Once a year the Swedish fishing association arranges a short cruise for their members. The cruise is held on one of the boats that normally travel between Sweden and one of their neighboring countries. This years cruise was held on the MS Cinderella that travels between Stockholm  and Finland. There are loads of events going on during the cruise. The boat offers tax free shopping,  and several other activities that they offer on all their crossings, and for the Fishing cruise "Sportsfiskarna" has their own activities. I had been asked to show up and take part in a workshop on the trip. The workshop was to have several different stations where lure builders and fly tiers from all over Sweden where to show of what they make. I am most known for being a fly tier and lure builder, and for the workshop I got to choose whatever I wanted as long as it wasn't the same as anyone else was arranging. I thought first of lure building, making wobblers, or making ice fishing jigs and let the visitors paint their own ice fishing jigs, but decided that these where to close related to what the other guys had, so I ended up choosing spinner making. 

Some people will classify both Sonia and me as crazy. Sonia with her severe arthritis and diabetes has to be extremely careful to keep her blood sugar count just right, and her arthritis gives her a challenge in tolerating pain and at all being able to handle her fishing gear. Most of the time she uses my modified balalaika rods as these are easy for her to hold, and operate. A regular rod is a huge challenge for her. Still, if she could, she'd be out fishing every single day of the year. 
I have tried my share of extreme fishing that would scare most other anglers away, such as fishing from an inflatable canoe at open sea, Fishing trout during a storm with a buddy, from a canoe on a small lake, and night ice fishing in -40C
But nothing comes up to exploring new waters in remote places. What defines a spot as remote will have to be a question of your starting point, and our destination this time was just about the question of starting point and route chosen to get there. Some times the fastest route is absolutely not in a straight line between A and B. 

Some times the fish are biting so good that you will remember it for the rest of your life. Today was one of those days. Sonia called me yesterday evening. we had both been out on the ice Sunday, but I had to leave early as I had my daughter with me, and she wanted to go home quite soon. She's only Three, so naturally this was to be expected. What stunned me later was that when we came home she told me that it just didn't feel right to go fishing today, and that she didn't feel well being on the ice. It is not that she doesn't like fishing, because she was with us out on Friday, and loved it. In fact she hasn't spoken about anything else since. Well, Sonia wanted to update me on how her day had been. She had caught a few eating size perch, and a few small ones. Later Modi had showed up, and he had told Sonia that he wanted to try for Arctic Char . Sonia had been wanting to try for Arctic char as well. She had not got a chance to fish for them much this season, and had barely caught enough fish for a morning snack. Not that that had meant anything the main point about fishing is to get out in to nature, and just enjoy the day. This is where all problems are solved, and what gives ut the therapy needed to survive an otherwise hectic life. 

Just about every angler is out trying to catch the biggest fish possible for the species he or she is fishing for. For me it is not about that. Big fish are fun, but in my eyes they are to be protected, and let go. A 1 kg (2.2lb) perch is around ten years old, and has the genes to grow big. Maybe even to grow faster than the rest of his species, and maybe even the genes to grow bigger than the rest of his species. A fish like that deserves to breed and spread it's genes. We humans defy the rules of nature by targeting the biggest fish first. This has resulted in various species not longer growing to their full potential. It is starting to get so bad that we are even changing the genes of the fish. The Scientists call it human caused evolution. For instance, the cod in the Atlantic ocean are spawning at an earlier age that they did 100 years ago. Their maximum size is 45 cm shorter than it was 100 years ago. Another factor with fish that adapt to humans targeting the large fish is that they start to spawn more often. The entire west coast of Norway has thousands of ponds and lakes with brown trout. Normally Brown trout spawn every 2-3 years, and start spawning at an age of 4-5 years. In the over populated lakes on the west coast of Norway the fish spawn every year, and start spawning at an age of 3. Maximum age for a trout is around 40 years. In the over populated lakes the maximum age is around 7 years. Several hundred years of heavy fishing with nets is the cause, combined with the fact that there aren't any other predator fish in these lakes. They are usually populated only with Trout, or Trout and Arctic Char.