with a fish with this kind of really light and high module rod with thin lines is a challenge of its own. It is an outdated thought that you can’t handle a big fish with #2 or #3 rods. But we shouldn’t forget that equipment and products are developing all the time and nowadays there already are many new options on the market. Catching a big fish by nymphing with light gear is not impossible or not even the miracle anymore.  You just need to give enough pressure in the right way for the fish and you will notice that it’s surprisingly easy to control it and finally get it in your net. Stay calm, focus and don’t rush. Light rod gives a lot of flexibility to the fish and the impacts on it are soft.  That’s the one reason why fish usually stay on the hook pretty well.

Nymph fishing is effective style and often even the smallest fish can be caught. I still think that it is usually very fish friendly style when you are doing it right. Today, almost all the nymph hooks are made barbless. You use mostly really small and thin hooks which don’t leave large holes on the catch. I tie almost all my nymphs and larvaes in jig hooks with tungsten head. Jig hooks hooked fish very well and they are usually clinging in a hard and gristly upper jaw. You can easily take them off and you or your fly won’t make any damage to the soft and easily torn lower jaw. Sometimes your line might be broken but don’t worry, there is proof that this kind of hooks will usually come away from fish quite soon. Sometimes you can actually find them from the river a little bit later! ;D

Some points at the end: The secret of becoming a good nymph fisher is to meet the right people and fish a lot in different areas. Books and network can help you but they can never teach you everything.  Every cast, every wading, every river and every fish will teach you something new again. Searching for catch of all the sizes and learn to work with them responsibly. Fish the different seasons in both high- and low water level. Invest in the equipment and ask for advice. I’m grateful myself for all those fishermen who have taught me and given me advice about this really complicated style of fly fishing. This is the first time when I feel that I can help someone else to get it started.  If there’s any questions about equipment, techniques, areas or anything else, don’t hesitate to ask. It’s my pleasure to help.

SEARCHING FOR SEATROUT 11.11.2015

Seatrout season is on and it was great to start it with our Finnish CWS members.  Early in the morning we headed to the coast, and took our direction to the small islands and shoals.

 

 

Because of a bad situation of the seatrout population in Finland, it can be pretty challenging to find fish. The weather conditions and the water level should be exactly right at that moment. I think that’s one of the reasons why seatrout fishing is such an addictive part of fly fishing.  It might be pretty difficult but the price of hard work is a huge at the end. 

 

That day, we had pretty calm winds and occasionally the sun was shining.  It made us feel comfortable but it wasn’t so good for searching fish.  Even with the wind and the power of the sea were getting harder on the afternoon, we couldn’t catch any seatrout from the potential places. Only couple of fish came to carefully try our flies but we couldn’t land them. 

 

After changing place many times and fishing effectively many different watersides and reefs, we decided to give up and try our luck with pikes.  Water was muddy in our first pike- spot and big breams swam out of our boats way. We saw pike plunges here and there.  Our hope was rising.  We had some takes for everyone of us and we managed to get some pikes.  No really big ones but after thousands empty seatrout cast it felt pretty good to have a fish on.  In the second place the water was clear and some small pikes showed themselves.  At this time of the year sunset is comes already after four o’clock so we needed to hurry up back to the mainland before darkness would fall.

 

 

Although, we couldn’t find our primary target, seatrout this time, the day was really nice.  I was struggling with my broken toe and one of us had a flu. But is there any better medicine than a fresh autumn air and a hot coffee on the rock in the middle of the sea? I don’t think so.  Maybe the next time a seatrout will crown our trip.  But that will be another story.

 

-Veera

What ever floats your boat - The inflatable kayak story

 
 

 
 

In my fishing history I have tried all kinds of floating devices from boats, float tubes to pontoon boats etc. I mainly fish on the ocean and near the beaches so a boat seemed too much and too expensive. I decided to sell my boat about 12 years ago and change to something easier and more compact as I live in an apartment not too close to the shore.

6 years ago I got into fly fishing for pikes and at the same time I got my first float tube which I actually still have and use after many years. It is perfect for short distances and close to the shoreline but for longer trips it has proven to be too slow.

Couple of years later I got the master plan to buy a pontoon boat that was on a good sale. This thing made moving easier but because of the metal frame that easily get rusty in seawater and the difficult assembly, I decided to sell it after a while. This left me with a float tube but nothing that could be used for longer trips and faster moving.

This is when I really started to check out fishing kayaks that I had tried the first time in the Bahamas. They made for easy and fast moving for longer distances and could take a little bit of weather also.

The fishing kayaks were just starting to arrive to Finland and I was researching hard to find one that would suit me. The major problem seemed to be the size and weight of the plastic kayaks. There was no way I could fit a 2,5 meter long kayak in my car or our storage room. This was when I found the first inflatable kayaks in a fishing fair at Helsinki. These seemed to sort out the space and size issue but would they actually work as a tool for some real fishing. I did my research and finally ended up buying a SeaEagle inflatable fishing kayak. It had some great reviews from a lot of people so I thought I couldn't go badly wrong with it. 

The kayak has been in use for 2 years now and I've been very happy with it. It packs the same size as my Fishcat float tube which is quite small for a full size kayak that can carry over 130kg. I've been using it for pike and seatrout fishing mostly and also for just paddling around new pieces of water.

It is a very well made craft that is easy to paddle even for longer periods.

My idea has also been that I might even be able to take this kayak to a foreign destination. Its weight is only 14kg when it's dry and backed so it shouldn't be a problem to take it with me on a plane as an extra bag. I just need to find somewhere to fly first so I can test my idea.

As this is not an actual review of the kayak but just my thoughts on it I must say that there is a place for float tubes and for kayaks. I still love to use both in different types of areas and waters. It's fall right now as I'm writing this and the water is getting really cold and fast. The kayaks best feature over float tubes has to be the part where you don't need to stick your feet under water for several hours. As I'm getting older the part of getting cold does not appeal to me that much anymore :)

If anyone would like to know more about the kayak or other inflatables I've used, please contact us through our Facebook site https://www.facebook.com/ColdWatersSociety

 

 

Call of the north

For any flyfisherman who has ever fished in the extremely beautiful northern parts of Finland, Sweden or Norway the sentence "Call of the north" should be well known. With the fishing season being so short up north especially for salmon there is only 3 good months to do it. This means a lot of people hear the call and get the salmon fever way before the actual season starts. The same happened with me and my three friends this year. We decided to do this years trip a little differently. Normally we rent a cabin close to a nice river and move around with cars but this time we were planning to hike to a river, sleep in tents and do the moving around with our feet.
We are not experienced hikers so we decided that the river should not be too far from the road but just enough that it would keep away some of the other salmon fishermen.

The destination river we came up with is in northern Norway or Finnmark as it is called by the locals. Only one of us had ever fished the river so it was quite exciting for the rest of us to hear the stories from our friends trips. The stories did little to help with the salmon fever building up and it was still months before the season even started. So we decided to get ready and prep ourselves for the trip. This meant getting a lot of new gear and running around in many stores but it felt like doing something related to the actual trip. This made time go faster and the trip got closer and closer each day.

On Saturday 18th of July we all meet on Helsinki-Vantaa airport with our huge bags and backpacks. We were ready to go. We took a quick flight to Rovaniemi and continued by car up north.

The first night we camped in Utsjoki and a quick trip to River Teno. Not too much more to tell you about that but it was fun to get our gear out after a long wait.

The next day we drove to Finnmark and started the hard walk towards our destination. I was prepared to sweat a little because of the walk and heavy backpack but I was surprised of the hard climbs and rocky paths we had to take. It took us hour and a half to get to the river so I figured that was ok for a first timer.

The hard walk was quickly forgotten when we finally saw the beautiful little river and our campsite for the week. I had to hold back my urge to just grab my rod and running to the river. We still needed to prepare our camp and eat something before fishing. After everything was set we finally got our gear out and got down to business. The water level was very low so the only good choice was a one hand rod and a floating line. My friend who had been fishing on the river before let us know that only smaller flies would be needed from size 6 and down to 12. Picking which fly was also easy with his advice so we got everything ready in a record time and made our way to the river.

That first night did not give us any fish and the low water seemed to be a real challenge we would need to tackle through the week. The next morning I was up and fishing before everyone else and there seemed to be nobody else on the river from any of the other camps. So I got to fish one the best pools just by myself. It took me three casts before a fish showed itself. A nice fish around 5 kilos or so jumped in the end of the pool. I made my cast just right and my fly went swinging right past its nose. The fish took it with a fierce strike and then all hell broke loose. Even though the fish wasn't that big it was still fresh from the run and very strong. My eightweight rod was bent to the max as I fought with the silver devil. The fish got me running and doing all sorts of tricks before it finally was ready be pulled on the beach. It was a great feeling to start the trip with a good fish like this and on a singlehand rod.

My fight had drown some attention from the nearby camp and so I got some help with the photos. It's always nice to get better pics then I could have gotten with my Gopro so thanks for that guys.

This first fish really made my trip and after that everything else fell into place. I landed a couple of fish every day along our 5 day trip there. Nothing too big but from 1kg to 5kg. I saw much bigger fish also but they were not playing. For me this was the best salmon fishing trip I have ever had. I'm not really experienced on the art of salmon flyfishing so to get 6 Salmon and 2 Seachar on the same trip was amazing.

My numbers might have been even better but I used a lot of my time exploring the beautiful river which was close to 30km long and our camp was located on the midsection of it. I took a walk upstream and down just to see what the river was like and boy was I surprised how much the pools changed. The pools upstream were clear and deep with a lot of elevation. A lot of the bigger fish I saw swam in these pools and I was really close to getting a nice 10kg fish to take my sunray shadow on one these pools. Just the sheer beauty of the pools was so impressive that I ended up staying upstream the whole day. I could easily see why most of the camps are in the upper areas of the river.

I also took a walk down stream and yet again I was surprised with the different pools. Here the pools were also quite deep but also long and with less current. These were searun pools proved to have a lot of fish but they also saw a lot of action from the local fishermen. The biggest and the best known pool had around 100 Salmon just waiting for their turn to go up the river. I sat on the shore just watching the guys fish there for 3 hours or so and they had 5 salmon on between those hours. No wonder why it was so popular. The lower parts were a longer way away from our own camp and there was no easy paths from the main road to those pools. I found out that the easiest way to get there was by a local transfer boat. This is something I needed to keep in mind for the years to come.

Friday and the end of our Norway trip came too fast as always. We hiked back to the car and this time it was much easier as my feet were already getting used to the walking. After packing the car we drove straight to Inari for the last few days of our trip.

My trip was crowned the next day on one of Finlands most known big Browntrout streams called Juutua. I fished with one of my friends for a half day there. We knew nothing of the place so it was pretty much go with your gut type of fishing.

On one of the amazing looking rapids I got a very good size trout to rise on my white marabou muddler but it missed the hit. We tried all sorts of other flies but the fish just wasn't interested at all.

So we gave up and changed places looking for more fish. After a while I found some nice graylings feeding close by and got so involved with them that I didn't realize my friend had already gone to our car and waited me to move to the next location down the river. He called me and told me to get up to the car so I started making my way back. On my way to the car I passed the same place where we so the big brown a little earlier and I had to give it one more go. I took a black marabou muddler and tied it on my five weight rod. First cast about 45 degrees across and the fly swan right where the fish first showed itself. Boom! The fish came through the surface with a huge jump and I felt my line going tight and then the reel started screaming. My rod bent like crazy and backing was flying out of the reels as the beast too down the rapids. It took me awhile to get him to stop and under control. I quickly reach for my phone and called my friend to came and help me to land this thing. Just as I put my phone away the fish got its strength back and made some amazing jumps and then took downstream like a bat out of hell. I was so sure it would get unhook by the jumping and running that I was almost shaking in my waders.

With some luck the hook stayed on and my friend got to the beach with me just in time to help me get it to the net. He did a great job with my little net and landed the fish. I can't tell you guys how happy and thankful I was at that point. 
We took some hero shots and then it was time to put the awesome looking fish back to the river where it belonged. This was a perfect end to the trip as far as the fishing goes.

On our way to the airport we did get some car problems that dampened the mood of the trip a bit but that's another story.