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

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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

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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

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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

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