DAY 1 Monday 19th July
Set out from Södertälje at 04:30 am and arrived in Karlstad approx. 07:30 am with just the one stop to stretch the old legs . The morning was quite cool compared to the previous weather of the last four weeks where temperatures did not fall below18 degrees in the night but this was short lived as the sun was up and reaching 20 degrees , fleece jacket of !
It was super to arrive at the same car park where back in 2005 i had first visited. Just awesome to see that famous stone bridge where John Wilson fished his Swedish adventure and where the bridge provided the back ground to the enigmatic and talismanic John Wilson where he stood (in the water) catching Bream and roach for the first part of his 4 parts of different fishing in Sweden.
JW
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Solakoop B+B ...........Great place to stop with the river across the road and just 5 minutes walk into the centre of town .
I made an appearance at my accomadation just to let them know i was going fishing first then back in the early evening . The place is called ; SOLAKOOP B&B , Sandbäcksgatan 33 , 65340 , Karlstad .
GOOGLE MAP:
https://www.google.se/maps/dir/Sandbäcksgatan+33,+653+40+Karlstad//@59.3889633,13.4945353,17z/data=!4m9!4m8!1m5!1m1!1s0x465cb3c4ceda30d7:0xa5c58bf2d2a5b8af!2m2!1d13.494762!2d59.3895012!1m0!3e0?authuser=0&hl=sv
WEBSITE :
https://www.solakoop.se/boka/
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I started tackling up and decided on the three set-ups of
- 13' MRX-V Trabucco Sygnum rod with a DH 6x4 Stickfloat
- 13' MIVARDI Super match rod with EXNER Silver star Peacock waggler 3gr.
- SENSAS 74XL RIVER pole top 7 with EXNER ILIASZ 4gr ball pole float .
All rigs with EXNER 07 SERIES 14's hook .
Ground baits were from the METMASK range which included ;
LORPIO , MIVARDI and PROFESS , Leams today and next few days.
https://metmask.com
Car to the water
How good is this - a river of discovery
End of the day as feeling really tired as woke up at 03:30 am so time to show the fish
DAY 2 Tuesday 20th July
Mikael Nyman has organised a session on the river length at Stenlandet at Örsholmen so that was destination for Day 2 and i arrived there just before midday and Mikael arrived shortly after . I set up three rigs ;
- 7M Bolo rod with EXNER Pallas 5gr
- 7m SENSAS Valencia whip with EXNER Pallas 4gr
- Top 6 of my pole with a EXNER Delta flat float 10gr
The river was wide and powerful and the rock positions made it awkward to get the box settled in properly but help from Mika sorted that out . I mixed a 50/50 GB/River Leam mix laced with dead-reds and corn . 10 balls went in on a depth of 3m metres .
Mikael went home and was to arrive later in the session . I got on with fishing and it was not long until the fish started to respond to the initial bait feed as i started to catch many Dace and a few Roach . About an hour into the fishing i had a large Ide which took me to centre of the river on my Bolo rod back winding a little . It would not give up and it used the current in the river to its advantage but eventually after a few aborted attempts to net it , it finally succumbed and it was mine but like the day before it did not stop thrashing in the landing net - crazy fish ! It was later i took a further Ide and a large Bream of about 4lb ish . The only other species i occasionally had was a few Bleak and a Perch and one Bjorkna . Later the flat float worked better as the fish appeared to back off and so i had the Bream on this method with the second Ide coming on the elasticated 7m whip .
The first brute of the day
What a beautiful sight
There goes my diet - Mikael Nyman should come with a Health warning !!
Day 3 Wednesday 21st July
Mikael has arranged a match for the evening time from where we fished on the Tuesday so instead of fishing the morning period we thought it would be a rather good idea to reconnoitre a few of the river lengths for possible festivals and match series that METMASK are looking to create . So i had a lay-in and slightly later breakfast and Mika came around about 09:30 am time so we went viewing all the potentials .
We viewed a few different places but the access was not the best and the bank side for pegging would need some work . However later we fished what they call the GULDKUSTEN ('Golden Beach') stretch which looked like some 300 metres in length . When we arrived we were impressed to find the bank was good and access was excellent. It would probably need a permission from the local Kommune (The council) to get the necessary acquirement for parking dispensation .
Perfect for trolleys
We then came across the Lake where John Wilson completed his part 4 of the Swedish adventure , fishing for Crucians . How lovely to follow his footsteps in at least two of his 4 part Swedish trip .
His catch on the day
View his video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu4IfWc6Jew
Lunch time and we visited the Mongolian Steak Hose for a mixture of Thai / Chinese type food where you choose the food and its freshly woked . As much soft drink and desert ice cream and coffee as you want all for a £10 .
Evening match at Stenlandet on Örsholmen with ;
Bo Nilson
Per-Erik Wallander
Per-Ove Edvarsson
Lennart Graas
Mikael and myself
To summarise the trip to Karlstad :
It was magical to follow the same path as the Piscatorial star of TV who brought such compulsive viewing for all anglers with his varied trips round the world fishing many styles . His passing has left a legacy of his fishing thoughts about predatation in the UK and he has left a void never filled on TV by any others that have graced the TV screen . For me he was the best , not the best angler but the best at making the fishing look enjoyable . I am glad i have followed his path , again and no doubt again i will do , again. Massive thanks to fellow METMASK team member Mikael Nyman who has been a brilliant guide , coach , server of food and all round great friend to me , i thank you very much for the the three days and look forward to more days at Karlstad .
Products used and promoted during this trip to Karlstad
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