Bird-hunting & Fly-fishing / Spin fishing

CAPERCAILLIE AND GRAYLING – SPECIAL!

Orra Hunting & Fishing Guides takes you on an adventure: a hiking trip with hunting and fishing in the wilderness of Lapland. We go by helicopter or with packs on our backs, a rifle in one hand and a casting rod in the other, the bird-dog searching in front of us. The guide takes you to some of the best hunting grounds for capercaillie and fishing waters for grayling, into the vast primeval mountain forests of Lapland.

Place: Primeval mountain forest in Lapland, Sweden.

Game: Capercaillie, grayling.

Method: Capercaillie hunting with tree-barking bird dog, fly-fishing and spinning

Dates: 25/8-15/10

Lodge: Tent. Bring your own sleeping bag and mattress. (Night temperature down to -10°.) Or rent the gear from Orra.

Food: Choose between full board and self-catering.

How to get there: Flight to Luleå or Gällivare, where Orra picks you up for a fee

For who: You should be able to walk at least 15 km per day with 15 kg on your back. Max two hunters per group. Other participants, non-hunters, are welcome if they bring their own tent.

Price: Please request quotation for the arrangement you want (number of people, duration of stay and soforth).

Rental prices:

Rifle: 100SEK per day.

Sleeping bag and matress: 100SEK per day.

Description: This is wildfowling for the tough guys, real wilderness hunting, sleeping in tents. For tens of years Orra's guide have wandered through the primeval forests of Lapland, altogether thousands of miles. We know where the best hunting grounds are, also depending on the weather and the time of season. Orra takes you to the best areas for capercaillie-shooting, with all the gear on our backs. You need to be tough in mind and body, even if the guide can carry your tent and all your food. There will be no warm cabin to take shelter in when the weather is bad, your socks wet or your boots blocks of ice. There might be snow. The day-temperature might be below zero centidegrees.

But when we carry everything with us, when we sleep outdoors, choose our own way in the woods, put up our tents where we feel like it, we get so much closer to nature, to the hunting and the fishing. Even if a cabin is comfortable, it's often in the way for a genuine experience of the wilderness and wildlife. Sometimes it happens that you wake up at the break of day by the sound of a male capercaillie landing just outside your tent. Sometimes the grouse are feeding outside the tent when you crawl out of it in the morning.

On this trip you can also choose to do grayling-fishing. One can do it as a complement to the hunt, as an activity if one's a companying non-hunter, or one can do at as the main thing. In medium the graylings caught weigh about two pounds. The graylings in the pictures below weigh between 2,7 and 3,2 lbs. Please note that the arrangement can be aimed at what you want, on hunting and nothing else, on grayling-fishing and nothing else, or on both. Where we go is dependent on what you want to do. If you want to go grayling-fishing we go where the grayling-fishing is the best; if you want to do capercaillie-shooting, we go where to the best hunting-grounds; if you want to do both, we go to an area with both good hunting and good fishing.

Fishing this time of year is not as easy as during summer, mainly dependent on the fact that the fish aren't in the same places as in summertime. But Orra's guide has been fishing grayling in the autumns in these areas for many years, so we know where the fish are also in the autumn. The easiest method is spin-fishing, partly because one has to cover more water for each, partly because it isn't every day that the fish are rising. Fly-fishing is nontheless still a viable method. Graylings rise even when snow is falling and as long as the water is open. Amongst dryflies, imitations of stoneflies, also hatchers, in dark colours is a good choice. However, since risings are not frequent, you need to focus more on wet flies than you would normally, that is for summertime fishing. When it comes to spin-fishing, small (about 1/7 oz) spinning lures or spoons in colours copper or copper-red are attractive for graylings. When it comes to fly fishing one can expect difficult casting and short casting distances. You shouldn't bring waders, since they're to heavy to carry and to cold to wade in. The water temperature is about 0 to 5°C and the streams are usually deep (although not wide) with big rocks. The grayling is totally un-shy, particuarly this time of year, so one doesn't have to crawl on the ground 15 yards behind the fish.

Cooking grayling…

The hunting isn't any different from the that in our other capercaillie hunt with the one exception, and that's that the shotgun isn't the best choice of gun. Choose instead the combinated, a drilling or a light-caliber sporting rifle. And you might consider one thing before you bring your 6000₤ drilling: don't blame Orra the morning when it's covered with rust. Usually one doesn't get within shotgun range of the cocks this time of season; 60-110 yards are common distances. The hens on the other hand choose a different method than cocks, who go up in the top of the trees for good look-out. They try to hide on a branch in the middle of the tree, keeping still. Sometimes you get within 15 yards before you see them. This means: a shotgun is of no use if it's a cock; a heavy caliber rifle is of no use if it's a hen.

Graylings of these sizes aren't rare…and this is what the streams look like…

Packing list:

Backpack minimum 70 liters and comfortable carrying 30 lbs (we might be able to let you one)

Rain cover for the backpack

Hunting clothes (in colours like green-brown-gray; snow-camouflage might also be needed)

Hat/camouflage face cover

Woollen cap

Mittens

Boots

Woollen socks

Warm sweater

Rainclothes

Long johns and undershirt, wool or synthetics, no cotton!

Toilet bag

Cuttlery

Mug

Sleeping bag (minimum temperature limit - 8°C; we might be able to let you one)

Mattress (available for rent)

Rifle (available for rent)

Rain cover for the rifle

Ammunition

Binoculars (the scope might bew used)

Head lamp/torch

Food (if self-catering is chosen)

Fishing gear (for fishermen; fly rod AFTM 3-5; casting rod: UL)

Kitchen gear and tent are provided by Orra.

Note: If your luggage exceeds 15 kg in weight, you've done something wrong.

Do you see the grayling?…in front of the rock, in the middle of the picture.