| Monday: | Paul Arden |
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| Tuesday: | Graeme Christie |
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| Wednesday: | Tracy&James |
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| Thursday: | Martyn White |
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| Friday: | Mika Lappalainen |
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| Saturday: | Rickard Gustafsson |
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| Sunday: | David Siskind |
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It’s all happening…
Monday, 18 May 2026
It’s been raining and the lake level has risen a few feet, maybe even a metre or more. This could/should be enough to trigger the Snakehead to spawn. I can’t remember a rise in water levels at this time of year before, so it’s definitely more of a maybe than a given. But I would be very surprised if we don’t actually see Snakehead babies appear within the next week, or days even.
I’ve positioned the Battleship in a part of the lake that I haven’t fished since David was visiting back in January. I’ll fish here this week and then make a decision on where I want to be after that. It’s a nice change of scenery. This particular bay is also excellent for Gourami as well as Snakehead babies. It’s also a nice bay for swimming too and I certainly need to start training this skill properly again.
Coastal Brown Trout and Routes of Doom
Tuesday, 19 May 2026
I have family down south in NZ. Always fun to visit, catch up on life, and maybe drag my son out for a fishing trip.
The weather forecast was positive with somewhat low wind, day in fog to start. The day wasn't going to be warm but you can't always get everything in life. Plus activity warms you up at some point.
Off we set, a bit of a journey in the car. Low fog was the order of the day.
BFCC Calendar 2026
Wednesday, 20 May 2026
Since getting back from the holiday, we have been working on the calendar for the BFCC and we now have a series of events for 2026.
Scratching The Surface
Thursday, 21 May 2026
As I continue to demonstrate that I carry more flies than Paul's 2, I'm going with one of the best top-water choices this week. The Gartside Gurgler, a simple pattern that just works.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Friday, 22 May 2026
It is our third day in Slovenia. It will be second fishing day also. We had good time and fishing in Krka river. On the way back we started to plan next fishing day, as we knew Unica river was crowded when were in Krka as there was rain in mountain area, so our guide Bruno thought that it will be more quiet next day as weather is good in mountains again.
It would be mostly grayling fishing and brown trouts, in that order. He explained that we need to have thin tippets and small flies, even 24 or 26 could be useful. He told that fish are picky and somehow we got idea that also really spooky ones.
We started to have feeling that it would be like Vindelån trout fishing, you get one cast, two if lucky and bye-bye if you don't deliver. Satu was little worried as she loves grayling fishing and catching graylings. River sounded possibility no catch for her and could be tricky to me also.
The sound of stepping on a plastic cup
Saturday, 16 May 2026
Today, Thursday, we had a small competition. We planned it right after the one we had in April. We ended up with the same participants as the last time, we had two more registered but their car broke down on the way to the competition. That was sad as it would have been nice to catch up with Seppo and Stefan. And a couple of more casters in the competition wouldn’t have hurt.
The weather hasn’t been on our side on the competition days. Today we had some wind in the start of the competition and later in the competition we had quite a strong wind. Always in a bad direction as the wind turned after every time we built or adjusted the course. And in the end of the competition we also got heavy rain.
Battered in the Bow
Sunday, 17 May 2026
It’s not by accident that tarpon fishing, like horseshoes, has several flavors of “close.” I learned a few new terms this past week. “Bitey,” or “getting bit,” and ‘jumping a fish” were already in my pocket, but now I have “chewy” and “chewed,” and “putting fish in the air.” Add all these to “looks,” “nods,” “leans,” and “follows” and you’ve pretty much got much of my migrating tarpon fishing experiences. I’ve had some connected successes, but not this week. I specialized in “looks.” I also got one “crouch” and another “swing and a miss.” In my defense, the weather was often rough, the viz poor and even the few bait guys “weren’t putting fish in the air.”
