Tag Archives: white-fish

Ice-fishing in the end of April in Lapland

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This year, 2019, my yearly ice-fishing expedition was delayed until late in the spring for several reasons. One of the reasons was that Easter was so late this year ( April 18-22) and we did not get a cabin during Easter; they were fully booked. So the expedition started after Easter. This year was also different regarding the snow situation. While there was snow nearly one meter in the south of Rovaniemi, we found out that in the north, near Kilpisjärvi in the northernmost Lapland, there was not that much snow – hardly no snow at all on places.

The weather around Easter was sunny and quite warm and that made the snow melt even more. On the way and at arrival to the fishing place we could just establish the fact that this expedition was going to be different from the previous ones.

First of all, we needed to move from the car around half a kilometer on SNOW with skies…..

Well the little snow was quite hard in the morning, so with some extra efforts we managed to reach the fishing-place without any problems.

The ice on the river was thick but a little water had melted on it. That was fixed with some holes in the ice and the water disappeared quickly. It was easy to move around on the ice and the weather was perfect all five days. I enjoyed the time outdoor in the nature. Some swans flew over and that is always a sign of spring arrival. The little white-troated dipper was diving in the rapids. The rapids were open, as usual this time of the year. It was nothing special with that.

On the starting day I caught some really nice white-fishes. As you can see, the water on the ice had disappeared completely.

As parts of the experience with ice-fishing are the breaks with fryed sausages.

As the days went by we realised the skiing was getting more and more difficult. The mornings were still ok, because of the cold nights and the hard snow and ground. But in the afternoons every day the sun had melted even more snow that had turned into water along our way. We even went skiing through some waters to reach the car. But then we came up with another solution: We found a way along the rapids that was still usable and with snow. Then there was only a short way where we had to ski on the swamp with only grass on.

As I’ve been sitting on the ice ice-fishing I have often wondered if it would be possible to climb the nearest fell, Lammasoaivi.

This year I saw the opportunity, because of the lack of snow. One day I decided not to go fishing, but hiking up to the top of the fell Lammasoaivi.

The feeling as I reached the top of the fell is hard to describe in words…I was so filled with happiness and the view from the top of the fell all over the north of Lapland was amazing. This is Lammasoaivi fell 740 m over the sea. I felt like I had made a dream come true.

I also visited a nature trail nearby on the same day. It was the “Iitto palsa mire” that describes the fenomenon Palsa in Lapland. Palsa means a giant peat hummok which is in permafrost. The Palsas are to be seen only in the north of Lapland. Apart from these palsa mires there are no permafrosts in other places in Finland. Permafrost means that the ice inside the mire never melts. The largest palsa here is around 5 metres high. If the peat is over 50 cm thick the ice does not melt during the summer. Palsa is the black pile in the picture.

The melting of the core inside the palsa makes the palsa collapse. With the rise of the palsa, its dry peat surface starts to crack and the warmth reaches the ice core on 55-77 cm and the palsa starts to melt. Finally the whole frozen core has vanished and the palsa collapses. The only thing left is a pool with peat edges, reminds us of a hole made by a small meteroite.

In the end of the week we decided to abandone the thought of ice-fishing on the river, because the rapid grew larger and larger every day and the noice from the rapid began to be very loud. This also had the affect on the fish, so we got hardly no fish at all in these days. We moved to more calm waters for the last two days.

We also visited the village Kilpisjärvi one of the days, as usual.

As usual, the expedition was full of adventures and we were very content with the tour again.

Ice – an unpredictable element

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This year’s (2014) spring has arrived earlier than usual to Lapland. As I last year in May could go ice-fishing around Rovaniemi, this year the ices are not all reliable and safe any more here in the south of Lapland. A warning is actual for entering ices, especially on the rivers where there is streaming water. Easter has for many years been the season when the outdoor temperatures allow you to really enjoy ice-fishing in the sun without getting cold. This year’s Easter was late (April 18-21) and due to the small amount of snow still on the ground the week before Easter here in the Rovaniemi region, the sun melted the snow on the lakes already before Easter. It became slippery to move on the ice and snowmobiles had difficulties to get the grip to move forward. The ground and ices are almost snow free now. But still, I plan an ice-fishing expedition to the upper-North this week, to get the last big portion of ice-fishing this winter.The ices up north are still nearly 90 cm thick. I’ll tell you more about that in my next post.

In the newspapers these last weeks you could have read about accidents with snowmobiles that have sunk through the ice with drivers and passengers. You should definitely equip yourself with ice-peaks now, as you do in the autumn in the beginning of winter. With them you could have a fair chance to get up onto the ice again if you sink through the ice. These are mine.

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If the ice is thick enough for a man, but not for a snowmobile, one way of moving on the ice is to go by skis. In Lapland the lakes could have fairly thick ice even if there is no snow on the ground anymore. Skis also give you possibilities to enter even thinner ice than it would be possible for you to do by foot, because your weight is spread all over the skis, so every inch is lighter when you go on your skis. You should always test the thickness of the ice with your sticks to be sure the ice is durable enough. If you still are uncertain you should stop now and then and drill a hole in the ice to measure the thickness.

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In early spring time it is a profitable time to ice-fish trout and white fish in the lakes. This year so far I did not get much white fish, but I expect more of them in the north. Winter net-fishing period is over now due to the unpredictable ices, but as the trout swim in low waters in the spring the time to catch trout is most profitable at this time of the year. Just before we ended the net-fishing we managed to get a nice 2 kilo trout in the net.

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The red-eyed roach is easy to catch in the spring when ice-fishing, but you really do not eat them. There are a lot of them so they are popular for children to catch. The children will not get bored when ice-fishing.

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The nature wakes up in April-May and emigrating birds return to Lapland and the fells. The trees also wake up and you can read about how you can take advantage of the trees in the spring time in my post Lapland – the land of eight seasons. 

The dried reindeer meat is also ready to eat by now, as the days have been sunny for a while already.

As the ices melt the seabirds arrive in Lapland. First arriving are usually the swans. They really do not need much of open water to settle down. After that they spend the days searching for something to eat from the bottom or just relax on the ice.

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I suffer from sea-sickness if I go fishing in the open sea, therefore ice-fishing is suitable for me, as I love fishing. During the summer I have to figure out something else to do as I do no fishing then. Picking berries or taking care of my garden are hobbies for me in the summer time.