Catch Magazine

I just ran into this site on the net. An online magazine with focus on fishing photography. Incredibly beautiful pictures, check it out! Catch Magazine

Today: a Photo

As we´ve written earlier, Fredrik is a true Renaissance man. He´s the kind of guy that can do anything – without really trying. This photo was taken yesterday with his trusty Nikon D90. I think it looks really cool.

Fred is sleeping right now after a rough night, but I guess he´ll explain a little bit about this picture later.

Spaghetti Waterfall

PS! I´m still stuck in Oslo. Doesn´t look too good for the Ukraine tour either.

JFF-Lifestyle

Me and Joona went to a well known area outside Gothenburg. As we drove to the fishing spot we listened to our new “not-yet-made-CD” in the car. It sounds really hip! Joona also filmed some weird stuff in the car with his brand new super secret camera. He is filming everything (all the time) and since his camera is very small, you cannot see it. I must destroy the content of that camera, otherwise thera will be problems. Hmmm…

Anyway, it was a beautiful day, the first warm spring day this year. We were aiming for the sea trout. We found the sea trout. We caught the sea trout. A NICE sea trout! My biggest so far actually. You see, here along the west coast of Sweden, the trouts in the sea doesn’t get very big. The average size is around, let’s say 37 cm. If you catch one around 50 cm, it is a quite good day. This trout that bit over my fly today had the length of 61 cm! The rod was bent to an o, I was screaming and Joona was (of course) filming. What a day. Later Joona caught a couple of nice trouts.

In the evening I made a nice and easy done fish soup. I have to say that sea trout is one of the best fishes on the dinner table. Some white wine, homemade bread, the soup, jazz music and a bunch of good friends made that evening really nice. It is the JFF-lifestyle.

Strange Start of the Fishing Season on Good Friday

Like Joona, Fredrik and Håvard, I too have been complaining here many times about how the winter is too long, ice is too thick and how I have my fly fishing gear back in Finland etc… About stuff that prevents us from going fishing.

Well, yesterday on Good Friday I got a call from a friend of mine – a great bass player called Joel. He asked if I would like to go fishing with him. I knew that we were talking about fishing with spinning rods but I still couldn’t resist the offer. It had been too long time since the last time I was fishing.

As we met at the gas station to buy some groceries, it turned out that he only had one fishing rod – and even worse – only one spoon with him. We would have to manage with that.

I had a feeling this would not be an ordinary kind of fishing trip.

Joel, my guide for this trip

When we biked to the place, it turned out that my guide’s secret spot was just next to a powerplant in an abandoned shipyard. I got the shivers as we moved further. This looks like the place Håvard’s monster cod must live in – I remember thinking at that time…

Strange place for cod fishing

I was a bit sceptical at this point

When we arrived, the sea looked so beautiful. I almost forgot that just behind my back was a huge wind turbine flapping it’s wings. Joel took the first cast with his primitive gear. Sometimes fly fishing can get a bit serious I though to my self. It was nice to relax, I had no pressure of catching fish at least. It would be impossible to catch with this gear and only one spoon…

But then it happened! Joel shouted: “I have it!” And there it was. The cod! The big torsk was bending his rod to the limit as he was fighting it. And in the next moment it was gone. Next cast and another torsk was on! This time he got it up after the fight. And the next cast was mine. And there it was again – my turn to fight the torsk! We were having fun without fly fishing – I couldn’t believe it. And with only one lucky spoon!

Here is a short and shaky video clip from my cell phone:

Armada of Bass Players

While Håvard, Joona and Fredrik are gearing up for the start of the fishing season, I’m left gritting my teeth with all my fishing stuff, flies, rods and reels left behind in Finland. (As I mentioned earlier, I had no space left in my luggage when moving to Copenhagen because of the double bass…) For the time being I have had no options to go and get them, and it looks like it may well be may before it happens… Lot’s of jazz and no fly fishing is still ok I keep telling myself…

Instead of fishing, I’ve been going to jam sessions. The importance of jam sessions cannot be undermined for jazz musicians. The roots of this social phenomenon were formed already before and during the bepop era, in 1940’s. Usually there is a set presented by the house band followed by performances of freely formed groups of  jazz musicians involving professional and amateur jazz cats alike. The music is improvised on the spot usually on top of the themes and structures of well known jazz standards.

Jam sessions keep musicians always on their toes since no group and session are the same. For the audience it is usually easy to point out, who is making music and who is not. Many times there can be 7 saxophone players waiting to get to show off their soloing skills and the poor bass player has to comp for the whole session since there is almost allways fewer bass players than saxophonists or piano players.

Of course, when this monday I went to Copenhagen’s Blågårds Apotek to get rid of my fishing angst and get to play some good jazz, there were not one or two other, but an armada of alltogether 7 (!) bass players waiting for their turn. I had my chance for two tunes, which was great fun after all.

These great photos from last monday’s session are courtesy of Michael Bauer and they are published under creative commons sa-3.0 license.

New fishing season behind the corner

The last few weeks I’ve been feeling quite uncomfortable in my own body. It’s like there’s something crawling inside that keeps me somewhat nervous all the time. My wife calmly noticed that I’ve spent a hell lot of money on fishing literature, gear and DVDs lately. No way I can deny that. -It’s because of the abstinence, I say, and know it’s true.

Tomorrow it is the 1st of April, a big day for most of the fishermen in the west coast of Sweden. That’s when the sea trout season begins and the shores get filled by eager fishermen, ones just like me. Well – it’s just that I won’t be fishing on the 1st of April. It’s like being a kid and celebrating Christmas a bit later than the other kids. I will spend that day at work just like normal people do (apart from those who take a day off on the 1/4). Anyway, from Friday on I’m on vacation for a whole ten days and that might include some fishing…

Here are some happy pictures from last years’ season starts:

Hip stuff in the studio

It is done! We are done.The recording session is over and we are totally exhausted. Stylistically, many of our new tunes are more or less jazz, but some takes actually hold a hip beat. Super beat.  We do now have 14 tracks on tape which is more than excellent! The next couple of weeks we will spend many hours listening to the music and try to decide what tunes to put on the CD – that’s not an easy task.

The schedules of the days were about like this:

08:00 The angry alarm screams – time to wake up. Some of us had a light headache

10:00 The recording session begins. Lot’s of noise and voices during a couple of hours. Some tears also.

13:00 Time to take a short break – we went outside and casted with a fly rod. Håvard snapped the leader. Very funny.

16:10 Lunch – Plenty of food and bullshit.

17:00 Recording session…

19:00 Coffee and more coffee. Then tears and even more coffee.

20:00 Stop playing god damn it!

20:30 Spa

The Fly Cast and Other Strange Activities

One of the main reasons why fly fishing is such a fascinating and time-consuming activity (some would claim it´s a life style), is that it´s not just about catching fish. Actually, there are several distinct spin-off hobbies within fly fishing:

Some people get really into entomology. They study the creatures that fish feed on, and spend more time searching the water bed for bugs than they actually do fishing. This sub-hobby often makes them experts in Latin as well.

Fly tying is a winter activity for most flyfishers, but tying flies becomes a sport in itself for some. Many compete in tying the neatest and most original flies. Despite the fact that the millions of existing fly patterns work just fine, new patterns and variations are invented every day.

Others get into photography, and end up dragging truck-loads of cameras and lenses around, hunting for that one magical shot.

Allthough many release a lot of their catch, the art of outdoor cooking is as important as the fishing for many, especially for those who like to camp out in the wild.

And the gear… Fly fishing gear is an endless source of debate among flyfishers. Some take it to the next level and become collectors, filling their houses with gear they´re never gonna use. They spend night and day on ebay, searching for the next “bargain”.

Hiking, canoeing, the study of geography, meteorology and even geology are examples of other popular spin-off hobbies.

But the fly cast itself is perhaps the most popular spin-off activity. The fly cast is a strange thing – it really is a quite impractical way of introducing a bait to a fish. The spinning rod is arguably a much more rational tool.

The fly cast has a lot in common with the golf swing – it isn´t difficult to make it happen, but you never fully master it. Lots of people spend more time casting than fishing, and some fly casters barely fish at all – they spend all their time on lawns, fields or casting ponds, trying to achieve the perfect zen-cast – the one that never stops flying and disappears into the horizon. And competitions in fly casting are held in all corners of the world.

Well, here are some very nerdy yet fascinating videos for you. The first one is recorded with a high-speed camera, and the caster is the Norwegian legend Sven Kalmar (courtesy of SuperRattus´ youtube channel – lots more there):

This one is by the Norway-based Swede Mikael Blomberg, who is one of Scandinavia´s best fly casters. It´s from one of his daily practice sessions on the snow. Enjoy :

From Mikael Blomberg on Vimeo.

And finally, some really strange and wonderful stuff – again by Sven Kalmar. This is getting pretty arty:

Photo competition winner Announced!

Winner of “The coolest fishing photo” competition Announced!

Eetu Myöhänen with his friend Janne Väyrynen from Finland took a photo that convinced the Jazz & Fly Fishing team with a funny mood and a different angle to all the thousands of fishing photos we’ve seen so far.

High angle and a big smile! Congratz Eetu ja Janne!

Eetu and Janne won the gift card to Helsinki Spey Clave Webshop > www.helsinkispeyclave.com

Check the story behind the photo from the “competitions” tab!

Coolest fishing photo..

Photo competition deadline 31.08.09

The coolest fishing photo competition is closing in just a few days! There is still a weekend to take your snapshot of a lifetime and get the award and glory!

Check out the competition tab!