Friday 17/8

I started out by removing water from the boat, and once on the other side of Darrhaädno I followed a footpath to the south to a place where access to the riverbank was easy. I stood there fishing for a while, then going a bit further to a small fireplace Lars was fond of using and continued there. The weather had improved somewhat, bringing some sunlight and warmth – but also a good deal of mosquitos. From where I stood I could see the cottage, and I counted one temporary visitor while I remained in place. I tried out a few more locations – and a few different spinners – but to no avail, so after some time I packed up and turned northwards.

Goahtnjunjes across the heath

The ravine of Goahtnjunjesjåhkå

By Darrhaädno

Måskásjgájsse on the other side

I picked my way through the juniper-riddled forest, sometimes coming upon particularly dense thickets which took some forcing, but on the whole it went pretty well. When the trees ended a combination of grassland and heathland took over and progress was easy. I returned to the river around some islets and brought out the fishing gear again; this time the mosquitos were even more numerous, and I quickly realized that in this portion there was a lot of seaweed growing on the bottom. Soon I saw fit to go on, finding a good path that led over Vuoksákjåhkå (which was very easily crossed) and then up onto a hill at the end of a section of rapids in Darrhaädno. I stood there casting into the foaming water while the weather continued to get better – now all the peaks in the vicinity were visible in full.

After a while I went down on the other side of the hill, between which and another cliff a bit upstream a small basin with calm water had formed, and just at the edge of this there was a gravel bank that I could reach easily, which made for an excellent casting location. It was not long before I caught a 25-cm brown trout, but due to the 35-cm limit on that species I had to release it. Shortly thereafter an arctic char of about the same size took the bait, but it managed to liberate itself just a few meters out. Bummer. Then another slightly larger fish broke the surface with the spinner in its mouth, but I lost that one while it was still out in the rapids, so I was unable to determine what kind it was.

After this I returned up onto the first hill and had lunch, during which a drizzle gradually came into being, but it was too light to cause any concern. I returned to my fishing spot after just a short pause, and it did not take very long for the rain cloud to pass. Suddenly I felt a sharp yank in the line, and this time the fish was not going anywhere; I knew immediately that it was a rather large one, and reeling it in took some time and effort.

Once I had brought it onto land I saw that it was a trout the length of which I estimated to about 40 cm – which was kind of fortunate, as it had swallowed the spinner so deeply that there was no way I could remove it without causing serious harm to the fish. Even as it was (after knocking it out) I had huge trouble getting the spinner out; it probably took something like a quarter of an hour. When I had finally succeeded I proceeded to gut the fish at once, but even as a headless mass of flesh it felt very large – this may well be the largest fish I have caught with a spinner in a stream.

As I finished up another session of drops commenced, and since this catch alone was far too much for me to consume on my own in one go I saw no reason to continue fishing, so I packed up and left. When I was passing over the grass-heath an intense shower started, and I jogged to a birch under the fully adequate protection of which I waited for it to pass; it did not cease entirely, but I left as soon as it shrank back to the familiar drizzle. This time I took a route closer to Goahtnjunjes, but the juniper shrubs still necessitated nonlinear motion. Eventually I turned in some kind of arc towards the river, finding the ferry and then finding myself back at the cottage at 14:15.

Approaching Vuoksák...

...and the rapids below

Lotsa clouds

Less clouds

The basin

The fish (regular utility knife for comparison)

Tarradalen north

Going home

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