Winter Pike-Fly-Fishing in Sweden

A few weeks after the Liska Kayak Open 2017, Peter Neumann from the German JK-Team, mailed me and asked me if I would like to spend some days with him in Karlskrona for pike-fly-fishing in winter.

Fly-fishing from a kayak in Pike-Heaven???
FOR SURE!!!
So I asked Gunnar Ahlström (JK-Team Sweden) if he would have some time to join us and if we could live in one of his houses.

Many times I was in this area of the Swedish archipelagos before but never during the wintertime, so I was really excited about the fishing in winter.

As I booked my flight, I hoped for “open” waters. A few days before the trip started, Gunnar informed me, that some bays are unfortunately full of ice. The flight was already booked and we were in the mood for some good pike-fishing – so we hoped for the best.

As we arrived in Sweden we had a cold night with some minus degrees but during the next day it warmed up a little bit and we could start our fishing adventure.

Gunnar showed us some nice winter-spots and after a while we learned how to fish with these conditions. Super slow pulls for the streamers, slow intermediate lines and small to medium sized flies were necessary to make the pikes bite.
It turned out to be a great trip! We had many pikes in the kayaks up to over 90 cm and we were really happy with the results.

Thanks a lot to Gunnar, for his perpetual hospitality, for the kayaks and for sharing his experiences with us.
We used the JK Mayfly, the Coosa HD and the Kilroy DT. All perfect kayaks for stand-up fishing and especially for fly-fishing!!!

– Simon Mueller