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ANZEIGE
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SCALE #40 Authors, Photographers, Filmmakers Cover: SCALE Art Department
Brian Bojsen +++ Sebastian Bremm +++ Morgan Calu +++ Patrick Götz +++ Florian Lustig Luis Meana +++ Naoki Ogasawara +++ Robert Pljuscec +++ Nerijus Rupciauskas +++ Jeremy Mark Shelton Tomasz Talarczyk +++ Vaidas Uselis +++ Urs Wehrli
CONTENT
Heavy On The Hook.
Dutch Oven by Petromax
ANZEIGE
DAFV Guideline, Stroft, With draws from icinthebasket and #plast
Editorial 8 Mugshots 12 Scaredy Cat • Angling against fear with Frank Steinmann 20 Webwatcher 60 Fish, Photo & Fame • The SCALE Instagram Check 66 No thanks to snow • Escaping winter to Sudan with Robert Pljuscec 70 Payday 96 Big in Japan • Exploring Hokkaido wilderness with Tomasz Talarczyk 98 Behind The Scene • A look at the technical side of SCALE Magazine 128 Fresh water hunting in packs • Morgan Calu and Corsica’s wolves 130 Wrap-Up • Brian Bojsens fast motion 2020 adventure 156 Hot & Not 188 SCALE reads along • Book launch with Luis Meana 190 Tarpon fishing in Alaska? • Urs Wehrli in search of Sheefish 194 Tie Hard! powered by AHREX 220 New Zealand’s Monarchy • Patrick Götz encounters the island’s King 222 SCALE at the movies 246 Hardbodies & Softcores 248 260 Sexy Tools & Musthaves 286 Big Picture • Black Fly Eyes Media Imprint 312
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EDITORIAL
SCALE 3.0 – SAY GOOD-BYE TO THE PUBLISHER.
Wow! We couldn‘t believe it at first. SCALE Magazine’s issue # 40 marks the tenth anniversary of our publication. It’s time to take a deep breath...
I still remember the birth of SCALE very clearly and I fondly think back to these evenings when we first sat on the floor of the long hallway in my old flat, pages laid out before us while the inkjet printer kept on spitting out more of my crudely designed lay-outs. The team back then consisted of Mathias Kensa, Sven Mainzer, Hauke Barz and myself, and I still raise a toast to how informally we approached the matter of founding a magazine back then.
A few weeks prior to that memorable evening, I had met Hauke and we both agreed at the time that the angling magazine landscape looked bleak. We both felt that it was time for something new and fresh and that we should take up the challenge. The noticeably declining circulation of printed angling magazines spoke a clear language and it was obvious that readers needed something new and above all, it needed to be online – which of course was also due to our lack of logistics and physical distribution. We quickly got two friends on board, Mathias and Sven, and after a few days of collecting topics and writing the first texts, we were off. On 1 June 2011, SCALE No.1 finally saw the light of day with 73 double pages. Then as now, free of charge, online and thanks to our translator at the time, Ernest Gill, also in English.
A lot of time has passed since then and a lot has happened. Editors and other key staff changed, but we made many new friends, fished and reported from a variety of destinations, welcomed great writers and real fishing celebrities to the magazine, saw the photos of great photographers, visited trade fairs and were invited to events. Our 5th anniversary party in an Amsterdam bar will also be remembered as legendary.
Maybe editors of publishing houses take such things for granted – however, for us, a couple of friends who set out to make a cool fishing magazine, it all felt pretty amazing.
In ten years we have hopefully reinvented ourselves time and again, but issue 40 marks a real turning point.
Firstly, Tankred Rinder, who has been SCALE‘s intermittent editor and most recently translator for eight years, is leaving us. We say thank you and wish him all the best. Further, founder, doer, networker and above all publisher Hauke Barz says „goodbye“ to all our readers, media partners, authors, photographers and artists – and above all to us. His decision to devote himself more to his job, his family and other activities after this long time for SCALE Magazine has of course been known to us for some time and we have had time enough to plan for it. Yet it saddens a lot. As the man of the first hour and the „boss of the whole thing“, Hauke always pulled the strings and ran a tight ship. Without him, the whole thing wouldn‘t have worked and if anyone had the gift of keeping a bunch of lunatics together, getting articles coming in, keeping appointments and agreements, coordinating translators or keeping an eye on the bookkeeping, it was him. Our only consolation: we lose a companion-in-arms but keep a friend. Goodbye Hauke, thank you for everything ...
However, the turning point also means positive things and there is great news that not only our former publisher is pleased with: SCALE will go on. Frank Steinmann and I will continue, and in addition several new, fresh faces are coming on board. And a lot else is changing, too. We don‘t want to reveal too much at this point, but one thing is certain and already visible: after the foundation ten years ago and the relaunch two years ago, we are now igniting stage 3 of the SCALE rocket. It will really start in the next few days and until then, have fun with our anniversary issue: SCALE Magazine No. 40. (Stefan Alt) Have fun with our anniversary edition & stay healthy, Your SCALE editorial office
shout@scale-magazine.com
Illustration: Stefan Alt
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STRONGER THAN EVER!
* Fuego only.
LIGHTER THAN BEFORE,
www.daiwa.de
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IN SCALE #40 ON BOARD
URS WEHRLI With our issue 40, one of my personal, long-cherished dreams finally comes true: to be able to read an article by the Swiss Urs Wehrli in SCALE. Maybe we should have just asked him much earlier, but now the time has finally come and the likeable Swiss is thrilling us with his chase for Sheefish on the Kobuk River in Alaska. The articles published on the web by Urs so far have thrilled me from day one of my fly fishing life. On the one hand the globetrotter based in Bern manages to find the right words for what he has experienced, and on the other hand he manages to captivate readers with his fascinating photos. Urs has been fishing for as long as he can remember and developed a pronounced penchant for fly fishing at a young age – which was certainly also due to his father, who was a fly fisherman himself and encouraged Urs in his passion and passed on his knowledge to him.
Even after several float trips on Alaska‘s rivers, the call of the wilderness has not diminished for Urs, and thanks to the understanding and support of his wife and two daughters, he is always able to tell us about his new adventures in the wilderness, which he organises exclusively himself. On his website, he shares his adventures with interested readers and is always ready to answer questions.
It‘s no coincidence, by the way, that his stories often make you feel like you‘re reading an exciting book by Jack London, who is a great role model for the inspirational Swiss. It goes without saying that our man from the small neighbouring country with the 26 cantons also builds first-class rods and ties the finest flies. Urs is simply a fly fisherman through and through. I for sure celebrate him again and again for his work and his exciting trips, and the rest of the editorial team is also pleased that we can finally welcome him here. Salü and welcome Urs. (Stefan Alt)
www.floaters.ch
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IN SCALE #40 ON BOARD
TOMASZ TALARCZYK Dual citizenship, living and working abroad, fishing in the most remote places of the world, the life of Tomasz Talarczyk! Well, the cherry on top from now on is of course his status as a SCALE boy and he has well earned that.
With a Polish and an American passport in his luggage, Tomasz, born in Krakow, moved to Shanghai a good ten years ago, where he has been working as a teacher and consultant. No, no one said bat! So let‘s move on: Together with his wife he lives in the busy world of the metropolis and uses every free moment for fishing.
Whether it‘s shirt-sleeved on his lunch break, chasing skygazers in the city park, or on one of his many travels that have taken him to exotic and wild places on our planet. Mongolia, Bolivia and Australia were among his highlights, as was Japan, and that‘s where Tomazs takes us in this issue. The legendary Ito, Itou, migratory taimen or also Sakhalin taimen is a very special fish and therefore we are looking forward to the spectacular pictures that Tomasz presents to us. By the way, Tomasz learned fly fishing from his grandfather, who took him to the water since he was thirteen years old. For Tomasz, family visits mean Poland and Wisconsin, and so even there there are great and diverse fishing opportunities for him between coffee, chat and cake. For his future, the Temple Fork and Pike Terror Flies Ambassador plans to focus more on the native species of Central China.
We are excited to find out what we will see from him in the future! If you want to track Tomasz on his travels, follow him on Instagram and Facebook!
We welcome him to our 10th anniversary issue and express this tri-lingually: Witamy, Huānyíng and a heartly welcome, Tomasz Talarczyk! (Frank Steinmann)
Tomasz auf Facebook
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IN SCALE #40 ON BOARD
BLACK FLY EYES MEDIA From hobby to profession: a dream come true for the two friends Nerijus and Vaidas. Born and raised in Lithuania, their childhood was shaped by the profound nature experiences they gained at a young age hunting, fishing and hiking with their families. The rest of their shared story sounds almost like it was conceived by the Disney Studios: After Nerijus graduates with a bachelor‘s degree in ecology, he emigrates to Norway. There, by chance, he meets Vaidas while sea trout fishing and the two not only discover they have something in common when it comes to their homeland and love of nature, no, they also share a passion and interest in working with photo and film cameras.
Today, a decade later, the two work together as the Black Fly Eyes Media team and are based in Oslo. From a hobby, to a part-time project, to a full-time job, the two increased their business and today work with some big players in the nature and outdoor industry! Fishing, hunting and spearfishing are clearly at the forefront. In our SCALE photo story, we show you what style makes the photo work of the two bearded journeymen so special. Atmospherically dense and yet Scandinavian reduced, you could describe what makes the color scheme of the images so special. From spectacular landscape scenarios in which the hunter or angler embedded becomes an accessory in a magnificent natural setting, to stylish outdoor cuisine, Black Fly Eyes Media convey an absolute authenticity that reflects the raw and original character of their environment.
Whether it‘s salmon fishing, trout stalking or extended hunting trips in the mountains of Scandinavia and Siberia, these two friends conceive great imagery worlds that they take us on in this edition of SCALE Big Pictures. Sveiki, Nerijus and Vaidas. (Frank Steinmann)
www.vimeo.com/user19768843 www.instagram.com/blackflyeyes www.facebook.com/blackflyeyes
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FRANK STEINMANN @franksteinmann
THE STORY OF THE YOUTH WHO WENT FORTH TO LEARN WHAT FEAR WAS ALL OVER AGAIN.
FEATURING: JONAS, DANIEL, KATJA, LEO & ONCHÚ
PHOTOS
FRANK STEINMANN
DESTINATION
SOMEWHERE, WELL HIDDEN IN GERMANY
TARGET FISH
BROWN TROUT
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MARCH
START OF THE SEASON. THE WATER IS STILL HIGH.
THE FISH LIVE WITHDRAWN UNDER STONES AND ALDER ROOTS.
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„If you want to last here in the long run, you‘ll either become a competitive athlete or a drug addict,“ these thoughts haunt my mind as I lie awake on my first night in the new house. An unrelenting storm causes the wooden shutters to crash syncopatedly against the facade, wind-swept branches that seem to have sprung from Tim Burton‘s mind stand out grotesquely distorted against the full moon outside. I pull the blanket up to the tip of my nose and feel something like dread. Here in the perceived nothingness of my newly chosen „home“.
I experienced my childhood in the German suburbs of Frankfurt and Offenbach, my father a Germanist, my mother a librarian: living on the edge of a forest, a large garden, secretly and regardless of all the urban cacophony in the immediate vicinity. Adolescence and studies completed in Giessen, culture on call, gastronomy, clubs, people to exchange with, friends.
Then came at some point the own children, the call for comfortable care, more space, the cottage in the green became louder. Landlust, distraction, leisure, subsistence, these were the keywords that made us arrive at this place, which I perceived as sober loneliness.
Sure, the house was at first sight - and still is - picturesque, with its echoes of Art Nouveau, 4000 m² of wilderness added to it, trout and lampreys frolicking in the stream that flows through the property, the deer and foxes peering into our coffee cups in the morning, the children happy - here and outside.
APRIL OVERNIGHT WINTER HAS RETURNED.
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MAY THE SHORT BUT INTENSE SPRING HAS BEGUN.
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Landlust or Walden light Still, I dread being away from the pulse of time, apart from friends and culture. In my new habitat, the latter is limited to hoarding firewood, operating tractors as the ultimate expression of masculine potency, and boisterous goings-on at village-staged funfair celebrations that have to end in a potpourri of simmering sausages and regurgitated former meals, it seems to me. I sold my car. We live the short summer outside.
Grow what fruits and vegetables we need throughout the year. My CO² footprint seems to be getting smaller and smaller, however, my fear of loneliness has been counter-cyclical to this effect at times.
„The hardest winter I‘ve experienced so far was the summer with you,“ once quipped one of my friends who visited me to „relax“ in what they perceived as our idyll. And indeed, the climate here is harsh at 600 meters above sea level. We have long and very cold winters with snow until April. Spring and summer are short but intense, it seems as if the vegetation wants to compensate for the lack of growing season with ecstatic proliferation.
Healing handicraft What should I relate? The cure for my fear was to come one day when an eager handyman who was to tile our shower found my waders hanging out to dry in just that.
It was to turn out that he too was an avid fly fisherman.
What a gift! And so one thing led to another and it turned out that my fears were heard and I was given a gift that took all fear away from me.
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I was to become a leaseholder of a section of stream that was to be found only a stone‘s throw from our house. The small stream, rippling merrily over basalt formations, flows through meadows and forests and at some point, after uniting umpteen times with other watercourses, flows into the Rhine.
In its upper reaches, my stream has the character of a pure trout watercourse: even in midsummer, the water remains pleasantly cool and, in addition to the autochthonous brown trout, only the bullhead and its numerous descendants live in it. The trout spawn here and further stocking is not necessary.
Well protected from the sun and voracious cormorants, the stream runs through the submontane highland forests consisting of maple, ash, alder and larch. Alder roots, large basalt boulders, and deeply undercut banks provide shelter and food for fish.
Fishing with the seasons or getting snowed in to start the season Fishing is due to the passing of the seasons. When the fishing season begins in mid-March, there is usually high water. The melting of the snow turns the small stream into a raging torrent. The force of the water reshapes the terrain. Drift wood is moved and freshly arranged, pools, scours and trickling stretches are newly formed. Every year a different landscape appears, it is almost unbelievable what nature provides, if only it is allowed to!
Then in April, when you think you can already smell spring, it suddenly snows again. The shoots of early bloomers, anemones, snowdrops and larkspur retreat back into the ground and my son and I catch our first trout surrounded by glittering snow crystals and ice-cold water.
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JULY TROUT FEED ON THE ABUNDANT RANGE OF FLYING INSECTS.
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When spring detonates, summer cools and autumn begins its destruction When the sun finally takes over in early May, life explodes. The air is filled with bird calls, buzzing insects, and on the river bottom, caddisfly larvae can be seen grazing the rocks by the thousands. The extensive agricultural economy, which is reduced to pasture farming in the region, manages without pesticides and insecticides, so that the abundance of terrestrial and aquatic insects and crustaceans, such as gammarids, seems almost endless. For the benefit and flourishing of the trout.
The trout are characterized by colorful patterns and versatile expression of them. They do not grow huge, there is no room for that in the small stream. At least in the upper reaches where I fish. A specimen of 60 cm is the exception, and I have been able to catch one only once so far.
The productive time here is short, the trout greedily take everything that comes in front of their mouths.
Mayflies are around until August. The cold water is a blessing and even when the ambient temperatures exceed 35 degrees, I still measure 8 degrees in my little stream.
As the days get shorter in the fall, nymphs come into play and the fish are in the scours and hidden under roots, so you have to know how to place the short drifts well in the swift current to have success.
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AUGUST A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, THE KING OF THE POOL.
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OCTOBER
BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS.
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IN THE LOWER REACHES CYPRINIDS DOMINATE HERE AND SALMON FIND THEIR WAY BACK FOR SPAWNING.
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Changes in hydrology and psyche In the lower reaches, my stream becomes wider and more leisurely. Cyprinids, such as nase, chub, and dace, dominate here. Small fish, like the „schneider“ and minnow populate the water by the hundreds of thousands. But also some big and old trout hide here and lead a secret existence. Even the salmon finds its way back here to dig its redds. There is no fishing here, I like to go snorkeling, and experience the fish fauna in the most intense way, naturally, without hook and line.
The fact to fish a stream like this, but also to manage it, soon filled me up and gave me back a lot of what my fears and anxieties about the solitude had taken away. Friends visit me to fly fish together and enjoy the natural waters. We talk, often quietly. I head out with my wife, kids and dog to cool our feet in the summer and spot a fish or two. The long winters I draw on the colorful memories the year has brought me so far and know that my fears of „isolation“ were unfounded. In short, neither Tim Burton nor greasy meat sausages haunt my dreams today, I sleep surrounded by silence and surrender to it completely.
Fear has disappeared.
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DRAW
YOUR CHANCE TO WIN: 3 X ALL-ROUND CAREFREE PACKAGE BY STROFT If there is one thing that has accompanied us in our fishing since childhood, it is the Stroft brand leader material. It feels as if their spools have been around for hundreds of years and the fact that their design has never really changed has certainly helped them to establish themselves visually, because the recognition value is high. In the end, however, it is the quality that has prevailed and the fact that Stroft is the market leader in Europe today is well deserved. Speaking of the brand, Stroft is actually just the name of the product line, and results from the fusion of the two words strong and soft.
Over the last few years, many innovative products have appeared under the Stroft name – from sea fishing to carp fishing to fly fishing, Stroft has something in its portfolio for pretty much every type of fishing. Behind all this is the company WAKU, which is based in the Hamburg area. Founder and namesake Walter Kummerow, who was head of research and development at the equally well-known brand DAM (Deutsche Angelgeräte Manufaktur) in Berlin in the mid-1970s, incidentally benefits from his own practical experience in developing the products, which is not only the result of his love of fishing. He has won an incredible 33 world and European championship titles in casting. But the man of action does not rest on his laurels. Together with his managing director André Giermann, he is always on the lookout for innovations, tries to improve his own products or even dares to do something unusual. Just last year, Stroft surprised us with its first own soft baits, which, how could it be otherwise, quickly became a success due to their special features. We are proud to have the traditional company on board as a media partner from the very beginning and are always happy when the company donates some of its products to our readers in a raffle.
This time there are three packages that have it all when it comes to leader material. Each of the 3 packages contains a Stroft 5 spool tippet dispenser, 3 spools of 25m Stroft GTM and 2 spools of Stroft FC in different diameters and a leather case with 6 tapered fly leaders in various diameters and lengths. If you would like to own one of the three packages, simply send a message to
stroft@scale-magazine.com As always, it takes a while before we announce the lucky winners, but to pass the time it‘s worth taking a look at Stroft‘s extensive range.
www.stroft.de
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WEBWATCHER
SAFER SALMON There is always a plan B!
Hardly any marine „food“ has received as much criticism in recent years as the so-called „farmed salmon“. In addition to fatal consequences for the immediate environment due to the discharge of pesticides, antibiotics, fungicides, fecal matter and other toxic substances into the oceans, there are a number of other problems associated with this form of factory farming – the parasitic salmon lice, which also infest the offspring of wild salmon, the entry of genetic material from farmed salmon into natural populations, or the fact that the provision of feed for salmon fattening is often itself a great outrage in terms of overexploitation of nature. Ecologically and also from the nutritional value (keyword fat content and enriched toxins) actually a disaster, the fillets stand raw and smoked nevertheless in rows in each Discounter. Why does salmon, which a few decades ago was still a luxury good and was consumed at most on Christmas or other special occasions, have to be available at all times? This is a dilemma, however, that we can observe in connection with many foods in today‘s consumer-driven world: Always available in manifold forms and freely cyclical cycles that would normally regulate an availability!
Back to salmon and a small start-up company from Germany that has decided to act differently. The guys from „Safer Salmon“ advertise to offer probably the most sustainable salmon of Germany. „Free of drugs and chemicals“. That sounds quite lofty and has already led to uproar among long-established salmon farmers in Norway, as Safer Salmon CEO Markus explains to me on the phone. „We‘ve already had to endure the first juristical complaints as a result of our advertising campaigns, because people don‘t believe that clean salmon production is possible.“ So what makes Safer Salmon different? Well, the spirit embodied by the 5-person team is due in no small part to the synergies that the young entrepreneurs‘ diverse professional backgrounds bring to sales: From digital business, a specialist in the wine industry, a PhD in sustainability and expertise in environmental technology, a sushi restaurant operator who is also a logistics expert, to the fish connoisseur and, as it were, the importer who gave the start-up access to the premium salmon in the first place, Safer Salmon is thus a smorgasbord of competencies that have the claim of offering an ecologically harmless food of the highest quality. Ethically, the fish should also be treated better than their relatives in cages off the coasts of Europe
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and the rest of the world. The fish themselves come from Denmark and belong to the company „Atlantic Sapphire“, which operates not only in Denmark (Hvide Sande), but also in its founding country, the USA.
Atlantic Sapphire has specialized in making its fish farming and everything it does in the corporate sector as sustainable as possible. The salmon themselves are kept in what is called a „Blue House“, this is a closed circulation system and the fish have no contact with the outside world – this from the egg, to the smolt, to the ready for slaughter animal weighing about 4.5 kg. The Blue House is an exceptional aquaponics facility.
Seawater is filtered and purified, and the salmon swim in current pools to accommodate the animals‘ urge to move, which also helps them grow more muscular and thus less fat. Strong filtration systems ensure crystal clear, clean water. Overcrowding of animals is avoided, so that each individual has a volume of approximately 1000 liters of water at its disposal. The eggs are incubated in the facility and are sourced from Icelandic and Norwegian production. The animals are free of genetic engineering, the salmon at Atlantic Sapphire are not designed for fast growth and high fat content! To list all the facts that make this principle of aquaculture so special and exemplary at this point would go beyond the scope here. If you want to know more, download the Atlantic Sapphire ESG Report of 2019, the link is at the end of this article.
However, it is particularly noteworthy that the energy supply of the plant runs self-sufficiently, even the excrement of the salmon is used by biogas plants to provide energy, the waste water is meticulously filtered, no pesticides, antibiotics or other drugs are used. The salmon lice do not exist in the Blue House. Another challenge is the development of fish feed; in the long term, the aim is to move away from using animal protein as a source of energy. Another challenge is the development of fish feed. In the long term, the people at Atlantic Sapphire would like to work on replacing the animal protein, which is currently still provided from fish, with insect protein. Nevertheless, the fish meal/fish oil that is currently used in the feed is under strict regulations to protect against overfishing. And we are not talking about the flimsy MSC seals, but certifications that are based, for example, on the international Marine Trust and the FAO Code of conduct for responsible fisheries. The same applies to the soy contained in the feed, and other grains that are cultivated without overexploitation of nature. Also the toxic ethoxyquin, an antioxidant, which is contained in many fish feeds, is naturally missing in Atlantic Sapphire. The fillet gets its red color from the natural pigment astaxanthin, which is extracted from the marine microorganism Paracoccus carotinifaciens.
The product itself, the salmon, which Safer Salmon offers us in three variants, namely as smoked Sapphire salmon of the highest quality, as „Richard the Red“ the premium product, cold-smoked and refined with redwood, and now also fresh salmon fillet in excellent sashimi quality is truly incomparable when it comes to a farmed salmon fillet. Even visually, it is quite different from all other farmed products in terms of fat content and texture. A fine grain and extremely low fat characterize the salmon. In terms of taste, it is also in a league of its own. Not a bit tranquil, the fillet melts delicately and gently to the delight of the palate.
All the culinarians and restaurateurs in our area who have tasted Safer Salmon so far have been delighted with the quality of the fish. Also the nutritions are worth a closer look: Rich in omega-3 acids, low on fat and
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providing plenty of vitamins and proteins, it seems that farmed Salmon has once again become a healthy food source and diet.
So far, Safer Salmon only ships the salmon within Germany. Ordered today (online or by phone), it will arrive at your home quickly and freshly chilled on ice. In terms of price, Safer Salmon naturally ranks somewhat higher than the fillets that are on the shelves at discount stores, so that you pay €7.20 for 100 g of premium smoked salmon and €8.70 for the refined fillet. This is however quite justified and as already mentioned at the beginning, I see it in such a way that the salmon should be regarded as a luxury article, which one does not have to consume evenly weekly.
Of course, critics will find fault with Atlantic Sapphire‘s system: „Factory farming remains factory farming, fish must swim freely in the sea“ and so on. But if you want to act consciously and keep in mind that there are forms of food production that are more sustainable than others, then there is every reason to follow this path. And the king of the salmonids, namely the wild Salmo salar, will certainly thank us for it. (Frank Steinmann) If you are curious and would like to try the delicious Safer Salmon, please order at:
www.safer-salmon.de You can download the mentioned report from the producer Atlantic Sapphire under this link: hier
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THE SCALE INSTAGRAM-CHECK In our SCALE Instagram column, we introduce you to people and their feeds that are worth a follow! Bored of the repetitive grab ‚n grin?
Then the following profile is definitely for you!
Jeremy Mark Shelton is not only a smart dude and somehow embodies the light of the coast and the endless surf of the ocean - no, he is also a PhD aquatic biologist and very active as a scientist in local conservation. This locality is placed in South Africa, where Jeremy works and also photographs, or films. As a member of the world fish migration society he is also active in the conservation of migration routes for migratory fish species. His photography is accordingly mainly focused on aquatic fauna, but Jeremy also knows how to skilfully stage landscapes and portraits! Check out his work, his documentary approach is simply worth seeing! Dive in and be amazed!
@jeremymarkshelton
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ROBERT PLJUSCEC @rpljuscec
NUBIAN FLATS WINTER IN SUDAN
PHOTOS
ROBERT PLJUSCEC
DESTINATION
SUDAN
TARGET FISH
DOGTOOTH TUNA, CORAL TROUT, GT, TRIGGERFISH
WEB
WWW.WILDSEAEXPEDITION.COM
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After our first lockdown experience on Socotra, where we got stuck for almost four months, it was once again time to hit the open road. Nicola Vitali, the owner of Wild Sea Expedition, had been planning a winter trip to Madagascar for us. Unfortunately, as the Covid cases started rising on the island, Madagascar decided to close its borders for EU citizens. But Nicola isn’t the sort of guy to let such things affect his faculty for planning amazing trips. A couple of days later he called and said; let’s go to Sudan then.
Plotting Nicola busied himself making arrangements. So far the plan was for our crew to go to Sudan to film something, to capture something that would fill the gaping hole this empty season has left in the scene. Brave, ambitious anglers were recruited, every one of them ready to explore the Red Sea.
Before I went I had many messages from friends telling me that it was a bad idea to go; that we would be stuck again, that we wouldn’t be able to even leave Europe, that Sudan wasn’t safe. I was a bit concerned of course, but as it turned out, travelling to Sudan was a carefree experience. You need a slip from the doctor, a negative PCR test, but that’s about it. There were no crowds at the airport, everyone was very friendly and helpful.
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Arrival After landing in Port Sudan, we drove down to the harbour and boarded the magnificent boat that had been rented for us. We immediately removed our sneakers and sweatshirts, putting on flip-flops and short sleeves, as the thermometer showed a temperature of 28° degrees. We had left a wintry, foggy Europe and all of us took a moment to appreciate the luxury of this change in weather conditions. These Covid times are hard on everyone and our Africa expedition felt like an escape for a little while. We were sitting on a boat anchored in Port Sudan, eating a beautiful dinner in a tropical place. What a privilege!
Our first fishing tour started at 5am the next morning. Our breakfast was waiting for us on deck, we enjoyed some coffee and tea chatting about the day ahead.
A strong north wind was blowing, the boat was gently swaying on the waves.
Arriving at the bay we took one look at the water and agreed that fly fishing wouldn’t be an option; the water was quite murky and furthermore this particular spot was known for permit and bonefish, two species that are almost invisible even in clear water. We therefore decided to try some popping and jigging, while the fly crew left in the direction of the well-known Nubian flats.
Our results were good, jigging is a real option in Sudan, even during the winter months.
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Most of the fish could be found in the deeper areas and we managed to catch quite a few coral trouts, Dogtooths and Moon-Tail Groupers. The fly crew were less lucky but we still had days ahead of us and our hopes were high. We continued to travel north and passed the famous Dungonab bay, finally reaching our destination, the magnificent Marsa Kor Shinab bay.
Special Moments Gazing into the night sky from the boat was truly a sight; myriads of stars scattered across inky infinity. A view only rivalled by the image that lay beneath it, these waters glow with the zooplankton’s bioluminescence just below the surface. A sort of mimicry of the light show above. Truly marvellous views are a guarantee in Sudan. Sometimes it‘s sort of hard to take it all in at once. But fishing, of course, was our priority and so we were back at it the next morning. Once more spinning wasn’t as rewarding as jigging, the surface produced some Barracudas, some Dogtooths and GTs. Dogtooth Tuna is a common catch in these waters, especially on the jig. The reefs of the Red Sea are inhabited by an abundance of different species and Sudan’s 650 kilometres of coast are completely covered in these coral structures. Even hammerhead sharks are native to the area, which attracts a lot of (supposedly mad) divers.
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Another interesting species we encountered is the triggerfish, which can be separated into two subspecies; the smarter and smaller Yellow Margin and the bigger and sillier Titan. The first exhibited an unusual level of intelligence, learning from previous experiences and adapting quickly to new situations.
Something everyone single one of us noticed is that because of it‘s unusual with this species has a mercurial tendency in terms of character, you will never know what’ll happen when targeting them in the flats
Place and People We spent our days on the sea mostly fishing, drinking coffee or gazing at the sky and the sea. We returned to Port Sudan in high spirits, our clients went back home and Nicola and I stayed for another week getting to know the city a bit. The fishing market is a strange and wonderful place, packed to the brim with all sorts of people and sea creatures. Napoleon and parrot fish in one box. Then the African way of dealing the leftovers, which apparently includes scattering them in the streets at random. A very exotic thing to see! Also, the locals were extremely helpful and friendly, I’d even say the place is safer than most of the big European cities.
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PAYDAY
20 A beaver has flooded 20 hectares of meadows and forests incl. a so-called spillway of the waterworks in the Hessian town of Babenhausen by building dams.
Nature lovers in the surrounding communities could therefore be happy about the natural phenomenon, but it is not quite that simple. As is often the case, the same applies here: What nature takes back, it takes from man – and in this case that means natural landscape meets cultural landscape. Conflicts are inevitable, just as with the wolf.
In this case, this means that the drinking water wells of the waterworks, which supply approx. 135,000 people with the best drinking water, are located exactly at the places where the beaver has dammed up. And because a lot of water from the sewage treatment plants of the entire Odenwald area flows into the streams where the furry rodent has been tinkering, they now have a problem. All the things that the sewage treatment plants could not filter out of the water – such as drug residues – are now seeping into places where they should not, and they will find their way into the groundwater in 15 to 20 years later.
Currently, it has been decided to scare away the beaver ...
Illustration: Stefan Alt SACLE / 19.02.2021
(Stefan Alt) Foto: Gabriel Tovar
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TOMASZ TALARCZYK @flyorthodox
BIG IN JAPAN ITO IN THE HOKKAIDO WILDERNESS
PHOTOS
NAOKI OGASAWARA
DESTINATION
HOKKAIDO/JAPAN
TARGET FISH
SACHALIN TAIMEN
WEB
TOMASZ ON FACEBOOK
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You may never find Japan on the „top 10 places to fly fish before you die“ lists published in various magazines and on popular fly fishing websites, but since I came to Asia almost 10 years ago, it was always on top of my private fly fishing bucket list. The Japan I had in mind lies far away from large cities and popular tourist attractions such as Tokyo, Kyoto or Osaka. The place I wanted to visit is the second biggest and the furthest northern island of Japan, Hokkaido.
Ito Hokkaido is surrounded by the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean. The island has a very diverse landscape with mountains and hills in the middle and plains and wetlands near the coast. The land and the seas of Hokkaido are extremely rich in wildlife; whales, red foxes, Stellar’s sea eagles and a whole lot of other interesting creatures are native to the island or the surrounding waters. Various rivers flow through it and where there is a lot of water, there is plenty of marine life including fish.
Naoki Ogasawara was the unofficial guide of my journey through Hokkaido. I met Naoki through Facebook.
It all started when I left a comment underneath a photo of a giant Ito, also known as the Japanese huchen, mentioning how I‘ve been dreaming of catching one.
To my surprise, Naoki responded with “Why don’t you come over and get one?” A few weeks later I booked a direct flight from Shanghai to Sapporo. Naoki picked me up from the airport and we wasted no time chitchatting, we hit the road, driving towards Naoki’s secret rivers. On the six hour drive we eventually did end up chitchatting of course, talking about Hokkaido, its fauna and flora and the main reason I was there: Ito.
Ito is one of five surviving species of Taimen.
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It is the only Taimen species that spends part of its life in the ocean and part of it in lakes and large rivers.
The Ito’s native range includes the Primorsky Krai and Khabarovsk regions of eastern Russia, Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Islands and Hokkaido, Japan. In Hokkaido, extensive conservation efforts have resulted in a steadily growing population, whereas in Russia, the native population is down to five percent of its historic levels.
The no-name river The small lodge that would be our home for the next four days overwhelmingly exceeded my expectations, though I could not fall asleep that first night; not only because I was too excited, but also because my back was not sufficiently accustomed to the hard Japanese beds. My alarm clock went off at 3:30. I quickly sent Naoki a message to see whether he was awake.
Of course, he was. Despite already having caught hundreds of giant Ito in his life, he still gets extremely excited every time he goes fishing. This time he had another incentive, to help an Ito first-timer get the fish of his dreams. We shared the breakfast table with another angler, he nodded to us before setting out to fish his secret spots. I wondered whether or not there were enough Ito to go around. There are dozens of bigger and smaller rivers, creeks and lakes scattered in the area. There is plenty of room for multiple anglers, so Naoki didn‘t seem worried that we were not alone. What did worry him was the heavy rain that had fallen the previous few days.
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The first river was totally blown out. Naoki mentioned a tributary nearby which he thought should be clear. It wasn‘t.
My hopes of catching the mighty sea-run Taimen were diminishing. My friend smiled and said there was a tributary to the tributary and we should check it out. I asked him about the name of the river and he responded: „I call it the no-name river.“ We came across a stream that looked like something I would expect to find brook trout in back in the States. Naoki informed me that this was our river for today. It sure had clear water, but not much of it. At least not enough for a 9 wt rod and the 6-inch flies I had prepared for this occasion; the artillery I had brought was way too heavy, but it was all I had. Though I have learned one thing throughout the years of traveling and fly fishing in various places around the world: never question your guide. I was ready to give this creek a shot. About 30 meters downstream the river turned and the water got a bit deeper; deep enough so that I could not see the bottom any longer. My guide said “Ito spot” and my heart started pounding.
I had low hanging branches behind and over me so the only way I could cast was the bow and arrow technique. I had never tried it with a 9 wt before, but somehow the fly landed in the water. I let the fly sink and on the first strip I felt the sweet tug of a mighty fish. A meter-long Ito rolled on the surface, my line went slack immediately. The fish came off. We fished for another two hours walking slowly downstream, casting at the best spots without any luck. It started raining heavily and the water started rising quickly. I was afraid the little stream would become unfishable before long, without us catching anything in the meantime. We arrived at a gorgeous spot where the creek split around a small island with a sizable pool behind it.
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My first cast came a bit short. On my second cast, my fly landed at the edge of the pool, which is exactly where I wanted it. The current pushed my fly closer to the surface and as I stripped it closer towards the middle of the pool, I noticed a fish silhouette right behind it. My fly disappeared and this time I set the hook right. The fish rolled on the surface a couple of times and then went for the overhanging canopies. I was able to stop its initial run and slowly regain some of the line. Naoki stood behind me ready to land the fish. Soon it gave up and my friend scooped it with the net. I dropped my rod and let out a primal roar.
The fish was not the monster that my host is used to catching, but it was still a solid male Ito. After a quick photo session the fish was released and Naoki and I headed back to the car. „The no-name river“ delivered!
The weather didn’t change over the next three days, so the majority of the rivers Naoki planned to fish were unfortunately blown out, but we were able to find some fishable water and I ended up catching a few more Ito and a handful of gorgeous white-spotted char (Salvelinus leucomaenis). During the time I spent on the water I saw a couple of giant fish pushing upstream which makes me even more anxious to return.
It was a fantastic trip to a gorgeous place with an awesome guide who quickly became my dear friend. Hopefully, we are allowed to travel freely again soon.
Then I’ll return to feel the power of the sea-run Taimen at the end of my line, enjoy the Hokkaido wilderness and talk fishing for hours once more.
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BEHIND THE SCENES
Making-Of SCALE Magazine Have you ever wondered how a flip-book à la SCALE works? Or do you even want to create one yourself? Our developer Hans Nücke will explain it to you ...
This is not about the main work, i.e. writing the articles and designing the magazine, but about the technology that brings everything into shape and onto the internet! Since the first issue (and even before, when SCALE was still called „Hook“) the teams of MegaZine3 and SCALE work closely together.
The last 10 years were an exciting time, and there was always a good exchange of ideas, as well as a friendly, trustful cooperation. That‘s why it has always been fun, despite some stressful last-minute activities. Also, thanks to SCALE, MegaZine3 has become a powerful and affordable tool today, which enables anyone creating online and offline publications quickly and easily. The video shows an example of the creation of the SCALE Magazine, from the moment when all pages are available in InDesign, as JPG or PNG images and as a PDF file, to the final online version – in both German and English language.
The most important „production“ steps are as follows: • Importing all „Page Images“ in JPG format and automatically creating all pages of SCALE Magazine in the correct page format.
• Importing all texts from the PDF file to enable text search and to improve SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
• Configuring the appearance of the magazine (fold, background color, menu items, ...) • Inserting all videos • Compiling the online package and uploading it to the server
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MORGAN CALU @morgancalufishing
LE LOUP FRESHWATER SEABASS IN CORSICA
PHOTOS
MORGAN CALU
DESTINATION
CORSICA
TARGET FISH
SEA BASS
WEB
MORGAN ON FACEBOOK
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The sea bass is probably the most sought-after marine predator in Europe. It can be fished from shore, from boats, from the surface as well as the bottom. It can be found in the North Sea in Norway and in the Atlantic in Morocco and basically everything in between, especially the Mediterranean Sea. This rather opportunistic predator is found in different types of habitats. It likes the brackish waters of mouths and lagoons. But also, surprisingly, it wanders upstream in rivers, sometimes quite far, in fresh water!
Fresh water bar «Le loup» (French for ‘the wolf’) or «ragnola», as the Corsicans call it, is quite present at the mouths. Many angler go after it here, some surfcast, others use lures. It is also regularly found in lagoons and coastal ponds where it rubs shoulders with mullets. On Corsica, where I have the opportunity to track sea bass in the river, it was by chance that I first crossed the path of Dicentrachus Labrax. On low stretches of rivers where I regularly stalk trout, it happened to me on several occasions that fish, sometimes very big ones, followed my small trout lure. Without being able to see more than a silhouette, I thought of curious mullets, shads (‘Alose’ in French) or even big trout... But then the fish came into view and I was surprised to see an actual «wolf»! Three «wolves» to be exact. These last ones were around 60cm, which meant attempting a catch with my UL trout rod in a strong current wouldn’t have made for a triumphant scene. But the idea of trying to catch this marine fish in fresh water has been present in my mind ever since.
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Why in freshwater?
The sea bass is a marine fish that usually enjoys brackish water, though numerous encyclopaedias of freshwater species of Europe list Dicentrarchus Labrax as a species capable of surviving in fresh water. So two questions: how and why? Clearly not to spawn, as migratory fish such as salmon or shad are known to. Well, to this day we don’t have a definite answer but most experts believe that wolves go up rivers to find food sources and quiet areas, sheltered from the pressure of fishermen and marine predators such as bluefish or leerfish.
here are indeed many small fish in these waters that are part of a sea bass’ diet: small mullets, atherines and eels, trout and shad are on the menu, as well as frogs, rodents, leeches, crayfish or even drifting earthworms – a lot of candy for a sea bass. Coming back to the first question: physiologically, sea bass have what is called a strong osmotic plasticity. They can, with a very short adaptation time (shorter than that of migratory fish such as salmon), thrive in environments of different salinity.
Prospecting In some regions of France such as Brittany or Normandy, catching sea bass on sight is very popular.
The environments are particularly suitable for this kind of fishing: in the estuaries the sea bass go after their prey during low tide, which makes them easily spottable. During their search for food the fish seem less wary and can be caught on sight on a regular basis. The large tidal range of the Atlantic Ocean favours the evolution and the path of coastal fishermen. In the Mediterranean, it‘s another story.
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The amplitude of the tides is not large enough to allow us to practice sight fishing regularly.
On the whole, fishing the Mediterranean is a rather mercurial affair. The fish’s search for food is clearly less dependent on tides. Also, fish are usually more wary here. I have seen anglers spot some fish, approach them very carefully, cast as precisely as possible and the fish leave without even glancing at the lure. Another problem, and not the smallest one, is that we see relatively few fish that we can approach comfortably. They often hide in the logjams and in order to approach them and cast precisely, we have to expose ourselves, risking being noticed before we’re able to cast. It took a lot of research and prospecting to find suitable spots.
Most of the mouths of the small rivers of Corsica are very crowded and not very accessible.
The first idea that came to us (us being my friend Kevin and me) was to go down a „big“ river in a kayak particularly adapted to fishing in a very crowded environment. We were ready to start our ambitious project of trying to catch a ‘wolf’ in fresh water.
Lure fishing … … was an obvious choice for us. Wolves are extremely sought after in Corsica. The minimum dimension is only 35 cm and is often not observed at all. The older, more experienced and therefore biggest subjects are rare, obviously very distrustful, and it is only in the middle of the night or very early in the morning that we sometimes manage to catch them. As far as lures were concerned, we intuitively opted for soft lures, more efficient on difficult fish.
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Moreover we absolutely needed mounts that would avoid untimely catches. The downstream of rivers receive a lot of waste and are very unpredictable environments. Our approach was a sort of adaptation of the technique we had applied when black-bass fishing in plant cover and congested environments. The speed of the current allowed for a quick inspection of the spots we considered promising. It was necessary to cover a lot of ground and make the fish react quickly. We therefore used leaded heads with Texan hooks for rhythmic and lively animations. The fine soft lures allow for hollow fishing. They sink faster than a shad and have a more nervous and inciting dart swim. This swim allows one to trigger attacks from wary fish, even if they are deep down in the nooks and crannies. Lures imitating small fish (4 to 5 inches for 10 to 13cm) are ideal to target sea bass in this environment because they «match the hatch».
Paradoxically, we prefer spinning rods to casting rods for this fishing. With closed angles and little room to make the gesture many casts require a wrist shot. Our basic models are M to MH power rods, with extra fast action and marked tip action between 2.20m and 2.25m.
Our reels are high ratios size 2500 to 4000, with 8-strand braid, but ideally opted for a 4-strand, more resistant to abrasion. A fluorocarbon of 8 to 12lbs and a length of 1.50m ends the line.
After a couple of weeks of fruitless attempts, we finally found an ideal river with accessible banks and wolves nearby.
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And finally ...
Our first tests were quickly conclusive, with the regular capture of specimen between 40cm and 60cm. We were able to try out a variety of spots to refine our approach. Spring is the favourable season, when the sea warms up and the rivers are still cool and oxygenated. The fish are fond of heavy water and can be very active on rainy days. The high tides also seem to drive the fish up the rivers. They are really fond of hideouts such as dead trees, plant cover, etc.
There are hardly any fish navigating the middle of the riverbed during high tide.
We are always happy every time we catch this wonderful fish. The precise and methodical fishing necessary to reach the fish in their hideouts, the magnificent natural environments... and the brutal bites are responsible for the fact that we mostly fish sea bass in fresh water today!
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BRIAN BOJSEN
WILD SCANDINAVIAN WAY
WRAP UP 2020
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Last year was awful – a crap year. While I write these lines, we are still in lockdown and my restaurant in Hamburg Pöseldorf remains closed until further notice: Involuntarily and for the third time within twelve months. My account has been depleted for almost as long and I am still waiting for the promised government subsidies. Rent and salaries for my staff are gnawing away at me. The only distraction I have that makes me forget my worries at least for a while is being outdoors. The chance to experience some fun and action within reason is the only thing that keeps me going.
Even before the pandemic hit home hard, I sat down with friends in March 2020 and thought about producing my own YouTube format. Of course, to realise my idea and motto of „Wild Scandinavian Way“ I needed strong partners. Thanks to my friend Ben Chadwick I edged closer to that first goal. It was he who pitched the idea to Olympus Europe, whose decision makers were immediately enthusiastic and came up with a large chunk of the sponsorship. Six other partners also found our project worthwhile to support and what so far had been a thought experiment all of a sudden turned into concrete planning. The first of seven episodes was to be produced on Rügen island.
Tobias Herrmann of Elbdeichboote provided an aluminium boat (VBOAT) with a 300hp outboard. I packed my team and already in early summer we found ourselves off Cape Arkona filming fishing for cod off a 20-metre ridge. I didn‘t know much about spin fishing, had only been to a trout lake for fly fishing maybe 2-3 times, but armed with orange shads and high-quality rods and reels from Marlo, the first cod landed very quickly in our beefer we had brought along. As most people know, I have been a passionate outdoor cook for many years. Fire, smoke, embers, dirty hands and sharp knives in all variations are just my thing!
But this speed of freshness was new to me and I wanted more of it.
Off Arkona, „Wild Scandinavian Way“ DNA was brought to life and fine-tuned. Fish caught, off to the onboard Beefer, crispbread prepared with remoulade and fried onions, salad, salt and pepper on top - done!
You can‘t prepare fish any fresher than that. We had a great time off Rügen and got the pictures we needed for the show. But how should we continue? The considerations began on location, because six more episodes were to be made and travelling was already a real gamble at the time. Schleswig-Holstein, the federal state surrounding the city of Hamburg, refused entry from its neighbours. Denmark was on the verge of a lockdown. Everything was bleak and leaden, but after a few STAUNING whiskies and a thousand casts later, the world before Arkona already looked different. I casually asked Tobi: „Where do you actually catch the biggest cod in Europe“? Tobi didn‘t have to think for a second and immediately said: „As always, when it comes to the big sea fish: Norway“ – indicating the size of the fish there with his arms stretched out. It was clear to me then that everything that we caught here at sunset in Rügen with almost ever other cast belonged to the category of kindergarten. Norway was the new destination for episode 2 of „Wild Scandinavian Way“ - but the borders there were also closed due to the pandemic. Holy Shit!
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But there was another Scandinavian country where there was a chance of really big fish. This country pursued its own corona strategy and propagated being open to tourism: Sweden. I called my old friend Jimmy Stening (www.stening.se), who is also an Oudoor chef. I had met Jimmy a few years ago at a culinary event in the Caribbean and he was definitely an experienced cook and hunter. What followed was the quickest travel decision of my life when Jimmy said, „Ok, understood my friend. Tell me all about it once you‘re up here – get your asses in the car!“ I stretched my feet out on Tobi‘s boat, folded my arms behind my head and felt free and without worries for the moment: „Guys, we‘re going to Sweden!“ Less than 24 hours after returning from Rügen, I was already on another road trip. I went to Strängnas, about 100 km west of Stockholm. One day before Midsummer. After 18 hours of driving, we were not welcomed by Mr. Nilsson and Pippi Longstocking‘s little uncle, but rather by Mr.
Calibre-308 WIN with a James Bond silencer and a night vision scope: Jimmy „THE WILD BOAR GOD“ Stening was very happy to see us. Before I continue with the story, there’s one thing I got to let you know: Jimmy is definitely crazy and he goes hunting at least twice every night. Today would be no exception. „Short break men, then we‘re off again“. Excuse me? Nah, I want to go to bed! So do my boys. Not a chance. But Jimmy is serious and we are easily rolled over, because we are even too tired for a „No“ and accept our fate with bloodshot eyes. Jimmy, the hunter-freak lives on over 1000 hectares of land and has already guided guests like football star Zlatan Ibrahimović to a successful boar kill. His land – his rules. 30 minutes later there are five of us – four without any sleep – on a hunt. It turned out to be a long night and I‘m glad when I finally got into bed. Unfortunately, we returned without any prey and this is repeated for the next three days. We manage to get within 30 metres of wild boar, but never had a clear field of fire. I had imagined hunting wild boar to be much easier and in the end I have to admit defeat.
Early in the morning on our day of departure, we drove to a river at 03:00 am and Jimmy pointed out a small group of wild geese. I woke up our cameraman. It was bright as daylight. Jimmy took a gun, looked through the scope, unlocked the safety and handed it to me. „Now it‘s your turn mate“. Adrenaline shot through my head. I trained the gun, took a deep breath and had three pin-sized heads in my sights.
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Gate 1, gate 2 or gate 3? I decided to go for the middle and BANG – a direct hit from 110 metres. With puffed out chests, Jimmy and I went to do the job, normally done by well-trained hunting dogs.
We secured the goose and headed off to celebrate Midsummer with Jimmy‘s family. A traditional celebration that I will remember for the rest of my life.
Anyway, the visit to Sweden brought hunting into our YouTube format. But as I was on tour with nervous fly fishers in the team, we took the quickest route to southern Sweden to the River Mörrum. Not the best time to catch salmon, but we were lucky and it was raining when we arrived. Anglers know what that means. The drop in temperature and the masses of water made the salmon nervous and there was movement in the pools. Despite my lack of experience, I did well according to the others. Still, I lost a nice sea trout, but Ben actually caught an 8kg springer, which I served for the team on a spade over open fires by the river with nettles, honey beer sauce and home-caught crayfish. Another memory I am very grateful for.
At the Mörrum we met Mawill Lüdenbach, who was supposed to teach me fly fishing with the two-handed. Our 8kg fish, however, only brought a polite smile to Mawill‘s face, because he himself only starts counting fish around the 20kg mark. Anyway, the experienced angler from Hamburg has already caught more salmon here than we have eaten hot meals. I didn‘t know that the whole world knew about this river, since I heard about it for the first time before we left. Why the river is so famous soon became clear to me. Over and over again we noticed gigantic salmon and sea trout jumping no more than 2-3 metres in front of our feet – completely unimpressed by our in parts amateurish appearance. So I practised casting with Mawill and what he had mastered to perfection, I still had a long way to go to learn. At some point I got fed up and I had to do something I‘m really good at: photography. Even through the viewfinder of my camera, I found the Mörrum to be a dreamlike body of water – to which I will definitely return.
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#WILDSCANDINAVIANWAY ON
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We had everything in the can and after a little water sports session with the Raddin E-Jet boards we left for home. No border controls and a six-hour car journey that felt like I was just stepping out to get some cigarettes. On the way to Hamburg, we checked online to see what the border crossing terms were for Norway. Closed! The Norwegians had a clear strategy, but the pressure to open for tourists increased. At the end of July, the country finally allowed travellers to enter the country again and I reached out to my team. Mawill gave us the tip to travel to Saltstraumen off the Lofoten Islands, the strongest tidal current in the world. That sounded exactly like the „Wild Scandinavian Way“.
We drove to Lofoten in two Volvo SUVs for a good 29 hours in one go with driver changes. We crossed three borders full of worry, loaded with more STAUNING whisky and HO HO craft beer on board than underpants, treble hooks and peppercorns put together. Would they find all the stuff? Corona seemingly was of no concern at the border crossings, so at no point did we really need to worry about getting checked for our drink collection. We even wondered if the tough border controls we heard about ever existed. On the way across Sweden we collected crazy Jimmy, who officially got the title „Wild Scandinavian Way hunting expert“ as a new permanent crew member.
My buddy Ben got us a cool deal with Kurt Jeppesen, the general manager of Saltstraumen Brygge: He provided us with three 80hp aluminium boats, full equipment for fishing for halibut, cod, coalfish & co. and a huge flat. We were thrilled, because Kurt‘s SFC Plug ‚n’ Play Camp (https://sfc.no) is every angler‘s dream. Wake up in the morning, look out onto the strongest tidal current in the world, have breakfast, get dressed and go fishing – it doesn‘t get any better than that. What happened on our first day of fishing is hard to put into words. We caught large cod weighing between 15 and 19 kg, smaller halibut on soft baits and even when trolling, we caught fish the size of a toilet lid! The absolute highlight, however, was the speed jigging for coalfish. Ben fished with a 30 gram Sportex sea trout rod and a bright red Savage Gear soft bait. He let the lure sink to 90 metres - which took almost a minute - and then cranked it in like there was no tomorrow. Booooooom! The coalfish hit like D-trains. Ben started with 110 cm and 11 kg and I quickly understood the myth behind the bent rod. The whole thing mutated into a fitness challenge, which I won with a fish of 14 kg and 118 cm. The heaviest coalfish of all time caught with a rod came from right here: 22.5 kg from the shore. My God, what a spot ...
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What reads like pure fun now, of course, was also hard work to a large extent.
We were shooting at all hours and got little sleep because we were still sifting through the material late at night. That became our undoing. Completely overtired, we booked the ferry from Bodo to Mosekens on the Lofoten Islands.
We set off at 03:00 in the morning and after three hours of crossing we reached a place that I would describe as magical, mystical and paradisiacal. Our inner engine was flat and we were inundated with impressions. Yet in high spirits we wanted to climb a mountain of almost 500 metres altitude - just to enjoy the view for a moment. But we had misjudged the taks ahead and the tour lasted 4.5 hours with semi-alpine challenges. Sure, we won’t give up now and we‘ll conquer the thing, we said to ourselves. The 40+ part of our crew just about made it to the top, panting. Our cameraman and parkour freak Julian on the other hand, who is not even 30 years old, performed a somersault at the summit.
By then, at the very latest, it became clear to us older team members that the paint was off. In addition, it had rained a few days before and the mountain was a mix of Glastonbury festival and cowshed floor. Jimmy slipped on the way down and fell unconscious. He suffered from a laceration on the shin and I was about to call the rescue service. After some dextrose, a short emergency medical treatment and a longer break, we seemed to have everything under control again. After the descent and all the excitement, I decided to bring some calm to the group and invited everyone to the beautiful fishing village of Henningsvær for traditional stockfish and a few drinks. Slightly tipsy, out fatigue seemed to have been overcome and we sought out the islands‘ world-famous football pitch. A group of youngsters were just playing at this wonderful place.
Ben had the splendid idea to challenge the boys to a game. Jimmy, Ben and I hardly won any tackles and we were nowhere near scoring a goal. And all of a sudden disaster struck: Ben fell and broke his shoulder several times – a compound fracture with a bone sticking out. One of our Bergans fleece jackets was sacrificed and got turned into a sling. We then made our way to the nearest hospital. Ben was supposed to be operated on immediately, but after a few phone calls and almost eight hours of waiting, we decided to put him on the plane and have the operation in Germany. The adventure ended there for one of us. The rest of the team stayed a few more days in Lofoten
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and Saltstraumen, where we caught more huge fish. Our trip ended with the filming of the great final seaside dinner and we were also able to film some of the numerous sea eagles. The return journey was upon us and we were now one man short for the sleep-drive swap in two cars. Somewhat borderline, but in the end we made it back to Hamburg safe and sound – again without a single border check.
It was a fantastic time and we were able to shoot great material in these last few months despite all the restrictions. We drove almost 20,000 kilometres through Scandinavia in three months, met nice people, exchanged ideas with fishing and hunting professionals and got to experience and learn a lot. Now, I say humbly, it wasn‘t a crap year after all. It was an exceptional year. Even though things are still disastrous in the catering and event industry, I have decided to continue producing films and have you take part in positive experiences. Because that makes me really happy.
See you soon, your Brian Bojsen
Wild Scandinavian Way on YouTube
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HOT & NOT
Angling - and Outdoor-Fairs That‘s the funny thing with trade fairs – some people look forward to them every year, others go but exhale a deep sigh once they‘re over. Still others are happy to stay at home all together.
Due to the pandemic, events of this kind have been cancelled for the most part in the past 12 months and it will be fascinating to see how the respective sectors react and in what way attendance at a fair will be possible again in the near future. Is there a need to catch up or is a virtual product presentation enough?
Hot There is no substitute for a visit to the fair and it is like a pilgrimage that many people look forward to all year. Together, you plan the event, are happy about the successful booking of an overnight accommodation close to the event or in the epicentre of the respective city and can hardly wait to meet people whom you would otherwise not see all year. And the most important thing: whether as exhibitor or visitor – for everyone, the event usually revolves around their favourite topic. With the small difference that some want to sell and others want to buy or at least inform themselves. There are many new things to discover on site and even if the time of the ever-popular trade fair discounts seems to be over, one can still make a bargain or two at these events – provided it is a sales fair that also grants admission to the end consumer. Incidentally, the on-site sales often include not only the new products of the current or coming season, but can also mean that exhibitors finally get rid of the goods that otherwise block valuable storage space. So it‘s a win-win situation for both sides.
But a trade fair away from the actual day‘s activities also means little sleep and popping champagne corks at the end of a day – and not infrequently during the day as well. Especially on the exhibitor side, both occur more often than one might think. The reasons for this are usually successful sales, big business deals or simply the fact that together as a team you have once again managed to survive an 18-hour day without any serious injuries. It has been rumoured but never proven, that the night with the assistant manager might also have been responsible for debauched drinking and lack of sleep. In general, trade fairs are a great opportunity to get a product overview, meet old friends or make new ones and observe the Who‘s Who of the scene.
If you have a little more time, you can perhaps explore an unfamiliar city, go out for a fancy dinner in the evening and/or let yourself drift through the nightlife.
Not Participating in a trade fair is hell in every respect, particularly for an end consumer. Just the thought of the never-functioning visitor guidance systems or confusing exhibitor schedules makes many people’s excitement seize up in advance. But the horror begins already during booking! Because they have airport connections and are easy to reach by train, trade fairs are usually held in well-known cities. That sounds tempting at first – at least until the exorbitantly overpriced accommodation prices of the local hotels and guesthouses appear on screen.
Train tickets and flights to the venue are usually available at knock-down prices all year round, but during the fair of all times, tickets cost a fortune. Never mind, it‘s only once a year and the proceeds from pawning grandpa‘s gold watch, for you to visit the fair, might be enough to cover the parking fees if you drive there by car.
For exhibitors, who can claim every hot dog costing 15 € at the fairs cafeteria as subsistence for tax purposes, all this is less important – but it is for a regular visitor. And once on site they will ask themselves why they took this on all, because the once popular trade fair discounts no longer exist and you can be happy if you get two stickers as a goodie. In any case, there is rarely anything to see at the fair that has not been presented on the internet weeks before.
Events of this kind are also becoming less and less attractive for exhibitors. Not least because of the upfront costs involved – tax exemption or not. It takes a lot of expensive logistics to set up a stand, and even those who later represent their brand at the fair in uniform shirts often have to arrive days early to set up – and eat, drink and sleep somewhere. Not to mention the stand fee. At consumer fairs, sales are rather sluggish, because everyone can check their smartphone to see if they can get the object of their desire cheaper somewhere online. Even B-2-B trade fair exhibitors have tears in their eyes, because the really big deals are bagged away from such events. So why go at all? Oh yes, there was the management assistant, the champagne and you‘re bound to meet a few mates too ... (Stefan Alt)
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Hot off the pre SCA LE REA DS ALO NG
ss
SPANISH FLY
DRY FLY OBSESSION BY LUIS MEANA A few weeks ago, a book was published by a man who over the years has inspired us at SCALE with his articles about catching massive trout: Luis Meana. The father of two who lives in Pinto, a municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain, is a passionate fly fisherman and professional guide who is a dedicated dry fly fishing man.
Through the course of his life, he has developed his very own style, working with very long, thin leaders and small flies, such as the Pardón de Meana, named after him. His fishing is done in some of the most interesting Spanish trout rivers, but he has also been able to use his technique very successfully in many other countries.
If you allow yourself to be guided by Luis, you will quickly notice that he rarely accepts any other methods than the dry fly and advises you to say goodbye to nymphs or streamers all together.
The richly illustrated, large-format book (25 x 30 cm) DRY FLY OBSESSION is not only a heavyweight when it comes to content: The tome weighs in at around 1.5 kg. In six different chapters, Luis Meana takes its readers in detail through even the smallest detail of his passion. The first chapter is dedicated to the author’s general thoughts on fly fishing. From there he goes into detail about fishing with dry flies in particular. The second chapter gives an overview of the materials Meana uses to tie his flies, some of which are unique. In the third chapter, the author lets us in on his fishing strategies and explains, for example, how he „reads“ a body of water or approaches a fish correctly. The fourth chapter takes the reader to Meana‘s home country, Spain, which I find particularly interesting, as the country has hardly played a role among anglers in modern fly fishing. I have only once fished myself in the estuary of a river near Seville targeting mullet. It came as a surprise to me that one of the most popular summer holiday destination in the world, has so many beautiful watercourses with a wealth of different fish species.
The cover, for example, was taken on the Rio Eume in Galicia. Chapter five is about the development of the fly pattern Pardón de Meana, named after the author, which is tied with original feathers from the Coq de Leon.
A fly design which cannot be missed from my fly box since Luis‘ article at SCALE.
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n the sixth and last chapter of the book, the reader accompanies the author on his fishing trips in various stories, which – half fiction, half reality – introduce you to the author‘s angling philosophy.
After „Pardón de Meana and the feather of Gallo de León“, this is the second book by Luis Meana. It has just been published and is available in English and Spanish and should not be missing in any collection. (Stefan Alt) It can be ordered from
www.cotossalmoneros.com
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URS WEHRLI @urs.wehrli
TARPON OF THE NORTH SHEEFISH – CHASING THE UNKNOWN
PHOTOS
URS WEHRLI
DESTINATION
ALASKA
TARGET FISH
SHEEFISH
WEB
WWW.FLOATERS.CH
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„Look!“ it said in the e-mail from Fritz from Imst. Attached was a picture of a sheefish flipping over in the air, visibly stretching the leader to its extreme. Fritz had just come back from a float trip to Alaska’s Kobuk River, raving about a fish species, which was unknown to me until then. The picture of the mighty fish, water splashing, the colourfulness of the autumnal tundra – the dynamics and scenery of this shot completely captivated me. That was over a decade ago now, yet the image haunted me all these years and was never forgotten.
Inconnu The „unknown“ alternatively known as connie, or more specifically nelma (Stenodus leucichthys nelma) is what the Natives call: „Inconnu“. It’s a species of anadromous whitefish (Coregoninae) that is found in rivers around the Arctic Circle and known to be a very strong fighter. Because of this and its appearance, it is also known as the „Tarpon of the North“. From August onwards, it migrates from the sea into the rivers to spawn and likes to stay in deep and calm water. It is caught by the Inuits and Yupiks either with nets or large, heavy spinners and spoons. But I had a different plan: a two-handed rod and streamers!
However, it took a total of nine „checks“ to be ticked-off from my Alaska float trip bucket list before I got completely serious about the Inconnu. Somehow another target fish or river seemingly „more important“ came in-between. And who in their right mind goes to Alaska for whitefish? In retrospect, that was a big mistake, because the acquaintance with the unknown was quite extraordinary. During the travel preparations and research, it quickly became apparent that the Kobuk River in the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve National Park is really a good choice
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for a self-guided float trip. The river is not only known for its good Sheefish run, but is also populated by Chum Salmon, Char, Lake trout, Pike and Grayling. There are two canyons (Class II-IV and Class III-V) where the adventurers‘ cockiness can be cooled off right at the beginning and the suitability of the boat repair kit can be tested at the same time. When the water level is high, the critical spots can be bypassed on land and the boats can be towed on long ropes.
I chose Walker Lake as the starting point and the confluence with the Pha River as the pick-up/end point, which corresponds to a floating distance of about 120 miles. If you want to take it easier, you can start from Minakokosa, Nutuvukti or Selby-Narvak Lake. This way you skip the canyons and reduce the distance. I had calculated twelve nights for the duration of the float trip, so that the camp does not have to be dismantled every day and so that we could react to unforeseen weather conditions.
Big Fish Lake Since I was entering new fishing territory with this trip, failure was quite possible. That‘s why I only selected people to come along in the team who could be relied on to put a smile on their faces despite chattering teeth in the bitterly cold nights, despite losing fish, bad food and wet sleeping bags. Self-motivation, composure and sufficient self-irony are key elements for such adventures. And most importantly: Don‘t be a chicken!
The Natives call Walker Lake also „Big Fish Lake“. It couldn‘t be more fitting, because legend has it that during the Cantwell Expedition in 1885, one of the local scouts even fished for the lake‘s monsters using a wild goose on caribou antlers as a hook.
When we departed the seaplane on the shore and it
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disappeared again on the horizon after unloading its human freight, we were surrounded by silence. An unfamiliar, soothing and simply unimaginable silence – pure bliss. A loud „Fish on!“ and the simultaneous screeching of a reel snapped me out of my spell and my friend‘s bent spinning rod hinted at big game. After a hard fight, he held the first fish of the float trip in his hands: A beautiful lake trout (Arctic char) from Big Fish Lake; nomen est omen. This first catch on lures and baits got followed up by many more. And the flyfishermen amongst us caught countless grayling on all imaginable type of flies. Oversized mice, wiggle bugs and Chernobyl ants kept the pretenders at bay and brought the more stately fellows into the wet hands of anglers.
With spaghetti carbonara, Vino Tinto from a 5-litre carton, Dan Baird from the speakers and the infamous Floaters flambada (orange slices, tons of sugar, hearty Jägermeister, flambéed with a shot of whiskey in the frying pan), the first evening was ushered in and the successful start to out trip celebrated.
Enchanté, Monsieur Inconnu!
On the second day, the two key sections „Upper and Lower Canyon“ were awaiting us with loudly roaring and upright waves. After a short inspection, we decided to brave the passage, which we succeeded in without any major problems, bar the large scale patching of rips to the outer rubber to our float boats. We were a little concerned about the cool temperatures, which slowed down the drying of the glue. However, both boats were ready for use again the next morning.
Depending on the weather, it was -7 degrees at night and sometimes +14 degrees during the day.
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During the first days catches while float were rare, and if so, they were mostly grayling. There were no takes on streamers; neither from pike nor lake trout or even the desired sheefish. So we made a good run, hoping to finally meet the ‘unknown’ further downstream.
On the fifth day, in one of the deep pools, a hard strike surprised the colleague with the spinning rod and after a decent tussle we glimpsed the first sheefish. „Enchanté, Monsieur Inconnu!“ What a beauty! A considerably large head with an overhanging, almost toothless mouth in a bright silver dress with a high, pointed dorsal fin, spread over a stately 80 centimetres of body length.
Filleted, cut into strips, briefly turned in flour and fried in oil on the fire, this catch gave us a fantastic dinner. But the feast didn‘t last long; everyone was now infected with sheefish fever and soon everyone was standing by the water.
With two-handed rods in classes 8-10, 625 grain Skagit shooting heads (40 grams) and a T-15-20 tip, the big, glistening streamers can be quickly brought to the bottom, which is not only the recipe for success with Pacific salmon. Sheefish also prefer to attack a deeply sunk streamer. The take of a Sheefish is fierce – the strike in the rod unexpectedly hard and brutal! The fight varies: most fish take advantage of the current and their own weight, while others jump wildly out of the water and try to escape with long escapes: Tarpon of the North!
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Silver, blue and white tinsel The size and number of catches exceeded all our expectations. Emptying a pool was impossible. New schools of 5-20 fish arrived non-stop and rested for a while before moving on. This was evident in the pauses between catches: first you caught fish after fish, and suddenly there was no more take. A quarter of an hour later, it started all over again. On average, the fish scratched the metre mark, the best catch showed 115cm on the tape measure. Tinseled streamers glimmering in silver, blue and white turned out to be particularly catchy. As the float progressed, chum joined the catch and, on rare occasions, even an Arctic char. No pike were caught, but probably also because no one had targeted them (surface lures, stagnant water in dead sidearms, etc).
Grayling were everywhere and innumerable and offered a great variety on the light fly rod with the dry fly.
During the river trip and at our overnight camps we occasionally encountered moose, bears and eagles. Wolf tracks could be found again and again, but the hoped-for howling in the nightsor even sightings of musk ox, caribou or northern lights unfortunately failed to materialise. The countless pools with their elongated gravel banks and tons of drift wood are ideal places to set up camp and spend a day or two in such a spot. The autumnal colours of September complete the perfect picture of adventure in the wilderness.
It was visibly hard for everyone to say goodbye when, on the thirteenth day, after 120 river miles had been covered, the pickup point was reached and the sound of the Beaver‘s engine could be heard in the distance.
For more information on this and several other self-guided float trips in Alaska, click here:
www.floaters.ch
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DRAW
DAFV COMPETITION
WIN ONE OF 6 X SETS, CONSISTING OF THE “KNIFE OF THE YEAR” AND A P.A.C. MULTIFUNCTIONAL SCARF Most anglers in Germany are familiar with the German Angling Association, at least they’d heard of it. But very few people know exactly what the Berlin-based institution does. It is clear that the DAFV is committed to the interests of anglers, but no one really knows in what shape and form and whether the work is crowned with success. Fact is: those shouting the loudest are most likely to be noticed. And in all fairness, the biggest loudmouths are usually others. Marches and cardboard signs may get noticed by the media, but as a rule they move very little and at the very best they generate some attention among the general population. The work of the DAFV is, of course, a bit lost in the shuffle. And because there are more and more haters and fewer people interested in facts, people in social networks and forums for instance prefer to make a fuss about the fact that the President of the German Angling Federation, Christel Happach-Kasan, is not an angler herself. However, the DAFV acts quietly and more on a political level – and there it doesn‘t matter if someone can thread worms on to a baiting needle. Nevertheless, when the DAFV achieves something, usually at EU level, hardly anyone notices. Catch limits, hydropower, pollutants in bait – the issues the association has to deal with are manifold and often crowned with success. All in all, reason enough for SCALE to present the DAFV and its work to you again soon. Today we‘ll leave it at a raffle for the time being and show that the association is feeling generous. You can win 6 x a two-piece set, consisting of the chic knife of the year 2021 and a P.A.C. multifunctional scarf. If you would like to win, simply send a message to
dafv@scale-magazine.com In a few weeks, as always, the lottery fairy will decide and those who don‘t want to wait for that are welcome to take a look at the association‘s own shop.
www.dafvshop.de However, those who want to wait for the result of the raffle should bridge the time with a visit to the very informative and well-done website of the DAFV.
www.dafv.de
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Olive Craft Fur Sandeel by Henrik Kure Nielsen SCALE PRESENTS TIE HARD BYScandinavia, AHREX and sandeels are quite often on the trout Coastal-fishing for sea-run brown–isPOWERED a big thing in GRIZZLY CANDY VON MORTEN menu. Rapid retrieve of the fly can beHAGGE the trick HANSEN for fishing sandeel imitations – and combined with a sud-
re mostly kept in natural white, sand and olive themes – but a chartreuse, blue or even pink version in cold water can be super effective. This time we have the skilled Danish tyer Henrik Kure Nielsen behind the vice, where he ties the sandeel imitation „The Olive Craft Fur Sandeel“.
den stop in statt retrieve – the result can be aggressive as soon retrieval starts again. TheVerwencolors a Fliegenbau Fliegenbinden heißt es diesmaltake, bei Tie Hardas ... the Durch die ausschließliche Eine sehr einfache Fischimitation eines Sandaals – ein echter Fischmagnet für das Küstenfischen dung von UV-Harz zum Sichern der Materialien anstelle von Fadenwicklungen, erhaltet ihr eine nach z.B. Meerforelle oder Wolfsbarsch. Einfach und doch effektiv.
superstarke Fliege und vermeidet die Umstände whip-finisher.
Happy tying andAHREX tight lines!and (fst) SCALE Magazine.
Have mit fundem and alwas remember to tie hard! Cheers from
assets_c/video/a00238_de_AHREX-small.mp4
assets_c/video/a00238_de_AHREX-small.mp4
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PATRICK GÖTZ @patrick_goetz
NEW THINGS IN NEW ZEALAND KINGFISH FROM SHORE
PHOTOS
PATRICK GÖTZ
DESTINATION
NEW ZEALAND
TARGET FISH
KINGFISH
WEB
PATRICK ON FACEBOOK
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Travelling is something I was interested in from a very young age. Thinking about my best experiences as an angler, I always conjure up a vision of those early childhood days, of trips I made to the sea with my family.
Later, when I got my first job, which came with a lot of free time during the cold months, I again discovered travelling, though without my parents of course, being on my own this time. During those years I saved most of my annual vacation days to go on a long winter trip.
The categories in which I thought deciding on a destination were simple: adventure, culture, nature and, of course, fishing. I went on trips to Tanzania, Australia, Argentina, Indonesia and New Caledonia. Luxury and comfort was always less important to me than the adventure part – my luggage therefore consisted of a large backpack and a transportation tube. During those days I focused on saltwater fishing, because although I grew up in Southern Germany, the sea and its inhabitants have always fascinated me.
To see the world … … one must travel. But increasingly I felt that my adventures ended too quickly and I wondered how I could prolong them. Easy, I thought, just move to another country and try your best to combine work, life and hobby. Which country though? Something South American? Canada? Australia? New Zealand?
New Zealand! I can’t really explain why New Zealand was the answer. I had never been there before, I hadn’t given the place much thought until now to be honest, but suddenly my curiosity was endless. My knowledge of New Zealand didn’t go beyond what most people know, I knew where it was, what language the people spoke and I knew about the kiwi, a curious little bird whose inability to fly didn’t prevent it from becoming New Zaland’s emblem. After I had made my decision I tried to find out more. I discovered that finding fis-
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hable spots on the coast wouldn’t be problem. New Zealand consists of two islands which are quite narrow in some places, on the Northern island for instance, the Tasman Sea and the Pacific are only separated by a couple of kilometres.
What about work? An initial research didn’t really provide me with an answer and I decided to apply for a Working Holiday Visa and to try and find something once I was actually there. This specific visa facilitates stay for a year and the opportunity to work for any employer. Such were my plans so far.
Firsts My first couple of days in NZ were sort of rough. I had a heavy jetlag to cope with, and in addition, having left behind a cold and wintry Europe, it took me some time to get used to the summer of the Southern hemisphere. Once I had a few good night’s sleep, I started looking for a car. I spent some days zigzagging through Auckland, I was looking for something practical that could get me to remote places and finally I found what I was looking for, a Mitsubishi Pajero, with an all-terrain sort of look. I had of course prepared myself by marking potential fishing spots on Google Maps, and that’s where my first trip took me. I had focused on a region west of Auckland and was really impressed by the wildness of the nature so close to a city. Potential spots were jetties, bays with deep channels and of course the cliffs, which are rocky and quite steep in some places. In some of these areas I stumbled upon fellow anglers, always a good sign. Though when I enquired about the Kingfish most of them shook their heads. I quickly realized that very few people go after Kingfish from shore. Most of them focus on Bluefish and Kahawai. A couple told me straight out to forget about going after Kingfish from shore.
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Finally at it again But I didn’t move halfway around the world to give up that easily. Over the following couple of days I fished the spots I had visited, focussing on a very special place called Whatipu (local tongue for Bay of the Spiritual Guardians), which in my humble opinion was suited perfectly for Kingfish action. A place so close to Auckland, yet so wild and natural, it really takes your breath away.
Even the drive is a thrill: a gravel road leading through dense forest and down a valley at the end of which I found lush green meadows separated by a narrow stream full of thick eels. All sorts of different birds are native to the area and fill the air and ground. I parked the car and walked across wide grasslands and later on winding paths amidst dense shrubbery towards the coast.
I arrived at a black sandbeach and had a view of the Tasman Sea and a couple of islands located in the bay.
There was Pauatutai Island on the Southern end, which separates the open sea from Manukau Harbour, creating powerful currents and therefore an abundance of sea life: large kelp forests, caves overgrown with mussels, steep drop-offs, reefs and obviously various types of fish and crustaceans. Some of the reefs are located in casting distance to the rocks – an interesting prospect, though it can result in losing the fish during a drill.
This time I was lucky, conditions were optimal. Even from a distance I could see that the water was a lot clearer than before. A couple of casts later things got quite exciting when a school of Kahawai suddenly started chasing my pencil popper, jumping in and out of the water, but unfortunately missing the popper in their haste. They turned and dived just before reaching the rocks – the adrenalin was pumping through my veins anyway. I was about to adjust my popper from long flaps to walk-the-dog when something suddenly bit down on it.
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At first I thought the Kahawai had returned but this fish was clearly more powerful and quickly took a lot of line. The hook settled and the fish immediately tried to escape towards the kelp forest and some rocks lying beneath the surface. After a short but intense drill I landed my first Kingfish. Yes! By no means a giant but still, I had caught not just the fish itself but also a heavy dose of Kingfish fever.
I have lived in New Zealand for four years now and still the Kingfish is my favourite sea creature to go after. A lot has happened since those first couple of months though, I have learned a lot, I have refined my technique as well as my tackle. In the beginning I spent a lot of time looking for spots of course, which presented me with a couple of great memories and experiences and enabled me, after some time, to decide which spot would be most rewarding under certain weather conditions on a given day. The weather is a crucial factor here in NZ –sometimes one can witness all four seasons in just a couple of hours.
The conditions at sea can change rapidly as well, a light swell can turn into crashing, dangerously high waves within a couple of minutes. It is advisable to be cautious and to bring clothes for different weather conditions. In addition it’s always smarter not to go alone, especially when fishing spots that are difficult to reach. I was lucky enough to meet a couple of highly able and ambitious anglers and thus to spend most of my time going after Kingfish in good company. By now we are an experienced team in which every member has his own task.
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A visitor from another world It’s always pleasant to have a visitor from one’s home country, especially when he’s an old friend who one shares the most fishing experiences in Europe with. And of course a great opportunity to show him what it means to go after the green and yellow torpedoes.
Unfortunately Jens arrived late in the season and after four months of sensational catches the Kingfish were slowly starting to appear less interested in our baits. A week before his arrival we caught six of them – the worst day of the season. Additionally the forecast didn’t look very promising and my hopes of presenting my friend with an opportunity to catch a Kingfish from shore weren’t high.
But, as I have told you, New Zealand has a mercurial tendency in terms of weather, and two days after Jens arrived the forecast suddenly reported fishable conditions. I decided to rally the gang for what would probably be the final Kingfish trip of the season. The days were already rather short at this time of the year and we set out towards our spot in semi darkness. Luckily the sun rose upon our arrival – a sunny day, not too windy, with a light swell. Conditions seemed almost perfect, though the obligatory first Kingfish of the day, which we usually catch shortly after arriving, unfortunately failed to appear. Another problem were the missing schools of baitfish which usually roam the waters during this time of the day. I was quite nervous to be honest, I wanted my guest to experience the thrill I had got accustomed to during the season and so far the prospect seemed rather bleak. I still had some hope left though.
Keeping your balance on sharp-edged and partially slippery rocks is not at all easy and regrettably almost every crewmember has at some point fallen and injured himself. Just two weeks earlier while chasing a Kingfish I broke my toe sliding down a crag. This time it was Jens’ turn; he tripped over a small stone and crashed into a rock overgrown with mussels. But we weren’t ready to give up just yet.
The afternoon finally brought some excitement; one of my friends spotted a school of apparently hungry Kingfish chasing a swarm of mullets. We cast our stick baits in their direction and after a couple of seconds two rods were bending towards the surface. Steve landed a small 10kg Kingfish and released it again. The fish on Jens’ rod
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humourlessly spat out the hook and vanished. By now it was late in the afternoon and almost time to call it a day. Disappointment was written all over my friend’s face but still we weren’t ready to give up.
Our stamina was rewarded with another even larger group of Kingfish consisting of about twenty specimen between eight and twenty kilos. The sea was swirling and three or four rods were bent. I decided to assist my fellow anglers rather than trying to hook a fish myself.
After a short but intense drill I was able to land Jonathan’s fish. Now it was Jens’ turn again, his kingfish was wild and demanded every bit of strength he had. The fight was exhausting and he was glad when it was over. Though in the process of landing it I realized that the fish was quite small, and because the other kingfish were still in place I ran to get my own rod.
Returning to the scene I saw the fish jumping and wriggling close to shore, almost ready to land. I thrust my own rod in Jens’ hands and took over his. ‘One last cast’ I shouted and Jens’ stick bait flew through the air. It had barely touched the surface when a heavy Kingfish sucked it in. Here we go again! This fish was even more powerful than the first and my exhausted friend once more had to give everything he had to keep it away from the sharp edges of the rocks. After a couple of minutes we had the creature in full view for the first time, then it dived. The suspense was real; the second dive is the most hazardous part of the drill. But when the fish surfaced again it was ready to be landed. Jens couldn’t quite believe it. He held the fish in his hands, his face an interesting mixture of absolute exhaustion and thrill. We took a quick photo and released the fish, it swam away and left behind a tired but overjoyed angler.
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Casting Maya – Fly Mexico SCALE PRESENTS TIEfishing HARDin – POWERED BY AHREX Due to theCANDY CoronaVON pandemic, the Rise Fly Fishing Film Festival unfortunately cannot take place this GRIZZLY MORTEN HAGGE HANSEN
year. Filmmaker Florian Lustig (PUREFILMS) and lead actor Sebastian Bremm from KLEJCH Fly Fishing Fliegenbau Fliegenbinden esthe diesmal Tie Hard ... Maya“, Durch die ausschließliche & Outdoor statt in Vienna decided toheißt make shortbei film „Casting which was originallyVerwenprodudung von UV-Harz zum Sichern derreaders.
Materialien von in Fadenwicklungen, erhaltet ihr eine ced for Rise 2021, available to our Aboutanstelle a year ago, February 2020, Florian Lustig and superstarke Fliege und vermeidet die Umstände mit dem whip-finisher.
Sebastian Bremm set out with a group of fly fishers to explore the famous Ascension Bay on the Yucatan Peninsula. The bay is located in the Sian Ka‘an Biosphere Reserve, where special emphasis is Eine sehr einfache Fischimitation SandaalsAscension – ein echter fürofdas placed on sustainability and nature eines conservation.
Bay Fischmagnet used to be one theKüstenfischen primary food nach z.B.
oder Wolfsbarsch.
Einfachworldwide und dochfor effektiv.
sources ofMeerforelle the Mayan people and is still known its abundance of fish.
Happy tying and tight lines! (fst)
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TEXT & PHOTO: FRANK STEINMANN
HBSC
Hardbodies & Softcores Lures you wouldN’t want to miss in your tackle box
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METALHEAD CUSTOM MUSKY BAITS Length: Weight: Action: Target fish: Editor‘s note:
THE PURPLE HAZE BLADES
ca 52 cm 131 g Exeptional spinner bait in XXXL Pike and Muskies Wes Leinon creates the most imaginative spinnerbaits in this universe! Fantastic designs and best materials combined to true works of art
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MR.ZORBA Length: Weight: Action: Target fish: Editor‘s note:
HEADFLY BIG approx. 32 cm 50 g Snaking movement with pulsating collar and glittering flashtail Pike, Musky, Bass, Murray Cod and other big predators Fantastic color selection, also available without diving lip and with twister tail
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PINE SLOPE LURES Length: Weight: Action: Target fish: Editor‘s note:
GOUJON
22 cm 90 g Glider with side-to-side action and flanking action, includes rattle Pike, musky, bass and other big predators Lovingly designed Scandi-style predator lure
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ROBINSON LURES UK Length: Action: Weight: Target fish: Editor‘s note:
THE JACKTAIL
20 cm without tail Glidebait for side-to-side action, can be used variably 150 g without inserted weights Pike, Musky and other big predators Perfect pike copy, elaborately painted. Extensive accessories like changeable tails, rattles and weights.
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SBEMBO LURES Length: Weight: Action: Target fish: Editor‘s note:
CURLY TAIL
16 cm without tail 75 g Classic jerk with side-to-side action and tail Pike, Musky and other big predators High quality mahagony wood and loving design right down to the homemade tail
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SCALE INFORMS
ihaveaninterestingproductforyou@scale-magazine.com
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FEELING IT IN THE BONES
SAGE ESN
I admit that, compared to many others, I look back on a short fly fishing life. I‘ve only been into this kind of fishing for about 13 years, but if there‘s one thing I realised very early on, it‘s the fact that fly fishing – like almost everything in life – is often subject to trends or a certain hype. Examples? Until a few years ago, fly reels, for example, were allowed to have a few grams more because they performed a second job as an almost indispensable „counterweight“. Yet currently lightweight constructions for „fatigue-free“ casting all day long are all de rigueur. Or take glass rods for example – a few years ago they were the „hot shit“ that everyone needed in their locker. These days you very rarely see them in use. I don‘t want to deny their all of these things usefulness, but only a few things seem to last. Consumers are obviously always on the lookout for something new, or at least they strive for improvement – and I don‘t exclude myself from that.
Nevertheless, every now and then there are products in fly fishing that can be called a real innovation.
Sometimes it‘s little things, like the laser marking of line data on fly lines, such as those from Rio, sometimes it‘s never-before-seen creations, such as the Skagit shooting heads that have appeared out of nowhere. The Baskette line tray from Denmark, the UV glue from Raid-Zap, the unusual rod series from Arctic Silver – they all are examples of real innovation that have caught on and found their sometimes larger, sometimes smaller, fan base.
A new addition to the category of ‘real innovation’ is the new ESN fly reel (shown here in the colour Chipotle) from the noble company. The extremely pretty reel with a closed frame comes with an extra pouch containing three stainless steel weights of 14g, 29g and 43g each for the perfect balance. In view of the differences in weight, which seem small at first glance, I can already see question marks on the faces of our readers and of course some of them will ask: Do we really need it? The answer is a resounding yes!
But this requires a short excursion into the history of fly fishing. ENS stands for European-style nymphing – a type of fishing that is still unfairly ridiculed by many. Let’s get these history facts: Europe - and especially Eastern European - can be called the cradle of modern nymph fishing. This is where „fishing with a sunk fly“ was perfected and the various variants, some of which differ only minimally, were constantly developed. For a long time, Czech nymphing was considered the best-known and most successful technique – until it was replaced by French nymphing. In the end, both techniques became the European Nymphing/European-Style-Nymphing we know today. The techniques can not only be pretty exciting, they can also very successful. And another thing is certain: extremely demanding ...
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I made my first personal experiences with ESN a few years ago in Slovenia. There were four of us and while three of us couldn‘t even record a take, our guide caught fish after fish. One by one he handed us his set-up and each of us suddenly started catching too. Particularly striking was the line, which I initially thought was pure backing. But in fact it was a line imported from France that had nothing to do with a conventional fly line. With this thin, French braid in combination with a very sensitive rod and a very light reel, you could feel every tiny attempt of a fish to get hold of the nymph (it was a classic Prince) and immediately set the hook. This direct contact with the fish was decisive and all subsequent attempts to fish with the nymph using „regular“ techniques were mostly unsuccessful.
Even last year, when I visited Slovenia again, I wished I had the right equipment with me and I could have slapped myself for still not being properly equipped for nymph fishing. Nymphing fish were plentiful, but I couldn‘t catch most of them because I had to rely on my sight and often set the hook too early or too late.
European-style nymphing is a fishing technique that simply depends on a lot of feeling. And this is exactly what the SAGE ESN ensures with its interchangeable counterweights, because this allows the reel to be adapted to your own individual requirements. The perfect interaction between line, rod and reel and the resulting sensitive handling of the equipment are the secret of successful nymph fishing.
The fact that the SAGE ESN comes equipped with the One Revolution brake button (one turn = full braking power), that makes it also suitable for „standard“ fly fishing - e.g. with a dry fly - with or without the additional weights is another plus point. The 2-in-1 solution saves you from having to take along another reel if it is not yet clear which technique you want to use or what conditions you will find on the water. (Stefan Alt) More details about the reel and everything else you need for fly fishing can be found at
www.rudiheger.eu
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OF HAPPY SHEEP
P.A.C. MERINO MULTI FUNCTIONAL SCARVES Merino wool is a real miracle fibre. It warms in the cold and cools in the heat, absorbs moisture and is soft and comfortable to wear. No matter how sweaty you are, merino wool wicks it quickly to the outer surface, regulates body temperature and doesn‘t smell even after repeated wear. This miracle fibre is the ideal raw material for the multifunctional scarves and headbands of the German manufacturer P.A.C. – whether consisting of 100 percent merino wool or combined with high-tech material, the neckwear, hats and headbands by P.A.C. bring all these positive properties to outdoor adventures. In addition, P.A.C. guarantees mulesing-free sheep farming. The painful mulesing is supposed to protect the animals from fly maggot infestation and the deadly disease myasis. The process involves cutting away a piece of skin from the lambs‘ rumps without anaesthesia, which is supposed to scar smoothly. The merino wool in P.A.C. products comes from guaranteed happy sheep that are spared this process.
Everything about the Merino Nature multifunctional scarves from P.A.C. is pure nature. They are dyed with purely plant-based agents such as elderberry or oak apple without the use of chemicals and should theoretically end up on the compost heap at some point. But who would part with such a beautiful, durable product with multiple wearing options?
However, P.A.C. not only offers multifunctional scarves made of pure merino wool, but also combines the natural product with high-tech fibres to further enhance the functional properties. For example, the multifunctional scarves of the Merino Tech range with 50 percent polyester content have an even higher moisture transport than pure merino wool and are also more compatible for allergy sufferers.
(Hauke Barz)
www.pac-original.de
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LIGHTER, FARTHER, GREENER: FULL THROTTLE ON THE COAST!
GUIDELINE LPX COASTAL SINGLEHAND Having set itself the goal of producing more environmentally friendly and sustainable, Guideline has already set the benchmark in terms of price-quality-performance and green image with the Elevation rod series clearly high. With the new LPX Coastal single-handed rod series, however, the Scandinavians have gone one better – and significantly so!
The 4-piece coastal rods, which unites the function of landing predatory fish in all sizes and all climatic zones with ease, are the absolute madness! The first impression is exactly this lightness of the LPX Coastal, which already seems almost unreal: If a rod of the class 12, which embodies thus from the type „saltwater, brutal“, weighs only 112 g, then one balks justifiably! This lightness is due to the way the carbon fibers are arranged in the blank. Not interwoven or braided, but rather parallel in their lengths, the fibers are laid at varying angles to each other and this results in a fantastic and extremely light, but still stable and fast blank! Those who think of „fast“ as „stiff“ are mistaken, however, the rods in all classes have a sensitive bending curve and allow responsive casts that nevertheless powerfully convey what distance can mean without effort!
The fact that the LPX Coastal rods are a bit longer (9‘3“) in classes 5, 6 and 7 also provides distance for the caster. However, this neither takes getting used to nor is it in any way a hindrance for people who have only fished 9 foot (2.74 m) rods up to now!
Another highlight of the rods are the high-quality cork handles! A quality of this kind we find otherwise actually only in rods that would cost three times the price! What Guideline offers here is really prime cork! All classes are equipped with Full Wells Grip and a Fighting Butt. The guides are of the singleleg-type and are replaced in the classes 10 and 12 by snake guides, titanium and Zirconia inlays refuse corrosion and are stable as well as light at the same time. Visually and haptically the rods are also classy looking, plain black with blue decorative wraps and matching reel seat provide them with a contemporary and dynamic look.
WITH RAFFLE
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It must also be mentioned that, as with the Elevation series, the LPX Coastal rods have been produced green through and through! Environmentally friendly, toxin-free and in places using recycled materials from the finish to the material used for the rod tube! More details can also be found on the manufacturer‘s website.And because SCALE is now celebrating its birthday, we have received a fine gift from ADH, which we would like to pass on to you: We raffle a complete LPX Coastal outfit consisting of a rod in class 8, the matching Guideline Halo reel and a Guideline Predator F/H/I line! (Frank Steinmann) With this, the upcoming pike season can confidently begin! If you would like to win this set, send an email to:
lpx-coastal@scale-magazine.com More info about the rod at the manufacturer and ADH-Fishing
www.adh-fishing.de www.guidelineflyfish.com
Photos: Frank Steinmann
Of course, the LPX Coastal model can also be used in freshwater, especially when it comes to bridging distance. For example, when asp fishing or stillwater, when the fish rise far away. As far as the use of the rods is concerned, there are no limits. Class 5 is therefore suitable for streaming on the creek or river, for mullet fishing or light sea trout fishing. Class 6 and 7 are in fact the „long and longest-distance models“ on stillwater, larger river or the ideal sea trout rod. Class 8 will stand up to the pike in your water of choice. Class 10 carries chunky material between the pike‘s teeth or makes the huchen dance, but of course finds the greatest favor in the tropics. And class 12 is the ultimate answer to the already intoned „evil tropical fishing“ and tames all species that demand extreme from the tackle!
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CANNED HEAT OR FOOD ON THE ROAD AGAIN
HYDROFLASK ISOLATED FOOD JAR You could almost believe that Hydro Flask has bought us editors. „Another article presentation of this company, there must be something wrong“. Well, there‘s nothing fishy about it, at most hot, cold, or fresh! Because if we SCALE-boys are convinced about a product line, then we stay tuned for you and provide you with news and information on the topic of „must have“.
That‘s what happened with the food jars from US manufacturer Hydroflask, which so far has come up with fantastic beverage bottle insulators that keep hot things hot and chilled things, well you know....
Now, when it comes to taking a warm second breakfast along for autumnal predator fishing or a carbohydrate-rich couscous salad at a comfortable temperature for fishing and hiking, doing so light, leak-proof and, most importantly, sustainably produced, you can‘t go past the Food Jar from Hydroflask. The food jar is available in three different sizes: With a filling capacity of 345 ml (12 oz) you do not necessarily receive the field kitchen for the local voluntary fire department filled, for a personal and productive time this measure is enough nevertheless, because in the following year we would like to buy our waders not necessarily one size larger. Furthermore, there are the sizes „Man I‘m hungry“ with 591 ml (20 oz) and the model for the daycare trip with 828 ml (28 oz).
Made of double-walled 18/8 stainless steel, the consumer is served a vacuum in between, which ensures that filled food stays warm for more than 8 hours (we measured it that way): the Tom Yam Gung was still hot, sour and spicy, just as we filled it into the 363 g light can (345 ml) before the trip to the wet and cold Baltic Sea. The soft grip lid with twist lock can be opened comfortably and even with wet fingers. The outer plastic layer is impact resistant as well as BPA and phthalate free! The practical can is convenient to store in any daypack and we would already not want to miss this companion when we move outside.
Leftovers from the morning hot porridge: into the can! Farfalle with cherry tomatoes and pine nuts? Still warm in the evening - candlelight fishing with the new flame? A homemade tiramisu on the shore of your favourite lake is still chilled after hours and ready for the perfect serving moment. (Frank Steinmann) No more broken plastic cans, disposable dishes and spilled food in your backpack!
With Hydroflask Food Jars, your food will stay hot or cold when you‘re out and about, whether fishing or hiking and camping!
www.hydroflask.com
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WORN ON OR UNDER, IT‘S ALWAYS CHIC:
PLASTIC IN THE BASKET T-SHIRT As I type these lines, an ice storm is sweeping over my house, definitely freezing the idea that t-shirt weather could ever come back!
Nevertheless, I would like to point out that the good gals and guys from Plastic In The Basket Germany e.V. are not only doing a fantastic service for the good of the environment by directly picking up trash from their fishing spots and thus indirectly drawing attention to a global problem! No, that‘s not enough, now they also serve the elements of design and lifestyle and create really chic t-shirts! Of course, the sale of the shirts is 100% for a good cause and the promotion of the association, so every buyer contributes to the fact that our coasts remain clean and the message that should be carried to the public, can also be heard there!
The artist Jan Mellenthin has contributed the design of the T-shirts and we find it grandiose! Even the print quality is first class, haptically as well as visually! The sea trout skull, which was formed from plastic parts, is a timeless motive, which one can wear confidently in the club or also during the work!
Generously Christopher Heiland from Plastic In The Basket Germany e.V.
gave us three shirts for our birthday, which we would like to pass on to you!
So we are giving away two t-shirts in size „M“ and one in „XL“. Have fun wearing the fancy shirts and to the girls and guys of the association a big praise for your commitment! (Frank Steinmann) So, if you want to win one of the shirts, please send an E-Mail to:
seatrout@scale-magazine.com If you want to know more about the activities of the club, if you want to become a member or if you want to donate something, please contact the club at:
www.plasticinthebasket.de
WITH RAFFLE
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TOP ALL-ROUNDER
ORVIS GUIDE SLING PACK Brand new, with a fresh design and lots of extras – the new shoulder bag from Orvis has it all. With a full 18 litres of capacity and innovative functions, the Guide Sling Pack can take on several large fly boxes, film and photo equipment, spare clothes or food for the day trip. Even at first glance, the pack makes an appealing impression, but the real features are to be found in the details.
A brilliant new feature, for example, is the „recessed“ tippet dispenser docking station. Say good-bye to time-consuming fumbling around looking for tippet spools thanks to a quick access system – a real plus point for quick leader changes. The large main pocket has an integrated storage compartment made of mesh fabric and an additional zipped pocket with organiser compartments for smaller items such as money, keys or papers. There is also another zipped pocket on the outside, that includes a key ring. And as if the separate pockets weren‘t enough, on the front of the extremely comfortable padded carrying strap you‘ll find another zipped pocket with flypad (there‘s another on the side of the sling pack) and pre-cut rubber pad for smaller tools such as hook release, zingers or line clippers. Of course, the classic D-ring for the landing net has not been forgotten on the strap in the upper back area. Oh yes, of course there is also a pocket for a water bottle.
The Orvis Guide Sling Pack is particularly comfortable to wear. On the one hand, because you can adjust the shoulder and chest straps very precisely to your individual size – on the other hand, because of the anatomically shaped back section. The ribbed structure ensures pleasant air circulation between the back and the bag. This is less important when wearing a wading jacket, but in summer, when you are often only wearing a T-shirt when fishing, it pays off that the bag has been designed with good air flow in mind.
The outer material of the bag is made of 100% recycled ECO CORDURA with a strategic TPU coating. This is not waterproof, but it takes a lot of permanent moisture to penetrate this material.
And finally, at a retail price of €169, the Orvis Guide Sling Pack is a good €100 cheaper than the waterproof version of the previous generation. (Stefan Alt)
www.orvis.de
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1000 CASTS, THAT WAS YESTERDAY ...
WESTIN W3-HUCHO
Hardly any discipline of freshwater fishing has undergone a greater transformation in the last decade than huchen fishing. Once upon a time, catching the secretive large salmonid was reserved only for those who were not afraid of freezing temperatures, nor of extremely tiring casting orgies that were often not crowned with success even after days. In addition, the best fishing grounds were often known only to the local heroes and were also guarded like a family treasure.
Today, all this is different, the social media is a widespread organ for the dissemination of expertise, know-how and other valuable information, which should actually make it possible for every angler to pursue huchen. This is joined by increasingly advanced equipment that has become more specialized to facilitate the catching of hucho hucho.
A blessing to some, a curse to others: fishing for the last representatives of their species has already taken on a „safari character“, secrets are virtually non-existent and hunting for Danube salmon has long since become a mainstream event. Nevertheless, this popularity of the endangered large fish also contributes to a certain attention within the public. Protection and conservation of the species play a greater role and are transported to the public.
The increasing refinement of fishing methods is based not least on an improvement in fishing gear. In cooperation with their Ambassador Andreas Zachbauer, the Danes from Westin have designed a new version of the W3-Hucho. A spin rod specifically designed for huchen fishing and in my opinion an excellent product in this price range!
It has long been known that the huchen is not a great fighter, yet the fish reach capital dimensions and the appropriate weight. Multiply this Hucho BMI by the power of the water, i.e. strong current, rapids, ripples and other hydrological features that we have to factor into the fight, and it becomes clear why we need a really strong rod to be able to guide the fish to shore in the most targeted way possible.
The W3 Hucho is made from a two-piece Toray blank that gets additional reinforcement from Kevlar fibers. The blank is incredibly strong (3XH), which you notice immediately when you take it in your hand. Westin itself describes the action of the 2.65 m long rod as parabolic, but this should not be misunderstood and compared with the action of an UL-trout rod, which refers to the class of „pastry-fork“ directly compared to Westins hucho-tamer
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The W3-Hucho has an insane amount of power and the parabolic comes into its own when it is needed: when casting heavy lures and cushioning head-shaking huchen.With a specified casting weight of 50 - 190 g, the common Huchen baits from braid, spin flies, plugs and rubber fish no matter whether weighted with lead or better tungsten, on the jig head or just „light“, can be brought to the appropriate casting distance. The lure contact remains sensitive and the action is well transferred to the rod. The long handle which supports powerful casts, is made of premium EVA, so that at least a little protection against the cold is guaranteed in sub-zero temperatures. A small cork insert serves more of an ornamental purpose than a practical effect.
The diameter of the guides is important when fishing for huchen: We all know the frustration with frost. Frozen rod guides are no joy, and so for huchen it is clearly „the bigger the better“. The XXL guides of the W3-Hucho are ideally suited to counter this problem. 7 LTS guides with titanium-coated inserts enable a smooth line transport. The SKS-style reel seat provides a view of the Kevlar-covered blank and secures a reel in the 4000-5000 range.
I liked the rod very much in my tests, no matter if huchen or taimen, also as a heavy spinning rod for big pike and the corresponding baits or even for catfish the W3-Hucho is excellent. In this price range (for about 130 € to acquire), this rod is a top model that leaves nothing to be desired, if you want to face the winter huchen fishing well equipped.
Unlimited purchase recommendation on my part, and always remember that the huchen is an extremely endangered species and you should meet the fish with the necessary respect! Fairplay means here e.g. to go without treble hooks and barbs, to maintain photo sessions short and handle the fish ideally in the water! (Frank Steinmann)
www.westin-fishing.com
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BLACK FLY EYES MEDIA A LIFE OUTDOORS
We have already introduced Vaidas and Nerijus to you in our Mugshots. On the following pages we now give them space for their fantastic photo works, which embody their everyday life and their work at the same time. Have fun looking at them and dreaming about a life outdoors. (Frank Steinmann)
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SCALE Magazine supports the project of its Danish friends
Bring it back!
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SCALE MAGAZINE
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Contact Hauke Barz • Eichenstraße 84 • D-20255 Hamburg P.O. Box 203249 • D-20222 Hamburg
1. Contents of the online offer The author does not make over any guarantee for the topicality, the correctness, completeness or quality of the information, made available. Liability claims against the author, concerning damage of idealistic or of material kind, which was caused by the use or not use of the presented information and/or by the use of incorrect and incomplete information, are in principle impossible, so far as not a deliberate or roughly negligent fault can be proved on the part of the author. The documents and graphics on this Web site can be affected by technical inaccuracies or misprints, for which we don‘t assume any liability. FuG any time and without announcement can carry out technical amendments or improvements at the products which don‘t have to be documented absolutely on this Web site. Therefore FuG doesn‘t take any guarantee for the correctness of the details on this Web site. A legally binding contract on no account takes place alone by the information given here. Please consult us before you make use of the information given here for your application. The author expressly reserves itself the right, to change, to supplement or to delete parts of the pages or the entire offer or occasionally or finally to stop the publication without separate announcement.
Tel. +49-40-55 56 67 96 Email: info@scale-magazine.com Advertising: marketing@scale-magazine.com Place of jurisdiction: Hamburg Publisher Hauke Barz Editorial Staff Stefan Alt (Editor In Chief / Art Director) stefanalt@scale-magazine.com Hauke Barz (Publisher / Writer) haukebarz@scale-magazine.com Frank Steinmann (Writer / Photographer) franksteinmann@scale-magazine.com Ben Chadwick (Marketing / Cooperations) benchadwick@scale-magazine.com Partner Steef Meijers (stm) Digital Publishing Hans Nuecke Translation Tankred Rinder • Robin Hatting Juristic Consultancy Dr. Tobias Beckmann
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