Fishing In Finland with my teenage son
Discussion
Morning All,
I am thinking of taking my teenage son (a keen angler) away in October half term for some fishing, as part of an early 16th birthday present. He has already expressed a strong interest in visiting Finland as he has never been, but also a specific mention of wanting catch Pike and Zander, so that is my current plan.
My thinking is we fly LHR to Helsinki then drive the 2-3 hours or so up to the 'lakes', ideally staying in a cabin by a lake where we can either then drive to organised fishing trips and/or fish near where we stay or indeed rent a boat to use on the lake.
I, unfortunately am not an experience fisher, having just done a little in my youth with my dad, but not enough to take the 'manly reigns' and go gung-ho on this without some advice. I have done some basic google research and it all seems plausible, but I wondered if any has any experience of doing such a trip and reassure me that this is, indeed, a good idea?
If yes, then any recommendations for good locations / accommodation / fishing/activity centres would be great,
Thanks
I am thinking of taking my teenage son (a keen angler) away in October half term for some fishing, as part of an early 16th birthday present. He has already expressed a strong interest in visiting Finland as he has never been, but also a specific mention of wanting catch Pike and Zander, so that is my current plan.
My thinking is we fly LHR to Helsinki then drive the 2-3 hours or so up to the 'lakes', ideally staying in a cabin by a lake where we can either then drive to organised fishing trips and/or fish near where we stay or indeed rent a boat to use on the lake.
I, unfortunately am not an experience fisher, having just done a little in my youth with my dad, but not enough to take the 'manly reigns' and go gung-ho on this without some advice. I have done some basic google research and it all seems plausible, but I wondered if any has any experience of doing such a trip and reassure me that this is, indeed, a good idea?
If yes, then any recommendations for good locations / accommodation / fishing/activity centres would be great, Thanks
I'm a Finn but not much of a fisher and here are my 50 cents.
I'm not sure how easy it is to have an organized fishing trips here in October since it is not exactly high-season for tourism here at that time. What could work however is that you rent a summer cabin by some lake (both of which we have plenty) and make sure that the summer cabin rental also includes a boat suitable for fishing. That way you can do fishing on your own.
Renting a summer cabin with sauna by a lake is a very Finnish experience and I highly recommend that. We have plenty of sauna's (3 million), lakes (187 thousand) and summer cabins (500 thousand) so there's plenty to choose from. Since October is low season, the prices for the summer cabins should be relatively low. The weather is not the most pleasant at that time of the year but you probably knew that already.
You will need fishing permits for almost all types of fishing. More info on those can be found here:
https://www.eraluvat.fi/en
I'm not sure how easy it is to have an organized fishing trips here in October since it is not exactly high-season for tourism here at that time. What could work however is that you rent a summer cabin by some lake (both of which we have plenty) and make sure that the summer cabin rental also includes a boat suitable for fishing. That way you can do fishing on your own.
Renting a summer cabin with sauna by a lake is a very Finnish experience and I highly recommend that. We have plenty of sauna's (3 million), lakes (187 thousand) and summer cabins (500 thousand) so there's plenty to choose from. Since October is low season, the prices for the summer cabins should be relatively low. The weather is not the most pleasant at that time of the year but you probably knew that already.
You will need fishing permits for almost all types of fishing. More info on those can be found here:
https://www.eraluvat.fi/en
My experience of fishing in Finland is limited to one outing from a fisheries science conference in Vaasa. There was a free day and a bloke from the Finnish government agency responsible for fisheries management who was at the conference offered to take me and a colleague for a day's fishing.
We were expecting rods and reels. He took us out in a big 4x4 to a dock on the Baltic where we got into a small boat. We took the boat out to where he had previously laid some gill nets, pulled them in, then took the fish to a small island where his family had a summer house, where his girlfriend smoked them outdoors over a small fire. Gill nets aren't really my idea of recreational fishing, but the smoked fish was one of the nicest things I've ever eaten. Although it was the Baltic Sea, the water there is very low salinity and the fish we caught were freshwater species. The fish we smoked were perch.
Other abiding memory, besides the food, was the sight of his absolutely stunning girlfriend happily gutting fish
My impression was that if I were going back there intending to fish properly with rod and reel, I would want a local guide with a 4x4.
We were expecting rods and reels. He took us out in a big 4x4 to a dock on the Baltic where we got into a small boat. We took the boat out to where he had previously laid some gill nets, pulled them in, then took the fish to a small island where his family had a summer house, where his girlfriend smoked them outdoors over a small fire. Gill nets aren't really my idea of recreational fishing, but the smoked fish was one of the nicest things I've ever eaten. Although it was the Baltic Sea, the water there is very low salinity and the fish we caught were freshwater species. The fish we smoked were perch.
Other abiding memory, besides the food, was the sight of his absolutely stunning girlfriend happily gutting fish
My impression was that if I were going back there intending to fish properly with rod and reel, I would want a local guide with a 4x4.
Thanks guys, both very useful insights and info.
A cabin, with sauna, by a lake would be ideal I think, I just guess we need to be not so far from a town for some meals but also maybe some fishing equipment hire and bait etc.
I will continue to trawl google and google maps for ideas and inspiration.
A cabin, with sauna, by a lake would be ideal I think, I just guess we need to be not so far from a town for some meals but also maybe some fishing equipment hire and bait etc.
I will continue to trawl google and google maps for ideas and inspiration.
Local resident here (for the last few years).
The national permit linked to earlier covers you for lakes and slow flowing parts of rivers, with one rod. Most stretches of rapids require a separate permit, which you can often get from kalakortti.com, and then it's fly or lure only.
Most (all?) lakes in Central Finland hold zander, and all hold pike (and perch, lots of perch). I holiday there (about 100 miles north of Jyväskylä) every summer and catch zander by trolling a lure behind a boat, so if you have a rowing boat + electric motor then you're in with a shout. Pike normally caught by casting around reeds, and then it helps to have an anchor.
For accommodation, we use https://www.lomarengas.fi/en. There's no way of filtering for boats with a motor, but customer service are helpful.
The national permit linked to earlier covers you for lakes and slow flowing parts of rivers, with one rod. Most stretches of rapids require a separate permit, which you can often get from kalakortti.com, and then it's fly or lure only.
Most (all?) lakes in Central Finland hold zander, and all hold pike (and perch, lots of perch). I holiday there (about 100 miles north of Jyväskylä) every summer and catch zander by trolling a lure behind a boat, so if you have a rowing boat + electric motor then you're in with a shout. Pike normally caught by casting around reeds, and then it helps to have an anchor.
For accommodation, we use https://www.lomarengas.fi/en. There's no way of filtering for boats with a motor, but customer service are helpful.
Edited by flyingvisit on Saturday 26th September 15:40
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