What does a fishing guide do in the summer... Quite a lot of everything other than fishing, but of course fishing also has its own part. For me, the best things in summer are fishing a little more traditionally, namely with a long line.
These waters have been fished in this way for decades. Longline fishing is timed in summer, first of all because of the nice fishing weather, but also because of the availability of bait fish. Of course, fishing with a longline these days is even a bit questionable, because in this traditional way you cannot always release fish with certainty, even if you intend to. In addition, the bait fish must be caught first, and with them, of course, there is no way to follow the current rules for stunning and handling fish. Although as a fishing guide and active fisherman I always take care of handling and releasing the fish as well as possible, traditions also have a certain value for me.
So fishing with a long line starts by fishing the baits on the line. Small fish about 5 cm long, which are traditionally called "tiura" in this region, serve as bait. In practice, they are therefore small roaches etc. I myself catch bait with a very small-mesh net. The biggest challenge here is the amount of catch. Either you don't get enough baits, or when the flock hits you, there are a lot of them. This summer for the first time when I was tuning the long line, the latter came true and the whole summer's baits came at once. So the extras were frozen to wait for the next fishing.
Baits are threaded onto a long line hook from the fish's back. I think the most common way is to put the baits on the hook beforehand, but some people only attach the baits when the line is lowered to the water from the boat. The line itself consists of a back line and pegs attached to it every three meters.
The line is lowered from the boat into the sea and with weights both at the beginning and at the end, but also along the way to ensure that the line stays on the bottom. Personally, I always lower the line to slightly varying depths, usually in 2-6 meters of water.
The fishing line is allowed to fish overnight, and early in the morning it is nice to go out and experience the long line. The line is reeled back into its box and at the same time, of course, both the baits and the prey fish are removed. My desired catch is zander, and of course nice-sized perches are also tasty. Of course pike will come from the fishing line, even if we don't expect them. The pike usually catches a perch or a small zander that has already caught on the line. Therefore, either on purpose or by accident, the pike can easily run away, because the hook is not attached to the pike.
The challenge of releasing and handling the fish mainly concerns undersized zander. No matter how carefully you handle the job, sometimes an undersized zander also ends up as a catch. According to the law, it is not allowed to catch them, but they must then be thrown back into the sea when they are dead. A rarer challenge may be produced by the eel. It's been more than 20 years since the last time, so eels are not everyday guests, if ever again, in these waters. The eel is therefore a completely sedated fish and must always be released.
Fishing offers many other experiences than staring at the sonar screen. So the fishing guide can also guide a little more traditional fishing:D
#fishing guide # fishing trip # Turku #Naantali #Parainen