Raikuu Canal – a Hidden Treasure of Lake Saimaa

 

 Raikuu canal is one of the canals, that was made by local people more or less in the middle of the 1700 -century. Later by general Suvorov's order canal was expended about 200 years ago. Suvorov was responsible of border between Sweden ja Russia of those days. Suvorov wanted to ensure the service lines from Olavinlinna (in the city of Savonlinna) to Lappeenranta, where was the fortress of Lappeenranta.

 In the second world war canal was part of the huge fortress called Salpalinja or Salpa Line. Salpa Line was built between the Winter War and Continuation War to defend Finland against Soviet Union. Line was totally 1200 km long.

Nowadays canal is not an official boat route, but it is legal to go trough by one's own risk. Canal is very shallow and narrow. Smallest depth is 80 cm and most narrow point is 3,5 m. That means, that only small motorboats, jet skis, canoes and rowing boats can go trough.

If the water level in the canal is high enough, we can arrange guided boat trips to Raikuu. If you are interested, please feel free to ask!

Salpa Line Charter

Company Old School Trolling organizes a boat charter to the beautiful Raikuu Canal and the unique WWII-era defence line called Salpalinja (Salpa Line), incl. outdoors picnic by campfire. Whole duration of trip 4-5 hours. Complete route lenght 60 km / traveltime 1,5 hours. For groups of max. 6 persons.

Location: Savonranta

Guide: Jari Kauehkoe (Jari Käyhkö)

Contact: jari@oldschooltrolling.fi or +358400523819

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Fishing Guide of Old School Trolling, Jari Käyhkö boating on Raikuu Canal

The Salpa Line structures in Raikuu

A trench of Raikuu Salpaline area

Stone wall build during WW2

The Salpa Line (Finnish: “Salpalinja”, literal translation “Bolt-line”) is a unique and historically significant, 1200 km long bunker line on the eastern border of Finland. It was built during the World War II to defend Finland against a possible Soviet invasion.

Anti-tank bunker in Raikuu Salpaline area

Parts of this defence line can be seen at the Raikuu canal area in Kerimäki. You can follow a nature trail and visit three genuine bunkers, see anti-tank barriers and marvel at quite monumental stone walls.

The stone walls at Raikuu are unique among all the Salpa Line structures. They run continuously for about 1,5 km right along the canal, several metres tall and thick. Together the walls, the canal and the surrounding thick green forests create an outstanding scenery.

Tank trap in Raikuu Salpa Line area

Have a memorable day on Lake Saimaa wit Old School Trolling

Picnic by Campfire on Lake Saimaa

Fried Vendace of Lake Saimaa is a local speciality

If you want to go fishing or have something to ask, pick up the phone and call. We can help you turn your holiday or corporate event into a genuine Lake Saimaa fishing and outdoor experience!

Fishing Seasons and Tips for Fishing on Lake Saimaa

 

 

Winter time is for Active and Tip-up Ice Fishing

Ice cover usually forms in mid-December on Lake Saimaa, but the best ice fishing time starts from the beginning of January or so. The early ice is very good for ice fishing of pike. The ice fishing season of rainbow trout starts from the beginning of January and ends in April. We use both active ice fishing and tip-up ice fishing methods for both pike and rainbow trout. From mid-January to mid-February we do ice fishing for burbot. From mid-March to mid-April it is the best season for ice fishing of perch, roach and bream near our fishing cottage.

Big Pike Fishing for Early Summer

I have been fishing for over 30 years on these waters and I have learned that the period from the beginning of June to Midsummer (which will be on June 25th in 2016) is very good for big pike fishing near our fishing cottage. This is due to the coldness of the waters and the end of spawning period, which makes big pikes hungry and ready for catching. There are also plenty of smaller pikes hunting in shallow water, which makes fishing very active with lots of biting and actual catches.

Zander Fishing and Bright Nights of Midsummer

The last week of June and the first two weeks of July are good for catching zander near our fishing cottage. After mid-July zanders will start to move towards the streaming water areas in the distance of 5 - 6 km from our cottage and also to the big lakes of the Great Saimaa lake system, such as Paasselka, Orivesi, Savonselka and so on. Big pikes do the same and both zanders and pikes will be more often caught from the deeper areas or bank slopes of the big lakes of Saimaa in the daytime.

Sunny Summer Days & Warm Nights on Lake Saimaa

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.

 Fall Colours and Perch Flocks in September and October

The weather is still warm in late August and early September, making it great for picking berries and mushrooms near our cottage as well as fishing for perch and pike. The beginning of the season of fall colours, from mid-September to the beginning of October, is excellent for catching big pikes close to our fishing cottage. The season of fall colours will last until mid-October. From the beginning of October bigger perches start forming flocks in the deeper water areas of Lake Saimaa. Bigger pikes are also moving to deeper water areas to hunt vendace, which have their spawning season from mid-October to mid-November.

Read more about Fishing on Lake Saimaa: Here!

Ice Fishing Holidays in Finland, Lake Saimaa Area

Welcome to have winter fun at Lake Saimaa, Finland! We are offering you a holiday in our well-equipped cottage in the best season of winter for recreation and ice fishing, as well as fishing with our professional fishing guide and company owner Jari Kayhko. The cottage is located right next to a lake and offers very easy access to do fishing, skiing or snowmobiling on the ice.

   Ice cover usually forms in mid-December on Lake Saimaa, but the best ice fishing time starts from the beginning of January or so. The early ice is very good for ice fishing of pike. The ice fishing season of rainbow trout starts from the beginning of January and ends in April. We use both active ice fishing and tip-up ice fishing methods for both pike and rainbow trout. From mid-January to mid-February we do ice fishing for burbot. From mid-March to mid-April it is the best season for ice fishing of perch, roach and bream near our fishing cottage.

 

Ice Fishing Holiday on Lake Saimaa

Our cosy and comfortable Fishing Cottage Jokiniemi is best suited and especially equipped for groups of sports fishermen of 4 to 6 people. The pond just 30 metres from the cottage is good for independent ice fishing of pike, perch, bream and roach. The actual Lake Saimaa area starts from a distance of 100 metres from the cottage. This area is excellent for ice fishing of zander, pike, perch, burbot, roach and bream.

  

Fun and easy rainbow trout fishing trip

We arrange rainbow trout fishing trips at a privately owned lake area, which is located 35 km from the Fishing Cottage Jokiniemi. There is a small shelter, fireplace and toilet at the area for your use. The distance from the parking place to the shelter is 100 metres and to the ice is only 30 metres. Excellent place for fishing with children.

Available: December – April

 

We do use both tip-up and active angling

 You can use three fishing rods at same time in this place, so we will use one rod for active ice fishing and two sets of tip-ups. We will use small spoons, balanced jigs, leeches and ice fishing jigs for active ice fishing and for the tip-ups we'll use fish eggs as bait.

The rainbow trout in the lake are between 1 and 3 kg in size. You can catch and keep 3 trout / day / one license.

Catch Rainbow trouts with Old School Trolling

Your fishing guide Jari Kayhko will teach you the best spots and tricks, and he will actively assist you with fishing rainbow trout. The price includes the necessary licenses and the use of fishing gear. Also available tasty picnic by campfire for extra charge..

 

A hut for picnic break

Rainbow catched by active icefishing

More information: Winter Fishing on Lake Saimaa
 

Rainbow catched by Tip-up angling

Training day for a softbait spinning course on Lake Saimaa – June 2014

A group of Finnish fishermen had asked me to organize a jigging course for them in early June in Savonranta. It is always important for me to train for these courses and fishing trips in advance, to really go out there to the actual fishing waters and make sure I know where the fish will be. Luckily, the spring weather prior to this particular course was very warm, so I could go and train fishing in perfect conditions for many days in a row. The warm weather also makes the fish more eager to bite.

The day before the course I went training again. The beginning of the session was difficult. I was in an area of deep water and despite of promising signals from the sonar and active trying, I spent two hours catching nothing..... at least weather was very beautiful and hot.....

Fishing Guide Jari Kayhko

My first fish of the day was a two-kilogram pike, which I released to grow bigger and fatter. Once I had pinpointed where the pikes are, I changed my strategy and depth of water to start looking for perches.

 I tried different places and looked for the right colours, swimming patterns and weights of the lures. Finding exactly the right colour proved a great success, enabling me to pull up a nice perch of 200 to 900 grams with almost every single cast. Now that I had the perches figured out, I sent my clients an SMS telling everything was ready for the course the next day.

 My training session continued with targeting zanders, with a speed of 6 to 10 km/h. Being early evening and still very sunny didn’t exactly make it easier to spot the fish, but with the help of the sonar and my prior experience I managed to pinpoint zanders. They were playing hard to get, but eventually I managed to catch one, although I released it after just taking a photo of it. At the end of the day I only kept about two kilos of perches for cooking.

After six hours of training I finally had the right fishing spots and equipment figured out for the next day. I headed back to the cottage to fillet the perches and to recharge my mental and physical batteries by having a relaxing sauna. Here’s a tip: when I fillet perches, I also keep the nice meaty bits of the back, and either fry or grill them. The meat can easily be separated from the backbone by simply sucking, or by using knife and fork. 

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Old School Trolling Softbait Spinning Courses on Lake Saimaa

 A fisherman needs knowledge of how weather affects the behaviour and the hot spots of the target fish in his fishing area. You have to work actively to locate the fish as well as to choose the right lure for the day and the correct way to swim your bait. The most common fish caught on Lake Saimaa are perch, zander (walleye) and pike.

 Step 1
- Use your areal knowledge and experience with the weather conditions when you select your fishing area.

 Step 2
- Use a sonar to find and locate the fish before you start fishing.

 Step 3
 - Start pinpointing the right color, model, weight and size of the soft bait lure by actively trying out different lures until you get contact with the fish.

 Step 4
- Try different swimming variations by reeling and using the rod to find out the right speed and swimming pattern the fish respond to.

 Step 5
- The more you fish the more you gain experience of which parts of the day and which lighting conditions are best for fishing.

Fishing on Lake Saimaa – May 2014

In the beginning of May I returned to our fishing cottage to do some fishing over the weekend. The weekend started off really well: I caught a nice pike with the very first cast right from the shoreline of our cottage.

Pike catched 5th of May 2015

The waters close to our cottage are only max 2,5 metres deep. This means that the waters warm up quite fast in spring, which attracts small fish to do their spawning there, which in its turn attracts bigger carnivorous fish to turn up and eat the small fish. The best period to catch pike close to our cottage is roughly between the 1^st and 25^th of June.

Pike catched 22nd of June 2015 

 

May was hot in 2014. In the end of the month the water surface temperature was already over 20 degrees Celsius, which was good for catching fish like roach by angling.

Angling in Cottage Jokiniemi 24th of May 2014

So, in the end of May we angled for roach, bream and rudd. The catch was good especially in the evenings, right before dusk. We released the fish we were not going to eat, but still kept plenty of rudd and bream, which we smoked and in addition to this we cooked up a tasty fish soup.

Angling in Cottage Jokiniemi 24th of May 2014

Boating and Fishing Trip for the Whole Family on Lake Saimaa

Softbait spinning is a great fishing sport for everybody but as the equipment is light and very responsive, it is especially suitable for women and children.

In Finland July and August are the best months for holidays and fishing. There are plenty of fish about and you can fish around the clock if you wish, thanks to our light summer nights. Especially children will also enjoy having fun in the sun, swimming, trekking, having picnics outdoors as well as picking berries and mushrooms. The Saimaa nature, our cottage and the Finnish summer will offer plenty of enjoyment for the whole family. 

Old School Trolling Offers Boating and Fishing Trips for the Whole Family on Lake Saimaa

 Welcome to our combined boating and fishing trip on Lake Saimaa. The trip is a great way to get acquainted with the Lake Saimaa nature and its wonderful views with a big and safe boat, spend some time fishing with your children and enjoy a relaxingly long lunch break on a small island.

 We are using comfortable fishing huts during our picnic breaks on Lake Saimaa.

The combined boating and fishing trip takes 5 to 6 hours and leaves from Savonranta. We will stop for 2 to 3 hours on an island for a picnic lunch: we will cook coffee and tea, have a packed lunch, barbeque sausages or vendace (local small and tasty fish) on an open fire and for dessert we will make delicious pancakes.

The island offers nice activities for the whole family. You can pick berries or mushrooms, explore the nature, swim or do some sunbathing. There is a shelter in case of rain, and also toilet.7

We will also spend 1 to 2 hours fishing with children. Depending on your children’s age and/or weather we can fish by angling, spinning or trolling. 

The trip is ideal for children from 4 to 12 years of age. Please tell us the ages and heights of your children. The trip is available May – September. Max. number of participants is 6 persons. Savonranta lies 60 km from Savonlinna and 80 km from Joensuu.

Would you like to have some pancakes in Finnish nature?

If you need rain coats or boots, please tell us your clothes size (from S to XXXL), shoe size, and in the case of children their age and height. We will let you know if we don’t have rain gear in the right size for you.

Fishing customers over 18 years of age need to pay the national fisheries management fee (options: 5 Euros per day, 12 Euros per week (7 days) or 39 Euros per year).  We can pay fees needed for fishing  on your behalf at the price listed above. For this we need to know the first name and the family name of the fisherman, your date of birth and adrress in Finland (you can give us your cottage or hotel address).

You can also ask about the availability of our cosy Fishing Cottage Jokiniemi in Savonranta. The cottage is well-equipped and suitable for max 6 persons. The cottage has two motorboats with fishing equipment for the use of customers. The cottage is rented for whole weeks, weekends and also for other periods of your choice – please feel free to ask!

You can email us in English, German or in Russian languages to:  jari@oldschooltrolling.fi 

Learn more about us: Click Here!

Fishing on Lake Saimaa with Old School Trolling – Fishing Group from Lithuania, July 2014

Fisherman group from Liethuania

In early July we got a guest group of four fishermen from Lithuania. The group travelled more than 1 000 km to spend a week fishing on Lake Saimaa. Previously they had visited a couple of times the Åland Islands between Sweden and Finland.

We started their week of fishing with one training day on the waters close to our fishing cottage. This way they learned about the good fishing spots and colors for their lures. We did both soft bait spinning for perch and pike as well as trolling for pike and walleye. During our tutorial day we were able to catch perches and pikes. The group very much enjoyed our picnic break on an island. During the break we cooked coffee and fried vendace (specialty of Lake Saimaa) on an open fire. The men also picked some mushrooms from the island for a tasty evening meal which we cooked of the fish they had caught.

The rest of the week the Lithuanian group fished independently using the two 4-meter long motor boats of our fishing cottage and managed to get catch daily. However, angling from the beach of our cottage didn’t prove successful due to the cold and rainy weather. The men weren’t glad about the miserable weather but were happy with the accommodation, as well as the arrangements for their tutorial fishing day. After all they were able to catch nice pikes, walleyes, perches and even one big ide. 

These fishermen were fishing for food and smartly they released the fish they did not need. Great week with excellent fishermen on Lake Saimaa!

Learn more about Old School Trolling and our Fishing Cottage: www.oldschooltrolling.fi