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Light Tackle Fishing
in Denmark
Despite it tiny size,
Denmark continues to produce the world's largest sea run brown
trout. In 1991 a new record sea trout weighing a whopping 16.7
kilos (36 lbs. plus!) was caught in Jutland's River Karup!
Denmark is a small and flat lowland
country bordered on all sides by the sea. While the surrounding
sea is by no means the ocean (being very shallow with depths
seldom exceeding 20 metres), its coastal waters are extremely
productive when it comes to fish food. The brackish water teems
with shrimps and forage fish which provide the basis for the
very fast growth of native Danish sea trout.
If the above sounds like something
close to Paradise, please let me correct you. Being a flat lowland
(its highest point in fact only 173 metres above the sea), Denmark
has a tradition for farming going back several hundred years.
And mind you, Danish farmers are extremely good at what
they are doing. In fact they are so efficient, that today they
pose by far the greatest threat to the Danish environment.
Artificial fertilizers and pesticides
are slowly leaking into our treasured clean ground water and
thus polluting it and creating the need for very expensive cleaning
procedures. As a matter of fact it has been calculated that,
all in all, the Danish farmers - despite agricultural export
of almost gigantic proportions - are a burden to the Danish society.
Basically due to the environmental harm that they do.
Fish stocks
Though Danish rivers today look
very little like they did in them good old days - before the
turn of the century - they still provide anglers with great opportunities
to catch large sea trout, stationary brown trout, rainbows (escapees
from the abundant fish farms in both river and sea) and (in some
rivers) European grayling.
Originally, Danish rivers meandered
their way through forest clad landscapes. Not so any more. Today
most forests have been cut down giving way to extensive grain
fields, and most meandering rivers have been channelized to provide
farmers with an efficient way of getting rid of drain water from
the fields.
Most of the harm was done beginning
in 1864 after the Danish-German war and escallating up through
the first half of this century. Today, the Danish government
is very much aware that the times they are achanging, and that
rivers should be left to meander as they once did. Projects are
even undertaken to put the bends back in some of the major rivers!
Despite all of this hardship,
Denmark keeps on providing the world's largest sea run brown
trout. Each year a number of fish exceeding 10 kilos (22 lbs.)
are caught.
Originally, most of these giants
were caught exclusively in the rivers of Jutland (the continental
part of Denmark where all the major river systems are located,
the rest of the country being islands of smaller size), but today's
saltwater boat fishermen, using downriggers and sophisticated
electronic equipment, now catch an increasing share of the really
big ones. Thus the new Danish sportfishing record, a fish of
15,15 kilos (33 lbs. plus) caught in 1992, was caught by trolling
in the sea.
The previous record, a fish of
14.4 kilos (31 lbs. plus), was caught spinning in the River Karup
way back in 1939. The current Danish record sea trout on fly
weighed 13,85 kilos (30 lbs. plus) and was caught in the River
Gels in 1985.
Originally, a number of Danish
west coast rivers had an excellent stock of Atlantic salmon running
very big indeed. Thus the Danish sportfishing record was a magnificent
mint bright salmon weighing no less than 26,5 kilos (almost 60
lbs.) caught by spinning in the River Skjern in 1956.
Unfortunately most Danish stocks
have been wiped totally out since then (again due primarily to
the requirements of the farming industry) so that today we only
have one self reproducing natural stock left. But increasing
efforts are being made to restore the once magnificent runs of
huge Atlantic salmon in the nine major river systems of Jutland.
The River Guden is currently
by far the most productive. The annual catch here by sportfishermen
is estimated to be around 1.000 adult salmon, due exclusively
to massive annual smolt releases.
River fishing
Despite the return of salmon,
sportfishing in Denmark is almost exclusively focused on the
prolific and fast growing sea trout in both river and sea. As
previously mentioned, all major river systems are located in
continental Jutland with the rivers Guden, Karup, Storå,
Skjern, Varde, Kongeå and Ribe being the main fish
producers.
Fishing in these rivers usually
starts January 16 where "greenlanders" (the Danish
name for small, overwintering immature sea trout in prime condition)
together with spent and spawned out fish in bad to extremely
bad condition dominate the catches. Serious and decent fishermen
leave the spawned out fish alone and concentrate on the fat "greenlanders"
instead, using light fly and spinning tackle. The "greenlanders"
are mostly in the 35-45 cm range.
The "real" river fishing
season for sea trout usually starts around June 5 where most
major rivers experience the first run of large and mature sea
trout. The first fish are often the largest with many silvery
sea trout in the 5-10 kilo range being caught. From June on and
proceeding to the end of the season (usually November 15) more
and gradually smaller sea trout run the rivers and join the often
fierce battle for the best holding spots.
Fresh run and silvery sea trout
often strike willingly at anything presented to them while it
usually takes more persuading to entice them into striking when
they have been in the river for a while. Towards the end of the
season - and close to spawning - the large and now coloured males
again become aggressive and can now be teased into striking by
presenting large and gaudy flies, spinners and wobblers.
A very substantial part of all
river caught sea trout are caught late evening all through pitch
black darkness and into the very early morning, sea trout being
predominantly night active.
Spinning is done by most people
with 8-9 foot rods, fixed spool reels loaded with 10-12 lbs.
monofilament and an assortment of spinners, spoons and floating
wobblers in the 10-20 gram range (3/4 - 1 1/2 oz.) Most local
fishermen (those that catch the majority of the fish) prefer
the fly and use long doublehanded 12-14 foot rods with floating
lines during the night. Daytime fishing is done with sinking
(Wet Cell II) lines.
Typically, Danish sea trout flies
are bushy affairs size 2-6 with no resemblance whatsoever to
traditional salmon flies. Patterns for night fly fishing typically
being all-black and much larger to produce a marked silhouette.
Popular colors for daytime fishing
are black, brown, red and orange - often with white wings. Fly
patterns used reflect the fairly slow current of Danish rivers
and the predominant tea colour of the water.
Count on paying anywhere form
US$10-100 for a days river fishing, guided or unguided.
Saltwater fishing
Whereas river fishing for sea
trout is basically a continental affair here in Denmark, thousands
and thousands of sea trout are caught annually along most of
the Danish coastline which spans an impressive 8.000 kilometres!
The length of the coastline reflects
the huge number of smaller and larger islands which comprise
the non-continental part of Denmark. In the shallow water surrounding
Denmark sea trout find an underwater Heaven on Earth. Food items
of all sorts abound and provide easy prey for hungry sea trout.
Originally, almost all angling
for sea trout in the salt was done by spinning, and still today
spinning gear makes up the basic armament of most Danish fishermen.
Light rods in the 8-10 foot range with fixed spool reels loaded
with 6-10 lbs. monofilament make up the universal tackle used
along the Danish coastline and make long casts in the vicinity
of 100 yds. possible. The longer you cast and the more water
you cover, the more fish you get in contact with. That is a basic
rule that applies to most of the coastline.
Most fish are caught on spoons
and special plugs in the 10-20 gram range with silver, blue and
green being the best bet in the summer half of the year. During
winter time, in water often colder than 5 degrees Celsius, hot
fluorescent orange and red colours dominate among succesful lures.
In recent years saltwater flyfishing
has experienced a tremendous growth in Denmark. So much that
today you may see as many - or even more - fly fishermen fishing
the shallow water wading from the shoreline as you see fishermen
using spinning gear. The advent of long and light graphite rods
coupled with light and saltwater resistant fly reels has made
this exciting development possible.
Standard equipment is a 9-10
foot long rod for 7-8 weight lines. Forward tapers are preferred
as are floating lines for shallow and quiet water in the sheltered
bays. On more open and windy shorelines intermediate lines are
preferred to get below the waves to facilitate a good contact
to the fly during the retrieve. 100 yds. of backing is needed.
Fly patterns have been developed
that closely imitate the basic food items of the sea trout but
such flies are not favoured nearly as much by the trout as by
the fly fishermen and fly tiers. The fact remains that gaudy
flies - often in flourescent red and orange - that imitate absolutely
nothing take most of the fish!
The sea is a vast expanse of
water and the sea trout is an opportunistic feeder. That's why
attractor style flies do best. It should be admitted though,
that there are indeed situations - mostly on calm and sunny days
in late summer and early autumn - where imitative patterns definitely
do better than the attractor flies. 9-12 foot leaders tapering
to 1-3X are adequate.
Sea trout migrations
In the sea, trout can be caught
all year long but - depending on the geographic location - the
are definitely peak seasons. With the approach of winter a migration
of silvery and immature trout is seen from open water of a higher
salinity towards sheltered bays with more brackish water.
If winter does not provide an
ice cover, fishing may remain excellent all during winter. But
only in the sheltered brackish water bays and in the southern
Baltic part of Denmark. In the Baltic part of the country salinity
remains low which appeals very much to winter time sea trout.
If the water temperature sinks too low, saltwater trout have
a problem with their osmoregulation in water of high salinity.
That's why they look for brackish water during winter.
If on the other hand we have
a long and cold winter with ice covering the bays and possibly
even the more open coastlines, then the majority of immature
sea trout will leave the salt and opt for a few months of freshwater
feeding instead.
Come spring and higher water
temperatures, overwintering sea trout leave the rivers and bays
and start migrating towards more open and more salty waters.
This migration usually takes place sometime in March though extremely
cold winters may postpone it until the end of April.
Generally speaking March, April
and May are the peak season months for saltwater sea trout fishing.
In May and June you do best fishing from sunset all through the
night and until sunrise. In the heat of midday, sea trout usually
leave the hot shallows only to return again when the sun sets.
All during the day sea trout may be caught in deeper water using
downriggers for those who like this approach.
July and August are the two least
productive months when it comes to saltwater fishing. Fishing
starts to pick up again in September with fish in marvellous
condition. Thus they are often dificult to lure into striking.
Being well fed they often prefer small imitative flies fished
deep on long fine leaders. October is usually an excellent month
for fishing though most of the bigger trout have now left the
sea and are on their way up the rivers to spawn. Smaller trout
in the 2-4 lbs. range can still be caught though.
The average Danish sea trout
in saltwater will be in the 2-4 lbs. range with fish up to 6
lbs. being common. Fish to 10 lbs. are caught regularly on most
coastlines.
Saltwater fishing is basically
free for everybody provided that you pay a state fishing license.
It was introduced beginning 1993 and costs 100 Danish crowns
per year (about 15 US$). The revenue is used for fisheries management
only. License can be aqquired at any post office.
Travel information
Whether you are a business man
passing by or simply a tourist, your port of entrance to the
Scandinavian countries will be Kastrup airport just outside of
Copenhagen. This is where most international flights leave and
land.
From there it is easy to proceed
to the other Scandinavian capital cities - and even easier to
depart for other cities in Denmark. Domestic flights will take
you to Jutland (where all the major trout rivers are located)
in less than half an hour.
Connecting flights can easily
be booked from abroad as they are all closely linked with SAS,
Scandinavian Airlines System. Count on paying US$100-180 for
your domestic round trip ticket.
If you would like additional
information on when to go where and how to book the best fishing,
feel free to contact me on the numbers and address below:
Phone int. + 45 23 32 89 88 or
e-mail: steen@ulnits.dk
Serious inquiries only.
Steen Ulnits
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