July 2018
By Allan Nørskov Johansen
Trophy hunting in River Karup. Part 3.
Even though you might lose the seatrout of your dreams, there’s usually something valuable you can take with you from each experience. Especially regarding how you can control and maneuver the big fish in the river (or at least try to), by the use of implementing different rod angles and direction of rod pressure during the fight.
Read more on this subject here in part 3.
Tips and technics for fighting the fish.
Basically speaking, the name of the game is keeping the fish swimming/moving throughout the duration of the fight, thereby ultimately rendering the fish sufficiently fatigued, so that you can land your River Karup trophy… that’s it :-)
I’ve put in countless hours of effort along the river through the years, and as a result have been lucky to experience having contact with some of the river giants. Some I was able to land… others were lost :-)
Each battle with these fish have different nuances of behavior, which find their way into each individual experience. The duration in which the fish find itself in a certain phase of the fight, also varies some.
However, all the trophies I’ve caught, or battled with until I lost them, have all shared a couple of interesting “similar features”, which they play out during the fight. Depicting the fight in “phases”, makes it easier to point out the similarities.
Tips and technics for fighting the fish.
Basically speaking, the name of the game is keeping the fish swimming/moving throughout the duration of the fight, thereby ultimately rendering the fish sufficiently fatigued, so that you can land your River Karup trophy… that’s it :-)
I’ve put in countless hours of effort along the river through the years, and as a result have been lucky to experience having contact with some of the river giants. Some I was able to land… others were lost :-)
Each battle with these fish have different nuances of behavior, which find their way into each individual experience. The duration in which the fish find itself in a certain phase of the fight, also varies some.
However, all the trophies I’ve caught, or battled with until I lost them, have all shared a couple of interesting “similar features”, which they play out during the fight. Depicting the fight in “phases”, makes it easier to point out the similarities.
The different phases of the fight.
Phase 1.
Immediately after hooking the fish, the fight usually starts out with one of the following descriptions:
- The fish is all wild and uncontrollable, shooting up- and downstream the river in violent runs, accompanied by jumping out of the water.
- The fish starts with positioning itself in the surface, where it sways its body violently from side to side, after which it then begins jumping or making powerful runs.
It usually doesn’t take long before you realize you’ve hooked one of the “big ones”. They have a nice tendency to drag you up- or down the river. You simply have to tag along, hoping that the fish stays on despite its initial violent behavior.
When the fish jumps, then point your rod toward the fish to relieve the level of pressure, or even give it a bit of slack line just before it hits the water again. If the hookset is good, it’ll stay on for sure. On the other hand, the hook can be torn from the fish’s mouth or even worse, the leader can break leaving the hook in the fish, if a big fish lands on the leader coming down from a jump, with you still upholding high pressure on the line!
How to maneuver the fish out of weed ranks?
Also expect, that the fish will try to bore itself into ranks of weed in the river from the get go of the fight, if given the chance. Either the fish seeks shelter in the weed ranks, while making a run up- or down the river. On other occasions, the fish try to get back to their initial holding spot in the river, after you hook it. If this initial holding spot in fact consist of weed ranks, or if there’s many water plants nearby the holding position, you must try to maneuver the fish away from it!
The easiest way to achieve this is by putting a lot of pressure on the fish from a downstream position, thereby dragging the fish downstream and away from the river vegetation.
If the fish succeeds and bores into the weed ranks, then use the same technic and put high pressure on the fish from a downstream position. Don’t do this when positioned alongside or upstream of the fish… as you’ll only risk dragging it further into the weed rank. “Backing it out” of the weeds, is your only chance :-)
If the hook hold is still intact after the first initial violent jumps and runs, the fight moves to the second phase.
How to maneuver the fish out of weed ranks?
Also expect, that the fish will try to bore itself into ranks of weed in the river from the get go of the fight, if given the chance. Either the fish seeks shelter in the weed ranks, while making a run up- or down the river. On other occasions, the fish try to get back to their initial holding spot in the river, after you hook it. If this initial holding spot in fact consist of weed ranks, or if there’s many water plants nearby the holding position, you must try to maneuver the fish away from it!
The easiest way to achieve this is by putting a lot of pressure on the fish from a downstream position, thereby dragging the fish downstream and away from the river vegetation.
If the fish succeeds and bores into the weed ranks, then use the same technic and put high pressure on the fish from a downstream position. Don’t do this when positioned alongside or upstream of the fish… as you’ll only risk dragging it further into the weed rank. “Backing it out” of the weeds, is your only chance :-)
If the hook hold is still intact after the first initial violent jumps and runs, the fight moves to the second phase.
Phase 2.
In the second phase, I’ve often experienced that:
- In this phase of the fight, the big fish often position themselves along the sandy bottom, either moving very slowly upstream, or else the fish just holds its position dead still over the bottom… this even in very strong current!
- In this phase, the fish often comes in on a very short line distance, meaning the start of a real short line tug war, between the fish and the angler up on the riverbank.
This “big fish signature behavior” simply derives from the fact, that the big ones have sufficient strength to hold their position along the bottom, without you being able to move it even when applying a lot of pressure. It feels exactly like you have hooked a big “block of concrete” on the bottom of the river!
The real “danger” at this point in the fight, is that the fish when displaying this behavior, clearly states to the angler, that the angler in fact has hooked up with the seatrout of his dreams. Your pulse rises, and your arms may start to shake a little. This is where controlling your nerves gets very important :-)
It’s super cool to feel the adrenalin pump and the excitement rise, during the battle with a true river trophy… after all, that’s what you’ve been dreaming about :-)
But if you get “to nervous” during this experience, you risk “freezing” on the spot, paralyzing you into not being able to bring things forward. This puts you in an unwanted waiting position, while your trophy fish in the other end of the line, suddenly has the upper hand!
Don’t freeze!
The exact problem here is, that if you don’t do anything about the “concrete block” on the bottom, then the fish will simply keep its position with ease, not using any energy. Then the angler stands on the bank, pulling on the line from the same direction over a long period of time.
If the hook placement in the fish’s mouth is unfortunate according to the direction of the connection between the fish and the angler, then the hook hold will risk loosening after long time pressure from the same direction. The fish goes free!
Instead, you must aim to get the “concrete block” moving again. So you must be creative, and try to change the angle, intensity and direction of the pressure, you lay upon the fish with your rod. Again, the best advice here is to move to a downstream position of the fish, and then try to change you rod angle pressure from here. This usually gets them moving again... and when the fish moves around, it uses up energy. Which incidentally is your goal at this point in the fight :-)
The fish usually reacts to the change in pressure, by making smaller short distance up- and downstream runs, or maybe it’ll try a couple of lazy jumps, with only half its body out of the water. They simply get annoyed, that you don’t allow it to hold its position on the bottom, where it can “relax” and control the fight from there.
If the hook hold is still good, there’s lots of hope to land your trophy as the fight moves to phase 3 :-)
Don’t freeze!
The exact problem here is, that if you don’t do anything about the “concrete block” on the bottom, then the fish will simply keep its position with ease, not using any energy. Then the angler stands on the bank, pulling on the line from the same direction over a long period of time.
If the hook placement in the fish’s mouth is unfortunate according to the direction of the connection between the fish and the angler, then the hook hold will risk loosening after long time pressure from the same direction. The fish goes free!
Instead, you must aim to get the “concrete block” moving again. So you must be creative, and try to change the angle, intensity and direction of the pressure, you lay upon the fish with your rod. Again, the best advice here is to move to a downstream position of the fish, and then try to change you rod angle pressure from here. This usually gets them moving again... and when the fish moves around, it uses up energy. Which incidentally is your goal at this point in the fight :-)
The fish usually reacts to the change in pressure, by making smaller short distance up- and downstream runs, or maybe it’ll try a couple of lazy jumps, with only half its body out of the water. They simply get annoyed, that you don’t allow it to hold its position on the bottom, where it can “relax” and control the fight from there.
If the hook hold is still good, there’s lots of hope to land your trophy as the fight moves to phase 3 :-)
Phase 3.
In the third phase, it usually plays out like this:
- When the fish runs, it’s only for shorter distance. It’s easy to hold the fish within tight range, and you can put optimal pressure on it from the side the whole time.
- After a while with lots of pressure, the fish starts to show its side in the water, meaning the landing of your trophy is nearing.
- At this point, you must have some idea, whether it’s possible to land the fish where you are. If not, move downstream with the fish, until you find a suitable area for the landing. If the fish is sufficiently fatigued, it will tag along without making too much trouble.
The landing itself.
The method used for landing, is a matter of individual choice. Some use a net, others just their hands. I apply both methods, all depending on the specific conditions by the river where I’m going to land it.
The net I use have a big and lightweight aluminum rim, and is fitted with a net bag with sufficient depth to hold a fish of a certain size ;-) If you plan to do Catch and Release on your fish, make sure to use knot free net material or the rubber covered type of net material.
Whichever method you decide to put to use, most importantly do the one that you feel most accustomed to. If there’s other anglers nearby along the river, you can get all the help you want… just ask… which sometimes meaning, shouting out in the dark :-)
There is also still some people, who use a “gaff” along River Karup. But this method I cannot recommend! The gaff is bored into the fish’s body, or gills and throat area when landing it. This leads to situations, where people “miss their target”, and thereby risking giving the fish a bleeding wound. If the fish is then lost before a new landing attempt can be performed, there’s a high risk that the fish will simply bleed to death afterwards, as a result of the failed attempt with the gaff… and thereby go to waste. This to me, makes no sense at all!
On the other hand, if you lose the fish on the rim of your net, or by failed attempt to land it by hand… well, then you haven’t bestowed any extra injury to the fish at all, and it will probably survive the experience with ease :-)
Once you’ve landed your fish, then move a bit away from the riverbank. Getting your trophy trout away from the river, ensures that it doesn’t wiggle itself back in the water again :-)
After this, first thing respectfully should be to put the fish out of its misery, by use of a “priest”. There’s loads of time afterwards to cheer over your catch, take photos of the fish, phone your friends to brag a little, and so on :-)
So now, you stand filled with joy, looking down upon your trophy seatrout.
To get to this point, you must have used some solid tackle.
“But what exactly is “solid tackle”, when it comes to fishing for big fish in River Karup”?
Read more about this in part 4.
Tight lines by the river.
Allan Nørskov Johansen
Allan Nørskov Johansen originates from the city of Odense, and he is born 1976. Today Allan resides with his family, close to the river. Allan ”caught” his interest in fishing early on, with brown trout fishing in the small local streams near Odense. Later, many hours along the beautiful coastline of Funen went by, in an ongoing pursuit fly-fishing for the beautiful sea trouts. He visited the River Karup for the first time in the late summer of 1998, and immediately lost his heart to the beautiful countryside, and the river fishing for huge sea trout. Allan prefers a fly rod in pursuit of the beautiful River Karup sea trout, and therefore uses a great deal of time on fly tying as well. The "best experience" by River Karup is often when something unexpectedly and surprising happens on the fishing trip, and the fish suddenly act in a way you did not expect! It creates very memorable experiences. Allan also really enjoys helping others "cracking the code" with fishing tips or flies, so that others may experience catching one of the difficult sea trout from the river. His own best catch from the river is a male fish of 92 cm and 11.0 kg, caught at the end of June 2015. The fish was his second trophy fish from River Karup, surpassing "the magic 10 kg" mark, and gave him a long and memorable fight on his single hand fly rod.