Week 32 New friends, 99 cm & kippis

Jussi with a 99cm fantastic male fish from zone 1

The past week was a mixed week at Kengis. Different guests for the week and a friend came back for his second time this season. The week started out with Heidi, Sirly & Henna, our friends from the hotel Aurora Estate in Finland. They are visiting Kengis each year and it is such a pleasure to have them at Kengis. This year Ossi was with them and they all went for the Baltic dream. They are quite new to salmon fishing, but they are learning and Ossi got a touch of the baltic power. He hooked into a nice fish at zone 3, in the middle of the river. Fighted the fish all the way to shore and Heidi was ready to tail it. "My heart rate was 200 when i should tail the fish and just when i got hold of it, it took a last run and the hook went out. We count it as landed and call it a quick release" - Heidi.

Ossi in the middle of the river with bended rod and fighting a baltic salmon

Kengis magic

Fresh from the river, grayling dinner

Monday evening Jussi came to Kengis. Follow him on his week at Kengis here;

‍"I noticed there is one spot available in Kengis and booked it only in 3 days notice. I had heard about the place but never been before, so had no idea what to expect. I just started salmon fishing this summer and never landed any (lost many tho during the season), so of course I was super excited about the upcoming week. It would be nice ending for the season to land one! Right now, I'm so happy I came. 

First 5 days were all about getting to know the different zones and pools and new people, and also did lots of swimming.. I managed to hook 5 salmon during those days but lost all of them. It gave hope (and frustration) that there are some fish in the river and they are furious! On Tuesday I had one around 80-90cm hooked at Pine Tree pool, it tried twice to go to the rapids but I managed to pull it back, third time it took the run down there the hook set thought this is enough and bended. Next day I was fishing with Matteo at the same spot. Got a nice silver bar hooked and managed to get it close to the bank. I was already sure I got it , but no luck this time either. Matteo was just about to get it into the net when the worst happened.... Such a terrible feeling when you see the fly popping out and fish just slowly swimming back to the current. So happy Matteo decided to stay long and managed to land one in the darkness of the night! 

Night time action at Kengis for Matteo

On Thursday we went to see the other side of the river. I made my cast next to the rocks and suddenly the fly stopped. I was sure it was stuck between the rocks so it started to pull heavily, many times. After a third or forth strong and fast pull, the rock started moving. I had already decided to continue pulling and right at the same time the huge black monster came to the surface and I pulled again, just couldn't stop it happening. Once again, I saw the fly landing next to me. Felt so stupid. Well, one lesson learned again.

Kengis light by Matteo

Few hours after that, I was standing at the top neck of Zone 1. Made a cast and the running line got tangled. When I started to fix it, I felt a strong pull and my finger almost got stuck between the lines. While panicking with my finger, I lost the tension.. Am I never gonna land one? Luckily I still have 10 fingers.. 

‍On Friday my good friend Joonas arrived to join us for the weekend. He is an excellent chef and loves to cook things on fire so we decided to head to zone3 for cooking and fishing. After the amazing steaks and one run without action, we decided to head to zone 1 just before morning rise. We saw a lot of fish but didn't have any contact in the first round. At that point Matteo went to sleep but me and Joonas stayed. We mostly just enjoyed the view and the moment. Torne älv was absolutely stunning with little morning fog and slowly rising sun. 

Riverside barbecue

Probably around 04:30am Joonas said that now the moment is right, let's go back fishing. He took the upper part and I started next to fireplace. It was probably the third cast in ankle high water when I felt a strong pull. Then other pull. Okay.... Reel was spinning so fast and I started to shout to Joonas if he could come down asap. I tried to look downstream if I could see the fish but then it jumped 20meters upstream from me. This was definitely a good fish. Joonas ran down and started to give advices for the rookie. I still remember him telling me "the only one with panic here should be on the other side of the line". Some "feels like forever" - moments later fish gave up and Joonas tailed him. Couldn't believe my eyes, my first ever salmon and 99cm, WOW. Then we celebrated... Properly.

Fantastic colors

Celebration, Kippis (Cheers in Finnish)

Saturday was more or less about sleeping and eating. On Sunday morning we headed to zone1 early in the morning. In the first round we had a couple of soft pulls but nothing spectacular. After decent cups of strong coffee, Joonas headed to the upper neck. Maybe 30minutes later I heard my phone ringing. It was Joonas, I picked up but only heard some silence. I started to look up and didn't see Joonas at the neck so I started running. When I got there he had already tailed the beautiful 84cm Baltic Princess. Few photos and she was ready to go back to continue her thing. It was the first ever Baltic Salmon for Joonas, a perfect ending for the trip!

Joonas with a fish on the last run of the weekend

I want to thank Matteo, Joonas, Sirly, Ossi, Heidi, Henna and Oscar for the amazing week. I sure will remember this rest of my life. Kengis Bruk, see you next summer! " 

‍- Jussi

‍Two weeks left off the season, we cross fingers for good fishing.

‍Photos: Heidi, Joonas, Jussi & Matteo