That's a good question that many of my friends who do not fish themselves, have asked me many times. And sometimes it may well be a little difficult to give a convincing answer. Why is it that we fish for salmon, the "fish of a 1000 casts"? A
fish that we do not really know why it takes a fly during the migration to its spawning grounds and for which you may have to wait for several years. I
can understand that it may seem a little silly to get up
at half past five to fish for a fish that is not feeding and in a place where you
may need to wait for an hour before it is your turn to fish the pool. I
think one reason is that most who have tried this kind of fishing, are
infected with the highly contagious and incurable "Salmo salar
syndrome". Once infected, the only, however, very short-term relief, you can get, is to go out and fish for salmon!
That
was why I headed for Mörrum last weekend to fish with my good
friend Erik Hellquist, who has been fortunate to grow up in Mörrum and has also studied at the Sportfiskeakademin. It
was the third time I came there and never had the conditions been so
good: Good water temperature, and above all lots of fish caught the last
while. Apparently, there were others who had heard about the excellent fishing, too. I
arrived Thursday afternoon and after beating the world record for quick
dressing and preparing your gear, we were out by the river to discover
that there were long queues at all the good pools. So it was not so much fishing that night.
The
next morning, or actually it was probably more late night, Erik and I
stood up to be first at pool 1, but no, there were already five men
waiting for their turn. Likewise, it looked at pool 4, so after half an hour we could finally start fishing seriously. But isn't it also sometimes part of the charm to just sit and enjoy and chat with your fellow fishermen? After all, a day is quite long when you get up so early. The first day went by too quickly, though, without anything happening at the end of neither Erik's nor my line. We did get some casting practice, though. On the whole it seemed as if the fisheries worsened a bit after we had come. Isn't that typical? The second and last day we fished on a private stretch upstream of Vittskövle, and there nothing much happened. In
fact, we did not see a single fish all day and it can be a little
uninspiring to stand and fish, where you do not really believe that there might be
something that wants to take your fly. So the result was that none of us caught any fish.
Still, we had a really nice weekend, and simply standing outside by the river,
enjoying nature and seeing a perfect cast turn into a perfect swing across the river,
is just wonderful. Then there is also the companionship that is really important to me. Last but not least, the sense of knowing, or perhaps more accurately, not knowing when the next fish will strike is truly addictive. One thing is certain: If you continue long enough, one day you will hook the fish of your life. Many people who do not fish, often forget that it is not just about catching a fish. It is more about feeling the anticipation and expectation while waiting for fish to fall for your fly and the joy when it finally happens. If there was a catch guarantee there would be nothing to look forward to and it would soon become boring - and fishing is all but boring ;-).
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| Relaxing a little |
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| Pool 4, no fish on this cast either |
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| Talking about D-loops |
