Been farting about with the inflatable boat some this summer. But it was time to upgrade it, and with the refund from the Greys Greyflex S beach casting rod that the retailer in York
never managed to send in a workable condition, I purchased a Lowrance 4x pro fish finder for it. That and a couple of rod holders is so far my version of pimping my inflatable boat.

The problem of adding stuff to my boat, is that I don’t have a trailer to cart my boat about on. So I have to deflate it and pack it up in the back of the back of the old Ford Scorpio Estate that my wheels consist of these days. That’s not so good for such things as fish finders and rod holders. So the solution for the fish finder was simple, if not so pleasing for the eye.

I mounted the transducer on a block of wood, yeah I am going to some lumber place to find some better looking stuff one day, that I attached some L-steel to. Now I can hang it of the transom and secure it with a pair of carpenters C-clamps. This should be enough on a boat that does only 5 knots going on full speed.

The screen module I likewise attached to another block of wood, that I secure to the bench seat with a pair of bungee cords.

For rod holders I got one traditional one, that can be taken off it’s mount on the transom with a single twist. I also purchased one C-clamp type rod holder, but this is really bad quallity, and I don’t trust it, so any rod in this one will be secured with a rope or something.  This also goes on the bench seat.

Thats my pimped out boat. It’s only an 8 foot little thing, and I need space for my gear, and to bring a guest fisher i.e my stepson Heart (12) or one of my other fishing buddies.
Unfortunately I have not been able to test the fish finder yet, as I started a new job this week. But hope to do so in the weekend, when the weather is also supposed to calm down. We have had 2 weeks of north easterly wind…

Anyway, don’t be afraid to comment on my set-up. Specially if you think I have goofed it up.

The screen on a block of wood, secured with bungee cord. C-clamp rod holder on the right.

Transducer mounted on block of wood.

Well, it’s not exactly a grand vessel, my little Chinese made Hifei HSD 270. And the 4 Hp Johnson Sea Horse motor that pushes it about on the waters was made the year my wife was born. But the boat floats and the screws are turning so at this point I ain’t complaining.

The boat has a wood deck, so I am not to worried about sharp hooks landing there. And I use a plastic tub as my de-hooking area aboard. Rod holders and perhaps a cheap fish finder will eventually find their way into the boat as well. But for now I am having far to much fun farting around my local area trying some well known marks.

I’ve been fishing it in my local waters. That is the part of the sea I can see from my living room windows. So far there  just been a few cod and a baby cusk. But the winds have not been in my favour either, making for some quite choppy seas. The little 8 foot dinghy is braving it a lot better than I am. And so far I have been impressed how good it takes the seas.

Here are some pictures:

Hifei HSD 270 with 1973 Johnson Sea Horse 4hp motor

Baby cusk cought off Arnøya

Heading to shore

The Fisherman’s Wife waiting for her husband, while shielding her face from the storm.

The seas are like a mirror, reflecting the white capped mountains, on a clear sunny day in Lofoten. You are into fish, with you best mates aboard and life is good. And 15 minutes later you are in raging, white capped, inferno, and the once so peaceful seas are trying to kill you. That is also Lofoten.

Just to drive in how dangerous the can be, here are some facts from one of the Norwegian encyclopedias:

1849: On the 11th of February. 500 men is lost in a storm at sea.

1861-1865 – 87 men perish at sea,

1866-1870 – 230 men perish at sea,

1871-1875 – 100 men perish at sea

1876-1880 – 99 men perish at sea,

1881-1885 – 113 men perish at sea,

1893 – January 25th 119 men perish at sea in a storm during their crossing to Lofoten.

Most of the victims lost their lives in sudden storms in boats that where not far from the boats modern fishing tourists use these days.These men and a few women, did not have GPS, Chart plotters, and modern day weather reports. But having it does not mean the weather won’t kill you. It can happen really fast, and what everyone should think of is to be prepared, and wear that flotation device. It’s to late when you are floating in the sea.

And just remember where you are. Lofoten is as far north as the North shore of Alaska! Yes the Gulf stream may make the climate milder, and water warmer. But ending up in the drink, will surely kill you if you are not rescued promptly. And dying from exposure is not a nice death.

In Norway we have something we call the Safety at Sea rules. They are as follows:

1. Think safety:
Knowledge and planning reduces the risk and increases your well-being.

2. Bring necessary equipment.
This needs to be maintained and easily accessible.

3. Respect the weather and the waters.
The boat must only be used in suitable conditions for it.

4. Follow the “traffic rules” at sea.
Regulations on yielding, speed and lanterns must be followed.

5. Use a floating device (wear it, it’s to late when you are in the drink, and your floatie is on the boat).
Approved floating device/ west/suit is mandatory by law for everyone aboard.

6. Be rested and sober.
The legal limit at seas in Norway is 0,8 when you drive a boat. Show consideration to others. Safety, environment and the well being of all is a comnmon responsibility

7 . Show consideration.
The safety, environment and well being of all is a common responsibility.

And finally. if the locals tell you not to go out that day…don’t go!

Regatta 911 flotation suit (Photo from www.regatta.no)

Of course what clothes you choose for your fishing trip to our Northern shores depends on the weather. The only problem is that before you can get your floatie on, it will have changed.
The north is not very warm either. Well, the climate is surprisingly mild for an area of the globe that is further north than Alaska. Oslo in the south of Norway, where we keep our capitol city so us northerners don’t have to be bothered by the urban cafe latte types, is as far north as the southern tip of Greenland, and when you pass my hometown at 68 degrees north you passed the Arctic circle 6 hours before if you where driving. Not that the time would tell you anything, with what they tell us are roads up here. But in the year of 2011 we sort of travel about and have seen roads. What we have is not it.

But we do have plenty of nature, and sometimes it’s necessary to protect the body from it. Personally when I go out in a boat in the summer, I just wear some fleece wind some wind proofs over it. Perhaps with an extra thick fleece or wool sweater in my bag along with an extra pair of dry socks and hat. And then I just shed a layer if it gets warm. I’d also bring some light weight rain gear. I picked a set up today for 99 NOK that can be compressed into a small ball, hardly taking any space at all, with a jacket and trouser.

But if the weather turns nasty, I’d just head for shore and go fishing another day. But I live here, and could theoretically go out fishing any day of the year here. Tourists who pay for a weeks worth of intensive fishing a year up here may need to take more nasty weather into consideration. So bring your Gore tex, flotation jacket and Bib’s, or even a full on flotation suit. We’ve had snow and sleet in June and july before up here.

You may not need it 95% of the time, but then again, you may. And you won’t have your fishing experience of a lifetime get wasted becosule you did not come prepared for the weather.

If you come here in the winter, definitely bring your flotation suit. I got a  Regatta 911 and it kept me toast fishing in February in minus minus 10 degrees at sea and while ice fishing in the mountains in minus 30, with the chill factor from the wind included.

One thing however is a must on the boat. Always wear your flotation device. We don’t need more dead tourists in our waters….

SAR Helicopter from the 330 Sqd. Photo by the Norwegian Armed Forces.

There has  been an accident involving four Lithuanian fishing tourists off Værøy in Lofoten today several newspapers reports.
None say anything about what happened but they were in the water, as they where rescued by fishing vessel “Kari Anne” and a SAR helicopter from
the SAR station in Bodø. Unfortunately one of the four lost his life.

It was around 11am when the fishing vessel “Kari Anne” reported to the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre that it had rescued two people who was found floating in the water.
They where about to rescue a third person when the SAR helicopter arrived and the Sea King picked up the final two victims from the water. The three survivors are suffering from hypothermia but will be okay.

So wear you floaties ladies and gentlemen and never trust the seas…

The Search and Rescue emergency number is: 120 or use channel VHF channel 16.

So I ordered the rod, and as usual on Ebay, it was payed for trough Paypal.

Normaly when I order things, in this case from a dealership in the UK, the goods are in my hands within days. For example a part for the flash gun of my Canon DSLR camera arrived from San Diego, California within a 3-4 days. And I am in the north of Norway, in a small town way north of the Arctic circle. Recently I also received a fishing reel from the UK. This was also in my hands within days from the order was made and payed for.

Unfortunately the seller of the Greys Greyflex S does not seem to be so professional. First it took them a whole week after the order was placed and payed for, until they managed to send the goods, and that was only after I had prompted them twice to confirm shipment and provide a tracking number. When I checked the tracking number, it came up as “Delayed”, so I inquired with UK Mail why this was. And the explanation given was that the sender had failed to provide the necessary customs paperwork.

So I gave them a heads up last Friday,  about that, whereupon they said they had sent the papers…and since then, despite several messages to both the sender and UK Mail,  I have heard nothing from them, and the shipment is still delayed. We are nearing 3 weeks since I ordered, and as far as I know, the rod has yest to leave the UK.

So, should I name and shame?

Well the feedback for the seller is still there to be filled in on Ebay. And I am a member of every major English and language fishing forum  out there. So I could do that. No problem. But I’ll write one more message to the seller and see if he wakes up. If not, I am not prepared to wait much longer.

To bad for the seller, who has a business selling fishing tackle on Ebay. I plan to write a lot about this rod once I have it in my hands. Trip reports will be written on several web forums, as well as on this blog.

Norwegian sports fishers have a very limited choice in fishing tackle. Multiplier surf and bach casters for example, are near impossible to find, but people are reluctant to order from the UK where the range of rods and other tackle is enormous, because of the insane shipping prices. But this seller and a few others have more reasonable shipping costs, and would have been popular here. All it would take was a recommendation, and people would flock to the sellers website to order. To bad it won’t happen, and the business will go to someone else.

ABU Ambassadeur  reels need servicing to work over time. And if you take the time and effort, you will have a reel that may last you a life time. My ABU Ambassadeur 6500 CS Rocket is 15 years old, and my latest purchase, a red ABU 7000 is 20 years old, and both reels are still going strong, and is in use on every fishing trip.

Since I go fishing several times a week, I use a pretty hard maintenance schedule. After every trip I rinse the reels in freshwater, to get off as much salt as I can from the exposed surfases of the reels, then add some rocket oil to the level wind worm gear and make sure everything in there is clean. And once a month I take the whole reel appart, and clean, grease and oil the oil thing. But if you only fish ocationally, then doing this once or twice a year may be enough. One thing is for sure though. A well maintained Ambassadeur reel will last you a life time (if not one of the made in china plastic fantastics thet ABU Garcia have been churning out in the last few years)

I was going to make a big “how to maintain and service your Ambassadeur reel “article. But when I did my research I found that at least for my two reels the work has already been extensively done. So all you will find here today are links to other peoples maintenance guides.

First off is Tim Parratt’s Pictorial Servicing Guides on Realsreels.com. Here you will find servicing guides for many of the models of Ambassadeur reels from the 5000 to the 10000 series.

Don’t mind if you do not find your excact model of reel. The difference between ABU Ambassadeur reels within a series is minimal, if any. Most of the time there are only cosmetic differences. And these guides are so good you should not have a problem following them.

Else there is a whole smattering of “how to” videos on Youtube on the subject. So try a search there for  “ABU Ambassadeur reel servicing”, and you shopuld find some videos that could help you. Again, if you cant find one for your excact reel, dont worry, as the internal works of the Ambassadeurs vary little within a series of reels. Except for the new 7000i series which is completely different from the older 7000.

This morning as I checked Norwegian Post tracking system for my latest purchase, an original ABU Ambassadeur 7000 “Made in Sweden” from 1991, I was pretty much resigned that it would still be stuck in some mail terminal in Oslo, where it had been for nearly a week. But there it was, arrived in Harstad. I just had to go to the post office to pick it up, where for a 230NOK customs fee I could take it into my possession.

As I am only 40 years old, I ripped into the well packaged box (what on earth!), and found gold. Exactly the reel described by the seller, who goes under the name W1144 on Ebay, who has provided examplary service, and even going to the length of waiting a few days for payment, until I got the money to make the purchase, as I was skint when he made med aware of the reels existence.  But  in the sunny, warm arctic weather, it looked even better than the Ebay pictures .

The reel is almost mint, with a few minor scratches in the finish, and couple of marks in the stickers. It even has the original grease and inspection sticker still loosely attached as it came from the Swedish factory 20 years ago. And I cant wait to fish it!

Well i did not of course. Well, arriving at  home I did not  waste much time getting the fish-mobile kitted out for at day at the beach. We’ve been blessed with 2 weeks of sunny, warm weather so my wife wanted to go to, provided we went to a place with sand so that baby Staale could have a go at it with his spade and bucket. That would certainly mean a mark with no serious fish around here. But at least i would get to cast with the reel.

So off we went to the local beach. And wasted no time setting up. So while the wife and the baby where building sand castles, I got to try out the reel. And with me feeling confident with my gear again, and having sand under my feet, I reallly dared to, and managed to put some power into it, and the lead have never flown so far from a rod I have wieded before.

No China plastics, just Swedish quality metal!

Partly it’s because I am no longer scared I will break something, and partly because I have started using a couple  casting techniques that seem to suit me better than what I tried before. The South Africa style, or the Brighton cast. But the main thing is the confidence in a tried and tested reel design, that seem to be almost devoid of the plastics the made in China 7000i model Ambassadeur reels are plagued with. Reels that will fail within a year or two, at least mine did. It sits in the shed now, where it will remain a reminder never to fall into that trap again.

A shame that ABU Garcia and Pure Fishing is letting down their faithful customers and losing their reputation  by putting such utter crap on the market. Good then that their older reels was made with such a quality, that you can purchase a 20 year old reel off Ebay, slap it straight onto your rod and go fishing. And with a nice aftermarket for spare parts, I see no reason why this reel should not be with me for the remainder of my career as a dedicated fishing fanatic!

And casting it was a pleasure. Well, I fumbled up the first cast. Seeing lead fly away, then plummet straight down, because the spool has stopped in a massive birds nest is always disappointing. Well, I learned to remember to check my brake settings, and eh…switched on my brain so that my thumb could be used to control the spool.

And the next cast left in the direction of the horizon. I thought the spool would never stop in a cast that was clearly a new record for me. And that was true, cast after cast.

So after a nice little casting session that yielded no fish as expected, I rejoined my wife and our little bundle of joy, who himself could not wait to get his stubby little fingers on my reel. Well, that will be when I am not around anymore. Wait your turn!

Because its nice to have a reel where the bait clicker works, and will continue to work. Where the spool engages automatically when you start reeling in, and that does not have bits of cheap plastic and tiny little springs flying in every direction, if you dare to open it for some maintenance.

So ABU Garcia, if you want to keep your customers in the ABU 7000 segment, you need look no further than putting your red 1991  ABU Ambassadeur  7000 back into production, and people will sleep on street corners outside tackle shops for days waiting to get their mackerel smelling hands on one. Oh, and make it in Sweden, so we will now it wont be scared of water! Simply  please ABU Garcia and Pure Fishing, wake up, it’s not to late to come back from the dark side!

The wife took the first one today. A 10 cm long specimen, taken with a fly and floater combo. This is a popular way of fishing in Norway, where we use regular fly fishing flies, but on a regular spinner rod. Typically with a casting floater, and a trace as long as your rod, with one or more trout flies on.

Best to hold on to mama when fishing!

I prefer casting spinner lures withan ultralight rod. Mine is a Shimano Beastmaster 165UL that I purchased more than 5 years ago. This rod has been with me on my travels to both Sri Lanka and Thailand, and has cought me hampala barb, striped snakehead and walking catfish in Cheu Lan lake in Thailand, and golden belly barb in the pond at our local Wat (temple) in my wives village in Isaan, Thailand. And of course secured plenty of nice trout at the local lakes around Harstad.

Married to the rod is an Okuma Force FE15 fixed spool reel. For trout I see no reason to change a winning combination. And although I have been using the odd rapala wobler, or Tasmanian devil lure, the one that sees most fish, is the one and only, silver Blue Fox Vibrax size “0″ (3 gram). And of course I had my first trout of the year on this. Not exactly a beast, but never te less a trout.

The lakes shore at Vikavannet is pretty much overgrown with bushes, like most low land lakes in Norway. With just a few places to stand and cast unhindered. So I usually done a pair of waders. That way I get away from the vegetation, and can fish in places that is normally almost impossible to reach. And under overhanging bushes you often find trout. But at Vikavannet you have to be careful, as the lake is so called bottomless. Make a mistake and you sink right trough the bottom. So a wading stick is a good idea, but for me that just gets in the way. But the water is so clear that it’s no problem to see the bottom, so I stick to places where there are stones and pebbles on the bottom. Those areas are firm.

We had a nice day out, and the kids both caught a couple of fish, and had a swim in the lake. But the wife wanted something more substantial. So at the end of the day, we went to the fjords, and hauled some saithe up for tomorrows dinner. The weather was in fact so nice that it was midnight before we headed home in under relentless shine of the midnight sun.

The other rod I use with baits is a Fenwick Seahawk Pro Surf 14′ rod. This one is a fixed spool rod, but I have been using it with a multiplier reel, as I prefer that type of reel over fixed spool these days. But my plan is to rebuild it into a multiplier rod during this summer.The reason I use a fixed spool rod, is that in Norway, it’s almost impossible to find a multiplier surf rod. It would seem that those Norwegians that have discovered beach fishing with heavy lead and long rods for chucking a bait into the horizon, all preffer fixed spool rods, so the vendors don’t keep anything else in stock, which is a shame really.

I have been looking far and wide, but the only people who seem to stock any multiplier beach casters/surf rods at all are Chr Baardsen & Søn AS in Haugesund. But they only have the high end Century rods immediately available for sale via their web page. These rods will set you back around 3500NOK here in Norway, hence they are way out of my league. The only alternative I have found is a Mustad Viking Power 126 MTP Rod, and at 699 NOK its quite affordable. But I fear that the rod will be to weak. But there does not seem to be any alternatives available.

I could always order from the UK. There they have swimming in multiplier surf and beach casters. But again, the finances stop me. The shipping costs is ridiculous. For example the web shop of the World Sea Fishing  website, wants around 65£ to send a rod across the north sea. I could buy an extra surf rod for that money.

The alternative is to buy a heavy salmon rod. Shimano and others has salmon rods in the 80-150gram range. And I just saw a 14′ Tica Salmon rod in this class on sale for less than 600 NOK. I suppose this will tie me over until I can find a good, reasonably priced multiplier beach caster in Norway. And when I am such a lousy surf caster that I cast just as far with my current salmon rod with a 50 gram lead, as i do with my surf rod with a 150 gram lead…I guess the choice makes sense…