FishYourDream.com Gotland report, 2010-2011

At this time of year
I finally get some time to go through all the seasons pictures, videos and stories.
I do it (waders on;-)) with satisfaction, I get to meet so many nice persons including all the guys behind the scenes.

Gotland got a rough winter
once more. For a fishing guide this means more hot tub baths, more worries about where the car actually can make way, and like last year, alot of thinking out of the box to find fish. In many ways a rerun of spring 2010. A lot of brown fish that did not have energy to gain weight until late in the season. We still fish for seatrout in between the garpike schools, and May is probably the month when we caught the best fishes.

We caught fish up to 89 cm
this year and the average length is about 60cm. We did not get a really big silver fish this spring but I am sure that had we had the same amount of guests in May as we did in April we would have.

FishYourDream.com has developed, this year we opened our own accommodation at Hamngatan 4 in Visby, Visby Vandrarhem. Of course with a fishing atmosphere. So now we can offer packages with our own accommodation midtown Visby, for all you guys that want to stay close to the service and nightlife of Visby. Visby is actually a really good starting point for any fishing day, we can go easily in the direction we want depending on winds, waves and currents. On street level we have our office and a store:
Gotland Active Store, where you buy fishing gear and book Gotland activities: Fishing, birdwatching, kite surfing, biking, horse back riding and much more.

This year we also managed to squeeze in a TV show for Latvian TV, a new swedish fishing show, and a popular reality show with celebrities called "Så mycket bättre".
In other words an exciting season with many challanges and lots of new stuff!


Securing the trout population
There is some debate about the status of the sea trout population. There is no evidence, but our statistics say we caught less fish this years spring season than last years. If it is a result of increased fishing pressure, two really hard winters, or other natural factors I dare not guess. I still want to repeat my usual message:We still lack good rules for our fantastic fishing for, this is important, wild self reproducing Sea trout. The number of people fishing the Gotland coast are constantly increasing and information about rules and ethics must be spread more effectively. I fear that this resource will be nothing but a memory if nothing is done. Since fishing with hand held equipment is free in the Baltic, there is not much more to do than to create good local rules.This (or something like this) is what I would like to see:

1. Bag limit

2. Window outtake (MIN and MAX sizes)

3. Obligatory release of all kelts

4. A rule about putting nets at the 3-metre curve. =away with the shore based land nets.

Nets are always indiscriminate, but land nets even more so since they often cover all water from bottom to surface on the shallow shelves where they are put. The trout goes to this area to feed in the night time. These nets take everything; small and large, kelts or silver. You don't need a boat to put them out, you can wade them out when you are on vacation on the island. The local connection to Gotland could be small or none. (However non Sweden citizens can not put nets.) If the nets were put further out (I can even agree upon the possibility of allowing more net length than todays 180 metres per person) the fish stands more of a chance and sportfishermen have a space to fish inside them. It is not good fun when you arrive with a hopeful group that has travelled far and the first we see are land nets. We simply have to decide for a new spot... The amount of fish we land with net injuries are increasing, they have the characteristic stripes, sometimes combined with torn off gils etc. If this is due to increased net fishing or increasing release of kelts by the net fishermen, I don´t know.

Anyway, we who fish here can try to not take more fish than we need and put kelts back. Kelts are not good eating and spawns again and again. (This we can clearly see from the tagging that has been done, the tagged fish return to the streams.)

Some people say "yea well, I am just fishing here once a year so its not a problem if I kill some kelts". Trouble is I meet people every day that only kills kelts once a year.


A hint is to kill the trout that has the fat fin cut off, a telltale sign that the fish is grown in a tank. In Sweden rules are that fish raised by humans need to have this fin removed for identification. We dont grow them on Gotland but fish don´t know about borders. Especially when they have no "home stream". These fish have nothing to do in our rivers and streams since they could degenerate the much adapted gene pool of our Gotland trout. But they taste just as good…

I want to thank all guests,
partnersand everyone in the business who does their best to ensure our guests quality experience. A big thanks to all you people reporting recaptures of tagged trout to FishYourDream.com. You are contributing with valuable data.Thank you all and welcome back!

See you by the Baltic!

 

PS. You can see more pictures and interact with us on Facebook! DS.

Regards/
Per Jobs, Visby, 110613
info@FishYourDream.com

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