New Year's resolutions

Many people make resolutions for the New Year on New Year's eve. I've never done that before but maybe I will do it this time. And to make them harder to break I will write them down on my blog. So here we go.
I promise to
- finish my eMBA thesis by end of April
- get my MSc. degree by end of May (only one course missing)
- learn to cast flies better than before
- break my "fly salmon" record
- not to drink or eat more than my share

Waiting for the summer

I've seen dreams of fishing in two nights during the latest week. The winter isn't here yet (no snow in Oulu) and I'm already dreaming of summer and fishing...it's going to be a loooong winter.
Right now I'm wondering what fishing equipment to acquire for next summer. A two hand rod would be nice now that I've learned how to cast with it (or at least I know how it should be done) But I still have some learning to do with the one hand rod and shooting line I bought last summer. So I think I'm only going to get couple of more shooting heads, one intermediate and one sinking. I also need to buy a handful of new flies as I still haven't started tying 'em myself. I think I have to ask my body Jaakko if he could tie me couple of red butts (sizes 12 and 10). His flies look so delicious you almost eat them yourself.

Snowmobiling and greenhouse effect

It seems like there's going to be a second snowless Christmas (at least Christmas Eve) in a row in Oulu. Last year it happened the first time in 30 years. I have no doubt that the greenhouse effect is true and actually happening right here right now. There's no denying global warming.

This raises an important question: is it ethical to drive around for fun on a snowmobile burning oil and causing CO2 emissions? I'm sure all the "tree huggers" think it definitely is not ethical and should be banned all together. And then there are the sledheads and all other motor crazy people that don't ever even stop to think about this. Most of the people, such as I, are somewhere between these two extremes. Personally, I think this is not an insignificant question at all. So far I have been driving my snowmobile with a mad grin in my face having a lot of fun. But I have to admit I do think about the environmental effects of snowmobiling and in recent couple of years more and more. Although I only drive 1200-1500 km/year this concerns me.

I know the emissions caused by my motoring even including commuting to work by a car are so small it doesn't affect anything. This makes it a bit easier for me to enjoy my hobby. But surely if everyone thought this way, no one would do anything to cut down CO2 emissions. So this still doesn't get me off the hook.

I also know that CO2 emissions caused by all the traffic on earth represent only a very very small fraction of all the CO2 emissions. Now it's getting a bit easier to breath but still I'm not quite sure if I can sleep and still keep snowmobiling.

I've also learned that this is not the first time the global warming is taking over. Actually our beloved Tellus has "lately" seen warmer periods in about every 100 000 years. Now it is almost 100 000 years from the latest temperature peak and we are getting close to the temperatures back then. So I believe that even if man never inhabited the earth, it would be about as warm now. But surely the emissions caused by us do have an effect but how big it actually is, I don't know. As far as I see no one can really say if what we have done so far has affected the global average temp by 0.5 Celsius degrees or 3 Celsius degrees. Phew, what a relief.

So I will still keep on snowmobiling but I'm not at all sure for how long. Will I stop when there is enough evidence to show that what man do actually has a great effect in the global warming? Probably. Will I stop if the great public opinion becomes hostile against it? Likely. Will I stop if my wife says so? For sure.
At latest I'll stop when there's no more snow, but will I start a new hobby with equally bad environmental effects like replace the sled with an ATV? I hope not.

Merry Christmas!!!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the treetops glisten,
and children listen
To hear scooters roar and moan

U.D.O. + Primal Fear

November 21, 2007

Way earlier I wrote about my problem of choosing which gigs to go and see this autumn. Well, the first one I chose to go and see was U.D.O. (+ Primal Fear as supporting act). I missed Eppu Normaali because of calendar issues and Nightwish I will miss because I wasn't fast enough to get tickets.

So the U.D.O. + Primal Fear gig was yesterday. It really wasn't a big success if you consider the size of the audience. There was probably only around 200 people if even that. But neither of the bands let that get to them and they played good gigs. I can't compare this to their other gigs as this was the first time I saw these bands play live. But if especially U.D.O. can rock even harder...no, that's not possible. They did kick ass last night. One of the high points was when Igor came down from the stage during his guitar solo to play among the audience. I'm sure that wouldn't have happened if the place was too packed. Old Accept songs Balls to the Wall and Metal Heart were guaranteed crowd pleasers. Man and the Machine and Thunderball rocked real hard as well.

Now I have to buy the Best of U.D.O. coming out on Nov 30. Check the videos from the gig below. I also have some pics in my Flickr feed.

Primal Fear:


U.D.O. vid 1:


U.D.O. vid 2:

Business travels

I'm writing this in a bar in the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport while waiting for the last leg of my business trip to London. It is 10:30 pm and I started the trip this morning at 5:05 when I hopped on the taxi waiting at my doorstep. I'll be home half past midnight and it's Friday!

These one day trips to London from Oulu are killers. I'm glad I don't have to do it too often. But overall I like to go on business trips every now and then even though you usually don't see much anything but the airport, hotel, couple of offices and a peak at the city through the taxi's window. It would be difficult to take a job that doesn't include international travelling at all.


Gotta go now, the flight to Oulu is departing...

Virtual fishing

I was googling around for fly fishing stuff and stumbled upon a fly fishing game. Check this out: http://www.flysim.com/flysim/flysim_download.html.

I tried the game for a couple of times and it was kind of funny. You really can't learn much of fly fishing from it, but you can easily waste a couple of hours trying to make a decent cast. It was very challenging with the IBM laptops integrated "nipple" mouse and a bit easier with a normal mouse (I imagine it's totally impossible with the touch pad type of mouse most laptops have).
And it is somewhat thrilling when a fish actually does catch :)
But at least I can't get kicks out of it for more than couple of times.

There is also a fishing game for mobile phones coming from Nokia later this year called Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep. I had a chance to try it out at the Nokia launch event in London late August (http://www.nokia.com/press/goplay). It was an interesting experience and I'm sure I'll be playing that and it will be my favorite waste of time when mobile for some time. There's a nice review of the game here.

If I come across any other interesting fishing games I'll post about those in this blog.

Succesfull trip to Teno

I heard a funny story the other day from a friend of mine.
He had been fishing at Teno river for a week last summer. He tried and tried but couldn't catch a salmon. That as such is not that funny, but he did caught something, a pike! That is funny. This guy travels 1000 km hoping to catch a highly valued, great fighting Teno salmon. Then he rows his ass to blisters trying to get salmon bite his bait. When finally something catches the excitement jumps to high heaven and early hopeful expectation of record salmon kicks in. But soon he realizes it's nothing but a pike! He could have gone fishing to any pond or lake near his home to catch a pike. And you never catch a pike from Teno...if that happens to you, your fishing mates will be laughing at you and cracking jokes on you for years to come :)

Time spent on fly fishing

I was wondering how much time people usually spend on fly fishing...I mean if it is your hobby, not your job ie. you're not a fly fishing guide or something?

I just counted that I fish on an average during the season for about 50-60 hours. Another way to count is days when I have fished and that number is around 15. Of this time fly fishing is at least 90%. This really ain't much, so you can hardly call me a pro :)
But when I think about the time I use for reading magazines, books and net about (fly) fishing and add time used for watching related films and now writing about fishing, it easily doubles the time used for fishing hobby.

So I guess I'm more of a virtual fisher? But hey, I named this blog Fisher Wannabe anyhow :)

Too many gigs so little time

I have a major problem. There are quite a lot of good gigs coming up in my hometown during Oct-Dec. I really don't have the luxury of being able to go and see all of those due to time restrictions. Below is some listing of the upcoming gigs that I'm interested in. Maybe I could pick one from each month but it's a tough choice to make...

Oct 12 KOTITEOLLISUUS
Oct 19 THE 69 EYES + Deep Insight
Oct 31 THE ARK
Nov 03 VIIKATE
Nov 09 Eppu Normaali
Nov 21 U.D.O. + Primal Fear
Nov 26 ALICE COOPER + Uriah Heep
Dec 11 NIGHTWISH
Dec 13 MOTöRHEAD
Dec 27 SONATA ARCTICA + Thunderstone

Well, which ever gigs I choose to go to I'll report here or shorter in Twitter how they were

Partying around the world

Where are the best parties in the world?

I'm surely biased (coming from Finland) when I say this, but I do think there are quite many great places to party in Finland. I don't think it's that much of a question of place or time but more of the mentality of the local people...or the tourists in leisure locations. Actually I think one must categorize partying places to "normal" cities or towns (category 1) and to leisure locations like skiing resorts and certain cities that have grown around travel industry (category 2).

Category 1
In Europe outside Finland I've at least partied in Paris, London, Amsterdam, Cannes, Nice, Monaco, Barcelona, Larnaka, Reykjavik, Stockholm and Vadso :). In Finland I've partied in all the major cities except Turku and in quite a many smaller places. Of all these places I think French Riviera sucks the most. There have been some great private company parties but the night life otherwise sucks if you are not there during the tourist season. And you can't get a taxi so you have to walk if you want to change to another bar or club. The two best places of these European cities for partying from my experience are London and Barcelona. London has the best clubs and a great number of choices. Barcelona is almost as good with those measures but food is way better there. Helsinki and Stockholm are quite ok as well but the people are a bit uptight (sorry).

In US soil I partied in Seattle, San Francisco and many of the Silicon Valley cities. So I still have a great deal of good partying places to test drive like NY City and Chicago. San Francisco is a great place for partying if you choose the right night of the week. The only problem is that it seems like partying is totally forbidden in this city (as well as the rest of the America) on some weekdays like Wednesdays for example. Everything closes so early and all the places are almost empty.

Many times the best parties are in small roadside bars of small towns. The atmosphere is so warm and you actually do get to know new people. The locals of course are happy to see new faces and everyone pretty much knows each other so that naturally affects the atmosphere. If you are surrounded by strangers you have your guard up but with your own people you are more relaxed and can easily tolerate a couple of strangers.

Category 2
Usually all the leisure locations have great parties as people are more relaxed there and not worrying about the next morning. In Finland the best places in this category are Levi and Ruka (IMHO). I haven't partied in too many places of this category abroad, but one place to mention is Las Vegas. I must say both Ruka and Levi beat Las Vegas 100-0...well maybe not quite, but 2-1 anyway. Las Vegas get the lone point for the great amount of options for partying. Levi and Ruka get their points for the more relaxed atmosphere and the friendlier people. I've heard some of the ski resorts in Alps are also good for partying, but my bet is they won't beat Levi and Ruka.

Almost a category of its' own are the big sea cruisers. I don't know if there are any as crazy cruises as the "love boats" cruising between Finland and Sweden. I've only taken this cruise once and it was a great party. But still I think it doesn't quite get to same level as Levi or Ruka.


Now don't get me wrong. Partying is not that important for me, but I thought it's a funny subject to write about :)

Salmon catches, what now?

Once a salmon catches your bait, there are many ways to get it up from the river. Usually fishermen first tire out the fish (how to do this is another story) and then either hook it, net it or lift it by hand. I have also used all of the above mentioned methods.
But I have witnessed two different variants of another type of method to get the salmon up from the water. Both of these styles are rather dynamic.

The first one happened when I was just a kid and my kid brother was obviously even younger...something like 9 I think. We were fishing in Utsjoki river and just about to leave the river empty handed. My brother failed in his attempt to cast the lure and I heard him cursing when the lure hit the water only about 3-4 meters from him splashing the water. But salmon anyhow caught the lure and he shouted "fish!". He realized at once that this wasn't a grayling that he had so far only caught in his short fishing career. Immediately he grabbed the line and threw the spinning rod on the stony bank and started pulling the line in. In a half a dozen pulls the salmon was on the bank as well and then it got loose. Quickly he jumped on it and hit its' head with a stone. I went to see the fish (nice small salmon, "tintti") and then I saw the lure. The hook had straightened and that's why the fish got loose at the bank...luckily not yet in the water. I asked him why he pulled the fish in the way he did and the answer was "I was afraid the line might break". You can't beat that logic :)

The other variant of pulling the salmon to the bank was demonstrated by a friend of mine who hadn't actually fished much before. When a salmon caught his lure he shouted "there's a fish...what should I do?" I told him very knowingly (I was still just a kid) that he should tire it out. Well he didn't know what it meant so he just turned around and ran away from the bank to the bushes holding the spinning rod on his shoulder shouting something like "huuuuu...!". Well the salmon followed nicely. Luckily the line and the hooks held.

Maybe it is actually this simple and we sport fishing enthusiasts just don't realize it and we play around with the fish for nothing? :)

My first salmon

I caught my first salmon when I was 10...I think.
It was a half cloudy late June day. I had already been fishing for couple of hours on my home rapid Mantokoski in Utsjoki river. Then I felt a strong pull on the line and my heart rate must have jumped to 200. I realized right away that this wasn't a grayling or perch (the only fishes I had ever caught before that). I got the fish pretty close to me when the cover of the closed reel got off and the line started running as the fish started swimming away from me. I grabbed the cover and quickly attached it back. I didn't loose the salmon, it was still there.
After a while I was again preparing to "land" the salmon but then the crank of the reel was detached. Unbelievable! Luckily I was able to attach the crank and continue reeling the salmon in.
In the end I dragged the salmon up from the river and knocked it out with a stone. I was soooo happy, the smile definetly was from ear to ear. I immediately packed everything and almost ran back home. I was very proud to show my first salmon to my parents. The fish weight was 1,2 kg. That remained to be my record for many years.

The first time

Ok, I'm not talking about getting laid here, but my very first fly fishing experience.
This happened a few years back. My friend and I visited Pohjois-Suomen Erämessut fair, which is a quite a big fair for fishing, hunting and other outdoor activity stuff, and we both bought fly fishing sets. Those were complete impulse purchases, Vision 3Zone, 9 feet, 5# and reels and lines.
Next day we went to a lake to practice casting. To my surprise casting wasn't all that difficult. A day after that we went to Koitelinkoski in Kiiminkijoki river to try if we could catch something.

Lo and behold, after a while I got a trout! It was my very first time fishing in Kiiminkijoki and my very first time fly fishing anywhere. This guaranteed that I was hooked for fly fishing.

Since then I haven't caught that many trouts from Kiiminkijoki as I usually don't have time to go fishing early on in the summer before summer vacation. During summer vacation (July) I fish in different waters close to Utsjoki where I was raised. After summer vacation usually Kiiminkijoki is so dry and smelly that I don't want to fish there. But anyhow, quite a nice experience for a fly fishing rookie!

Uni

This one comes in Finnish, but you know it's about a dream and I can only dream in Finnish :)

Olin kalastanut jo useamman tunnin ilman tapahtumia ja mietin jo leiriin paluuta. Hiostavat kahluuhousut pois ja evästä nieluun. Ruisleipää kera edellisenä päivänä suolatun tintin siivujen. Hiilloksen hehkussa paistettua makkaraa sinapilla höystettynä. Jälkiruuaksi nokipannukahvit ja dominokeksejä, ehkä loraus konjakkia. Vesi herahti kielelle ja vatsassa nälkä väänsi ikävästi suolia.

Kahlasin pois vedestä lähteäkseni kävelemään leiriin, mutta käännyin kuitenkin vielä katsomaan joelle. Jotenkin hiukan alempana joen mutkan pooli kuitenkin tuntui kutsuvan minua vielä heittämään perhoa. Perhana. Ei auta, taskusta salmiakkipastilli suuhun, joesta vähän vettä palanpainikkeeksi ja vatsantäyteeksi ja suunta päättäväisesti kohti mutkaa. Kävellessä vielä mietin miten kalastaisin paikan. Pitäisikö vaihtaa perho? Joo, mutta minkä laittais? Maailma näyttää siniharmaalta, vesi on aika korkealla. Tällainen keli oli viimekesänä, kun samassa paikassa kävi ennätyslohi ravistamassa perhoa. Mikähän perho se oli? Ah, nyt muistan. Päästyäni joen mutkaan ja vaihdettuani perhon kahlasin veteen, vähän yli puolisäären syvyyteen. Vedin siimaa ulos kelalta antaen siiman valua alavirtaan. Lopulta ampumapää oli kokonaan ulkona ja ajattelin ottaa ensimmäisen lyhyen heiton. Heitto lähti lievästi alavirtaan päin. Perho ja siima valuivat hetkessä alas ja olivat melkein kohtisuoraan alavirtaan, kun aloin vetää lisää siimaa ulos kelalta seuraavaa kunnon heittoa varten.

Vetäisin siimaa ulos kerran, toisen kerran, ja olin juuri tarttumassa taas siimaan vetääkseni sitä edelleen lisää ulos, kun huomasin syrjäsilmällä, että jotain tapahtui vedessä siellä paikkeilla missä minun perho oli. Välähdys ja siima lähti yhtäkkiä painumaan syvemmälle ja löysällä vapaana ollut siimalenkki, jota virta ei ollut vielä ehtinyt vetää kireälle, katosi nopeasti. Samalla vavassa tuntui hitaasti voimistuva veto, jännä painon tunne. Kala! Iso lohi! Nostin vavan pystyyn valmistautuen taisteluun. Sydän ryhtyi nyt hakkaamaan todella nopeaan tahtiin, kun hetkeä aikaisemmin tuntui kuin se olisi pysähtynyt muutamaksi sekunniksi odottamaan, mitä tapahtuu.

Vapa taipui voimakkaasti ja lohi lähti viemään perhoa kohti vastarantaa ja sieltä kaartaen ylöspäin. Nyt tuli kiire ottaa siimaa sisään, kun kala syöksyi ylävirtaan. En millää ehtinyt ottaa siimaa sisään yhtä nopeasti kuin kala lähestyi alavirrasta minua ja siimaan muodostui pieni pussi alavirtaan päin. Tästä vedontunteesta lohi tuntui saavan raivonpuuskan ja juuri minun kohdalla, vain muutaman metrin päässä minusta se hyppäsi ilmaan yrittäen ravistaa perhoa irti. Valtava lohi. En ollut koskaan nähnyt näin isoa lohta edes unissa. Punnitsin kalan mielessäni ainakin 20 kiloiseksi. Yhtäkkiä yhdenkäden kasiluokan perhovapa alkoi tuntua aika köykäiseltä välineeltä. Ja peruke oli vahvuudeltaan vain 0.28! Eihän tästä joesta yleensä saada kuin tinttejä ja jalkoja ja joitakin sattumalohia, alle kympin painoisia. Tunsin miten pohkeeni alkoivat täristä jännityksestä.

Perho tuntui pysyvän hyvin kiinni ravistelusta huolimatta. Lohi jatkoi syöksyään virtaa ylöspäin vetäen itse löysän pois siimasta. Pidin vapaa pystyssä miettien kuumeisesti mitä tehdä. Kuinka pitkälle ylös tämä lohi mahtaa syöksyä? Noin 50 metrin päässä ylhäällä, siinä mistä olin aikaisemmin lähdössä jo leiriin, alkaa voimakas koski, tuskin se siihen lähtee nousemaan. Pitäiskö koettaa kiristää kelan jarrua vai säätelenkö vaan kämmenellä? Pitäiskö lähteä jo perään?

En ehtinyt vastata omiin kysymyksiini, kun kala jo oli nelisenkymmentä metriä yläpuolellani ja päätti vaihtaa suuntaa. Tehden jyrkähkön kaarroksen se lähti nyt syöksymään alaspäin. Taas tuli kiire ottaa siimaa sisään. Nyt lohi jatkoi matkaa ohitseni ilman hyppyjä kiitäen alaspäin kuin torpedo. Vesi roiskui siimasta sen viiltäessä vedenpintaa. Kelasta kuului nyt vain tasainen wzzzz, kun lohi kiskoi siimaa rullalta tasaisen nopeaan tahtiin. Vapa oli aivan luokilla yrittäessäni pidätellä kalan syöksyä ja kämmenen nahka alkoi kuumua uhkaavasti jarrutellessani sillä kelan reunasta sen minkä uskalsin muistaen ohuen perukkeeen. Nyt juoksusiima oli jo kokonaan ulkona ja pohjasiimaakin mennyt useita metrejä eikä kala antanut mitään merkkejä pysähtymisaikesta. Olin seurannut hiljalleen kalaa jo muutamia metrejä alavirtaan, mutta nyt näytti, ettei sitä saa pysähtymään millään joten oli pakko lähteä kalan perään reippaammalla vauhdilla.

Seurasin lohta alavirtaan pitäen sitä koko ajan niin tiukalla kuin uskalsin. Siima kuitenkin väheni rullalla koko ajan uhkaavasti. Ja samalla alla oleva köngäs läheni lähestymistään. Lohi olisi pakko saada pysähtymään ennen sitä, sillä muuten se varmasti menisi menojaan. Silloin muistin lukeneeni jostain, että joksus lohen voi saada pysähtymään, kun päästää siiman aivan löysäksi. Ajatus tuntui hullulta, ja epäröin tehdä sitä. Lopulta pohjasiima alkoi olla loppumaisillaan ja könkääseenkään ei ollut enää matkaa kuin muutamia voimakkaita pyrstön potkuja. Nyt oli pakko tehdä jotain. Otin muutaman nopean harppauksen alavirtaan laskien samalla vavan alas ja kiskaisten pari nykäisyä jo muutenkin vähissä olevaa siimaa kelalta. Ihme ja kumma, kun veto loppui siiman löystyessä, lohi pysäytti syöksynsä jääden kosken niskan monttuun jurottamaan. Kelasin siimasta varovasti löysiä pois samalla kävellen alaspäin rantakivillä. Lopulta pääsin suurinpiirtein lohen kohdalle jokea ja mietin, että miten sen nyt saisi liikkeelle ja mielellään ylöspäin, jotta se väsyttäisi itsensä?

Taas muistui mieleen vanha kikka. Lähdin varovasti vetämään kalaa liikkeelle ottaen askeleen taaksepäin. Mutta juuri mitään ei tapahtunut, siima vain venyi ja vapa taipui lisää. Käänsin vavan kärkeä hiukan alaspäin ja otin toisen pienen askeleen poispäin kalasta. Ei vieläkään liikettä, siima vain sinkui entisestään. Nyt en enää enempää uskaltanut vetää, koska pelkäsin perukkeen katkeavan. Yritin vielä varovasti pumpata vavalla ylöspäin, mutta ei vaikutusta. Aloin miettiä, että lohi saattaisi hyvinkin jurottaa montussa niin kauan, että minä vanhenisin pystyyn, tai kuolisin nälkään. Oli pakko keksiä jotain. Vaihdoin vavan vasempaan käteen ja otin rannalta nyrkin kokoisen kiven käteeni tarkoituksenani heittää se hiukan lohen alapuolelle. Heitin kiven, mutta se lipsahti hiukan ylemmäksi kuin olin tarkoittanut ja säikähdin osuvani siimaan. Kiven lento jokeen tuntui uskomattoman pitkältä. Se lensi kuin hidastettuna, samalla tavalla kuin jäinen lumipallo jonka heität kaveria kohti tarkoittamatta osumaa, mutta tajuat sen sittenkin osuvan. Lopulta kivi kuitenkin molskahti veteen osumatta siimaan. Temppu toimi! Nyt loheen tuli taas liikettä. Se lähti valtavalla vauhdilla ylävirtaan. Kela ulisi, kun siimaa suorastaan
syöksyi ulos rullalta. Minulle tuli kiire lisätä jarrun tehoa kämmenellä. Lohen syöksystä tulisi pitkä, niin virkeästi se lähti liikkeelle. Kämmen kuumana jarruttamisesta laukoin nilkat muljuten lohen perässä ylävirtaan. Lohen voima oli valtava. Aloin vahvasti epäillä mahdollisuuksiani tämän kamppailun voittoon.

Tällä kertaa Lohi syöksyi pari sataa metiä ylävirtaan aivan siellä olevan kosken alle. Minä seurasin lohen perässä pysähtyen aivan sen kohdalle. Kosken alla oli reilu parikymmentä metriä pitkä leveämpi ja syvempi kohta joessa. Mietin, että tässä lohella olisi tilaa tempoa ja syöksyillä. Nyt se kuitenkin jurotti kosken alla olevan ison kiven alla. Tunsin miten siima hankasi kiveen. Nyt olisi kala saatava taas liikkeelle, ennenkuin se hankaa siiman poikki. Kokeilin uudestaan vetämistemppua, joka ei aikaisemmin ollut toiminut. Nyt se kuitenkin auttoi. Parin varovaisen taka-askeleen jälkeen kala lähti taas uimaan. Nyt tunsin, että sen vauhti oli jo vähän rauhoittunut. Alkoiko lohi jo näyttää väsymisen merkkejä? Toivottavasti, sillä minä itse aloin jo tuntea uupuvani. Jalat olivat jännityksestä jo aivan hyytelöä ja oikean käden hauis alkoi antaa kramppaamisen merkkejä. Selkä ja hartiat olivat myös kuin tulessa.

Nyt lohi tempoi tässä pienessä lompolossa edestakaisin. Välillä sain vedettyä sitä hiukan lähemmäksi, ja välillä se taas syöksyi kauemmaksi, milloin alavirtaan, milloin suoraan vastarantaa kohti, milloin hiukan ylöspäin. Taistelu tuntui jatkuvan loputtomiin. En enää osannut arvioida kuinka kauan aikaa oli kulunut tässä lohen väsytyksessä, mutta tuntui kuin olisin työstänyt sitä tuntikausia. Pikkuhiljaa kuitenkin lohen syöksyt alkoivat lyhentyä ja hidastua. Lopulta yhden syöksyn päätteeksi se pyörähti hetkeksi kyljelleen. Jes! Nyt alkoi taas optimismi voittaa alaa mielessäni, ja aloin uskoa mahdollisuuksiini kalan voittamiseen. Mutta samalla tajuntaani iskeytyi epätoivoa aiheuttava fakta. Minulla ei ollut mukana kunnon iskukoukkua, vaan ainoastaan onnettoman pieni "tennismaila"-haavi! Minun olisi pakko yrittää saada lohi ylös käsin nostamalla. Tosin ennen sitä se pitäisi saada väsytettyä nostokuntoon.

Väsytystaistelu jatkui samassa lompolossa ja lopulta käytyään vielä kerran hetken juromassa pohjassa, lohi nousi pintaan kyljelleen. Nyt se alkoi olla jo todella väsynyt. Seisoin vedessä nyt noin puolisäären syvyydessä. Sain vedettyä lohen vavan mitan päähän itsestäni, sen hetkellisistä maitohappojen hidastamista mulautuksista huolimatta, ja aloin kääntää vapaa sivulle saadakseni lohen lähemmäksi. Vapa oli jo reilusti sivulla ja jättilohi ulottuvillani. Kumarruin tarttuakseni sitä pyrstöstä. Silloin kuitenkin lohi oli saanut hiukan voimiaan takaisin ja se päätti lähteä vielä yhteen syöksyyn. Pari voimakasta pyrstön iskua, ja raks. Pahassa kulmassa ollut vapa katkesi, kun hapoilla oleva käteni ei ehtimyt riittävän nopeasti reagoida lohen äkkinäiseen ampaisuun.Tsing, perukesiima katkesi seuraavalla lohen potkulla. Istahdin niille sijoilleni jokeen noituen huonoa tuuriani. Olo oli jotenkin tyhjä. Epätodellinen. Hetken aikaa korvissa vain suhisi, adrenaliinin nostattaman verenpaineen vaikutuksesta. Silmät kostuivat harmituksesta. Havahduin, ei kai kukaan ollut näkemässä? Nopea vilkaisu ympärille, ei ketään, ja silmien kuivaaminen. Nousin vaivalloisesti vedestä uupuneille jaloilleni, jotka jälleen tärisivät, lauenneen jännityksen ja uupumuksen seurauksena. Tunsin vilunväristyksiäkin. Oikea käteni oikeni tuskaisesti naristen oltuaan pitkään koukussa pidellen vapaa pystyssä lohen tempoessa. Lähdin laahustamaan hitaasti rantaa kohti, lakki kallellaan, murheellisen näköistä perhovavan raatoa perässä laahaten.

Istuin rantakivelle miettimään tapahtunutta. Nyt elimistö alkoi jo palautua normaaliin olotilaan, suhina korvissakin oli lakannut. Kuulin miten linnut lauleskelivat, ja tunsin lapin aamuöisen auringon lämmön kasvoillani. Katselin ympäröivien tuntureiden kauniita muotoja. Käänsin katseeni pienehköön lohijokeen, joka niin katkeran suloisesti oli minua huijannut. Vesi virtasi hiljalleen suvannossa, joka näytti nyt rauhan tyyssijalta, vaikka äsken siinä vielä käytiin raivokasta taistelua elämästä ja kuolemasta. Tunsin todella eläväni! Hymy levisi kasvoilleni liikutuksen kyyneleen pusertuessa silmään. Kiitin puoliääneen jokea tästä elämyksestä ja lähdin leiriin paljon rikkaampana kuin sieltä poistuessani.

Going to Concerts in the Bay Area

In past few weeks I saw two big tours in Mountain View Shoreline Amphitheater. The place itself is quite nice for concerts. And what I love about US is that you can have your beer wherever you go in the concert area (the same goes with sports events). In Finland there are dedicated areas for drinking in both music and sports events.

The two concerts I saw were Ozzfest and Projekt Revolution Tour. I had lawn tickets for both of those concerts as I was late in getting the tickets, better seats were already gone. I must say that in the future I have to consider twice before going to concert to the Amphitheater if I don't get a good seat. The lawn is so far away from the stage that it's difficult to see much anything, especially as the lawn is not steep enough to see over other people. And the volume of the music up there is also quite low.

In comparing these two events I have to say Ozzfest was better. Although I preferred the bands in Proj Rev Tour over the one's in Ozzfest, the atmosphere was far better in Ozzfest...people were more involved. I think this was partly due to the fact that in Ozzfest the volume of the music was at least a bit louder up in the lawn. But then comparing these two events to any major Rock festival in Finland I was amazed on how small video screens these guys had. I mean they were the size of a stamp! There would've been room for screens at least three times the size of the one's used.

I shot some video from the concerts. Here are the best shots of the main acts and organizers of those two tours.
Linkin Park:


Ozzy Osbourne:

Rainbow trout in its' natural environment

I was visiting Yosemite national park last weekend with my family. It's a great place to visit, though now it's been so dry that the Yosemite water falls looked like there's only someone pissing down from the cliffs :)
If you go there I can recommend the Yosemite View Lodge for accomodation although the prices are pretty steep this time of the year.
Up there I learned that the only natural fish in the rivers there is rainbow trout and that also only up to 1200 meters high. We saw one rainbow trout while we were wading in Merced river to refresh. The 30 cm trout slowly swam as close as 2 meters from us. I have to say it was really beautiful, nothing like the fodder fed fat pigs we are growing in some facilities and ponds in Finland and then putting to certain rivers for fishermen's amusement.

It's too bad I didn't have a chance to go fishing in Yosemite. I felt like the Merced river was calling for me to come and fish it. There were so many great looking places for fishing. I definetly have to try fly fishing in California now that I'm staying here for a little bit longer than usually. If anyone has any recommendations for good rivers, good guides, renting equipment etc. within 50 mile range of San Francisco Bay area please let me know. My email is markook73(at)yahoo.com.

Moving from point A to point B with Honda CR-V

I got my new Honda CR-V Elegance Plus with some add-ons just a week before I went to holidays up north to Utsjoki. It's a 700 km drive from Oulu to Utsjoki, so driving up there, driving around while there, and then driving back to Oulu means something like 1700 km. This is certainly enough to get an idea on whether the car is good or bad :)

Overall I like the new CR-V more than the older model which I had previously. This one behaves more like a regular car instead of an SUV, which is nice. It also is my first car with diesel engine. i really like the torque this engine gives and I wouldn't go back to gasoline engine.

But how does this small SUV perform as a (sport) fisherman's vehicle? Well, it has got quite a lot of room for your gear. It's hard to imagine anyone needing more gear for sport fishing trip than one can pack in CR-V.
Long trips are nice with the diesel engine as you don't need to shift gears too often. The engine ain't too thirsty either, it only drinks 6.5-7 l/100 km. So you'll have more money for fishing licenses and fishing gear...and drinks for the driver (non-alcohol of course).

You really can't go cross country with the CR-V. Although it is 4 wd, it's not meant for driving in the woods. But if there is somewhat decent trail to the river you are going fishing, this SUV can easily take you there. I did drive in some trails during my stay in Utsjoki and I was able to go places where I wouldn't be able to go with a regular car.

My conclusion is that CR-V with diesel engine is pretty much ideal vehicle for someone who does sport fishing as a hobby and needs to use the vehicle also for traveling with family and driving to work. Pretty good compromise. Is it better than other's in the same category, Toyota RAV4, Mitsubishi Outlander etc? I don't know if anyone can give a definite answer to this, but personally I preferred the specs of CR-V.

Lessons learned (so far)

This summer I bought my first set of fly fishing gear truly ready for salmon fishing. It is still only one hand 10 feet, 8 AFTM rod and reel and lines suitable for that. I'll report my evaluation on pros and cons of this set later. But the main thing was that I got my first shooting head line and started practicing under arm casting with it. Below is the list of my learnigs related to using shooting heads:

- Shooting heads don't come in the right length out of box but you need to cut them to the right length. The right lenght depends on the rod, your casting skills and the circumstances where you fish, ie. the river size, the strength of the stream and wind

- You can come a long with only one floating shooting head for salmon fishing, but it's not ideal. I think one should have a couple of different length floating shooting heads for different water and weather conditions. In addition one intermediate shooting head would be good in case the water is high. This is enough if you only fish in small or medium size rivers like Vetsijoki and Utsjoki. If you fish in big rivers also, I guess you need to have even more sinking shooting heads.

- Once the shooting head is of right length, you can really have long casts quite easily.

- The upper cast is not as light and fun with a shooting head as with WF line if you fish in a very small river where you don't need long casts.

- I don't recommend 10 feet long one hand rod for shooting heads. It is a bit too long making casting pretty hard for your wrist. I did a lot of double handed casting when I needed long casts because I left the shooting head still quite long (and thus heavy) to be able to have longer casts when needed.

- It is best to start learning under arm casting by taking a course or having someone there to guide you. I didn't have anyone to teach me and I didn't have time to take a lesson or course before starting. I have to say it was even dangerous at times. I got the fly to my back and neck couple of times (luckily I had a coat and a hood on) and even hitting me finger couple of times. Once the fly bounced in the back of my head. I'm lucky to survive without fly ripping off my ear or something.

- If you don't have anyone to guide you, search web for help in casting. I found f.ex. these helpful: Caddis expert and Spey video clips.


Other learnings:

- Lohenkalastajan käsikirja is really a good read for any (finnish reading) person interested in salmon fishing.

- Do test your tippet line before starting fishing. It's not fun to loose a nice fish and a good fly because of bad tippet line.

- When the water is high, do use bigger flies than in normal summer water conditions. Take also into account that the colors that normally work in certain river might not be the best when the water is high.

- Always keep a loop of loose line in your hand so you can release it if a salmon catches the fly when the line is straight and tight, as it usually is at the end when the fly and line is almost directly downstream from the fisher. This gives the salmon some time to really bite the fly and get it stuck in its' jaws.

Concluding my fishing season so far

I arrived Mountain View, California with my wife and daughter on Saturday and I'll be here for the next 5 weeks. This means that the early part of my fishing season has ended and it's time to wrap up how it has been so far.

Fishing in Utsjoki river was ok although the water was really high the whole time. I gained a lot of experience but managed to catch also something. The best thing is I broke my own fly salmon record, ie. I caught my biggest salmon ever by fly fishing. The record is still not that impressive, about 3.5 kg, but still it's my record.

In the end I managed to go fishing in Vetsijoki river only once although it is my favorite river. I didn't catch anything but instead lost a very good fly as a salmon about the same size as my new record broke the tippet line.

This summer I also went to fish in Vesterelva river in Norway for the first time ever. It is quite a nice salmon river and I'm certainly going to go fish there also in the future. But that has to be after the first week of July as I heard that the salmon really starts to get into that river in big numbers from the second week of July onwards.

Lost a good fly to a salmon

I had an interesting fishing night last night. I was fly fishing salmon in Vetsijoki river. I didn't catch any due to combination of bad luck, bad equipment and maybe a pinch of incompetence :)

First couple of salmons that I had contact with last night didn't stick in the fly for more than a few seconds. The same problem with both of those, the line was almost directly towards down stream when they caught and I didn't have a loose loop in my hand that I could have released when I felt the fish there. This usually leads to fish not sticking tightly to the hook.

Couple of hours later a third salmon bit the fly...again the same fly, red butt. It was a bit like this: http://www.sorro.com/red_butt_sorro.php3. but it was bigger and had some flashabou in it. This time the salmon was tightly hooked. It gave a good fight for it's size (seemed like a bit over 3 kg) as it used the very strong stream in the rapid for it's benefit. At times I had to keep the salmon pretty tight as I had to stop it from getting into a very fierce rapid 15 meters downstream from where I was. Finally the fish got tired and I got it close to me but I didn't have a net or a striking hook with which to get it up and the water was too deep where I was to go to water and lift it up by hands. I started to look for a place to get the fish up and there was a nice place 10 meters downstream but I couldn't see any suitable size stones there for knocking out the fish as it was all one rock. So I looked around me and saw a perfect stone there. I leaned down and picked up the stone thinking next to walk the fish down to the place where I can get it up. But just when I got up the salmon took the last spring they always do and went to the strong stream in the middle of the rapid...and snap the tippet broke off.

The line I used for tippet was no good and the rod was in pretty bad angle when the fish made it's final spring, so the tippet couldn't take it. I must confess that I cursed pretty strongly when this happened. It is bad enough to loose a salmon when it's that close but I also lost a very very good fly. I still feel like crying just to think about it.

Oh well, that salmon was not mine and the life goes on. Today I have to go shopping for better tippet line and need to try to find a couple of good big salmon flies as I have now lost both of the bigger flies I had caught salmon with. I have plenty of good size 10 and 12 flies but now there's so much water it's better to use bigger flies than normally in these smaller rivers I like to fish in. Next winter I'll start practicing fly tying. I'll write about my experiences in learning that then.

Finnish salmon rivers

Man they have a lot of salmon rivers in Norway as in Finland we have only 5 of them (if you don't count the tributary rivers). And actually only 3 of those give enough salmon to really talk about. Those are Teno, Näätämö and Tornionjoki rivers. Simojoki river has been getting better and I think they do catch fair amount of salmon from Kymijoki river also. Kiiminkijoki you can't really call a salmon river, but every year some salmon is caught. Oulujoki river used to be a very good salmon river before they build it for power production during 1940's to 1960's. Now it produces 2700 GWh. A few years back they build fish ladder so salmon can go past the first dam in Oulu. I've read that now there have been some salmon babies swimming in Oulujoki river above the first dam. I truly hope they build the fish ladder also to the next dam above and salmon starts to really come back to this river because I live in Oulu.

Fishing in Vesterelva

I was fishing with my brother in law in Vesterelva in Norway on Friday evening and Saturday. I've heard a lot of good about the river, the river is full of salmon and they bite your bate (actually only fly allowed) more eagerly than in most of the rivers. So our hope were high when we headed there. First negative surprise was the cost of fishing license for Vesterelva. We had to first buy the Norway's national fishing license which was 275 NOK for a year (we were told you can't get the license for a shorter period). And then we bought the 24 hour license for the river which was 300 NOK. So all together we paid 575 NOK each for a day's license...I think it's something like 65 €. I know there are lot more expensive rivers even in Norway, but this is more expensive than for example the licenses for Teno river and I think it's quite a lot for a small river like Vesterelva.

The next disappointment was that we didn't catch anything. It was a new river for both of us, so we didn't know where to focus our fishing efforts. Also we heard from the local fishing guard that there hasn't been a lot of salmon in the river this summer. Also some fishing tourists that had been fishing there for years confirmed this. Maybe it's because the water is very high and cold? Oh well...I'll go there again next summer as the river is anyhow very beautiful and in the end we were shown the places where to focus our fishing to be effective.

Thoughts on C&R fishing

I've been thinking the ideology behind Catch and Release fishing for quite long. Earlier this week I caught a 3.5 kg salmon with fly. It was so beautiful and gave a good fight and then I killed it. Later during the night when I was in the bed trying to sleep I started to think about the fish I had caught and I felt kind of sad for it.
I thought that what if I had released it? But in the end I realized that it doesn't honor the fish, but it's more like teasing and hassling with them for nothing. It's better to fish for food and honor the life of the fish by killing it fast and making sure that the meet doesn't go wasted by taking it to cold pretty fast. And I thank mother nature every time it offers me something.

Don't take this wrong though. I do understand the thinking behind C&R fishing when it is important to make sure the fish population in a certain river f. ex. is not endangered. And I don't condemn people who do C&R also in "normal" river. But you'll never see me doing C&R anywhere. If catch and kill is not permitted in some river, I won't fish there.

Challenges with a shooting head and weather conditions

Last night I finally got to go fly fishing salmon from the river Utsjoki for the first time this summer. It really didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. I had some problems with casting for two reasons, the shooting head that was too long and the wind was absolutely crazy.
I thought that when you buy a a rod, reel and lines with shooting head, the head would be ready for use out of the box. So I just set everything tying the lines together with loops and went fishing. Obviously I was wrong and that became self evident in a few minutes. I realized that my brand new 10 feet AFTM 8 Guideline LPXe rod can't handle 12 meters long shooting head. Immediately I sat down on the beach and went surfing the internet with my Nokia N76 for information on the shooting head lengths and realized I have to cut it 2,5-3 meters shorter. Well, I didn't want to do it then as I didn't have those easily attachable loops for the line end and the problem trying to make those loops yourself was still fresh in my memory.
So I continued fishing although you couldn't talk about casting a fly...it was more like throwing. And I had been told using a shooting head would make fly fishing easier! The wildly blowing wind didn't make it any easier. The wind blew the line to my face a couple of times while I was trying to cast it. I was very lucky not to get the fly to my face!
Did I catch anything besides my jacket? ...No :( As any fisherman I have good excuses. Besides the challenges with casting, the water is now really high. I have never fished on that part of Utsjoki with water being that high. I didn't really know where to look for the fish. And I only had floating line (shooting head). I think I have to get the fly well below the surface in order to catch a salmon in these water conditions. This means I got to get me a intermediate or sinking 2 shooting head...and of course those easy to use loops for it. So I have to go shopping now. In the mean while read the blog by Aslak Pieski, mostly about river Teno and fishing there, from here: http://www.tenojoki.fi/tenopaasivut/aslak/

Trout fishing in fjells

The evening 2 days ago I went to a very small lake in the fjell to fish trout and arctic charr. I was able to catch a few of those, just enough for a lunch for four the next day. Bete Lotto was the best lure, while flys didn't work at all.
Man they taste great and the flesh is so red. I wonder what kind of shrimps they eat. The funny thing is that not all the trouts/arctic charr in the same lake eat the same stuff as sometimes you can catch a fish that has white flesh.

Setting up fly fishing set

What a day I had yesterday! I spent hours trying to make a sophisticated loop in my new fishing line. In the end I was able to make some sort of loop, but it sure ain't pretty but I hope it'll do the job.
I didn't get the license for Utsjoki river yet so I have to settle for fishing in a lake in the fjell nearby.

My fishing season soon starting

My fishing fever is getting really bad.
I've been day dreaming about fishing for couple of months already and during the last month I've even seen dreams of fishing many times while sleeping.
The other day I watched two fishing films on DVD. Man I wanna go fishing!
I'm expecting to receive a new set of Fly fishing gear today; rod, reel and lines. I'll write more about those once I've tested them.

Anyway, soon I can kick off my fishing season. Tomorrow morning I'll pack my things into my car and drive up north to Utsjoki (it'll be a long drive, 680 km) where I'm originally from. Then on Saturday, unless I have a really bad hangover, I'm gonna go Salmon fishing to river Utsjoki. During next two weeks I'll spend a lot of time also fishing from river called Vetsijoki.

Ignition...

It's time for me to start the blog finally. I've been thinking about this for way too long. This blog is going to cover mainly my hobbies such as (fly) fishing and snow mobiling.

I've been fishing since I was a 6 year old boy. There was no one really in my family who could have taught me as my dad doesn't really know that much about fishing without nets. So I've had to learn everything by myself...and it has been a very long road. Still today my success as a fisherman isn't that great if you measure it by the number or the size of fish I've caught. But that doesn't affect my love for the sport :)