This summer we made an amazing trip to Ukkohalla area’s Eco Rapids in Kainuu, Finland. We were fishing there in some of the beautiful rivers an streams such as the Kynäkosket area and the Syväjoki. Did we catch? Yes we did.
Driving all the way from Helsinki was quite long in just one day, but we have grown used to driving. Really, being on the road is a big part of our lives as fishing jazz musicians. Trying to find the best remote untouched fishing bonanzas and then going for a gig a thousand kilometers apart is what we do. As you can see in the video below, many times frustration and anxiety builds up as you approach the fishing location.
Some days are better than others. It´s a fact.
And this July day somewhere on Nordkalotten was better than most.
With huge hatches of all kinds of insects and big, rising fish all over the place,
this is the stuff that winter dreams are made of.
Music: “Kivran!” (H. Stubø)
Performed by Jazz & Fly Fishing
The GoPro HD Hero video camera has created a huge buzz this year. It is a small super wide angle video camera with a rugged underwater housing and several mountings for different applications: you can attach it on your car, boat, helmet, bike, wrist, fishing rod, guitar, model helicopter, plane, skateboard… Basically anywhere! It’s small and handy and films with a maximum 170 degree angle (720p or 920p HD). You can also switch to a narrower view of 127 degrees and get full 1080p HD. Well, read all about the specs elsewhere, this blog is not about that.
There’s namely one big disadvantage with the GoPro HD Hero. The underwater picture is blurry and out of focus. As they say on the GoPro official webpage: Please note that due to the curved lens of the waterproof housing for the HD HERO camera and standard def Wide HERO cameras, you will notice a slight loss of sharpness with underwater images.
I can tell you this loss of sharpness is not ”slight”. It’s a matter of being able to use the material or not.
Luckily, there’s a way of getting around this problem. Either you can order a special underwater housing from a second party manufacturer, or you can do as I did, modify your housing yourself. It’s easy, fast and cheap. Here we go, gopro:
You need:
GoPro underwater housing
Philips Avent baby bottle (probably some other brands do as well)
Hobby knife
Saw
Sand paper
UV-filter ø 58 mm
Black permanent marker
Epoxy glue
See the instructions on the following slide show:
This modified housing works great on the narrower 127 degree angle. The superwide angle captures some of the ring in the corners. However, I prefer the narrower view and the full HD when shooting underwater.
Here´s a trick every angler should know: how to remove a barbed hook without any tools at all. It´s swift and painless!
While casting for a big, rising seatrout in the middle of the subarctic summer night, Tapani was unforunate enough to hook himself in the nose with a big fly. Luckily, I have done this procedure several times (even on myself once), and knew the super trick – otherwise there would have been a lot more blood involved…
The picture of the monster trout on the previous blog made some people suspicious. Was the picture somehow manipulated? Or was the fish really that big? The answer to both questions is yes. The picture has been digitally manipulated, but the size of the fish is real.
We’ve had countless discussions about how a picture of a catch should be taken. A big and fat fish appears big, fat and beautiful in a good photo, but you can also ruin the shot pretty easily.
One of the biggest and prettiest trout I ever caught was captured on camera. Too bad my pose was terrible as I’m blocking the view to the fish with my arm. The trout is also partially under water which makes it even more difficult to admire the fat and firm belly of the fish:
Joona blocking the trout
Here are some hint for better pictures:
take a tight shot with the fisherman and the fish
if you´re going to release the fish, keep it in the net under the water and lift it up quickly for the shot before release
don’t block the view of the fish with your body, arms or fingers
keep the fish clean, and rinse it with water
use a wide angle lens and hold the fish slightly in front of you: a wide angle lens makes objects closer to the camera appear bigger (but that goes with your fingers too!)
look through the camera viewfinder/screen and try different angles to find the one that looks best
One of the lakes we were fishing was overpopulated by small trout. We caught some trout for dinner, and took a couple of photos of a 25 cm trout with a regular compact camera with a wide angle lens. The picture doesn’t lie, or does it?
Trout in front of Håvard
Håvard in front of the trout
Finally, some photos from different points of view:
The photoshopping of the trout? The picture was cropped, the line was ”removed” from the picture and Håvard’s finger tips were cut in from another photo. But the fish is in natural size. It’s all about perspective.
Here’s a sneak peek for one of the upcoming blogs. Håvard caught this huge trout on one of our recent trips. Stay tuned, we’ll tell all about it later!
4th of July 2010: After spending the better part of last summer chasing us four bandmembers around with a camera, it seemed only fair that our producer, Petzi, should make the first cast on this beautiful wilderness river up north. After all, Petzi is a passionate fly fisherman, and it must have been very difficult to go to all these fantastic fishing spots all over Scandinavia without being able to make a single cast.
Despite having an insane amount of well-meant advice and comments thrown at him by four fish-crazy musicians, Petzi somehow managed to keep cool and catch the beautiful trout that was rising on the neck (the fish later became a tasty dinner in the able hands of Fredrik, our master chef). Kudos.
As for myself, I have to admit that this is some of the worst backseat driving I´ve ever heard. I really didn´t know that I sounded this annoying. I´m going to put some duct tape over my mouth and leave it there. Seriously.
What combines jazz & fly fishing? Well, what combines jazz & oil wrestling?! It was a very hot day in Helsinki, Finland (+30C) when we went to see this remarkable event. I was surprised to find out that many of the contestants, spectators, the commentator and even the accordeonist were renowned jazz musicians. Thanks for all the people who made this happen!
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