Swedish_Carper

I don't know what temperatures you have around that time of the year, but over here we fish pelagic down to really low degrees with very good results! We usually fish our baits 3-5 meters (10-15 ft) down over areas that are about 10-30 meters (30-100 ft) deep. As BUDGIE says, find the pray fish and you can be sure that the big madames are not far away! When it comes to Phones theory, I'm a bit skeptical. But if the swans are landing, you can count on some big-pike-action!

Like myself then When I'm fishing abroad with a guide I want him to be more of a fishing-buddy then an instructor. I think Sweden is moderately expensive. Not near as expensive as Norway, but not near as cheap as Bulgaria for example. If your from another EU country no visa is required. What do you all think about icefishing, would that be something british anglers could be interested in? It is often a very effective method for the predators and usually results in alot of action.

Hi again! I have been thinking alot about my idea the past mounths and I now have some more thoughts to share. As some have pointed out, the fishing for carp-species may not be appealing enought to get the british anglers to travel to Sweden. I have therefore directed my thought to the predators. My area got alots of lakes and streams and provide waters that can result in many small ones and waters that hold much less fish but the really big ones. Of courese there is also alot of waters that you could place between those extremes. This applies to all species (pike, zander, perch, burbot). What kind of fishing do you like to experiance? Would you like to go for the big ones and take the risk of catching a small number of fish? Or would you rather go on a trip where catch is guaranteed? Or maby a combination? For example, a few weeks a go me and a friend tested some pikefishing in a lake that we have never fished before. The lake is quite big (6 km long), is located in the woods near a small village and is not exposed to any significant fishingpressure. During less than a day we had about 15-20 takes on our livebaits and the pikes cought had a average weight around 10lbs. We did not manage to catch any of the lakes biggest ones and the biggest one for the day weighed around 15 lbs. According to a friend who have fished the lake before this was a mediocre result and we should have cought some bigger pike (he has cought two 22lbs+ pikes during one day in this lake). Could this kind of lake be interesting or would you rather prefer going to a lake where you may get less takes but you are more likely to catch the fish of your dreams? The same goes for perch and zander, last time I went out zanderfishing(a week ago) we fished a big lake that has great amount of zander but a rather low average weight (some big ones though, many 15lbs+ are cought every year). During half a day fishing with vertical jigging we cought 16 zanders (1-4lbs), 4 pikes(2-4lbs) and 3 perch(1-2lbs). No big specimens but great fun on a light gear. Would this kind of fishing be interesting? Or would you rather target less, but bigger ones with trolling? Keep in mind that aside from fishing, the surroundings are stunning and the number of other fishermen very low. I have many more thoughts, but I save them for later.

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Ok, thanks, gonna search for info about Holland to! Yes, Birmingham would be nice, my friend whom I plan to take the trip with have spent a summer working at a fishery near Birmingham, so if we went there accomondation might be free. I'm going to take a look and see if there might be any flights to Birmingham that fit our budget

I think we would go during the summer. But we talked about going in May (which I now, thanks to you, understand would be a bad idea) Thanks for the info!

Thanks for the helpful information! I think I give up the "right or wrong side of the road"-discussion. Englishmen don't seem to like change and I don't think what I write here are going to change anyones mind (but as I see it, we used to drive on the wrong side before 67 )

My opinon is that livebait is outstanding, I'm not a pike-specialist but I have a couple of friends that are and they catch many pikes over 20 pounds every year on livebait. A guy I know have cought one of the biggest swedish pikes ever (almost 44 pounds) and that also was on livebait. As a mather of facts most swedish big pikes (30 pound+) are cought on livebait. Of course it could be different in England, but Swedish crocodiles love livebait! //Patric

Hi! As my name might reaveal, I'm from Sweden. Me and a friend of mine have discussed going to eighter England or Germany to catch our first barbels. The problem with Germany, according to my understanding, is that germans don't speak very good english and even though both me and my friend have studied german it's not enough to communicate well. On the other hand, if we went to Germany we could take our own car the whole way which would be cheaper and enable us to bring all of our gear. But if we went to England, there are som quastions that I need help with! Our idea is to go on a weekend-trip that doesnt cost to much and our primary target is catching barbels, good size would of course be nice but the most importent is just catching barbels What river/rivers would ju suggest? (if we went I think we would fly to London so near London would be a plus) What does the licence cost and how do we obtain it? Any specific part of the river you would recommend? Do you know any budget-accomondation you could recommend? Other tips and recommendations? One thing about England that scares us is that you drive on the "wrong side" of the road Rent a car feels a bit dangerous, but necessary // Patric

If I get this started you are most certainly welcome! What time of the year depends on what species you want to target! For species within the carp-family I think April - September would be the best time, ultimate month would be May If you would like to target predators the colder months would be better. My idea is to have some kind of suitable car and be able to offer transports Maggot is available in every swedish tackleshop My friend, who is a match-angler (has participated in many European and World Championships) owns a tackleshop and he offers maggots, pinkies, worms, blood worms, flavoured sweet corn, boilies, pellets etc. //Patric

Good point! I think one of the keys to succeed is to be flexible and offer custom-made services. Offer the perfect solution by discussion between both parts and be prepared for any kind of arrangement, everything from a day trip (hotel pick up/ drop off + fishing) to a whole weekend or week all included package. The problem with burbot is that it's a species that is active during late autumn and winter while the weather can be quite rough over here. But maby some people find that exotic and interesting to experience At the moment we are having a litle bit milder weather though.. -5 degrees and the ice on the lakes will soon be more than 50 cm thick.

Thanks for posting! Rudd is very common and often comes in huge numbers, as I usually target carp, tench and bream they can get guite annoying sometimes I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed your time in Sweden! //Patric

Thank you for sharing you thoughts! No, Sweden is not as expensive as Norway! I'm not really sure what normal price for accommodation is, but I think you could find a decent place for maby 200-400 SEK (£ 20-40) per night. If you want to stay at a hotel in the central parts of a town it will cost more. I could only find one exaple, and it is a economic one, it costs 400 SEK per night to rent a cabin on a holiday village a couple of kilometers outside my hometown, it's four beds and that makes it 100SEK (£ 9) per person if you four //Patric

Get on a plain and I will show you Swedish fishing winterstyle, London-Gothenburg 6 GBP for both ways with ryanair After a couple of holes with the ice-drill that we use for pikefishing the arms feels like spaghetti The ice is around 40 cm now, but we got rid of most of the snow a week ago // Patric