Breath-taking surroundings, but connection short-lived

After developing some success last week, I have explored several other beaches in Denmark but none yielded more bites. All the locations that I have visited are on the northwestern region of Sjælland. I have been told that fish along the western shoreline of Sjælland are known to be smaller and slimmer, because they mostly feed on shrimp and other smaller food items. On the contrary, fish along the eastern shoreline of Sjælland tend to be much larger and deeper, because they feed on larger items such as herring and sand eel. Today we decided to explore one of the more popular spots on the east coast, to see if we could connect with one of those bulkier sea trout.

Our destination was Stevns Peninsula, which is just 40km or so outside of Copenhagen. The coastline of Stevns is mostly made of high chalk cliffs, which are popular sites for tourists in the summer. At the southern end of this peninsula, sits a quiet village called Højerup, where a 800 year old church dangles at the edge of the cliff. In the early 1900s, a portion of the church collapsed as erosion finally took its toll.

 

Stratification across the cliff can clearly be seen from the beach. One can discover and marvel many unusual landscapes that have been created by nature overtime.

 

A thin dark clay layer found halfway up the cliff marks an asteroid impact and mass extinction around 65 million years ago. This boundary separates the Cretaceous and Danian Periods.

 

Beside being historically and geologically significant, Højerup is commonly visited by sea trout anglers year-round due to the productive beaches.

Today’s wind was not so favourable. Even though it was not a head wind, we had expected that its strength (over 50km/hour) would resulted in turbulent and chalky water. Luckily, the water condition was not tampered too much. Several anglers were already working hard on the beach upon our arrival.

Without much hesitation, we quickly bundled up in our waders and jackets and rushed down to the beach. We managed to get several hours of fishing in under the warm sun. The air temperature was 7 degrees Celcius, which is rather unusual for this time of the year in Denmark and quite a contrast to what Vancouverites are currently experiencing back home. We were able to tuck ourselves away in a calm bay during the entire outing.

The fishing result was nothing to brag about. We watched one angler hooking a rather acrobatic sea trout on his first cast after lunch. The fish was around 18 inches long. While watching the fight, I detected a bite on my rod but managed to miss it. I continued retrieving and a second hit came shortly. The fish was hooked but came off after a few brief shakes, which is rather disappointing. It is hard enough to find a bite, even harder to be sharp enough at all time to make sure a fish is well hooked and kept on the line. Persistence is not always rewarded in sea trout fishing. Perhaps a school of fish was moving by. This again indicates that sea trout would not hesitate when a lure or fly is presented to them, the catch factor comes down to finding the fish and intercepting them.

Here are some more photographs taken during the trip. I would also like to use this opportunity to wish all a safe and happy holiday! Enjoy the snow!

This entry was posted on Monday, December 22nd, 2008 at 4:46 pm and is filed under Fishing trip, Photography, Rod's Danish adventures, Travelling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.