Finnish fishing experience (an introduction)

My First experience of Finland 

I suppose the logical place to begin this piece is to explain how I even found myself in Finland and falling in love with the place in the first instance. Over two decades ago I met a guy called Toby, who over the course of time became one of my closest friends. Fourteen years ago Toby met the girl he decided to share his life with, Heidi happens to be from rural western Finland and this is where the two of them decided to build their life and raise their family (twin boys).

Without going into too much detail, I started visiting the family and spending more time in Finland and eventually my wife and I purchased the old village hall across the river from Toby and Heidi, which, when life permits we are converting into a residential dwelling. 

The local river

Our house is situated in YtterJeppo near the small town of Nykarleby, in front of the house a beautiful river (the towns namesake) works its way steadily seaward. This body of water appears different every time you lay eyes on it, the depth and flow is constantly altering depending on recent rainfall and upstream dam activity. In summer it mostly seems lazy, in autumn fast paced, in winter the surface is frozen hard enough to navigate snow mobiles over, and in spring when the temperature finally loosens its grip enough for the snow to melt, a cascading torrent of ice and natural debris storms along it destroying all in its wake. 

The fishing

Until I started travelling to Finland my friend Toby had no interest in fishing, his place is on the opposite bank to what is now our house, so as an angler I thought it crazy that a line had never been cast from his garden.

My very first visit to Finland was in the depths of winter, the only option then to experience any form of fishing was ice fishing, I had zero experience with this and after a few hours in extreme cold wiggling a rod as long as a pencil up and down with only a tiny perch to show for it, I called it a day.

In a fortunate turn of events Jonas, a good friend of Toby's (whom I now class as a friend myself), runs a commercial fishing operation and agreed to take me out onto the frozen Baltic to haul and set nets, that experience will always be remembered with great joy and I will at some point dedicate a piece to ice fishing and fishing on the Baltic, but aiming to keep this piece as a brief introduction to my fishing experiences in Scandinavia. 

We mostly try and cover as much water as possible which generally means taking a canoe or driving to areas where we can park and hike to fishing marks. Finland's terrain is very natural so during the summer trousers and jumpers are the required apparel when accessing marks on legs and a machete is a handy companion for cutting paths to the river. 

There are no restricting private property laws in Finland so providing you treat the land and surroundings with respect you are entitled to traverse wherever takes your fancy, this law is roughly translated as 'any mans law', which even permits you to walk across another persons garden as long as you do not urinate on their house!

The river ranges in depth and width and has sections of fast moving water over rocks, the pools in these rocky areas can provide some excellent sport in beautiful surroundings. We mostly lure fish for pike and perch in the river, these fish are generally speaking virgin to the hook and put up a great fight, I have even caught a small perch on a relatively large SG duck lure.

The pike are the main target species in the river and when they are playing the game you can have an action packed session, especially in the canoe when the bigger fish are able to pull you around the surface. The way we usually fish from the canoe, is to each have a rod out on one side and troll lures along the margins (although gullies in the centre of the bed do hold big fish  there are more snags to negotiate).

Once a fish takes the lure the person who does not have the fish reels in and navigates the canoe to the bank so the fish can be played, safely landed and unhooked, smaller fish we bring to the side and net. I have more to share on my Scandinavian fishing adventures, I thought however a short introduction to see if there is an appetite for reading more detailed accounts would be best.

Thanks for reading.