A taste of Finland’s unique fishing culture

In the land of a thousand lakes, I travelled to the northwest of Helsinki in 2010 with two angling colleagues for a taste of Finland’s unique fishing culture.

The three-day tour of the Tampere region brought us to several locations, each markedly different from an angling perspective.

On the road north to Vilppula you could feel a certain similarity with the Irish countryside – green fields, picturesque mountainous vistas and that cool clean water, the most cherished of the elements.

At Koivulahti Crab Manor in Vilppula, landlord Pasi Heinonen greeted us sporting traditional attire of white collarless shirt, waistcoat, breeches and knee-high boots. Koivulahti is a beautiful wooden structure overlooking Lake Kuorevesi. The manor specialises in organic crayfish parties.

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On the Vilppula Route at Lake Ruovesi, we joined Juha Happonen for a most enjoyable evening fishing for pike and zander aboard his seven-metre, nine-seat party-barge tracker catamaran. Happonen is regarded as the foremost angling guide in all Finland.

Spinning weighted lures with a “stop and start” retrieve method, we encountered a selection of zander and small pike. Zander are unique to Finland, and resemble sea pollock in colour, lateral line and double dorsal fin. The Rasanen H lure with red bead proved particularly productive on Ruovesi.

Back on the road again to Ikaalinen, about 100km west of Vilppula, we reached our accommodation at Frangin Cottages, a group of five-star pine houses on the shores of Lake Kyrosjarvi. After a hearty breakfast, interpreter Ismo Kolari announced: “This morning we troll for pike, perch and zander.”

It was a riveting spectacle to watch Tero Seljas, skipper of Banana Boys, assemble the trolling gear of three rods to starboard and three to port side, each with two Wobbler Lucius specials. Two rods at the stern completed a total of 16 lures, all at different depths. We covered a vast area of pristine and beautiful wilderness with reasonable success.

A 50km dash to Vammala brought us to Hotel Ellivuori in time for dinner. “Tonight you will be fishing for asp and other species on Lake Rautavesi,” Ismo said. At 9pm, two local guides, Ville Inna and Mikko Ollila, brought us to their secret location, a channel that divided the main lake.

I made contact with two asp on a “popper lure” but failed to land either. However, we did land several perch on the fly and more pike on lures. We also caught “ide”, a species similar to the Irish bream. With the high sun slowly sinking, we called it a day well after 1am!

Our final outing brought us back to Tampere for fishing on Lake Nasijarvi with skipper Sampsa Liimola. Alas, the wind and rain put paid to any serious fishing and we returned empty-handed. This lake is best in late autumn, trolling for brown trout and landlocked salmon.

We also took time to take in a guided tour of Tampere. Established in 1779 by King Gustavus III of Sweden between two scenic lakes, Nasijarvi and Pyhajarvi, it feels the power of the Tammerkoski rapids.

In the early 19th century the city presented a pristine picture of nature. The rapids ran wide in their stony bed past a few modest buildings and tanning mill, a dyers’ workhouse and brick works.

By 1837 a six-storey Finlayson cotton mill factory rose alongside the rapids and presented a landmark in the surrounding scenery. James Finlayson, a Scotsman, went on to employ 2,300 people.

White-tailed deer

Game hunting is popular in winter, particularly for deer. Back in 1931, the Laukko Manor estate purchased eight white-tailed deer from Minnesota in the US. On the journey back to Finland by sea only one male and two females survived. Today in the Tampere region the population has grown to an estimated 40,000 animals.

No visit to Finland would be complete without a visit to a sauna, an inseparable part of the Finnish lifestyle. The best in Tampere is the century-old Rajaportin Sauna on the Pispala ridge. But there are saunas in almost all hotels, camping sites and holiday cottages.

Before leaving I asked Ismo Kolari to sum up the Tampere region: “Culture, peace, beauty and, of course, good fishing,” he laughed.

* The RNLI and Irish Coast Guard are urging people who will be spending time on or near water during the Easter break to take note of the relevant water safety advice for their activity and to raise the alarm if they see someone in trouble by dialling 999 or 112 and asking for the Coast Guard.

angling@irishtimes.com