April is here!

Hi guys!

Time for a new update in our blog. Actually, I have not been fishing myself since my previous post one week ago. Other things were on my schedule this time when I had my days off work. Spawning is in progress since both temperature, weather and time is right for some sexy time. About 9-10 degrees in the water lately and day temperature of 9-13 degrees in the air.

What many anglers seems to think is that spawning is equal with bad fishing possibilities. I must say that this is not the case. If you find the right spots you can still have very nice fishing, for both pre- and after spawn pikes. Last year spawning started almost the same time and we caught fish full of eggs all the way into May. We also caught fish that were done spawning in the middle of March. It's not a process where all pikes gather up and spawn at the same time, it's a P R O C E S S which takes weeks and maybe even months before all fish are done. I don't say that fishing is as good as before or after spawn, but It's just about finding that right spot, as always.

Tomorrow we will have anglers on site again since 9 groups will be visiting us for a weekend of fishing. This time only guests from Sweden and Denmark. Weather conditions looks promising so hopefully our guests can have some fun fishing out there!

Earlier this week we also got ourselves a big load of lures from Svartzonker. We have many colours and sizes in stock, available in our reception. Who can go out fishing in our area without some new McRubbers? ;)

About 3 weeks ago we were visited by Eric and his friends. They had very good fishing and caught some big mamas to. Down below you can see one of the beautys, caught on Renz-Stein Beastlytail.

A guided trip is on my schedule on Friday so a new report is to be written either in the end of this week or in the beginning of next week.

Take care guys!

// Daniel Wickman
   2016-04-06

Read More

Fat meter pikes!

Another weekend is coming up and 5 groups will arrive today for some days of spring fishing. Last weekend was very busy in comparison since we had about 50 anglers on camp Dragsö.

I receive many messages these days regarding spawning and yes, spawning has started. Water temp is between 7.5-10 degrees in most areas and in some very shallow bays you can see that the pikes enjoy their sexy time at the moment. With this said, I also want to say that it will still be possible to catch some spring pigs for at least a couple of more weeks. Spawning is not a process that is over in a week, since not all pikes are spawning at the same time.

Overall catch reports wasn't very good last weekend for our guests but results variated a lot. Some boats caught less than a handful pikes per day while some boats managed to reach 40-50 pikes in one day. Best boat reached 4 pikes over +100cm during their stay which is good!

I had a few days off work in the beginning of this week and went out for some fishing (of course!). Monday I only spent a few hours in the afternoon on the water since heavy fog covered Karlskrona until the afternoon. I caught 9 pikes in shallow water, most of them on a Renz-Stein Beastly tail 23 in motoroil colour. Top fish meaured 91cm so not to bad but not to good either.

Thuesday was spent with Philip from Stinger Productions. Heavy fog and no winds during the first hours made our fishing hard. I decided to stay quite close to the city and also try some spots where I personally never really tried before, except from yesterday. This was for sure about to be a good decision!

We fished in a shallow bay of 0.6-1.2m of depth with a lot of bream nearby in variating sizes. Water was very murky and almost no wind for most of the day. Philip caught a nice fish of 93cm quite fast and this fish was important in many ways. It was the first one of the day, and since it was a good fish we decided to stay in the same area. Soon enough I told Philip "Last year I caught some very nice pikes on McRubber red/tiger, but I must say that I have not tried it very much for some reason. Maybe it's worth a try...". Two casts later I was hooked up with something heavy. At first I felt sure about that my hooks was penetrated into the side of a big bream. But soon enough Philip asked "Are you sure it's not a pike?" and then I saw the fin of a massive pike! Philip grabbed the net and secured a very nice fish. This fat lady showed up to be 107cm and my poor McRubber was totally inhaled.

Our day continued on with not to many strikes but most fish was of good size! I was very lucky this day and caught 3 pikes over +100cm and also had one fish of 95-100cm that I dropped into the water after I unhooked her. Great day with big pikes in very shallow waters. We also thought sometimes that we were hooked up with even bigger fish since some very big breams was accidently faul hooked, some as big as toilet seats! We ended up with 503cm on our top 5 longest pikes and about 12 fish in total plus 6-7 big breams ;)

Let's see what this weekend will result in!

// Daniel Wickman
   2016-03-31

Read More

Busy days!!

Hi guys!

Finally some time over to write a report and give an update about whats happening at Dragsö atm. The one and only reason why there sometimes is a longer break between my posts is lack of time. So is the case even this time.

During the last two weekends we've been exhibitors on fishing expos. The first one in Karlskrona which we arranged together with other fishing actors/camps. A great day where we gathered lure builders, camps, guides and important county administrative board. This project called "Karlskrona Fishing" is started to ensure and improve the fishery in Karlskrona area.

Second expo was held at the Sportfishing fair in Stockholm during last weekend. A three day long expo which attracted nearly 15.000 visitors. Busy but very fun days for sure! Me and Andreas worked together with Visit Blekinge's representative Malin. I think last time we participated in the sportfishing fair was 6 years ago so it was for sure about time to join in again.

Last week we also had some fishing groups at our camp and two guests were returning Swedes Anders & Peter. They visited us last year and decided to go back this spring to fish for some pre spawn ladys. Went out for a guided half day tour with them this time as well and we managed to catch about 10 pikes if I remember right, with the biggest one 86cm. No monsters but still a nice session and maybe next time we will catch that +100cm fish that we all wants to catch...

I also received some pictures from their stay and they actually managed to catch a nice sea trout on a pig shad as a bonus catch!

Furthermore, we also had a few groups here during last weekend while we were in Stockholm for the sportfishing fair. In two boats they caught 150 pikes during their stay which for sure is a good result!

During my few days of work last week and in the beginning of this week I went out together with Philip from Stinger Productions. Two days ago we caught 20 pikes in about 6 hours with a 92cm fish on top. Many pikes between 90-100cm were seen in shallow waters but obviously not interested enough to bite. In the same place I managed to catch a 99cm pike last week, so for sure big fish is found in shallow areas at the moment.

Water temp variates a lot, ranging from 4-8 degrees. It's always hard to say when spawning will start but I would guess that the first pikes will be starting in a couple of weeks if temperature increases as expected. We'll wait and see but until then we're looking forward to hear and see many more big pikes coming up!

I will try to give a new update this weekend so stay tuned! :)

// Daniel Wickman
   2016-03-23

Read More

A golden beauty

Hi guys! Time for another catch report. Went out yesterday again for a day of fishing on my own. I went up early but after several unlucky incidents, I didn't make my first cast until 10.00. This day sun was shining like never before and low winds from south/south-west. About 5 degrees in air and 4 degrees in the water. Spring is coming!

Fishing started out slow. I drifted in a big bay without any contacts during the first 30 minutes or so. I changed my plan and moved closer to the reeds and immediately got in contact with pikes. Shortly, I was up to 7 pikes of small size.

Continuously, I stayed close to Dragsö this day and fished surrounding bays. It was very clear this day that the pikes didn't bite on big lures. I downsized to a Pig shad Jr and this was once again the most effective lure for me. In several bays pikes were just sunbathing, in big numbers! You could see as many as 30-50 "clouds" from pikes swimming away on muddy bottoms without interest of biting.

In the afternoon I went to a bay where I have not been fishing so much before. 0,5-0.8m of depth in most part of the bay and a little bit murky water. In my first cast at this site I landed a small pike and this was just the start of many strikes, followers and so on. Soon enough I also got a good strike in the beginning of a cast. Immediately, I understood that this was a good fish and I fighted the fish with one hand and got the fish net ready in the other hand. On fairly light equipment, a BFT Microwave rod 15-50gr, this fish gave me a good fight.

When I had the fish secured in my net, I prepared my camera for some quick photos and measurement. To my contentment, this fish measured 103cm and was in good condition. Success!

I ended up with 16 pikes and went back to Dragsö about 16:00. Good time in the archipelago as usual :)

The rest of this week is filled with working duties, but on Sunday returning guests Anders & Peter is coming back for a guided trip on Monday. After this, I believe I will have one or two days of for some fishing again. To be back with more reports, and hopefully also with some pictures from upcoming miniconvent on Saturday, when "Karlskrona Fishing miniconvent" is arranged. If you're around Karlskrona on Saturday, don't miss it out!!

// Daniel Wickman
   2015-03-09

Read More

Half way to hundred

Hi guys!

Another weekend is over and of course I spent some time on the water. Or to be honest most of the daylight time during this weekend was spent on water, together with Philip from Stinger Productions and Daniel from Fiske&Outdoor in Jönköping.

We started 8am on Saturday morning and decided to go west. Very cloudy, cold and almost no wind. Fishing started out slow and even though we tried many spots, lures and methods we struggled to find active fish. Not more than 11 pikes in the boat on the whole day and one lost fish of approx 95cm.

Since Saturday wasn't to good our expectations for Sunday wasn't much better. Still cloudy and cold, 2-3 degrees in the water and wind from east/north-east. This day we decided to go east and tried several bays. Fishing started out slow with only two small cucumbers in a couple of hours. Finally we found a spot where fish was active and pikes started to bite on everything. Soon enough we were up to 19 pikes and I had a super cool strike close to the boat. I used a Red tiger McPike 25cm and looked at it as it came close to the boat. Out of nowhere a massive mouth opens up and inhaled my lure.

At first I thought that this was a very big fish. It sure was a big fish since she measured 96cm but I thought she was going to be even bigger the first seconds after my strike.

We continued on to some new areas and rain started to pour down. For a short moment we even had a mix of snow and rain. Pikes went slow again but in the afternoon we managed to find a few spots that delivered well. Pikes were almost flying in to the boat since we ended up with 50 pikes! Nice result for being March and 2 degrees in the water. Another big fish was landed by yours truly before the end but she didn't reach over the meter margin.

Overall a nice weekend and maybe pikes have started to feed again after some time with minus degrees in night time.

Tomorrow I'll be out for another day on the water so the hunt for this seasons first real "pig" continues.

// Daniel Wickman
   2016-03-07

Read More

We're getting ready

Hi guys!

A little bit delayed report this week since a lot of other duties unfortunately stood higher on my to do list. In the beginning of last week we only had 1 boat in the water. Today, 7 days later, we have 18 boats ready for fishing! The last two boats still have some work to be done but soon enough all of them will be ready. Most of our boats has been facing some paint jobs but also many bottom plates (floor) has been changed. They simply look much better now :-)

Last weekend I had both days of and during these days I was accompanied by my friends Jocke and Stefan. A few months ago Jocke and I tried a half day of fishing in Karlskrona but unfortunately he arrived when temperature went down a lot the night before, so fishing was bad by that time. Hopefully we were going to have better fishing this time for some fat spring ladys.

Unfortunately, minus degrees and ice came back the night before our first fishing day. The first 1000 meters we had to drive through 0,5-1cm of ice to even reach open water. As you might understand, this wasn't really the best conditions and fishing started out slow. A few hours later we started to get plus degrees and sun. This saved our day since pikes started to feed a little bit and Stefan hooked up with a good fish. Directly, I shouted "It's a big fish!" but Stefan wasn't that convinced yet. Shortly the fish came close to the boat and it was no doubt that the fish measured over +100cm.

Soon enough I could secure the fish in our landing net and we thought that the fish actually could reach the magic 10 kilo mark if we were lucky. Moments later we checked weight and length. This lady measured 109cm but weight scale stopped a small cheeseburger away from the magic two digit mark. 9.95 kilos but still a very nice fish and a personal best for Stefan. After some photos she went back to her right environment, with a new wisdom to not try to eat a Pigshad Jr again.

Overall fishing continued to be slow and not more than 7 or 8 pikes was caught on the whole day. At one of our last stops close to Dragsö I had a very very nice follower but this lady didn't bite. Probably over 10 kilos but I will try to catch her next time instead! It was a very nice day to be out on the water though and with some nice burgers and beers later in the night, this day was a good one.

The next day, Sunday, started out like the first one. We had to drive through 0,5cm ice during the first 200 meters or so, with -2 degrees in the air. Like our first day fishing started out very slow. We did see many pikes sun bathing in shallow bays but with no interest at all to strike our lures. It took us several hours until the first fish was landed and overall slow fishing in more or less no wind. Later on after lunch we received some wind and then we also started to catch some fish. No big ones but still nice to feel something in the other end of the line. In total we caught about 8 fish this day as well.

Another weekend is approaching and of course some fishing will be on my schedule. This time together with Philip from Stinger Productions, who by the way caught a +10 kilo fat lady last week in Karlskrona. Time to catch another fat pig this weekend!

// Daniel Wickman
   2016-03-03

Read More

Season around the corner

Hi guys!

It's been some time since my last post but finally it's time to give you an update. I've been out for a nice and long vacation in Asia and last week I ended up with a 5-day fishing trip to Rügen in Germany. Excellent results! But you know what? It's equally nice to now be back in business with spring season just around the corner!

Ice went away several weeks ago and local anglers are already up to several big pikes during the first weeks. Numerous pikes between 10-12 kilos (105-115cm). It seems like this spring will be a good one!

Many weekends from the middle of April starts to fill up and actually we're fully booked several of the most popular weekends in May. Fishing interest is increasing and I'm looking forward to see you all at our camp during this season. It goes without saying that if you're intrested in coming this spring it's literally about time to make your reservations asap.

If you have missed it, late last year we released our Camp Dragsö Sportfishing video made by Stinger Productions. Check it out to see a presentation of our camp: Camp Dragsö Sportfishing presentation

In a few weeks from now we will be participating in two Sport fishing fairs in Sweden. The first one is located in Karlskrona and is arranged by us together with PikeStrike Sweden, Karlskrona Båt&Fiske and Sandhamn Marine on March 12th. Many lure builders, anglers and exciting lecturers will be coming so a fun day is approaching!

The next fair we're participating in will be the Swedish sportfishing fair in Stockholm 18-20th of March. Me, Jacob and Andreas will go so if you're around come and visit us! We will also arrange a competition in our booth so come and try your skills to win nice prices.

Lately, I've received many requests for early boat reservations. Since ice is gone I will launch a few boats later this week already so from Monday 29th of February we will have a few boats ready for rental. We're busy with fairs and other duties upcoming weekends so we will have limited or no rental possibilities during weekends (Saturday-Sunday) but during weekdays (Monday - Friday) will be no problems. From 24th of March we're open every weekend again as usual.

Of course I have to share a little fishing report as well. About 1 week ago I went out for my first pike fishing session in Karlskrona this year. Went out a half day and managed to catch 14 pikes in the boat with my girlfriend with two pikes just under the meter on top. My girlfriend also had a monster (approx <110cm) at one place following all the way in to the boat without attacking the Mcrubber. Nice time on the water! All pikes was caught on McRubber and BigMcrubber in motoroil colour.

From now our activity will be increasing with more reports on our blog, Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe for latest reports!

// Daniel Wickman
   2016-02-22

Read More