The Legend Of Moby Dick

The Legend Of Moby Dick
by Stephan Dombaj

Winter is pissing me off - not because I hate the cold and gray weather but the simultaneos incident that most lakes and reservoirs are frozen. A forced pause for pike and carp - what a mess. Anyway, now that some waters are partitally ice-free it was my and Paulo´s duty to check out what winter has done... meanwhile we were hot on getting the new Loop Shooting Head-Adjustments done.

(Cap. Ahab - prepared for every occasion)

It was more like taking a walk with the rod (last day before pikes are going to be preserved), so we decided to leave our waders and jackets at home to get a little overview. A little casting seassion - not on the lane but on the lake. Time went by and we were still busy checking and adjusting our equipment for the next adventures when the horrifying creature arrived out of the muddy depths of the lake. The unique white "Moby"-Carp, that fish that tortured a whole bunch of carp-freaks all over the summer: the fish that knows every highprotein-bollie by name, the uncatchable curse of every specime hunter... (I could go on forever)

Before I started to realize this possible one-cast-one-blast chance, I saw my hands nervously searching for a giant nymph or a GloBugfly. Got one... prefect. I really didn´t care about the sinking Pike-Booster SH. Now it was all about the fish and me (HARRRRRRHARRRR) Ready to get busted by a flyrod! GloBug just came right. Fish turned... came a little closer...and killed it topwater! SCORE!

(Cap. Ahab setting the hook)

What more can I tell... Ah, yeah - I got it! Here are the pictures. I´m sorry for the lame perspective and quality but a quite insane dude came by and acused us to be fishkillers and whateverbitch-stuff... so I landed the fish... held him for a short photo up and released "Moby" instantly.

(Happy landing)


(Moby the uncatchable got busted)

Yeah... I know... I look like a douchebag! Cheers!

Winter Anger

Winter Anger
by Stephan Dombaj
feat.: Julian Sion

"...are you kidding me?" (the constellation that is otherwise known as "SICK BASTARD") - the common reaction when I am talking about wintertime pikefishing. But let´s start logically in order to get the whole impression of my sickness.

(Strip it)

The first days that the waters are more or less icefree and the fat bastard pike we want to nail is more lethagic than ready to rock: All metabolic functions are slowed down due to the watertemperatur in order to save as much energy as possible. What we need now is the old deep´n slow, nice and neat formula to score.

(Deciving Dahlberg Diver)

Now that ice can´t stop the water from warming up, the temperature in the shallows is increasing relatively rapid from (for example:) 2 to 7 degrees. That little kickstart is enought to tease preyfishes into the shallow zones. An appropriate reason for our target to follow...

(Strip it fast and prey for the big bang)

Now it´s time to own: Shallow water baits, such as the famous Dahlberg Diver offer the (probably) most exciting way to get these toothy monsters. Quite uncommon methode to get a hook up these days - but give it a try. The natural instinct of a predator is an irrepressible impulse and they want that mouse/frog soo bad.... A few days before pikes before the close season for pike starts (here in western Germany) we had the right conditions to bust our knuckles once again! Good excuse for topwaters in the cold!

(Opti Runner ready to go)


(Busted)


(Julian with a decent fish)


(Check it´s mouth)


(...)


(Nice one)


(Sweet fish)


(Release)

(Finally a better one: 82cm)


(Opti Salt did it again)

Can´t wait for May to come!!!

Hobie Tryout

Hobie Tryout
by Anna Sjöberg

Captain Morgan

The Swedish magazine Fiskejournalen (http://www.fiskejournalen.se/) celebrates 35 years in the business and start 2009 with a competition for their readers. The first prize is a kayak from Hobie fully equipped with lots of goodies for us into fishing.

I got invited to try the kayak and to participate in the movie showing all the prizes.

It was an exciting morning when I met the crew, unpacking the kayaks, rigging all the gear and finding good angles to shoot from. Since we were filming in the end of August we had hoped for nice late summer days with calm sea, blue sky and perfect lighting for the filming. Instead we got wind, rain and waves in a never ending mix. I was accompanied by Morgan who also does some writing for the magazine, and the spirits were high when we entered the kayaks. We tried them out for a short while, checking how to steer them, how fast they were and how to make the fishing as smooth as possible.

Glad to see the filmcrew doing some hard work as well...

The special thing with this kayak is how to run it. Instead of using your arms you use pedals. You drive it with your legs, not much different from cycling or using a stepper. For a person interested in getting as much time for fishing as possible, this is the ultimate solution. Running it with the pedals makes your hands free for almost all the time which means you never have to lay down your rod.

The kayaks are also equipped with four rodholders and internal and external storage possibilities, suitable both for fishing gear or camping equipment. One of the kayaks we tried did have a GPS/sonar, which is also included in the first prize of the competition in Fiskejournalen amongst a lot of other stuff…

The steering of the kayak is made by a small controldevice on your side, just in perfect reach and really easy to handle. (For those of you who wonder how fast you can go. Morgan tried to reach top speed and according to the GPS he did reach 6 knots)

The immediate feeling when I tried the kayak was how steady it was. We tried a couple of laps with speeding, steering and stopping before we felt comfortable enough to start fishing and filming. We started by anchoring not too far from land, in order to try the spinning rod. Feeling a bit uncomfortable at start being filmed, we soon forgot we were the stars in this movie and had a great and relaxed time. Unfortunately not very successful in fishing, but Morgan did get a couple of catches. The bad weather soon made a stop for the filming and we found ourselves left in the water while the filmcrew ran to the house we had available.

Since the purpose of the trip was to get as much material for the film, we didn´t get that much time for fishing the first day. We had a long drive (or should I say pedalling) in this huge lake, and had it been a normal kayak I wouldn´t have lasted one tenth of the time. Since you use the legs you can cover a much longer distance. We were challenged by the rough waters and tons of rain, but the kayak felt safe and easy to handle also in these lousy conditions. There were shootings from different angles, repeated times of trying to make a smooth gliding on to the beach, rounds and rounds in front of the cameras and also some acting (which makes me realize why I am into finance and not an actress…)

The second day was planned for flyfishing. It was still a bit windy so we choose a different location. This time a small p&t forest lake. Surrounded by thick forest it made the conditions a lot better with almost no wind at all. Flyfishing from the kayak was a great experience. At first a bit tricky since the line sometimes got stuck in the pedals or the storagestraps. After a little while you learn how to avoid it and the fishing was easy. Since you don´t use the paddle, and the fins that drives the kayak is in the water all time it is a very quiet way to move around.

Personally I also like that the kayak runs forwards, in comparison to the tube when you go backwards. Of course there are times when you wish to go backwards, and that´s the time the paddles could be handy. During our two days of trying the kayaks I think I used the paddles about five times the most. The paddle is also in easy reach, strapped on the outside of the kayak.

We ended the filming in a third lake, this time trying some extra equipment consisting of two tubes that you easily attach to the kayak. This gives stability and makes it even possible to stand up while fishing. Morgan tried it and had no trouble at all managing to stand up trying some jerkbait-fishing.

Overall a great kayak to use for fishing and I can really recommend you to try one! Or if you´re lucky you might be the winner…

And the fishing….well, I don´t want to reveal too much, but this much I can say. It could have been better.

The glamour of filmbusiness

Behind the scenes

The producer trying the kayak

Preparing the underwater pictures

Tricky!