Who am I without salmon in the river?
It’s a special feeling being out there. Making the first casts of the season. You who know me, know that I always consider this a 10-out-of-10-experience and that feeling of it’s just a matter of time before something magnificent hits you fly, is nothing short of amazing.
This year it all started with that exact the same feeling. It was above average conditions in one of my favourite wild salmon rivers in Västerbotten but after fishing the first couple of stretches I felt something odd and remember saying to Ted (the camera guy): “It feels like I am fishing an empty river.”
Nevertheless, we carried on as usual. Fishing 24/7 while having a constant exchange of information with likeminded all-over northern Sweden. You know how it usually goes… Some rivers fishes better than others and some fly fishers are more successful than others, and above all, you have that constant feeling of always being in the wrong place at the wrong time but in some strange way, you’re just loving every minute of it. But this year it was a different story. When talking with those likeminded, they all kind of had the same feeling. They scratched their heads and did not know what to do or think. It was like we all where fishing empty rivers those days.
Anyhow, we left Västerbotten and went to Torneälven somewhere around the Swedish National Day. We met up with Lars Munk who just had fished one of the pools in Kengis with a floating line and without any luck. Then it was my turn with a sink 1/2 and guess what, I hooked into a really nice, fresh and silvery salmon. I got so extremely chocked that we actually hooked into one, so I just screamed: “I have a fish ON!” Yeah well, I guess you all will see it in the upcoming film soon.
But isn’t it cool what a fish can do to you?
But isn’t it cool what a fish can do to you? One single salmon hooked and all of a sudden confidence is back. You start believing again. Everybody around me threw the coffee and sausage away and got back in the river — fishing like never before.
Since then, I have often come to think: “What if I didn’t have hooked into that salmon, and just would have had a completely blank season? Will I still be fishing like this the next year?”
The simple answer is: “Without a doubt!”. Because without salmon fishing, I would not be me.
I started fly fishing for salmon when Sweden had some really good years with some good runs and now, I am experiencing some bad ones. Some say salmon fishing haven’t been this bad for more than 30 years. So why is that and what can I do?
I’m no scientist nor a politician or a government official. I’m just a fly fisher whose very existence is deeply intersected with the presence of salmon in our wild Baltic rivers; so, it feels now more than never, so very important that we don’t stop fishing. Because if we do, who will then come to care for the wild salmon? Needless to say, we need to fish in a way that preserves the stocks, but if I’m not out there, in some sense it feels like I’m abandoning the salmon.
Of course, we will put all our efforts into this film we are making, and hopefully it will add something good to all the other strives and efforts that are made for the existence of wild Baltic salmon. But foremost, now when the season of 2024 have come to an end, I for sure will once more sit down by my vice and tie a Banana, drink some coffee with “barista” and dream about June 2025 and how I’m roaming some wild salmon river up north — Who’s with me?
Stay tuned
/Emilie Björkman