Some fishing and some random thoughts

The weather at the end of September has been very windy so it’s not been much fishing as I’ve only had the boat as means of transportation to get to the fishing areas and it is not enjoyable when the wind is strong. But when I’ve been out the fishing has been great. The fishing has been great, I’ve been less great, so the number of fish I’ve lost has been quite high. The sessions have been around two hours of fishing and I’ve been landing about 5 seatrouts in each session and lost even more. That’s some good fishing I would say. 

I’ve been finding fish in all spots I’ve been fishing. Some old known places and some new. So that I think proves what I always say to the last people showing up on social media and asking for good spots. On the Swedish west coast, any spot where you can reach the water is a good spot. Some are of course better than others but you have a good chance of finding fish everywhere. 

The last session was a bit strange. Lots of bites but very few hook ups. I was fishing a yellow woolly bugger and tried what always seem to work when the fish won’t play. The copper bastard: https://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/another-ugly-fly

Fish on in the first cast! Then the spot seemed to die out. Time to switch spot. Caught one more while reeling in. 

In the next spot I soon hooked another one. Small one. The a few casts later I had a fish on as soon as I started stripping. Felt very small first. But the fish was calm. That usually means that the fish isn’t as small as you first think. Which was true. When I got the fish to the boat the real fight started. Had to fight hard to keep it from running under the boat, or into the anchor line, while I had to navigate from the bow to the stern where the net was. Also while not getting the line tangled in something. The cast was quite long so there were a lot of line to tangle.

It was the biggest fish of the season and possibly the last one of the season also. It got to swim away after some admiration.

Good that I didn’t know then that you cannot hook a fish with a long line. Apparently to be a CI you have to be able to cast 75 feet! But that’s unnecessary as it is impossible to hook a fish at that distance. You learn so much in the comment fields on Facebook!

I’ve also had two practice sessions. With the focus on short line, non-hauled. I managed that one of the sessions. The other one I didn’t follow my plan. So while I listened to Will & Mark. You should too, it is brilliant. https://youtu.be/4WnvkmQka_U

I got the idea that I should maybe restrict myself sometimes to better follow my plans. As you know, if you are coaching yourself your coach is a moron. So this is another use for lines that have been worn out for distance. Cut them to restrict yourself. Maybe they can even double-up as James carry heads?

I’ve written about hanging for shoulder health and mentioned variations before. I’ve spent some time on hanging but with a supinated grip. It gives a really good stretch in the biceps and forearm. And I think this can be very beneficial for both curing pain in the elbow area from casting and also preventing it. With retracted shoulder blades the stretch can get even more intense and targeted into the arms. And give the muscles helping the shoulder a workout. I could tell as after the session discovering this as I managed to irritate the infraspinatus a bit after going too crazy too soon here. 

Start here if you are new to this: Sexyloops - One exercise to take care of it all?

I’ve found a new method to relax and calm the mind down when trying to sleep. Watching clips of my own fly casting. It has to be something with a good flow and not too much details to be annoyed about. Then it can be very relaxing. If you cannot make your own videos like this it is time to get some lessons. Preferably via Zoom as that seems to be the best way to get good lessons. 

Cheers, Rickard