Chapter 3 - Learn Your Gear

Hi folks. Previous chapters I have discussed the knowledge needed about how to dress properly and what to think about when it comes to weather. Todays chapter brings you a little bit closer to the actual fishing.
Famous Swedish fishing brand Fladen have their quote clear, "Everyone Can Fish". That's quite true, but to take it to the next level and become a successful angler, you need to know what you are doing. Small pikes can be caught with very little knowledge, but bigger samples that we so hardly want to catch requires a bit more attention from the angler himself. This is what todays chapter is all about.

As the topic of this chapter says, you have to learn your gear. Some people says that "Oah, You only have to reel your lure in and be at the right place at the right time". Well sometimes it seems like it. But if you look at anglers who regularly catch good fish, it's definitely not just luck and "beeing at the right place at the right time" that has been the key for success. They know their gear and the small things that they do with their lure, knots, wires, hook settings and reeling technique is most of times critical differences between catching, or not catching good sized fish. 

Do you only see a couple of lures or did you notice that the bait with bitemarks have extra split rings?

The more experienced angler you become, the more small things that enhance your success in fishing you will learn. For instance if you are new to jerkbait, don't buy 20 different lures and try them all out directly. All lures have their own movement and reaction to what speed, jerk or twitch you give the lure. The difference of fishing 2-3 lures in a good way, than fishing 20 in a poor way, could for sure be the crucial act that makes you catch the meter pikes, or struggling by only catching small "cucumbers". These small samples are often stupid enough to bite things that doesn't move realistic anyway.

Fishing is for sure a material sport if you didn't know that already. Everything is possible to make or change to the better. This involves everything from reels, rods, lures to the tiniest accessory such as split rings and stinger spikes. The production itself I leave to those who actually delivers what we fish with, but It's always intresting to try out new rigs, small changes on the lures and so on. You need to explore the fantastic possibilities of improvements and see what can be useful for your fishing. This is a section that can be wroten texts longer than the Harry Potter books, but the important thing in summary is that you should never be afraid of trying new things when ready for it. When you know exactly how your lure reacts to movements, stops etcetra, then you can reach great success with your fishing.

So what is better than trying out your baits in clear waters where you can see how fast your lure sinks, how it reacts to your acts with reel & rod. A good advice when doing this is to use polarized sunglasses, which I always recommend for fishing, when trying your baits. These will help you see what you're doing even better. Spend time practicing and your fishing will become a habit which in my opinion is very important.

Another great advice for learning your gear is listening to and learning from successful anglers. This can be made in several ways. The best choise is of course to talk with great anglers when possible at fairs, shops and other venues. What are their best advice? How are they fishing? What do they think is the best option for a specific water? Internet has becomed a great meeting point and place for publishing videos and texts about fishing techniques and other useful advices. Sometimes even magazines are great to learn new skills. Listen, learn and use what you think will enhance your own fishing.

When you know how to use your gear in a optimal way, great catch will follow

To sum this chapter up, I can recommend everyone to learn your gear properly before using it. If you're new to a specific method, start out small by using just a few kind of baits. This is particularly important when fishing with jerk- or softbaits. Since most of these baits requires more attention from the angler himself, It's better to learn how a few models work out rather than using all models available in an inappropriate way. Learn from those who know, and practice what you believe in.

Next weekend; Chapter 4 - Where to go?   

Daniel Wickman 13-04-13

Read More

Ice situation 9/10/13

Good morning fellow readers.

Last couple of days I've recieved a lot of e-mails and phone calls regarding the ice situation. Last weekend we had nice sunny weather with 5-7 plus degrees during day time and no minus degrees in night time. This started the meltdown process and yesterday, as you can see on the picture, we had open water almost 10 meters out from mainland. Thickest ice part that was measurable at the end of our jetty was 3,5cm.

It's very hard to estimate when ice will disappear so we can put in our boats. Ice is for sure thin now, and just a couple of warm days can completely take it away. It could be on Thursday, it could be on Saturday.. But with some unluck it could be next week. Weathermen has promised 12-14 plus degrees and windy this weekend so it looks promising!  

Read More

Chapter 2 - Weather & Wind

New weekend, and a new chapter release. This time I will write about weather and wind. As you might know, both these factors sometimes play a huge role in how the fishing is going to be. But before I start writing about conditions and what usually is good for pike fishing, I need to say that there are no rules without exceptions! Never forget that sometimes, even the conditions you believe beeing the worst possible delivers better than the days with visually much better conditions.

This chapter is adapted to our archipelago fishing but generally works the same in bigger lakes. A good thing by fishing in our area is that you will always have the possibility to fish on locations where the wind is pushing waves up againt the mainland. This is in my opinion the main rule when deciding where to go. Check what wind direction there is at the moment, and even better if you know what the wind direction has been the last couple of days.

And why is that you might ask. I can reveal that a upcoming chapter is going to explain the thinking a bit more, but already here you need to think where the baitfish will be located. Wind creates waves, and waves creates water movement in its direction. This means that small organisms such as plankton will be forced to follow the water movement direction. And by this, small sized baitfish will follow the plankton to feed. This chain then continues to even bigger fish, such as perch and our beloved pikes. 

Plankton <- Small fish <- Bigger fish <- PIKES

With this knowledge in your mind, you realize that hungry individuals will be hunting where the wind is pushing against. As mentioned earlier, there are no rules without exceptions so of course you will find pikes elsewhere. But personally, I believe that pikes standing outside of this rule, is not as easy to catch as the ones that obviously are hunting within the "wind rule". 
This is also the explanation why It's important to look what the weather has been like over time. To state an example; If there has been hard to intermediate south-west wind for 3-5 days in a row, there is no reason to start fishing elsewhere than at south-west located bays, edges etc.

Another great rule to remember, is that when pikes has been found, memorize in which direction the bay was located. When going to a new place for the day, have a look at the sea map and look for bays located in the same direction as the one you acutally caught pikes in. If you were catching pikes in a west oriented bay, there is no reason going to a bay close by which is located south and so on. 

Sunny and calm wind. Pleasant conditons to be out. But will the pikes be active?

So with the wind and its importance covered, we also need to think about the weather itself. This is a part where fishermans are really splitted up when it comes to what weather they prefer the best. I prefer when the conditions are quite ruff. Wind should be around 4-7m/s, enough to circulate the water so more oxygen is created, and it also makes the water a bit coloured. More oxygen is a factor that make the pikes more active and is easily created when water moves a lot and oxygen rich surface air is blended into the water.

I also prefer when there are rich amount of clouds, this is of several reasons. One of them is that the water gets less visibility, and pikes tend to be less shy than they are when the sun is shining through the water levels. Most conditions are fishable, and you can always find and adjust your fishing location after condions. You have to accept the weather itself, but you can always adjust your fishing location depending on wind direction and strength. And to be honest, wind is more important than the weather, in my opinion. 

Right time, Right Wind, Great catch!

Sunny weather is very common during spring, and this could be both good and bad. The good thing is that it heats up shallow bays quickly, and pikes asamble in groups to not waste more energy than needed. This is one of the reasons why It's very usual to see lots of pikes in the shallow bays the weeks after ice meltdown and up to spawning period. The bad thing with sun, is that the pikes are getting exposed easily for their own predators. In our case, this means our sea eagles and cormorants. Of course pikes are not that stupid that they still stand in the most visible, clear parts of the bay when sun is shining up the whole area partly because of this. And a connecting aspect is that when the sun most of times lights up the water and increase the visibility at some areas, pikes get less active.

To sum up this chapter, I would like to say that most important to think of is the wind direction since pikes often follow with the water movement for several reasons. Sunny spring days heats up the bay temperatures fast and starts the migration of the pikes into them.

And remember, fishing is alot up to what yourself believe in. This is a part that is going to be reflected in our next chapter!

Next weekend; Chapter 3 - Learn Your Gear

Daniel Wickman 13-04-06

Read More

Chapter 1: Clothes and Food

This is the first chapter of a step-by-step guide about how to be more successful with your pikefishing. Each weekend for 10 weeks to come, I will post a new chapter where I'm going through the important knowledge that is needed to be successful with your fishing. I know for sure that many of you already are skilled anglers, and everyone has their own point of view of what's important to think about, but this guide will cover my opinion.

Dress for success!

Todays first chapter is more into the preparation part of the fishing, which is where it all begins when decided go fishing. Inappropriate clothing could ruin both your focus and the joy of fishing. Imagine going out a cold spring day, with 20 minutes boat drive to the fishing location, and poor clothing makes you shivering and not feeling comfortable. Fishing starts out slow and you think more about yourself feeling cold than focus on the fishing. In my opinion, this condition is so unnecessary and waste of good fishing opportunity. It's not only once that I have experienced cold anglers, and for sure not the last time either.

A good main rule is to always wear slightly more than necessary. It's always easier and better to take of clothes on the sea if needed than freezing, obviously. So never, ever, under estimate the importance of good clothing.

And what is good clothing then? It's not really a rocket science, but using many layers of clothes which breathes well is a good start at this time of the year. It's not the clothes themselves that creates warmth, it's the air trapped in between the layers. On the sea, the most cooling element is the wind. Did you know that being outside in +/- 0 degrees, in 6m/s wind makes your body feel the temperature like if it was -5 degrees? Add on the fact that you sometimes drive the boat up to 50km/h, and you understand that poor clothes will make you freeze in zero time.

Good basic layers close to the body is important. With the fact that wind influence a lot, I recommend using clothes with really good durability against wind. Most of those clothes (GORE-TEX) also stops rain and breathes well, so don't spend all your money on fishing gear. Spend wisely on good clothing and you will not regret it. These "cover clothes" is not only for your upper body, It's strongly recommended even for pants.

Gloves, or no gloves?

In between those layers of clothes, when it's really cold, it's good to dress up with thicker materials so you'll stay warm during the whole day. Personally I use a fleece pullover most of times, and maybe some other thicker jersey if really cold. But this in not the whole set up, it's also of great importance to use a proper beanie to protect your head from wasting warmth. Some scientists actually says that you lose up to 50% of your body heat through your head when being outside in -5 degrees, so a beanie is a good choise when fishing in cold temperatures.

Well with most of the clothing parts covered, I go on by recommending you all to use good quality boots. Important with those are that they should prevent water and maybe even more important, have space enough for using several socks. The same rule concern the boots when it comes to warmth, always use layers of socks and space enough is needed to create trapped air in the boots to stay warm.

Oh well, some people is screaming for gloves. At this part, fishermen has clearly devided opinions of what to use. Personally, I prefer using neoprene gloves that are cut by half the fingers, to get maximum feeling with reeling and holding the rod. It's also a material that will get warm quickly if small amounts of water are trapped in the glove, in comparison with cotton or fleece gloves that never dries and feels cold when wet. As a reminder, always wear a life west or something similar when driving boat. 

Proper dressing is important when fishing in cold temperatures

Continuously, food is of great importance to stay warm, focused and pleased. The content itself is a lot up to the fisherman himself. Me myself prefer to bring a thermos of coffee to stay warm, and lunch varies from time to time. If short on time, I prefer eating "made-to-go" food that doesn't require cooking, to not waste any fishing time. On the other hand, It could be a very nice part of the fishing to set up a BBQ with your friends and enjoy our lovely archipelago. Remember to ask for where you are allowed to set up a BBQ though, many islands around us are private.

Finally, bring some candy, very important for fishing luck!!

I hope you liked this first chapter, which once again is more into the preparation part of fishing, but not to be under estimated in importance. If you are pleased, you fish better. That's the point with this chapter.



Next weekend: Chapter two - Weather & Wind

// Daniel Wickman
   2013-03-30
   

Read More

New week, Zero possibilities

Hi to you all fishing enthusiasts

Sadly, winter and cold temperatures refuse to let over the season to spring. The end of last week was terrible, about 15cm snow came on Thursday and hard winds combined with that made us feel like if we landed in the middle of Russian Sibiria.

At that moment, spring seems far away. From today and as long as the forecast shows, we will have temperatures above the freezing barrier on daytime, with sun and some days lots of wind. Still there is going to be minus degrees in night time which will slow down the melting process of the ice. It's very hard to estimate when the ice will dissapear and make fishing from boats possible. Last week people were still walking on the ice outside Dragsö in to the city. What we can say for sure is that this week will be impossible, and then we have to take it day by day and see what the weather is like. 

This is how it looks from our boat jetty today 13/03/25

Read More

Guide back at work

Hello everyone. Monday and a new week is here. But for me it's not just a new week, it's the first day at work of the season! As you might have seen on our Facebook page, ice is still present in the surrounding area of Dragsö, and we really have our fingers crossed that the ice will dissapear soon. Since the ice is covering the area around our boat jetty, we have no possibility to put in the boats yet.

This doesn't mean that we're out of work though, all of our boats are at the moment being on service to work well when the season starts, and everything has to be restored from winter coverage. 

When I arrived to Dragsö and came to our garage, I discovered that our car has been pimped with nice labels showing where the car belongs, Camp Dragsö Sportfishing! So from now on I'm kind of convinced that we have the best looking car in whole Karlskrona, don't you guys think so?

From now on the blog will be updated more often since I'm back at work. Of course we will be updating with lastest news regarding ice situation both on the blog and on our Facebook page. I can also mention that we have packages available for popular weeks in end of April & May, both when it comes to cottages and boats. If interested send us an inquiry on info@dragso.se

Stay well mates!

/Daniel

Read More

Season is approaching!

Hello fellow readers,

It has been a long time since we last posted something in the blog, due to the camp being closed wintertime. Gladly, we are getting closer to season opening but for me, time is not going fast enough! Ice is still thick in many bays close to Dragsö, and last few weeks we've had plenty of people ice skating in the bay of Dragsö. As you can see on the picture, we have made up an ice skating area just outside the beach and restaurant.

Personally, I shouldn't complain about cold and ice though. I've been out on a 3-month long vacation in much warmer areas, and just came back last week to our beloved, but cold, country. I've been out for some fishing while travelling including GT-popping, catfish and carp fishing. But honestly, you have a passion for fishing, but also for some specific species. GT was amazing, but in the long run, I wouldn't hesitate to pick pike fishing as my number 1, if the selection was down to one choice. Pikes really is something else...

From now we have about 6 weeks left to easter, and lots of guests coming to Dragsö. Bookings for spring fishing are continously dropping in and it's about time to make reservations to avoid disappointment, since popular weeks are filling up.

I'm really looking forward to the season and to meet you all at Camp Dragsö Sportfishing!

Until then, stay well and prepare your gear for nice runs with the pikes of Karlskrona archipelago.

Yours sincerely,

Daniel Wickman

Thick ice in the bay of Dragsö

Barracuda - A similar, but more brutal species close to pike

Giant Trevally, one of the worlds strongest fish
 

Giant Mekong Catfish - Extremely strong fish!

Read More