Västervik, Sweden; a Nature Playstation, part 2
George has made some inquiries with other fishermen. Fishing has become a bit better but the full moon and quiet weather is still hindering the fish to become really active. On top of that George advises me to really take some time to enjoy the beauty of the small islands in sector B and C. He therefore suggests to first make a nice boat ride through sector C, fish some spots and then move to sector B (the fjord North of Gambleby fjord) to fish over there for our second day.
Overview of the area and Sector A,B and C
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The day before I have caught some perch next to the holiday parc. What I noticed is that George does not use the technique of hanging a deadbait under the boat using a fireball or floater. A technique that has delivered me many fish in Holland casting jerkbaits particularly when fish are following your bait often and then “run into” the deadbait. George likes the idea and suggests we should try it once we are in the fjord.
Perch fishing from the rocks
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There is a bit more wind today which may help on the fishing. When we take off towards the islands I take some pictures of the holiday houses from the boat.
Lysingsbadet holiday houses
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We take a small canal that connects one fjord with the other. Beautiful houses border the canal and George rightly says it looks like Vinkeveen, a village with nice lakes in Holland where he fished quite a while. At the end of the canal, one of the (only!) two professional fishermen for this whole area lives and after having taken a picture of this we turn into the “Kingdom of the Islands”. One small island after the other. With each turn we see another beautiful scenery. Or different shoreline; rocks, reets, trees. For the moment I don’t care about fishing. I am just taking pictures and enjoying the beauty of it all, fantastic!
Canal between the fjords
Professional fisherman
A few pictures showing the area
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George however is highly concentrated steering the boat, using the GPS (the Fishing Camp provides a GPS on each rental boat!). It is not for nothing. The place is a mine field. Rocks everywhere, some of them visible, and some are not…… Fortunately they are clearly marked on the GPS and when you look carefully yourself you can recognize their position by a change in the wave structure where it gets shallow.
George concentrating on the water
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Stones indicated on the GPS screen with black crosses
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It is a mine field
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With some of them hardly visible
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And some only to be spotted through breaking waves
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It is also weird to see the combination of fresh water vegetation combined with sea weeds growing together. George actually states that most of the pike like to stay between kelp, the traditional seaweed!
Seaweed field
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The kelp pike loves
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We start to fish in a covered little bay. The water is crystal clear and we can see the stones covering the bottom. George recommends to continue to cast over the stones and retrieve towards the boat, the pike are usually between them. Again we use the Russian Hard Bait jerkbaits. And quickly it shows the fishing is good! Pike take the jerkbaits quite aggressively and we get a number of strikes. What is great is that you can actually see the fish take the jerkbaits. Very nice! George either lets the boat drift or uses the anchor which he lifts every now and then so it allows us to nicely cast out the whole of the bay. Very exciting visual fishing.
Stones visible in the crystal clear water
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A beautifull covered bay
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We then move a bit further again enjoying the scenery. We anchor in a relatively small opening where the water flows between two islands and rocks and plants guarantee for a number for different NPHP (Nervous Pike Hiding Place). Nervous? Yes, nervous! And aggressive! We catch a number of fish from this spot and we miss a few too.
George then decides we move towards the fjord in sector B. Another beautifull boat ride follows including a small canal with an interesting traffic plate on a stone… “elk crossing!”. I start to laugh but Gerge tells me in Spring elk can indeed be seen swimming this canal when they return from the islands they walk towards in winter and have to swim back once the ice is broken…..
Elk crossing……..
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Once at the end of the fjord, which is significantly broader and longer than the Gambleby fjord we fished the first day, George picks a shallow bay where we start casting again. Here I also start to position a deadbait under the boat. Again we have several strikes and to George’s surprise my deadbait is taken relatively quickly! He claims it may definitely be a technique also to further explore in this area so I show him some of the rigs I use to position the deadbait.
After some fish and a beautifull predator bird sighting we decide it is time to head home. The wind has picked up quite well and it is a long boat ride back.
Predator over the reets
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George with a nice fish
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And the same for me
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Back at the dock we carry out all the gear and relax a bit on the terrass of the Fishing Camp. It has been a fantastic day. I still can’t believe the beauty of the area. The clear water. The fishing in salty water for Pike between seaweed. The rocks. The flowers. The birds. And definitely the great amount of Pike there to be caught!
I thank George for allowing me to have this fantastic experience and the for the enjoyable time we spent together. It was a great time. This area and fishing I can recommend to anyone loving active Pike fishing in an adventurous and beautiful area!
John Smit
In the next article I will cover the “Fishing Technicalities”of this area, the service Västervik Fishing Camp provides, some info on the area, etc, etc. So if you are interested, you will have an overview what to do and how to get there!
