Monkey fishing on Long Lake

Following on from yesterday’s visit to a lake, today we headed out to another big body of water in order to experience crayfish fishing. Or crayfishing. I’m not sure which is correct. I did ask the fisherfolk we were with but, while Jonas suggested that Americans would probably say crayfishing, no one actually knew. The reason why he suggested Americans is because crayfish are an American invader. However, in Swedish, crayfish is kräft and the act of fishing for them is called kräftfiske.

I’ll let that go. For now.

The plan was to meet Jonas and Eric at the lake at 4pm and we turned up exactly on time and watched as they reversed the boat trailer into the water. KSP joined us for the initial launch. She also supplied us with some delicious cake which was a very tasty treat on the open waves.

Eric’s boat was an excellent size for four of us, 26 crayfish traps and fishing rods. It also has a very powerful outboard motor which saw us whizzing out to the best crayfish spots.

Mirinda was taught how to launch the traps over the edge of the boat and took great delight in it. Jonas tutored her expertly and Eric gave her the cue to drop them overboard.

Note Mirinda’s rather psychedelic life jacket. Mine was somewhat more demure, being blue and white stripes in a sort of sailor boy look. I noticed that Jonas and Eric had less comic buoyancy vests.

I must say that I envied Mirinda’s ability to stand up in the boat. A few times I was tempted to try but my legs refused to give in to the temptation. I was an immobile observer for the day. My days of messing about in boats is, sadly, beyond me. I’m now more a reporter than an experientialist.

This was also apparent when it came to fishing. There was a lot of casting of lines and some fish caught as we waited for the crayfish to be tempted into the traps. Though, one of Mirinda’s early casts was not particularly successful.

Giving her line a big swish, she launched the line onto a nearby island. Both Jonas and Eric yelled “Monkey fishing!” before Eric moved the boat towards the shore so Jonas could go and retrieve the hook. We were getting the full experience. Or, at least, Mirinda was.

The lake was beautifully devoid of other people. Eric explained that this was the best time to come fishing because it was late in the season and the happy summer line casters were back at their desks at work, freeing up the lake for the professionals. He showed me, with a sweep of his hand, how much shoreline is normally chockas with boats and lines. It was a lot.

Anyway, this evening, the lake was ours, basically. We saw a few boats but nothing like enough to annoy us. While Jonas managed to catch a few fish, the only one I photographed was this one that Eric proudly held up for my camera. He then threw it back as it wasn’t the fish he was after. That one, he didn’t catch.

The sun was setting over the lake, bathing everything in a beautiful orange glow as we headed back to the crayfish traps.

The traps, sitting on the bed of the lake, are attached to cords which end in a bright white float. You spot them bobbing about in the water though, as the light vanishes, they get increasingly difficult to see.

The boat had a handy sonic navigational device attached (sort of like a geophys for water) which had the ability to mark each trap but Eric didn’t utilise it, instead depending on everyone’s eyesight instead.

The collection of the traps proved very exciting as Mirinda and Eric retrieved increasing quantities of crayfish and dumped them into an esky. The traps were then returned to the lake bed for collection in the morning.

As the sun quickly vanished behind the distant trees, Eric hit the throttle for a fast journey back to the dock. He wanted the last vestiges of light to help with the removal of the boat. He told me how difficult it could be to see where the water stopped and the land started. And he was right. The trip back was in the almost pitch black.

Still, we made it and watched as Eric and Jonas pulled the boat out of the water and onto a trailer before we all parted company.

It was a wonderful experience, enjoyed by us all. Mind you, Mirinda reckons there was more talking on board than there normally is.

All on all, it was splendid day on the water. Thank you, Jonas, for suggesting it, and thank you to Eric for putting up with me sitting next to him and keeping up an endless chatter.

I think Jason would have enjoyed the experience had he been well enough. While he is improving, he is still not well enough to go kräftfiske on a boat yet.