Visiting the neighbors

For the whole winter I was searching decent last minute travel deals to make a fishing trip somewhere south and warm. Only suitable trip I found was to Cape Verde in the beginning of the February but somehow I missed even that one. So, after reading some Swedish blogs for few weeks drooling their nice catches of Thorny skates, Dragonets etc. I decided to book an cruise ship tickets to Sweden. And after an 11 hours of sailing and eight hours of driving I was finally at the shores of fjord Gullmarsfjorden at the west coast of Sweden. 

Day 1

At Friday morning I awakened from my sweet and cosy hotel (read; my Mazda) by the shore. After checking there’s enough ice at the bay I headed on the ice and started fishing with sabikis. My first goal was to find out some baitfish from the middle of the bay. But the Herring and Mackerel were not biting today. After catching some small Whiting and Coalfish (which made good baits too) I headed towards high cliffs little bit further and started to fish there.

Me at the Hotel Mazda.....It was bit chilly there.

The first fish from there was my new PB Black goby of 11 centimeters. After that I caught also couple of nice Shorthorn sculpins and some smallish Cod. For them I was using my basic Perch setting with a small pirk and a small single hook baited with maggots under it. I also had couple of other rods out. Another one quite near the cliffs baited with shrimp and another further out in the deep water baited with a strip of Coalfish fillet waiting for Rays (skates) and whatever may show up.

Black goby (Gobius niger).

I caught only two fish with each of the rods. The one at the deep water gave me to small Dab and the first fish with the other rod was also Dab. But then I had a second bite with it. And up came something bit different. It was my first ever Dragonet. A cool looking and brightly coloured male. That was one of the weirdest looking creature I’ve ever caught. I want to say thanks to Hans once again for the spot on hint for the species.

Common dragonet (Callionymus lyra). A bit weird looking or what?

And weirder it gets. What a mouth.

Rest of the day was quite quiet and all that I caught was couple of small Cod.

Day 2

Saturday brightened sunny and windy as all the three days I was there. I started my day fishing by the cliff edges searching for Shorthorn sculpins and other little critters. I caught five sculpins from which the biggest was my new PB of 302 grams. At some point I went really close to the cliff and was sight fishing trough the hole. I was bouncing my mormuska at the bottom when suddenly the whole hole went black. A big school of small fish was swimming under me. I was sure they were Coalfish but decided still give them a go. I lifted my mormuska from the bottom and the fish started to nibble it right away. Finally, after a very long minute or so I hooked one of them.  I was very surprised when I noticed it was not a Coalfish but a small Pollock. And that meant I had caught my second new species of the trip.

Pollachius pollachius juvenile

Here was about ten centimeters of ice.

When I finally got the fish photographed the rest of the school was long gone. Soon after that moved to the deeper water but all I caught was some Dab, couple of Whiting, bunch of Cod and one Flounder. So two days had gone by and I had caught two new species so far.

Sunset at Gullmarsfjorden.

Day 3

Sunday was my last fishing day of the trip. I planned to start once again from the edges of the cliffs but couple of Swedish guys were faster than I was. So I made some changes to my plans and started from the middle of the bay and the rare Starry ray on my mind. I had two rods out for the rays (aka Thorny skates) and I fished actively for other species with one more rod. I soon caught couple of Whiting, one Dab and my second ever Norway pout with it.

It was about ten thirty when a loud and happy “YES, YES, YES” was echoing over the bay. One of the Swedish species hunters had reached his goal to catch his first ever Starry ray. It was a nice fish of about 1,1 kilos and a length of 46 centimeters. There were few more Swedish fishermen around me and we all went there to admire that magnificent fish.

Starry ray aka Thorny skate (Amblyraja radiata).

When I was returning to my rods I saw that my rod rest had felt over. I grabbed the rod and pulled some line from the reel. The line was pulled tight slowly but steadily and I decided wind to the fish. Now I felt something different at the end of my line. It felt quite heavy though I knew it’s not a big fish. After a nerve wrecking winding from over 50 meters of water I finally saw the fish. And it was Amblyraja radiate, a Starry ray or Thorny skate. A real dream catch of mine. Though it weighed only 410 grams it was still my first ever ray and one of the best fishes I’ve ever caught.

I think this is the reason they are called Starry ray.

Soon after the ray I packed up my stuff and headed towards the cliffs, the Dragonets on my mind. I didn’t catch any of them but some Cod, Whiting and Dab. There was one hole from where I caught four Dab in a row and after them I had one more bite. It felt a bit different and up came a Grey gurnard (Eutrigla gurnardus), another new species of the day. From the next hole I caught another gurnard as soon as I had dropped my bait to the bottom. It was getting late soon but there was one more surprise still waiting for me. After couple of more Dab I had a cautious little bite and after my strike I felt something tiny at the end of my line. When I got it to my hands I first thought it’s another little Whiting but then I figured out it was indeed a Poor cod (Trisopterus minutus). Three new species on one day was even more I expected.

Grey gurnard (Eutrigla gurnardus).

The last new species of the trip. Poor cod (Trisopterus minutus).

The whole trip was a success and fishing on a clear thin ice (7-20cm) and at the clear water was nice change to my homely ice fishing trips. Gullmarsfjorden is great fishing destination with awesome landscapes. This was my first but probably not the last time visiting and fishing there.