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Photo Samples, Temperate Fishing
Temperate sports fishing is normally
synonymous with trout and salmon. Even including the mighty sturgeon of North America, the
variety of species is much smaller in the tropics, but this is usually compensated by the
beautiful nature. From Alaska and Canada to Patagonia and New Zealand, the fly and
spinning fishermen both stand a chance to get trout and salmon, much bigger than anywhere
in Europe - and just as shy.
All photos are, of course © Claus Qvist
Jessen, and none of them are to be used without my permission. |
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The
west coast rivers of Canada and northern USA contains lots of big and hard-fighting, white
sturgeon. Growing to more than 300 kgs, they are the scavengers of the river, eating
anything from salmon roe to dead Indians. This one is from Fraser River, British
Columbia, Canada.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Danish angler and biologist, Thorke Østergaard, with a magnificent sturgeon from
Fraser River, British Columbia, Canada. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A very nice feature of the large Fraser River sturgeon is their
tendency to jump. Not twisting and turning like the tarpon, but nevertheless it's quite
impressive when 200 pounds of solid muscles get airborne.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Nice one, indeed. 6 feet + 6 inches to the fork of the tail, about 7½ to the
tip, and an estimated weight in between 110 and 120 kgs. My biggest fish
so far, however, they grow much bigger, and sturgeon three or four times
bigger have been caught in Fraser River.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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An even bigger one was caught by Swedish angler Lars-Göran (left): 7 fat
feet and an estimated weight of 150 kgs. Like the other sturgeon, this
was caught with a barbless single hook; Fraser River, British Columbia,
Canada.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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The
magnificent Lake Benmore (New Zealand South Island) show it's colours at it's best in the fall - March and April.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A skinny but well-conditioned, 58 cm brown trout from Lake Wakatipu,
New Zealand South Island. Note its
impressive tail.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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With no waders, fishing in Lake Wakatipu, New Zealand South Island, is a very cold
affair - even in the high summer of February and March. The temperature
is about 14 deg., however, landing a 2 kg rainbow on a fly rod compensates for the
freezing temperatures. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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The
rainbow trout of Lake Wakatipu, close to Queenstown (New Zealand South
Island), contains a good stock of big,
hard-fighting rainbow trouts. This one was taken on a tiny small-fry imitation.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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During high summer, the favourite
of the Kiwis is a small dry fly.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Middleton is a crystal clear and hard-fished water with a few, very shy trout - in
particular in the middle of the day. Compared to Scandinavia or Chile, New Zealand fishing
is next to impossible.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Spinning in the
Tekapo-Pukaki Canal (New Zealand South Island) during a quiet moment.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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| A 6 kg solid
rainbow trout, caught on a heavy spoon in the productive Tekapo-Pukaki Hydrocanal.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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| A fish of a
life-time, this 11.9 kg (26 pound, 94 cms), WILD rainbow trout was caught on a small spoon in the
Tekapo-Pukaki Hydro Canal, South Island, New Zealand. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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| Once again:
The absolutely magnificent 11.9 kg rainbow from Tekapo, South Island, New Zealand. Note
the diminutive size of the 14 gram spoon. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Kodiak
angler Scott Weigh fly fishing for coho salmon in the beutiful Olds River, Kodiak Island,
Alaska, in the beginning of October.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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| A nice, 6 kg
Buskin River coho salmon. This one hit a small green-white streamer. A great fight on a
class 6 fly rod.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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The
North American coho salmon is hard to catch, however, small reddish flies or streamers may
do the trick. Buskin River, Kodiak, Alaska. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Another
nice Buskin River coho, caught on a small, red streamer.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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The beautiful Quinsam River, Vancouver Island, British
Columbia, Canada. Any hooked king salmon would dissappear downstream
into the trees in the background. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Balkan
beuty - the small and hard-fished Radika River in Machedonia. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Local specialist Igor fishing the uppermost reaches of Radika River.
Behind us are two heavily armed soldiers to protect us from Albanian
attacks and possible land mines! Northern Maceonia.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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The
Balkans got a few rare, endemic trout species, such as this tiny Radika trout from the
river of the same name, bordering Maceonia and Kosovo. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A
800 gr. specimen trout from Radika River, in between the Former Yugoslavian Republic of
Macedonia (FYROM) and Kosovo. The fish was caught with a bunch of soldiers and a
fully armed tank right behind me! © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A
very fine and very fat 6+ lbs (62 cms) rainbow trout, caught on a dry fly
at 9 pm in the pool of River Klokot, north-western Bosnia.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Trolling
in the Baltic Sea sometimes produces some decent size salmon. This 9.5 kg fish is not even
a big one - but my best so far.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A
magnificent 2.05 kg specimen perch from the Susaa, southern Sealand. the fish was caught
in the beginning of May by local angler Kim Faber. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Not a giant, but fun to catch: A fat mid-size grayling from Grindsted
River; south-central Jutland, Denmark. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Cheers! Freezing cold carp fishing at Twente Canal,
Holland / Netherlands. Above water, it was -15 C, below +15 due to
outlets of cooling water
from the Akzo salt plant. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Danish
carp specialist (and surgeon!) Kenth Espensen with a nice winter carp
from Twente Canal, Holland (Netherlands). © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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In
Scandinavia and Russia, ice fishing is a great winter sport. This Danish TV company (TV2) seems to
think the same; at least they spent a whole day shooting our Sorø Sø fishing session,
despite almost no fish. The angler is Peter Machholt, chairman of the local angling club.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A
nice, 800 gram perch caught by Danish angler Thomas Vedel from the ice.
The water depth was shallow, less than four feet, which is quite good
towards the end of the winter season; Lake Sjael (Sjælsø), Norhern Sealand, Denmark.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Drilling
the last hole of the day in the ice of Lake Sjael (Sjælsø).
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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