Fishing Trips and Cottage Accommodation on Lake Saimaa - August 2015

Softbait spinning for zander on Lake Saimaa

The weather in August varied from beautiful sunny days to cloudy and rainy. First we had a family staying at our cottage for two weeks and they did independent fishing on the waters near our cottage, catching good size pikes, perches and zanders. During their stay they really got into jigging, using the boats of our cottage a lot. We also had guided fishing trips on beautiful and warm summer days, catching lots of pikes, perches of over half a kilo and evening-active zanders.

Picnic by campfire on Lake Saimaa

During one guided fishing day we stopped without hurry for a nice break on land. We took our time relaxing, cooking coffee and food on an open fire. The lady of the family took the opportunity to pick mushrooms and blueberries.

Fishing Guide Jari Kahko and released zander 47 cm ~ 1 kg.

In mid-August we had three sunny and hot fishing days with my fFinnish friend. The warm surface waters made zanders and pikes really eager to bite. 

Pike 3 kg`s catched by softbait spinning.

 

My friend really appreciated pike for food and we did catch pikes a lot on each of our fishing days. We did release most of our catches. We only chose to keep pikes of 60 cm or more, and picked 2  pikes of about 1,5-3 kg for daily food. Back on land the pikes were filleted and there was even enough to put into the freezer for my friend to take back home with him.

Zander +50 cm catched by softbait spinning.

Our visitor had never fished zander before and the definite high point for us was catching a zander of over half a meter by softbait spinning.  We also landed in the boat a handsome and feisty ide, which we filleted and smoked.  Thanks for good company and having a great mini holiday with us on Lake Saimaa!

Ide +50 cm catched by trolling.

 

In the end of August the weather was still hot and zanders as well as pikes and perches were active to bite throughout the day. 

Perch appr. 300 grams catched by softbait spinning.

We had a visit by a very experienced spin fisherman and it was simply a pleasure to observe his work, jigging for zander from our boat.

Zander 44 cm, catched by softbait spinning, released.

Tip from our fishing guide and company owner Mr. Jari Kayhko:

 In Finland July and August are the best months for fishing on Lake Saimaa due to warm waters and often very warm or even hot weathers. There are plenty of fish about and you can fish around the clock if you wish, thanks to our light summer nights. Big perches normally move to the shallow waters in mid-July and they can be caught there in the daytime during a period of a couple of weeks. If you do late evening / early morning or night time fishing near our cottage, you will be able to catch zanders and pikes from the shallow waters as well. The best season for night-time fishing on Lake Saimaa continues from Midsummer until the end of August.