Worldwide Vagabond Box #4

The world wide Vagabond Fly Box #4 will be going to Carl Eklind from Sweden. He plans to use them for inland Brownies and Rainbows. Best of luck to you Carl! Updates to follow...

"As the choosen one for the Vagabond Box #4 the worldwide box, I have to introduce myself.

My name is Calle Eklind, 30 years old and I live in the southern part of Sweden in a district called Västra götaland. I live in a city called Lidköping and it lays beside the biggest lake in Sweden, Vänern. I live there with my girl Paula and our son Emil(soon two years old). I work as a teacher and yes, we take some fishing trips with the kids a few times every year;-).

I have fished all my life as I have the great lake so near and also a lot of small creeks and lakes aswell. I started fly fishing for real 5 years ago and I think it is the most ultimate fishing experience you can get. Just see that trout rising for your own tied mayfly after that perfect cast is a blast. The whole ecosystem in a creek/lake is one of the wonders in nature and I can sit on a rock in my little creek just watching the whole thing for ages.

I mostly fly fishing for brown trout and rainbows but the last years I have went to the west coast and chased the silver, the seatrout. So challenging but great fun.

I have the opportunity to lease my own little creek for free only 10 min by bike from my home and it holds a tribe with beatiful wild brown trout and a population of wild rainbow trouts aswell. It is pretty sweet to go there and just have look and mayby catch one, fight it, take a pic and release it. Those memories will warm on those cold winter nights we have here.

My project is to start working to restore the creek as it ones was. Some friends and I have already started to plan it, we just need the landlords word. But it is a slow process and it will take many years to do it. There is a similar creek a few kilometers from my own and there is about 30 cool dudes that have restored the whole creek, and the result is wonderful. The creek that one was dead has rise again and it has the the most biggest and wonderful trouts I have ever seen. On the spawning last year we saw a big brownie that was over 100 cm and many more between 40-80 cm. It has taken them over 25 years to restore it but it is all worth it. It is wonderful to go there and watch the trout feeding.

I hope I can provide you guys with photos and stories about my adventures with the flybox before I send it to the next destination.

Well, that is a little about me and what I do.
Cheers

Calle"

My friend Emil is fishing my own little creek last spring.
Update April 11th 2011:
"As we had a terrible long winter here in Sweden and I havent fish with the box so much, I have decided to pass it over to a good friend here in Sweden who fishes more then I do. It has been a pleasure to have the box here and to be a part of the whole thing and I am sure my friend will take it to another level."
"The setup for today was my South Bend Custom 6.9ft #6 fibreglass rod and the Vagabond box was with me. There is a nice mix with the dead leaves from last autumn and the new fresh plants rising from the soil, spring is coming!!"

"We had a nice walk along the creek today. We saw Plecopteras hatching but no trouts of bows were rising. The water was a bit dirty and still cold and the fishes are slow. I have decided to let the box wander away to a nymph expert and se what he can do with it."

Vagabond Fly Box Project

After seeing someone's post on Facebook the other day, an idea sparked. So, the mad fly scientist Terry Edlemann and I began figuring out the odds and ends of a way to get flies all around the world, and document their progress with pictures and stories. We honed down all of the finer points, and here's what we have. You can follow the progress on this blog, on Terry's blog http://fisheadsfliesnlore.com, and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/home.php?sk=group_171306019583210&ap=1 Be a part of something bigger than fishing, bigger than us all...

Tracking the journey of fly boxes around the nation and world.
Vagabond Fly Box Rules....... "
Well I thought we better start with some simple rules....rules are important because they keep thing simple, fair and structured...without rules there would be no damn wild Steelhead left ! I think that is reason in and of itself to make sure we start this tracking blog with some basic rules......rule number one is there are no rules...HAHahahaaa OK just kidding..little "Fight Club" humor. Rule Number ONE: The boxes are starting with 12 Barb-less flies each. TWO boxes from me and TWO boxes from a better man than me named Joe Kayafas http://www.whatsajob614.blogspot.com/......The boxes are both signed by the sender with a permanent marker and the flies are then photographed and their names recorded accompanied by pictures in the original Blog, TWO on mine and TWO on Joe's. Rule Number TWO: There are to be 12 barb-less flies every time the box is sent to another person. If a fly is lost then the person in possession of the box is to replace the lost fly with another barb-less fly. The newest fly information and photograph is to be sent to the tracker of that specific box and blogged with the persons story......This insures we are able to track the flies. This is important because Where they go, what fish they catch, who has the box, how flies are lost and chosen are all parts of this story that will make it fun and interesting. Rule Number THREE: The box is to be signed in permanent marker neatly and relatively small leaving sufficient room for many signatures. Rule Number FOUR: Each person who receives the box is required to have a Facebook account so they may update all of us when they receive the box. This is also helpful when sharing what its condition is, what they intend to fish etc.... as well as having direct contact with the original sender for tracking purposes. Rule Number Five: Individuals with their own blogs, company blogs, shop blogs, Twitter, Blogger, Vimeo, YouTube, magazines, news contacts, Television, radio etc..are encouraged to write their own Blogs and stories while in possession of the Vagabond Fly Box. However we ask that you link any related media to Facebook for all to view and we encourage you to work with the original trackers so we may keep accurate information. Rule Number Six: After a person has had the box long enough to make a story and share some photos the box should be sent on to another Random person. Random because this is not a club or some private fly swap...fly swaps are different. Please maintain the integrity of the Vagabond Fly Boxes by supporting these rules. When a Vagabond Fly Box has finally reached its limit for signatures it should be directed to the nearest fly fishing museum where the original blogger will share the history of the box so it may be enjoyed as a box well traveled, with a very good story. There is a great power in numbers and Facebook has a huge fly fishing population. Our Blogs have interpreter programs to bridge the gaps of written and spoken language. Everyone who holds a fly rod in their hand is aware the importance of wild, natural, sustainable fish populations world wide......so this is the last rule.. Rule Number Seven: Every person that comes in contact with the box is asked to write about their local conservation efforts and the importance of that conservation. This could be as simple as asking the local paper to recognize the Vagabond Fly Box has arrived in your area or maybe Sharing the story with a local school or club.... somehow delivering the message, this box of flies has traveled from elsewhere in the world and that it brings with it 12 sharp symbols of global awareness..... This will make a difference, This will be fun.... "
Box #2 & #3
I did it a little different than Terry on this one. I decided to do the same 12 flies for each box. Considering that one is to be passed around nationwide, and the other worldwide, I figured they shouldn't cross paths. They contain in order from top to bottom left to right: bead head prince nymph, green wire flashback soft hackle nymph, bead head olive flashback hare's ear, bead head red flashback pheasant tail nymph, wiggle har'es ear, wiggle prince, wiggle pheasant tail, wiggle stonefly, and on the bottom row are 4 bead head flashback copper john variations tied on scud hooks. They are black/green, black/yellow, black/red and black/blue. Here's what They look like...

Sunday Feb 20th

We came up to see what kind of fresh run we'd see after the blow out. There was a lot of slush in the AM, but it was gone by about noon. We managed to see some cool sights, and get into some fish here and there. Here's a few pictures of our travels...
Steak hoagie from Teresa's (The best and biggest hoagies in Erie)

1st Steel for the New Year

I knew the weather was going to be good, but only for a couple of days. So, we decided to try to sneak up to the LE tribs for the nicest day (yesterday). We fished one of the bigger PA streams in hopes of a fresh run, and we found it. There were fresh fish, but not tons. We found nice pods of fish here and there. The best part was we saw less than 10 people the whole day. The downside was that the fish were not in a very cooperative mood. We had to pull out all the stops to land what we did because the hits were so light. Here's some pics I hope you all enjoy.

New Years Eve

Me and my dog went to one of my home creeks on New Years Eve to try my luck on some trout and test out some new gear. Good thing the gear was a new wading jacket, because I got skunked. I really couldn't believe it, but it didn't ruin my day by any means. I saw some nice folks, and some cool sights along the way. Not too mention it was a beautiful day out. Here's what we saw...

Loving the new FishAge jacket. Thanks to Simone Palli and his great gear from Italy!

Beavers doin some work on a huge tree.






This was a whole car. Chassis, 4 hubs, transmission, and engine. Its a small stream, so this is a crazy sight to see there.

New Rod

Here's a few pictures of the new rod I just put together. It is a 9'6" 8wt Rainshadow blank, with an American tackle titanium braided window reel seat with black graphite insert and black single foot guides. It will be my new lake run rod.