We’re right up in the middle of the in my opinion neatest season of the year – autumn.
One’s just got to appreciate the way the scenery dress and what breathing the cool fresh air feels like. Breathing the autumn air feels like drinking the same nice water you’ve been drinking all summer but with a good scoop of ice in it.
In short – It’s the same air, same leaves and the same fish; everything’s just looks and feels a bit better.
Our beloved chars that inhabit many of our northern Swedish lakes won’t let the autumn beauty above the surface get far ahead. Oh no, fact is that the chars jump into something that’s way above the league of the terrestrial life.
It’s not to put the autumn down for all of those who don’t fish but the finest of autumn’s beauty is actually found subsurface.
I’ve always been obsessed with the thought of catching a spawn-suit charizard but finding one is not that easy with a million of alternatives on the map. I’ve tried a valley named Korsavaggi which took me about 4 hours of walking up into the mounts to reach. I’ve had three days off duty to spend hunting for rubies, three days with neither wind nor clouds at all.
With conditions like that a good time is sure to be had, with or without fish.
My belief in having a good time even without fish was about to get put to the test.
When the aftermath of a mayfly hatch like this don’t cause chars to rise, it’s time to start worrying about not being in the right spot.
And so I didn’t have much of a choice but to try having a good time under the sun without the company of some ruby-like fish.
I tried to capture some of the terrestrial beauty in the valley.
I met a curious grouse who tried to tell me something in its cackly language.
Oh well, I can’t tell more than what the pictures tell. It was just a lovely weekend even though the fish were absent.
A few Weeks then passed without any success whatsoever in catching a male char in spawning colours. My last three-day off duty didn’t deliver the same kind of weather so I stuck to hiding inside, hiding from the shame of letting September pass without seeing a blood red char. However, during the last two days, the entity controlling the weather has been real kind to me. The wind was set to work on night time only and have had to rest during daytime, paving the way for thousands of insects craving water and dozens of chars craving insects.
There’s a small lake nearby the borders to Norway. It’s just by the road but I haven’t ever seen anyone fishing there even though the lake is inhabited by quite a few decent char. My friend caught a red one there a few weeks ago. He ate it with his dad and they said it tasted like sot and poo.
One can actually feel the smell of rotting bacteria rising above while wading in the water, hence the taste of the fish.
Alot of swedes are obsessed with the idea of killing every single fish they catch for the sake of a good feed, especially winter fishermen. This is a problem in the northern, cold areas where chars struggle to grow large due to the lack of nutrients during the long and cold winters. Succeeding in becoming large enough for spawning might take several years, a fact to which some people show pure ignorance.
But the chars in this lake are lucky; they taste like shit and so way fewer winter fishermen targets them.
Luckily their foul taste doesn’t afflict their ability to turn into gorgeous little dragons during autumn – Not at all.
I caught a few charmanders and a real nice charmeleon so now I can finally feel that I can let this month through without being anxious at the end of every single day.
This handsome hunk is surely going to fertilize a shitload of roe. Uhm. Talking about the fish ofcourse.
Seeing these fish rise slowly to a small caddis imitation twitched along the surface is not something I can simply describe through letters, enough said.
Anyhow, I am still to catch a real Charizard. Just wait!
Enjoy the autumn bitches.
Piecazceout
S L 