Tropical heat wave- The salmon went on vacation

The fishing in Swedish Lapland was generally a disappointment this season. The hottest summer since 1850 led to rivers running low and a water temperature above 20 degrees even in the mountains. We have never ever, in modern times, experienced a similar situation in our salmon rivers. In June the sun and a never-ending heat wave hit the region and turned most of the Forest Rivers into small streams. The water temperature rose fast and the migration to the rivers decreased.

The sea trout fishing was also hard. In May and in the beginning of June the fishing for sea trout in the river Lögde älv was fantastic, but during late June-August the only way to catch a sea trout was to try hard during the night when the temperature gradually went under 20 degrees.

The pike fishing, where we generally can leave guarantees to visitors, was also affected. The temperatures in the river Ångermanälven (and our Top of the line pike fishing in Gafsele) almost reached 25 degrees and the pike moved from their normal territories towards cooler
areas.

The grayling though, seemed to enjoy the summer and the fishing was good in both rivers and lakes. Most happy was probably the Romanian group of fly fishermen that arrived to join the Lapland Fishing Festival. They went to river Vindelälven and experienced the fishing of a lifetime. They caught (and released) over 100 grayling per person, many between 40-50 cm in length, in only one day of fishing.

Lapland fishing festival
The festival attracted about 50 happy and excited fishermen. For the first time we had competitors from the Czech Republic, organised by the travel agent Pepa Travel in Prague. We were also happy to welcome a delegation from Romania. For several of them this was the second time in Lapland, since they visited the region in 2001 for the World Flyfishing Championship. They became so excited regarding the fishing and the nature that they decided to return to the region during the festival, even though it collided with the WFFC in France. Considering the fantastic grayling fishing they experienced, it was not a bad choice.

Even though hard conditions,
Martin James, BBC Radio, never fails