By Allan Nørskov Johansen

Maybe tonight… maybe!

The silhouette of the “Squidro”, checked up against the sunset.

The expectation for the night’s fishing by the river was also top notch! There had been much rain recently, and most tourists and other people without fishing rods, had long since cursed the Danish summer far away. However, along River Karup, there was not so many complaints about the summer weather. The rain kept sending new groups of fish up the river all the time. It was just a matter of “sticking to it”, then you had the chance of experiencing good and exciting fishing.

However, the water level was a little high for my liking … you must have something to complaint about 😉 But the River had finally dropped a bit, and though there was high water level, the water was reasonably clear. So there should be a chance to entice a fish up on the surface, to inspect a wake fly 🙂

I took some pictures of the beautiful evening light, and then went to the River. After half an hour, the first fish came up, and looked at the fly. The fish stood in a classic spot, under my own bank in the outflow of a river bend. The fish pushed to the fly 2 times, and then disappeared into the depths again. After a short break, I tried the fish again… but it was not to be!

The river valley in beautiful light.

Shortly after, I reached the next good holding spot on this stretch of river. The fly swung over the stream in a sharp angle, creating a nice wake, and the long hackle tips on the fly performed their seductive dance in the river current. The reaction came swift…

A powerful fish rose confidently up behind the fly, creating a large wave on the river surface, and escorted this small disrupting element out of its territory… but it did not touch the fly! A short break and a new cast spawned the same reaction… but still without the fish touching the fly. I varied the speed and angle of my fly, which in the fourth try resulted in the fish to nibble gently in the fly. There was contact with the fish in a fraction of a second, and then the line went slack again! The fish returned to its hiding spot in the bend, with a big wave… damn it!

I figured that seeing as how the fish had now just been scratched by the hook point, it had ruined the chance of catching it. Anyway, I changed my “Squidro” fly with a “Blæksprutte”, and tried the fish again after 5 min. Much to my surprise, I actually managed to raise the fish another 2 times… but it still wouldn’t touch the fly!

Next fly that was presented to the fish, was this version of “Blæksprutten”, here photographed alongside a fish from last season.

Duly noted, that there was a very aggressive fish residing in this Riverbend, I carried on with my fishing further downstream the river.

However, nothing more happened, and after an hour, my thoughts wandered back to the fish from earlier this evening. Therefore, I stopped and went back up to my aggressive “friend” in the bend.

It was very dark now, and the trees in the bend obstructed my view of the sky mirroring itself on the river surface. Luckily, I had a perfect memory of the exact line length to cast, thanks to my connection point between my running line and my shooting head.

The blue-and-black “Blæksprutte” was sent off into the dark, and landed where it was supposed to, close to the opposite bank. The reaction came immediately. The fish was still there and active, and came as before rushing after the fly… but still without the tug.

A short break and a new attempt yielded exactly the same result, even though I accelerated the fly faster through the fish’s territory. There was still something slightly wrong…

I retreated in shelter under the trees, and visited my fly box once again. My gaze fell on a new pink version of a “Blæksprutte”, tied in a considerable size. The fly was almost 10 cm long, very broad built and with a big shoulder that could push a lot of water. I figured the fish would either be scared back out into the fjord, or allow itself to be provoked by the big fly, resulting in a crushing bite! Fortunately, it was the latter… ????

“Blæksprutten”, here in a pink version with conehead.

The fish could clearly not tolerate the presence of this bulky fly in its territory, so it finally took the fly and hooked itself. The fish did what it could, and swam violently around the river bend, where it also jumped out of the water quickly three times in a row.

There were some overhanging trees in the outflow of the bend, with suspicious tree roots beneath the surface. As soon as the fish stopped jumping around, I immediately escorted it downstream past the trees and far away from the tree roots. The rest of an otherwise entertaining fight, was carried out downstream the bend on a short line. Finally, the fish was netted, and came ashore. The fish were immediately put out of its misery. Thereafter I could indulge in taking some nice pictures, and otherwise just enjoy the sight of this beautiful River Karup sea trout ????

5.2 kg and 72 cm long “sea trout dream” from River Karup.

It is always a great satisfaction for me as a sea trout angler, to “find” a fish in the river, where after I vary my fishing methods and my fly selection, until I finally manage to outwit the fish and catch it. When that happens, it’s really cool… not least because it’s definitely without guarantee that the outcome plays out to your advantage ????

Close up of the “Blæksprutten Fusion” in pink, this Edition is, however, without the conehead, so it really creates a big wake just subsurface ????

Summer dream is in the House. Who doesn’t dream of catching such a nice summer fish? The dream can become reality in River Karup, if you are persistent ????

With yet another great fish and experience from beautiful River Karup Å “in the bank”, I drove off into the night’s darkness, once again thinking to myself…

“Maybe tonight… maybe…”

Tight lines by the river.

Allan Nørskov Johansen