At the end of next week we’re going off for the fishing trip of the year. We are heading for a week in the wilderness, at one of Håvard’s secret places that is supposed to be packed with huge arctic char and trout. Håvard’s been there before and he has told a lot about the spot, and I’m trying to be as well prepared as possible. I ordered some extra batteries for my cameras, the fly boxes are packed and I can hardly wait to get there. We just got new, really solid backpacks made by the Finnish brand Savotta. They make gear for the Finnish army, and we really need that quality for this trip. The load will be heavy, and the hike will be long and exhausting.
There are some things that puzzle me. Håvard, can you help me with this?
- I heard there are huge amounts of lemmings up in the mountains this year. We have to boil all the drinking water I guess. That’s a lot of extra gas to carry… Boil one week’s drinking water. How about the trout up there – do you think they eat lemmings? Maybe a box of lemming flies might come in handy.
- What about the other flies? What’s supposed to be good on that area?
- I’m probably bringing a #5 rod and a #6 rod. Will floating lines be enough or should I bring a sinking line as well?
- I think I’ll bring a tying vise so we can tie some flies during rainy days. What materials/hooks should I bring?
- Who takes care of the medical stuff?
- Who takes care of the food/menus/shopping?
- What kind of temperatures are we expecting?
- Who brings gas burners/cooking stuff? Mine got stolen when we were camping in Oslo 🙁
Man this will be nice!
/J
Damn, I wanna come too :-). Tight lines, and hopefully there will be lots of new video material afterwards…
Darth wader:
let´s hope for tight lines and lots of good video material. And who knows, maybe we´ll meet somewhere along the road…
Joona:
– The god damn lemmings are an issue, yeah. This year is a huge lemming year. I´ve seen lots of them up north during the last week. And for some strange reason they always seem to drown in the creeks, thus polluting the drinking water.
(For readers who aren´t familiar with the lemming: It is a rodent that only exists in Scandinavia. Every four or five years, they multiply in the millions and commit mass suicide by drowning in creeks and lakes. Strange stuff indeed.) Some lemmings carry the hare plague, a very nasty disease. I think we need to bring enough fuel to boil all our drinking water, but I don´t know how bad the lemming situation is in this particular area right now. It might not be necessary to boil the water at all. Let´s see.
As for lemming flies, I don´t think you´ll need more than one. But I might be wrong…I´ve never seen fish eating lemmings – after all, they are quite big – but I know for a fact that the big fish might eat them from time to time. Imagine an 8 kg arctic char selective on swimming lemmings, and you´ve forgotten to bring your lemming box;)
– I think the usual flies will work just fine. Some caddis, some midges, some mayflies and some streamers for the rough days (there will probably be a couple of those). Some good gammarus flies are also very handy (they should be smaller and more transparent than the ones they sell in the stores – they look like boiled shrimps;)
And don´t forget to bring some small greyish nymphs on strong hooks for the sight fishing!
– Bring a slow sinking/intermediate line for the #6 rod. Excellent for fishing with gammarus imitations, caddis pupas and streamers on the rough days.
– I don´t know if I would bother to drag the tying kit on top of all the other gear we have… But If you do, small and strong hooks are always handy up there.
– I have our standard first aid kit with bandaids, iodide and stuff. Do you still have the antibiotics from last year, Joona? If you do, please bring it. Very handy if someone gets a throat inflammation etc!
– Fredrik is doing the menu as we speak (I hope). Any progress, Freddie?
– Be prepared for any kind of weather. It´s extremely unpredictable in these altitudes this far north. We can expect temperatures from more than + 30 C and down to freezing. Some very hot days and some very cold nights.
– Our sherpas Arne & Roger will bring burners, pots and pans. They will also carry our backpacks, set up the camp, net and de-hook our fish, provide massages, and tuck you in at night;)
Yep, this expedition is gonna be a blast!
PS! Don´t forget to bring one 2-man tent. Then we´ll have one lavvu/tipi and one tent. Should be perfect for six people. It´s super nice to have the lavvu on the rough, cold and rainy days. Lots of GH, boiling huge pans of coffee, reading crappy paperback novels, playing a round of poker, listening to my bad jokes, tying flies etc etc.
Food… I’ll try to compose a nice, lightwieght, well tasting and never before seen menu. Let’s skip the burgers, shall we?
I’m a good tucker.I can tuck almost anything.
Sounds great, Fred! Yeah, let´s eat something else than lainen.
And Arne: You´re a mothertucker.
Finnish grayling fishermen use lemming-flies up north. As always this lemming-fly has its pros and cons. It’ll give you huge fish (50cm+)! It’ll give you only huge fish…and if none present, you get the math.
Btw, that lemmings mass suicide is an urban legend, scientifically proven othervise, just read an article about it in a local newspaper.
Rolsen: You´re right. The mass suicide thing is just another urban legend.
But: they do drown in the creeks from time to time – I´ve seen lots of dead lemmings floating around in the mountain creeks during the last week´s fishing. Not nice.
It’s not fair that only Arne and Roger gets to join.
Pål
Pål!
So nice to hear from you again!
You´re of course welcome to join. There is no such thing as too many sherpas;)
Seriously: we´re leaving on the 8th of July, and you´re of course more than welcome to join us if you´d like to (and can make it)!
Damn! My better half has her fortieth birthday the 10th of July. I don’t think it will pass well if I tell her I will go on a fishing trip instead. But have a nice trip.
With envy, Pål