Fishing trip to Middle-Finland

Where and at what circumstances

Last weekend, we went to the, now traditional, early summer fly-fishing
trip to Middle-Finland. Those familiar with fly-fishing in Finland,
know that the west region of this part is famous for its fast flowing
and brown-colored (due to mould) trout rivers and creeks. It is a
picturesque landscape with plenty of forest, rivers, and brown trouts.

Our usual fishing place is close to Keuru, where you can rent the whole
section of the river, holding all the six fishing licenses, and a big
historical cottage. Holding all the licenses ensures that fish are
disturbed only when you go fishing. This way you can get the fish rest
and loose a bit of their "jumpiness". :) In addition, you know the
group you are fishing with and our team respect each other and trout.

Back to the actual trip. It was a three-day excursion, starting Friday
afternoon and ending Sunday. I and my friend shared a car, which we
both drove to get there. He was tried and I was driving at my usual
calm pace. Not everyone can stand this speed-limit-respecting pace when
in hurry for fishing, but he bore with me, for a while. :)

Day 1

When we arrived, it was cloudy and even drizzle a bit. The water level
was much lover than usually in June. Half of the group was already
there. We sipped some coffee and had a quick chat, before heading
towards the river. We have not even reached the water, when my friends
dad was coming back with a great looking over-a-kilo trout. That
electrified us. We learned that the color of the day was red. As the
weather was warm (27C at the beginning of June!) and overcast, it
actually made sense. ;) Soon, we landed 3 more trouts. One of them was
over 2 kilos. What a fabulous start!

I stayed a bit over midnight, as the sun did not really go down. Around
11.30pm, I hooked a bigger trout which after a couple of jumping waved
good-bye. Inspection of the line and hook showed that the hooked bent
out. In that minute I was close to furious. I got this fly as exchange,
however, I did not examine before taking it into use. Obviously, the
fly's design was pretty good, but the quality of the hook is
questionable. Fortunately, I usually :) make mistakes like this only
once. Also, my bad feeling about the loss of fish faded quickly and I
focused on hooking it again. :)

The same day I landed many small trouts and even some perches (They arepretty dark
in this river. ). Similarly, others hooked and lost trouts.
Nevertheless, it just seemed to be a normal rate of landing vs loosing
trouts.

Day 2

I started this second they early, 4.30am. I wanted to try the pool I
lost the trout, before the sun illuminate it. For my surprise, it was
pretty cool and clear. After about an hour of testing the pool, I
decided to try other places. Obviously, the red fly did not work
anymore in this clear and cooler weather. Having a great variety of
flies with me, I went through of them, systematically. Soon, couple of
friends awoke and came to fish. It was mostly empty trying. We actually
saw many fish, but they were either leaving or not taking the flies.
Only one of our friend hooked and lost couple of trouts. Though
annoying for him, he took it pretty calmly. :)

I changed to nymphing and landed many small trouts, perches, and even
small red-eyed breams. At least, nymphing was a bit more eventful. In
many places, I saw fish flew or even jump, but we could not trick them
to take our flies.

For lunch, we drove to the city and tried out a pizzeria "known" by one
of the fellows. Ordering normal pizza (vs the family one), we were
extremely surprised by the close to 40 cm plates and overhanging
pizzas. We joked about the size of them, but finally we all choked down
what we ordered. The guys went for ice creams :), but probably first
time in my life :D I passed it.

Going back to fishing, mosquitoes were plenty! You even breath them in.
In addition, they found their way to the cottage too. We looked into an
interesting night with "high-pitched music and frequent slapping". The
day ended with the usual sausage roasting over the fireplace. I am not
a sausage fan, but after this long and tiresome day, it tasted good. :D

I have to comment here that the group behavior changed a lot since I
first went on this fishing trip (4th year). At that time, leaving Alko
(the state controlled alcohol shop) over hundred of beer cans looked
strange. OK, I am a bit of unfamiliar with the beer consumption
quantity, as I rarely drink alcohol. However, on this last trip we did
not even went to Alko. My friend brought some beer with him and also
took most of them back home. In general, the group might drank only a
couple of dozens of beers (bare in mind, 6 persons for 3 days) and
focused on fishing and enjoying each others company.

Day 3

Some managed to wake up early, but I got down to the river only around
8.30. Although, it looked I did not miss anything. Yes, I need to enjoy
a cup of green tea (I will write a blog about this, too. :)) before
waking up. :) Again, fish were seen, but no one manage to land a trout.
As this was the last day we all focused on finding those undisturbed
places. One of us was quite successful in this, hooking couple of
trouts, but landing none. Before leaving the river and packing our
stuff, two of us landed trouts reaching the minimum length. I managed
to do it just in the last minutes. It was a quite lean but longish (46
cm) fish, which saved the trip for me. :)

The trip home was nice. We mostly drive the countryside roads which
goes through hills and forests. Due to my weak Finnish, we had mixed
English & Finnish discussion about fishing :), but also mushrooms,
landscapes, meaning of village names (check out Ori in Finnish or Kantarelli//Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius), linnake). We also visited/drove through Hämeenlinna (Check out.) which has plenty of golf courses and parks.

Here is a picture of my

catch. You find more pictures at my photo album.