December:
Guiding and fishing time, season has started!!:
The well known waters of Cumilahue Lodge - I was guiding in this beautiful valley .
September/October
Elvene rundt Trondheimfjorden / NASF (North Atlantic Salmon Fund) auction, Oslo, Norway:
I’m supporting Elvene rundt Trondheimfjorden, the NASF charity auction in Oslo at the Astrup Museum, to buy out nets for the Trondheim fjord. I did a drawing of Laerdalselva, Bjorkum pool where I fished this past season. It is a very famous place and beautiful certainly, one of the most impressive pools. I donated a classic salmon fly “ the Jackass” too.
NASF Book “A celebration of salmon rivers”:
This a great book which shows you some of the best and famous waters around the world for Salmon fishing. It covers about 50 rivers with great photography from Randy Ashton.... I did a series of 20 salmon flies drawings in colour. There are also some well reputed anglers writing about each river... if you buy the book you will be helping the wild salmon as the book is exclusively to r aise money for NASF conservation projects...... you can get your book order through www.nasf.org or www.nasfworldwide.com
Help support NASF conservation projects to restore Atlantic salmon abundance. If you have difficulty finding the book contact Adrian Latimer (the editor): latimer1@slb.com
June – August
The trip to Scandinavia
I wanted to give a special thanks to Roy Arris who gave me the bug on Atlantic salmon fishing, for his encouragement and advice !!!, and to all of you for making this travel an unforgettable experience!:
Manfred Raguse, Guy Contremoulins, Georg Rosen, Jens and Helle Pilgaard, Pelle Klippinge and family, Oystein Aas, Knut and Jo Alfrensen, Per and Fredrik Hogvall, Pertti Markkola, Resto and Torbjorn Werner, Peter Tenrdrup, Olav Wendelbo, Gustaf Magnuson, Sebastian Bach, Fredrik Ringvold, Martin Bach, Tommy Kaajegard, Steinar Chirstensen, Karl Maerk, Oddbjorn Midbo, Vegard Heggem, Earl and Margit Worsham, If I miss somebody sorry!.
I arrived the 31 of May just hours ahead of the opening day in the Gaula river at the Norwegian Fly Fisher’s Club organized by the experienced German angler Manfred Raguse. It was an interesting experience for first time fishing for Atlantic salmon for 10 days.
The river rose up to 800 cubic meters, so I didn`t get even a take but was an interesting time. June can be tough, since the river is not yet full of fish, but it’s certainly the time when the big fresh Atlantic salmon enter in to Gaula river. It can turn in a lifetime fish, so worth trying! Usually the people that come every year do better!. I did visit Oystein Aas, a biologist who is dedicated to saving salmon as well, and ended up meeting several nice people like Knut and Jo Alfredsen as well Vegard Heggem. The day before I met Pelle Klippinge and fished with him. I did stay since Manfred offered me the chance to work, I was drawing maps of NFC beats, for a booklet and doing a little guiding, so I keep fishing and learning, but the season was not the best, due the lack of fish, the grilse and the 2 MSW fish did not show up in the usual numbers in July
|
The 13th of July after work I decided to fish, after a few rounds suddenly I got the take under a big Sunray Shadow ..what a magic moment !!!! right in the tail of the home pool in the well know light of the night just after midnight.… I saw everything, very peaceful surroundings at the river just perfect. That first Atlantic salmon will be always remembered, as I had a lot of sleepless night during my stay before landing it !!!! I remember Manfred cheering me up to fish more due to the slow fishing. |
Also I did some Scketches that you can see..Click Here |
| |
|
Sebastian first Gaula salmon |
|
With Vegard Heggem at Kregnes ,Gaula |
After a couple of weeks at Gaula river, my friend Georg Rosen from Germany came and we headed to the legendary Laerdalselva ! The scenery on our way was spectacular and we stopped in various parts but…… a special one was to see the famous Aroy river. After that we got to appreciate the Sogne fjord which was a thrilling experience as it was already getting dark, which gave some mysterious feeling... after we crossed the fjord was pitch black and we did have to call our host the gracious Guy Contremoulins ( a.k.aThe General ) to find our way!!. He invited us to stay and fish the Bjorkum beat as well as arranging some extra fishing in the Eri and Saelthun beat for us. It was one of my best fishing weeks ever, and very interesting to met Olav Wendelbo and learn about the Laerdalselva. Guy make our dream come true !, Regarding the fishing, 2 salmon were landed some lost but not very good. The river was high for the first days. Anyway it was great as it is a stunning place and I hope this river gets back to its former glory.
Then back to Gaula for a few days and then to fish the Orkla river. It was interesting when we arrived as it was dark and there was no-one to be ask about a place to stay!! I did have to go knock on a farmers door!, as I just arrived there at midnight and it was raining. River in spate…. which was favorable due to the lack of water. Karl Maerk who does great work and organizes the fishing, was a great host. He and Oddbjorn whom I spoke to twice on the phone helped me a lot regarding beats and their taking spots etc. I did lose the first fish, but what a fight: it was tough wading conditions, zero visibility plus very rocky banks and I couldn`t run to chase this salmon. This fish took the fly and just sat on the bottom. I thought for seconds that it was a rock but after a few pulls the rock started to swim upstream !!!!!!.
Then a few days later I got another take and landed it, at the very end of my fishing turn on the beat. I was so happy, the fish took in a very slow part, not in the main current where the fish was showing, fishing was tough. So I should be happy. Karl did show me some of the tackle and flies that his Grandfather used to fish for salmon. He was a pioneer in the Orkla valley !. I made a brief visit to Vegard Heggem to learn about the Elvene rundt Trondheimfjorden project that also NASF is supporting. He manages a nice lodge there.
At the end of my stay I got the chance to met two world class salmon fly tiers from Denmark: Martin Bach, who I have been in touch with for a year, ties classic salmon flies without a vice, and he introduced me to his friend Tommy Kaajegard on the banks of the Gaula river. We had a pleasant time talking about fishing, flies and fly tying… drinking some nice single malt etc !.
Heading to Denmark to meet Jens and Helle Pilgaard, we spend a wonderful time, a great chance to learn from him more about how to flies in the hand…….we tied one Classic salmon fly in hand, a Cadogan, without the use of a visc, and talked about fly tying, painting etc. They are keen on maintaining the Viking Danish heritage. Helle follows some beautiful traditional customs as well as Jens through his other passion....as a blacksmith he makes a lot of different artifacts and swords releated to that period as well great knives. Actually he made one during my stay to show me the process…. After he finished it he gave it to me as a gift ..that I treasure and use when I`m out fishing. We fished also at the Simested A and caught some brownies, but it was too sunny for the sea trout!.
Inbetween I went for few days to Skagen, a beautiful summer town on the northern tip of Denmark, with nice beaches and a couple of museums… I saw a lot of painting from the 1800s not just by Danish painters, but also some from Norway and Sweden. Really nice. Copenhagen was completly different. I saw a lot of nice museums and walked aroun the streets etc. - more noisy, busy and full of people!.
Now from the rush of Copenhagen to the gentle Paskallavik where runs the forested river and home of huge sea trout and Baltic salmon, the Em. I was able to see again Pelle Klippinge and meet his family. It was nice and relaxed but we fished with no luck, but this river is just beautiful and different from what I have fished before……I got the pleasure to visit the Em Estate from the Ulfsparre family and to see the surroundings and met Goran a very lively gentlemen... we spoke a bit about fishing and GUS, briefly.
The Museum that GUS has been building is impressive, very interesting. We also fished the little Krvillen with a bamboo rod that Pelle built himself. Then headed to Stockholm to visit several museums and walk around the city, very nice and got to see fishing friends Sebastian and Gustaf. Was a nice time.
Fishing at Emfors
|
Pelle Klippinge and Gustaf Ulsparre
|
The Em Museum ( created by GUS) |
After a couple of days I headed back to Norway to visit the painter Odd Nedrum and talk about coming next year to paint and learn from him. I was able to see his paintings and see him paint was quite motivating! Then I did get to meet Steinar ( and his nice family) when I stayed at the home of a friend of Pelle. He turned to be a keen salmon angler as well as a very talented tier of classic salmon flies so we had a lot to talk about. I also got to met another two talented tiers Long Nguyen and Thomas Larsen, after that I went back to Chile.
Vigeland park
|
|
Long, Thomas and Steinar! |
|
