Fjellsjøen

The snow conditions were just amazing last weekend and the whole Oslo was on skies, me as well. I decided to ski to Fjellsjøen and try to catch some big trout there (I got a trout over 2 kg there two years ago in January and last winter another big one broke my line there).  

Amazing skiing conditions

After early morning 10 km skiing in minus 15 degrees, I reached the place, set the holes and relaxed, waiting for the sun. 

and the sun came! 

and also lot of wind, blowing snow into my holes...

After 5 hours of fishing without catching anything, it was time to ski back

and enjoy great skiing...

Xmas holiday

 Plan for Xmas holiday was clear - a few days on snow in Norway (near the lake Savalen) and a few days in the Czech republic (Praha, Hranice, Brno). And here are some pictures.

The Big Silver Moose statue along road nr.3 means we are getting close to Savalen

Statue of "spark" - a perfect tool for moving on the ice/snowy roads/paths. Very typical for Tynset region. Invented in 1872 in Sweden. 

Savalen lake is popular place for icefishing (good population of arctic char, easy access). The fishing requires an early start, which is ideal for family holiday (fishing from 8 to 11, family activites rest of the day). 

Good morning catch

Savalen is just beautifull

And there are some nice ski routes around as well

Time to move to Czech republic... view from Praha-Hranice train

Amazing weather most of the days. This is from our half-day trip to Wallachian Open Air Museum in Roznov 

Another one from Roznov

Visiting Hranice abyss is a must

Lovely day in local forests (NPR Hurka)

Cross between Hurka and Velka Kobylanka

Time for one "snyt" in Brno

And probably the highlight of our visit - Public Transport Museum in Praha

Lukas loves old public transport vehicles, especially the trolleybuses. And I must say that I fully understand and we support him in that "hobby"

Last one...

Finally back on the ice

November is becoming my favourite ice-fishing month. Fresh ice, not so much snow, active fish... that is indeed an attractive combination. Where to find a lake with solid ice and good population of artic char? Of course in Femundsmarka! Here are a few photos from my 3-days trip to Elgå and nearby lake Volsjøen. 

The road between Drevsjø and Elgå offers a reindeer safari 

I rented a very nice apartment at Elgåen søndre farm, just next to Femund lake. Hot shower is os good after being on the ice from 7:00 to 14:00. 

Evening view from the apartment over lake Femund, still unfrozen

I like to start fishing early, because arctic char typically bite before 9. It means waking up at 5, driving a few km to the parking and hiking up 50 minutes with headlight to reach my favourite spot and start fishing at 7:30, before the sun rises. 

For 3 days, I fished around this small rocky island, in max 3 meters deep water. 

Volsjøen is nicely located, with some views as well. 

Being alone on autumn ice requires some caution. Here I wear a floating dress, ice spikes and I have an extra set of dry clothing on the shore. Also, the first day, on my way to the fishing spot, I drilled several holes just to check the ice. When I was looking at the weather forecast during November, I was slightly sceptical, because there were not so many days with temperatures below 0, but luckily the ice was almost 10 cm thick, which is more than enough. However, after two days being alone on the lake I was glad to see 3 other fishermen on Saturday. 

Lack of snow also means that it was much easier to walk to the lake. 

And fishing? I brought home 7 nice røya and 1 trout, which is more than I hoped for. Fish were most active before 9 as I expected, but I got some before lunch time as well. I also learned some pretty good lessons: 1) one fish broke my main line - that could mean it was a really big fish (and it felt big), or my line was damaged, or I should have let the fish get more tired and not rushed, or a combination of all of these; 2) two fish released the leader under røyablink - I need to replace everything with more reliable fasteners and 3) placing the rods into rapidly freezing slush snow is not good idea, as it is not possible to release them after while and the handles will be damaged. 

Luki and Siki on Ultra-Heavy style expedition

Another summer = another week with my freind(s) exploring some nice wild area in Norway&Sweden. This time only Louka was able to come. We decided to use my inflatable  canoe Palava and explore a few lakes around Rogen (especially Litle Vonsjøen and Bredåsjön). Louka arrived without his bag that stayed in Prague... but we decided not to waste any time, drove back to Oslo, I provided him with some clothes and with only few hours delay we headed towards Sweden (Käringsjön). 

This is an overview of the whole trip (yellow triangles = our camps). In total we paddled 46 km, carried the canoe 9x (in total 20 km of carrying - we had to walk 3x each carrying) and hiked around about 15 km. All this in 8 days. We spent most time in Sweden. 

First day was extra long - we had to drive a few hours, did some shopping, paddled on Käringsjön and Hån lakes, carried the canoe and all our overweight stuff over swamp to Rogen, paddled across Rogen and found this lovely beach and our first camp. 

The water was calm during the first two days and all the rain showers stayed far away from us.

The aim for the second day was to reach our favourite Litle Vonsjøen lake. In winter we got some nice arctic char there and we wanted to test our luck in sommer as well. This picture is from Våndåhåarna,  a lake between Rogen and Little Vonsjøen. Here we got 2 big perch and Louka was diving into the clear water to get some spinners he saw on the bottom. 

Crossing from Våndåhåårna to Litle Vønsjøen was relatively OK. There is a path and it is about 700 m long. However, it goes through a boulder field and it was good idea to deflate our canoe and put it in the bag. Here we are already on the shore of Litle Vønsjøen, waiting under our tarp until the rain shower stops. 

No wind on Litle Vønsjøen while searching for a place to set a camp. 

We found one (not the best one, as the ground was not flat at all), set the camp and went fishing. 

On such water it is easy to spot the circles from hunting arctic char. And it is vital to know where they are if you want to catch some. We manged to chatch two nice ones, perfect dinner!

Next day we moved to a much better camp, continued fishing, explored the area around and tried to consume as much of our supplies as possible before the most challenging carrying. 

Going back to Sweden, from Litle Vønsjøen to Bredåsjön. 2 km distance, no path. It was not very easy and we spent 4 hours to carry all. Louka found chaga mushroom there, that we tested later. 

We were tired and the plan was to find a camp as soon as possible. After 2 km of paddling on Bredäsjön we reached an amazing bay with this fantastic campsite. 

It was really good place to stay and relax. We were starting to be tired, after doing 16 hours fishing/paddling/carrying shifts every day...

Here Louka is explaing that there are no fish in Bredåsjön. But a few minutes after I got a  monster grayling and Louka his personal best trout... just in front of our camp...

Time to move further... we crossed the lake and camped on its north-east shore, where the path back to Rogen starts. 

Bredåtjärnen - a small nice lake on the way to Rogen. We got 2 nice trout there. 

Bredån river is connecting Rogen and Bredåsjön. 

Back on Rogen. We grilled the trout in the shelter on Bredån entrance to Rogen, talked to a man who was staying there and continued further across Rogen.

The weather changed, wind and rain. We stayed the last two nights in a bay near Rogenstugan, fishing and hiking around. A big pike ate my spinner. This picture is from a nearby river. 

Walking up to a nearby lake

and checking a system of old hunting traps.

Last day - carrying the canoe from Rogen was suddenly easy.

Long drive to Oslo...

We fished a lot and ate fish almost every day. We got all the species we could (perch, grayling, pike, trout, arctic char). Louka got his biggest trout ever (55 cm), I got the similiar size grayling. We lost only one spinner, that was eaten by a big pike...  Fishing in late evening was the best, but nobody knows. 

Great trip as usuall... and time to plan another one:)

More pictures from Louka can be seen here.