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Karlskrona, Pike Kingdom

Camp Dragsö Sportfishing is specialized on pike fishing and is located in the pike kingdom of Karlskrona, Sweden.We offer a big variety of packages and fishing possibilities. We have a package for any budget.

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Monday, December 21, 2015

Christmas pig!

Hi guys!

We're just a few days away from christmas holiday but the weather is still warm. Very warm actually. Day temperatures variates between 7-12 degrees and will continue like this for another week according to the forecast. This invites to great fishing possibilities and of course I tried my luck when I was of work a couple of days ago.

This time I was fishing alone for the first time in months and it actually felt quite strange. No one to talk to, except from the pikes following my lures :) Anyway, first stop in a shallow bay gave me good spirit directly since I had a follower within the first casts and caught a small one on my third cast. Weather conditions were promising with 5-7m/s winds from west and cloudy skies.

Pikes seemed to be very cautious since I had many followers but few strikes. At midday I decided to try some places I have not tried for a long time and this showed up to be a lucky decision. Just a few casts later I got a massive strike while drifting on a side of an island. Immediately I understood that this was a better sized fish and I successfully landed a beauty with my net. She had a very wide back, like a horse! This lady measured 105 centimeters and since I was alone, photo session becomes a bit difficult. A few iPhone selfies later and a short Go Pro clip gave me a few okey pictures. 19th meter plus pike for me in Karlskrona area this year so hopefully I can reach 20 before this year is over! :)

In total I managed to catch 13 pikes this day but I also had many many many more followers.....

I wish you all a merry christmas and a happy new year if there won't be any more reports before the end of 2015!

Best regards,

Daniel Wickman
2015-12-21





Monday, December 14, 2015

December is awesome!


Hi guys!

Even though our season is officially ended by now, this doesn't mean that we stop fishing. Last couple of days I've finally been able to go out fishing, together with Philip from Stinger Productions. Winter this year is still quite warm and we had day temperatures between 2-7 degrees over the two days this weekend. Water temp in the bays we tried this weekend was between 3-5 degrees.

Saturday started out slow with clear water on our first spot so we decided to go somewhere else to look for more colour in the water. At the next spot conditions looked good, even though water level was well over +50cm this weekend. It didn't take long until the first pikes was landed and our self esteem directly increased. This day I fished a lot with McPike in red tiger colour for the first time and what a success! A nice pike of 113,5cm inhaled my lure in 0,5-1.0m of water.

We continued on to catch some nice pikes around the 90cm margin and during mid day I landed another meter pike of 102,5cm. Super nice condition and strong fish!

Since sun is down at 15:30 this time of the year, we drove closer to the city of Karlskrona to give the surrounding area a final attempt of the day. Luckily, Philip caught another beauty of 111cm on a big soft lure called Renz the giant. Since it was very dark by the time this beauty was caught, things got a bit complicated when measuring and taking photos. Soon enough she was released and total happiness in the boat! In total we managed to catch about 20 pikes with our top 5 pikes measuring approx 507cm in together. Great result!!

Sunday was also spent on the water and once again we found the pikes quickly. Both days we were accompanied by Jens from Jenzza Lures who fished from his own boat in the same areas. We chatted a bit directly in the morning and was told that Jens already had seen a few pikes around the meter margin before we got there. I told him "Call or shout if you need any help if you catch a good fish!". It didn't take longer than 5 minutes before he shouted, "Hey! This could be a 10 kilo plus pike!".

We drove up beside his boat and helped him out with measuring his stunning catch and Philip took some great photos. This beast measured 107cm and 10,15 kilos! Congratz Jens to a great fish.

After this fish we continued on and got in contact with many pikes during the first hours. Several nice pikes between 85-96cm in our boat and we ended up with 18 pikes this day, and many many more followers and bites.

December is awesome!!

// Daniel Wickman
   2015-12-14 





 








Monday, November 30, 2015

Season summary 2015

Another season has come to an end and we are now planning for next season already. As usual I will hearby give you a summary of this season both in text and pictures. During the last nine months we've had the honor to host fishing guests from no less than 16 different countries. If I remember right, the list of represented countries is long, but I'll give it a try to write them all! Most anglers are coming from Sweden, Holland, Poland and Denmark, but the list is way much longer. Germany, Finland, Czech Republic, France, Latvia, Belgium, Russia, Slovakia, Hungary, USA, Austria and Romania. Sorry if I forgot any, I'll make it up to you in next years summary then! :)



Many first time visitors has been seen at camp Dragsö this season while even more of our guests has returned for yet another fishing experience in Karlskrona area. I will get back to the results later on, but overall I experience that many anglers left us this year with the opinion that size was better this year and sometimes even amounts.

We had a record early opening this year since winter was warm and no ice covered Borgmästarefjärden in the first months of this year. A few years ago we wasn't able to launch any boats until mid April but this year we had several boats ready from mid February. Our official opening was rescheduled to mid March instead of beginning of April thanks to this situation. A few groups took their chance to experience early pre spawn fishing with a few of them leaving with excellent results. Local anglers managed to catch more than 80 pikes/boat and day several times and every weekend pikes above the magic 10 kilo mark was caught.



Our guests wasn't the only ones to succeed in the early months. Me personally experienced excellent pre spawn fishing, especially when it comes to sizes. Many +90cm and several +100cm as well with my top fish measuring 113cm and 11,35 kilos. Not to forget the stunning pike caught by summer coworker Willy in mid February. 114 centimeters and fat as a pig, weighing more than 14 kilos! Guess if I'm looking forward to next spring? I can really recommend to try late February - March next year if ice is gone. Our boats will be ready as soon as possible next season!



After a warm winter, water temp increased quickly and this made pikes ready for spawn in the middle of March already. Normally I would say that most pikes spawn within a three week long period but this year we caught pikes with eggs more than six weeks after first reported spawn signs. This might have been for several reasons such as north winds and the fact that pikes started their spawning earlier than normal. Spawning always affects the results in fishing but actually nice pikes and numbers was reported throughout spring season, even though some days as always offer poor fishing. But that's what fishing is all about. Some days are good, some days not so good. Conditions change and so do fishing results as well.

April & May was as always busy times for us with many guests visiting us and five new cabins being built. Since we were more or less fully booked during several weekends, we also decided to purchase two new Master500 boats with 40hp engines. It didn't take long until these also were booked so today we can proudly offer 20 high quality aluminium boats with 4-stroke engines.



Personally, I experienced good fishing during most fishing sessions in late April and whole May. Many pikes between 90-108cm and nice numbers several times as well. New staff member Jakob followed me several times and did a good job netting my pikes! ;)

Local anglers also caught nice pikes during this period. One boat managed to catch six pikes over +100cm mark in one day just to mention one example. Fishing day of any anglers dream!

In mid May we once again hosted French group in Krolik company. Some of you might remember that these guys always catch good numbers and this year was no exception. In six days of fishing the nine lads managed to catch a total of 1131 pikes and a few of these pasing the +100cm mark. Other guests also caught good numbers and maybe most interesting, several pikes over +110cm was reported.

We also hosted returning guest Yannik from Belgium. They started their stay in the end of May with several days of very hard winds, and by that hard fishing conditions. The end of their week long stay for sure outweighed the start since they managed to catch more than 50 pikes over +80cm and four of these more than +100cm. Maybe the best May period during my five years at Dragsö. Hopefully next year can top this years results!



As always fishing activity goes down in our summer period so June to middle of August is not a time when we specialize our business for fishing. Most cabins etc are rented out for week long visits or longer to holidaymakers but for sure some fishing is made. Actually this is a rather exciting period with very strong pikes and warm weather (well, at least 20 degrees) makes fishing sessions pleasant.

Every week during summer we arrange pike safaris which you can read summarys from in the blog archive. Nice to go out with mainly beginners and share the passion that we so much enjoy. In total 224 guests participated over this summers seven pike safaris.



In the end of August we officially started autumn season and immediately with good results. First half day guided trip resulted in 20 pikes and days later I went out with a friend with continuously good results. 47 pikes in the boat over a little less than two days with a few pikes around the meter margin as well.

Just a couple of weeks later we started to see many anglers coming to Dragsö. September is always a popular month for fishing and this year wasn't an exception. Luc Lemestre came back in the middle of September and they managed to catch monsters during their stay. One day when I was working he shouted "Daniel! Big fish!" from their veranda. When I started to talk to him I understood why he was so happy. Earlier that morning he managed to catch a beauty of 116 centimeters close from camp Dragsö. Impressive fish!



Many guided tours were on my schedule in September and several of these tours resulted in multiple nice pikes between 90-109cm. In just three tours in middle of September we managed to catch following streak: 109, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 92 & 92cm. Nice times!

To sum September up, overall results were good but with approx 200 anglers visiting during this month of course not everyone succeed. Some days boats vary between just a handful pikes up to 20 pikes/boat and day, while other days results could vary between 10-50 pikes/boat and day. It's also very clear that guests that have been fishing in our area before fish better than first timers but that's not so surprising. Therefore, I always recommend to go for a guided tour especially the first time you plan to visit us, to receive important knowledge of how, where and when to fish.

In the end of September we also worked together with Stinger Productions to create a video about our camp. During two long days we worked hard to get all material needed and the result was totally worth it! You can watch it here: Camp Dragsö Sportfishing presentation



October was a very busy month this year since a lot of competitions was arranged. The first weekend of October is traditional since Blekinge Pike Festival is arranged. More than 300 competitors starts from our camp and all cabins/boats are booked each year. Fishing wasn't to much to cheer for this weekend and in our boat we fought hard to finally reach 20 pikes over two days. My biggest fish measured 97cm and showed up to be enough for a 16th place out of approx 600 competitors. In total the longest pike during these days measured 106cm.



Furthermore, I would say that October didn't give as good results as normal. For sure some days were better than others but in general results was poor. I'm not completely sure why but one reason could be that water level kept on changing dramatically and for many times, One day negative -50cm, the next day back to normal and just a few days later going down to negative -65cm. Never good in shallow fishing areas since pikes are moving when their home grounds changes so much.

But, It's not to be forgotten that some anglers really found the right spots during October. Massive pikes of 121, 120 and 119 centimeters was reported in the middle of October by local anglers and such big fish wasn't reported during any other months this season as far as I know.



In the end of October the big final of Sportfish Masters was arranged in Karlskrona with 130 fishing teams competing to win. Very hard conditions with no wind for half day and variating water level but in the end several teams did very good. Team Mouse Fishing ended up with very impressive 509cm on their top 5 longest pikes. Crazy number for such "poor conditions". Karlskrona archipelago really delivers and we are very pleased with this interest of course!

November was our last official opening month of this season for fishing guests and it couldn't start any better. Frequenter guest Jakob came back for a couple of days fishing and even if the amounts wasn't great, he caught a big beauty of 113cm and over 11 kilos. This lady was caught on a always working McRubber in motoroil colour.



Overall November is a rather quite month for us with less fishing pressure so we brought half of our boat fleet up for maintenance, one by one. Lots of hours are spent on changing parts, painting etc to make our boats look nice and ready for upcoming season.

Well I believe this is the end of this years summary and I hope you enjoyed reading. I want to say a big thank you to all of our readers and guests that has been visiting us during season and also wish to see you back next season! It's been a very funny season and I'm already very eager to start next season. There will most probably be a few more reports during December before I go on my holiday. A five week vacation mainly in Asia is on my schedule and will be back at Dragsö in mid February.

Thank you once again and have a fishy winter!

// Daniel Wickman
   2015-11-27























Sunday, November 15, 2015

Mid November update

Hi guys!

We're in the middle of November and Dragsö is very quiet at the moment. Only one fishing group were visiting us this weekend and a few others with other purposes than fishing.

Not many reports has been shared lately but local anglers managed to catch a few biggies earlier in the week with biggest one measuring 109cm and 10,7 kilos. My myself spent one day in the beginning this week on the water together with Philip, Stinger Productions. We didn't have to much action and ended up with 13 pikes of small size.

Yesterday another fishing competition was arranged in Karlskrona. This one with a lot of skilled local anglers called "Karlskrona Pike Tournament" with 60 competitors. Winner team ended up with impressive 479cm as their total of top 5 longest pikes!

Next weekend we're hosting about 6 fishing groups and they are some of our last groups coming this fishing season since we will be closing down in the end of November.

On Tuesday I'm going back to Rügen area in Germany for 5 days of hardcore pike fishing. Last year was a success and my biggest fish measured 122 centimeters. Guess it will be hard to beat but I'll for sure give it a try!

As mentioned in previous posts we're currently pulling up our boats one by one for service. It's some hard work with several aesthetical parts to be changed but the boats will look great and be ready when spring season begins!

Very soon we will also have a nice video to present for you guys, created by Stinger Productions. This video is a short presentation about our camp, hope you guys will like it! :)

// Daniel Wickman
   2015-11-15

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

November starts with a beast!

Hi guys!

A new month has begun and November is our last opening month of this season when it comes to fishing packages. As you might have read in previous posts we've already started to pull up a few boats. Actually already 8 of them to be precise. All of them is sent away for engine service so they can be ready as soon as possible next season.

Fishing has been continuously tough but if you find the right spots you can be rewarded. A nice example of that is my good friend Jakob who visit us several times every season. He came again last Friday for a weekend of fishing and definitely found the right spot! A foggy morning with low winds on Sunday didn't matter when a big mama striked his McRubber. Jakob has been visiting us for many many years and for many many times without reaching the magic mark of 10 kilos in Karlskrona area. This time he did! A beautiful lady of 113cm agreed to be photographed with him and shortly after that swimming back to her right elements. Big congratulations my friend!

I also had a day off yesterday and tried my luck. Result wasn't great but 6 pikes was caught and lovely weather in the beginning of November. Most pikes was caught on a lure called CL Shad 18 by Caesar Lures in motoroil colour but also on McRubber in same colour.

We will continue to service our boats upcoming weeks but are still open for both fishing packages and guided tours so if you want to experience our wonderful archipelago and fishing this autumn it's still possible!

Take care!

// Daniel Wickman
   2015-11-03


Friday, October 30, 2015

Friday fishing

Hi guys!

Another week has been passing by and we're already in the very end of October. During this week I've been out on several guided trips and this week we're visited by 9 fishing groups.

Unfortunately, fishing has been slow this week. No good amounts nor sizes. It has really been a battle to find pikes at all but maybe it starts to get better now as todays half day guided tour resulted in 15 pikes and many more strikes and followers. Most pikes today striked in shallow water of 0,5-1m and slow retrieving was the method of today with small tail baits.

Since activity is going down from now on we have started to pull up a few boats for service. Many of our boats will have new floors until next year so that's one of my tasks at the moment except from guided trips and the usual schedule.

I wish you all a nice weekend and to be back with new reports next week!

// Daniel Wickman
   2015-10-30



Sunday, October 25, 2015

Sportfish Masters final!

Sunday afternoon and Dragsö is at the moment very quiet. Today more than 35 fishing teams left us after a short weekend in Karlskrona. Yesterday the final of Sportfish Masters was arranged and 129 teams were competing to win the title of being Swedish master in pike fishing. Very glorious competition and nice to see the final in Karlskrona this year.

As always, weather gods didn't cooperate very well. The day before the final we measured water level to be approx -60cm. Less than 24 hours later when the final started water level had raised a lot up to -10cm. On top of this, half day of the final was dead calm with no winds to talk about. Some teams managed to find the right spots anyway and soon enough several teams were up to more than 400cm in their top 5 pikes.

Later on yesterday evening the final results were announced at Scandic Hotel. To me it wasn't that big surprise who the winner was. Team Mouse fishing managed to catch 5 big pikes and ended up with impressive 509cm! Their biggest fish was 110cm and by that they also won one of the side competitions as this fish was the biggest of all in the competition. Tony, the creator of Mouse, was also the winner of the individual competition of top 3 pikes in length. Grand slam and a big congratz!

Results in Sportfish Masters final 2015

Team - 5 longest pikes 
1. Team Mousefishing         509cm
2. CWC Fishing Team 1      449cm
3. Kalmarsundsportfiske 2  448cm

Individually - 3 longest pikes1. Tony Andersson Team Mousefishing   305cm
2. Jimmy Lindahl CWC Fishing Team 1 284cm
3. Steve McVey TPF/Esox Gear               268cm


Longest pike in competition: Andreas Andersson in Team Mousefishing 110cm


It was nice to see and chat to many of the most skilled pikes anglers in Sweden. Very nice arrangement and for sure a success!

Tomorrow I'm going out for a guided trip and during Tuesday I will be out with Philip, Stinger Productions. Time to hunt some mamas down!

// Daniel Wickman
   2015-10-25



Friday, October 16, 2015

Autumn mamas and windy squalls


Hi!

So, finally some time over to give you guys a new update. As usual during fishing season we're quite busy with more or less fully booked camp during weekends and also some guests for week long or even longer visits.

Five years ago when I started my work at Dragsö we wasn't even open for fishing longer than to the second week of October each year. A lot has happend since my first season and it's hard to imagine now that we were normally closing down by now. Currently, we have 19 fishing groups here this weekend and even more here for other purposes than fishing. Next weekend we have no cabins nor boat pitches available since Sportfish Masters final is to be arranged on Saturday. Between 130-180 teams will be competing in the final and you can follow this competition live via www.sportfishmasters.se

When it comes to fishing at the moment I would say that several days during this week has been quite difficult. Strong north/east winds for several days and this doesn't really make the pikes go crazy. Especially not when winds are up to 17m/s....

Both me and Jakob were out on guided trips earlier this week and we had to fight hard to find active pikes. About 18 pikes was caught in total and top fish in my boat measured 102 and 92cm. The meter pike was a fat and nice fish caught in shallow waters of approx 1m.

Water temperature at the moment is about 8 degrees in most areas so most fish is found in shallow bays. As always you can still find fish further out in the archipelago but mainly we find the pikes in shallow water at this time. I would say that most successful lures lately for us has been slowly fished tailbaits but also smaller rubbers such as McRubber Jr.

Two more guided trips for me upcoming days so hopefully we can find some pike mothers willing to dance out there. Strong east winds with a bit of rain in the afternoon is what we have to deal with today. Let's find out if the pikes like it :)

// Daniel Wickman
   2015-10-16



Wednesday, October 7, 2015

BGF & Monsters

Hi guys!

So another weekend has comed to its end and actually we're in the middle of a new week when this post is written. During the past weekend Blekinge Pike Festival was arranged and as usual we were more or less fully booked.

Every year weather gods seems to dislike the thought of pike festival and this year was no exception. Fortunately, water level raised from -35cm to +5cm over the night before the first competition day (Saturday). But in return the wind totally dropped to zero. As most of you guys know, fishing in an archipelago becomes very difficult when wind is low or missing. Sun was shining most of the first day and this didn't really help us out.

In my boat I was accompanied by my boss Andreas, colleague Jakob and our friend Patrik. We fought hard to catch any fish and the biggest fish I managed to catch measured 88cm... In total we caught 14 pikes in our boat during Saturday and results wasn't going to be better on Sunday.

With Jakob missing due to fever, we left Dragsö at 7am on Sunday morning. We tried a few bays where I've seen some big fish lately but with no wind and cloudy skies pikes was for sure not active. A few hours later I had a nice follower which directly increased our self-confidence. I didn't take long until I hooked our first fish of the day and immediately I felt that it was a better sized pike. She fought well but soon enough Andreas secured her in the net. Great feeling! A moment later we could take some pictures and measured her to be 97cm.

After this fish the skies opened up and for being October the weather was far from normal. Warm, no wind at all and sunny. Pikes wasn't feeding, for sure. We continued on until 2.30pm but with poor results. Not more than 8 pikes in the boat but at least one fish of good size.

Back at Dragsö I talked to a lot of guests and most of them testified a slow, slow fishing and results. About 12-13 pikes over 100cm was caught by 600 competitors over 2 days so pikes were hard to fool in this years edition of Blekinge Pike Festival. The longest fish reported was 106cm and caught by a 13yr old kid! My fish of 97cm got me on the scoreboard on 16th place out of 600 competitors so not to bad after all :)

But, with this told, I must also give some nice reports as well! Some very big pikes has been caught in Karlskrona last couple of days. On Monday a 121cm fish was caught from land on a Buster Jerk... And yesterday another beauty of 119cm was caught by a local lure builder. Impressive!

Furthermore, one of our guests during BGF weekend also managed to catch a very nice fish of 110 cm the day before the competition started. Excellent fish!

Last couple of days I've been out with Philip from Stinger Productions. Results wasn't to good but yesterday we caught about 20 pikes and at one of our drifting spots there was plenty of activity in 1.0-1.5m of depth. Motoroil Mcrubber and Renz 'Beastlytail' delivered good results.

Upcoming weekend we are busy with a big wedding arrangement so no anglers will be visiting us until next week. A pike safari is planned for Saturday and full day guided tour on Monday so some reports will be shared after those events! :)

We still have availability for most weekends until the end of November so take the chance to experience exciting autumn fishing in the wonderful archipelago of Karlskrona!

Down below you can see some mixed pictures taken during BGF and earlier in the week.

// Daniel Wickman
   2015-10-07