Rickard Gustafsson | Saturday, 1 March 2025
The days are getting noticeably longer now, and that gives a feeling of spring—which is a bit of a lie. We are just entering March, and March can be bloody cold. But there’s some sunshine. And sunshine tricks you into thinking that it’s warmer outside than it actually is, so you’re not dressed for winter like you should be.
Another problem with March is that it feels like the longest month of winter. Winter is long and miserable; it’s a long countdown to April. When you enter March, you expect it to be April soon.
A few days ago, I got a notice from the harbour association where I keep my boat about the date for springtime preparations, and it felt like just a few weeks ago we did the closing preparations. That was in November. So once again, I lost the whole winter without preparing for the coming season.
Well, I have done some preparations this year, but not as much as I had planned. I have organised my fishing gear storage. I have made room for new gear by selling… one fly line. But that should make space for a few new rods. I have sorted out a lot of unused flies. I tied two new flies for the season, and that’s about it.
But that’s not a problem since March feels infinitely long. Waiting for April 1st, March feels as long as the entire span from October to March.
April 1st is the big day here—it’s the opening day for sea trout fishing. It’s a long and nerve-wracking wait. We want cold and stable weather now so we know what kind of environment to find the sea trout in on opening day. If the weather stays cold, we might get lucky and be able to fish for sea trout before the ragworm hatch is over.
If we’re really unlucky, the weather warms up for a period in March and then turns cold again when we enter April. Then we’ll have no idea where to find the sea trout. They won’t be in the typical spots for this time of year, nor in the summer spots.
A good thing about April 1st this year is that it doesn’t fall on a holiday or a weekend. Everybody knows about opening day and seems to think that sea trout only bite on that day. So if it falls on a weekend, a lot of people who normally don’t fish will be out fishing. If it happens during Easter, it’s even worse—then it feels like everyone plus Satan and his mother is out fishing.
Last year, opening day fell during Easter. Then you have to deal with things like the wader-testing committee. You try to be sneaky, avoid scaring the fish, and fish the shallow waters where they often are—only to have someone show up and wade right into your fishing area. Apparently, the best fishing spot is right where wading becomes impossible.
It’s nothing to fight about—things like this only happen on one day of the season. Take a break, have some coffee, and hope to find a less crowded spot.
Hopefully, everything won’t be chaos on opening day, but it’s easy to make mistakes in all the excitement. Like traveling a long way to fish and forgetting your fly box at home. Last year, it wasn’t me, but some poor fly fisher I met who only had one fly to fish with. But I was able to help him out—I had plenty of flies in my boxes.
I, on the other hand, had gone away for Easter and forgotten my line tray at home. Wading and making long casts with intermediate lines is incredibly frustrating. With no shops open that sold such things, I had to make one using whatever I could find in the open stores.
Cheers, Rickard
(Pictures: the homemade line basket and a fish caught where the wader tester waded after the water got to rest for a while.)