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 :)