By Allan Nørskov Johansen

Daylight fading, and big black spots.

I therefore chose to start fishing with a slim fly, with a rather slender profile in the water. I began fishing, and I soon reached one of the good areas on this stretch of water. Earlier this season, I had already had a couple of contacts to good fish on this particular spot, although not catching any of them. Closing in on the spot, I sharpened my focus.

A slim tube fly for the early evening fishing, can be a good choice. Shown here, is a “HKA Sunray”.

The sunset colored the western horizon, and the light began to fade. It was a beautiful and breathtaking sight, and I dwelled upon it for a little while, before shifting my focus toward my fishing and the nearby holding spot again.  

The fly landed close by, and just ahead of the plant growth, hanging out suspended over the water from the opposite bank. As the fly began its swing across the river, a huge wave immediately appeared right behind it. The fish followed the fly midway out in the river, and I felt a nice adrenalin rush! Right when I hoped it would attack the fly, it refused it instead, turning away in a huge swirl just under the surface, and ultimately returning to its holding spot under the plant growth. I gave it a short pause, before trying to present the fly again from different angles. However, the fish had already shown the fly the amount of attention needed, to get this little intruder out of its territory. I wasn’t able to lure it out again.

So once again, on this particular holding spot, I rose a fish to the fly, but did not get a solid strike. The sunset however, was really coloring the horizon now. I therefore gave myself a break from the fishing for a short while, taking a series of photos of the beautiful sunset by the Karup River instead. I did fish with my HKA Sunray for a short while after the photo session, but with no result.

The beautiful river valley in the sunset.

Tactics for the Dark.

As darkness rolled over the river valley, I decided to change fly and tactics. I rigged a fairly big wake fly, with a broad shoulder and a serious profile. When fished close to the surface on my intermediate line, a fish would easily see the silhouette of the fly, up against the light dark midsummer night sky. My thoughts wandered….. I wanted to try the fish I rose earlier this evening once again.

However, this time I moved a little bit further upstream from the before mentioned holding spot, before I began fishing. I wanted to cover a longer part of the river this time, before encountering the fish further downstream later on anyway. The fly moved perfectly just sub surface, creating a nice wake. I confidently began making my way downriver.  

The ”Octopus” is my preferred wake fly pattern for River Karup.

Just about… and almost there.

It was now as dark by the river, as it gets here in July. My casts were in “the zone”, and I fished my fly aggressively and with good speed, swinging it past the different holding spots on this river stretch. Coming into one of the river bends, once again a wave rises right behind the fly, just as it swings in along the riverbank. Tension rises in a split second, and it’s clear to see that the fish is right behind the fly…but it doesn’t touch it! The wave from the fish is declining. I tried to accelerate the fly faster up towards me along the riverbank, hoping to entice the fish to strike. The fish moves close to the fly again, but when reaching the fly, the fish just gently gave it a little push, before turning away and disappearing in the dark and mysterious water of the river once again.

The waves from the fish quickly subdued. Washed out by the currents in the river, leaving no mark of what had just happened here. A perfect mirror image of the northern celestial sky was the only thing visually remaining on the river surface. I walked away from the river, sat down and pulled out my fly box. I quickly found a little propeller in the box, which I rigged in front of the wake fly. The propeller makes a very distinct humming sound, and sends out lots of vibrations in the water. This can sometimes be just the one detail that tips the odds in your favor, when trying to get a solid strike from one of the vary sea trouts of River Karup. I mostly use the propeller as a standard accessory to my flies later on in the season, when the nights get much darker than they are here during midsummer. Adding the propeller when specifically targeting a fish, that has already declined striking the fly used without the propeller, has often led to getting a better reaction from the fish. Regardless of the level of light conditions by the river! 

Back with full Confidence.

Once finished rigging the propeller, I went back to the river and started preparing for a cast at the exact same position as before, where I had contact with the big sea trout. When airborne, the propeller did its job, and the characteristic humming sound of the propeller, pierced the evening silence. The fly landed as supposed, swung out from the opposite bank, rapidly crossing the deep and mysterious water. When the fly again neared to my side of the river, the fish rose violently to the fly, thus again creating a big wave. This time I was prepared, so I accelerated the fly forward upriver, as soon as I saw the fish. The sea trout completely engulfed the fly just subsurface, right before my eyes, and……..fish on!

It was a strong fish, and it took a bit of line off the reel. First in this direction, then soon followed by a run in another direction. I just followed the fish on the bank with my onehand rod, ensuring tight line connection to the fish, and just enjoying the fight as it played out. The fish jumped erratically out of the water a couple of times, but other than that, it was a real “bulldog” type of fight, on short line most of the time. After maneuvering the fish round a river bend, I saw a good spot for trying to land the fish. The fish was also tired, so I prepared my landing net and turned on my night lamp. The fish went in the net in the first landing attempt, with no hassle. Having netted this “summer dream” of a sea trout, I was filled with feelings of joy and happiness, as I carried the sea trout a few meters in the net, away from the riverbank. 

Kneeling down beside this magnificent fish, I got my priest out and quickly put it out of its misery. All of a sudden, a voice in the dark of the night cried out:

“Congrats with your fish, it sure is a nice one….. I thought I saw you turning on your night lamp, so I just wanted to check out what was going on”.

The friendly voice belonged to one of the other avid anglers, who often visit this stretch of the River Karup at nighttime. He just wanted to congratulate me on my catch, before he himself moved upstream the river to begin his fishing.

”Summer dream” from River Karup.

Mildly spoken, this fish was very fat. Its shiny silvery sides, was heavily decorated with the most beautiful big black spots. I weighed the fish by the car later on, and I had to check the result on the scale a couple of times. However, it was no mistake! The fish weighed a massive 6.0 kg, packing all that muscle together in only 72 cm of length! So it really was a very beautiful, and heavily build sea trout, that I had been fortunate enough to catch this evening in River Karup.

Big black spots, on a heavy sea trout.

The fishing, as always, had been challenging. To get a good result, I had to change tactics and fly a couple of times. Changing tactics, by the way, is always a good idea by River Karup, if the fishing don’t “play your way”. Furthermore, it’s always nice to share the catch of a beautiful fish, with another fellow angler by the river.

So all in all, this was a perfect trip to the river, with ”Daylight fading and big black spots”.

The catch of this fish, was just one out of many nice experiences I’ve had along the River Karup during season 2016. You can check out more details from last year, in the YouTube clip below.

Tight lines.

Allan Nørskov Johansen