My diary.. an introduction.

Hi friends. My diary, for me, just for fun. Writing about the trip allows me to think about it a little longer, and enjoy it in a different way.

My obsession over fishing started when I was about 8 or 9 or so, in Sweden. I got my first casting rod when I was 10. I still have it, and the well-thumbed catalogues "Napp och Nytt" from that manufacturer (ABU) from 1976 - 1980. After that I lost interest in keeping up with them, as their products weren't as nice anymore, ABU having merged with their associated company (Garcia). I like the old swedish casting rods with the recessed reelseat, as it provides a comfortable hand position to control the reels. They don't make that style anymore. The reel still works great, an Abumatic 330 that I won through a ABU - Donald Duck magazine contest, where I sent in a picture of myself with a pirahna I caught on vacation in Brazil. (I'll find it and scan it).

In Sweden, I fished with that little casting rod, sometimes with my dad, sometimes out at Torö in the Stockholm archipelago, where my friend Joakim's family has a summerplace right by the water. A most memorable event was the day we had sailed out to one of the outlying islands, and my spinner got grabbed by a big pike. I was surprised and didn't let go of the reel handle, so the brake could work and let line out, so the line just tightened and went pop. I was pretty upset, as I was really really wanting to catch a big pike. I did catch plenty of perch there though. I also fished in some of the lakes outside Arvika, like where our friends Staffan & Birgitta Tunström had a summer place, and cast my spoons into the river Ätran, in Falkenberg, one of Sweden's nice salmon rivers (never caught anything there). My grandparents who lived there, took me fishing on a cod boat a few times as well (I did catch some nice cod for dinner on those trips).

Somehow this all led to flyfishing. I think I first read about it in "Napp och Nytt", but I also saw the flyfishing people on Ätran, fishing for salmon. My first flyrod (I still have that one too..) was a heavy fibreglass beast, also by ABU, same color as my first casting rod. The reel was a "Delta 3", which I just found recently. Interesting looking reel, but heavy.

Ah, yes.. in Walnut Creek I found Andre Puyans' Creative Sports Enterprises, and ended up taking his youth flytying class. Eventually he gave me a job there for a paltry sum of money, but it was a good job for me anyway, and way more interesting than any other part-time jobs I could have had in high school. I learned a lot, but I didn't go fishing much until later. I particularly enjoyed helping customers try out the rods we were selling, and sometimes helping them with their casting stroke. They didn't usually seem to mind this young kid showing them how to do it.

Fishing in California.. one of the first spots was the Smith river at Gasquet, one summer (83?) when my dad was working up there. That was just great. The house was right by the river, and it was full of small rainbows/steelhead.

When I was in college & music conservatory, I went to Lassen's Lake Manzanita a few times; once with my friend Dan, and again with my dad. Dan and I also hit the Smith again, as well as some other california places I don't remember now (Putah creek?). Yosemite valley too. We didn't catch much, but we had fun. Oh, and also the McCloud river: the stretch managed by the Nature Conservancy. Very nice place, and the long dirt road discouraged the big motorhomes, so it was nice and quiet there.

Then I went to Europe, brought the flyrods and casting rod with, but didn't use them much. Caught a 6lb pike outside Stockholm with spinning gear, and brought it home for lunch. Yummy. After returning to California in 92, it was all in boxes until 2004, when I tied a fly again. Weird feeling, to get the materials out and practice that long-neglected craft. It actually felt dreamlike. Very bizarre.. Since then, the flyfishing obsession has come out of remission and is now in full swing.

OK, we're pretty up to speed now. I managed to purchase some reels and things from the 70's that I couldn't afford back then. Old ABU baitcasting reels. Very nice. I can't really describe the feeling of opening up those packages, and fastening them to my old rod. I had one sitting here at work, on my desk, just to look at, to admire the shape and form of the thing. I used to have dreams about finding one of these, and being very happy about it. Those dreams aren't happening anymore. Strong childhood desire satisfied. Odd. Obsessed. ;)

Yes, I'm an equipment nut, but I don't have the money to spend on aquiring a good selection of really fine gear. (EDIT, 12/2008: I found some, and got some great deals) Still, my gear is quite good, but I have a bunch of upgrades in mind, especially in the reel department, yikes. On the other hand, I don't want to be one of those decked-out guys with fancy gear, but not catching fish. I'd rather appear more modest on the water. Besides, I find that gear doesn't really matter when I'm fishing (as long as it works well). Someday, just to prove a point, I'd like to assemble a really cheap rod, reel & line setup for the surfperch fishing I do. The goal being to keep it under $50.

Living in Santa Cruz, right next to the Monterey Bay has opened up some very interesting opportunities. The bay has an extremely varied fishery. I wish I had a boat now, but surf fishing is really fun and challenging. Mostly, the fishing down here is for surfperch, but one can also catch halibut, stripers and leopard shark in the surfzone. Further out, there is salmon, rockfish, lingcod, blue shark ;). A kayak may just have to be in my future, though.

-- Lars Johannesson, summer 2005