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.

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.

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.

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.