Back in Sweden

Here we go again! In the summer of 2023, we found ourselves back in Sweden! This year, we had the opportunity to join the Shimano team once more and explore a new location with a different lake called Rusken.
The journey was much smoother compared to last year's – after spending a night on a ferry, we only had an hour's drive until we reached our summer house, our home for the week. After checking in, it was time to explore the lake. The weather was delightful, allowing us to relax on the water and recharge ourselves after the trip. Little did we know, that day would be the only sunny one of the entire trip. For the rest of the days, heavy rain left everything thoroughly soaked.

This time, we had some technological improvements on the boat, so it was a good opportunity to learn about operating Livescope. Soon enough, we became adept at locating fish (including some remarkably large ones), but the main challenge was learning the language of the "Swedish zander." Despite trying various sizes, shapes, and colors of lures – the ones that had worked wonders for us in Lithuania – we found ourselves only scaring the zander away, as we observed on the screen. After two days and a couple of caught good-sized zanders, we finally stumbled upon two lures that did the trick. However, a new problem arose – we only had one of each, and they were nearly destroyed after some aggressive bites. Unable to find identical lures nearby, we resorted to nightly gluing sessions to salvage them. After all, if it's stupid but it works, it ain't stupid, right?

By the way, Neptune seemed to present some challenges for Dainora. As she placed a tackle box behind her, it accidentally plunged into the water. It was heavy, it was expensive, and it certainly put a damper on the mood aboard the boat. But you know, sometimes you have to make sacrifices in order to find something better, and this was one of those cases.
Some moments later, Dainora felt a powerful bite, and the battle began. The entire team sprang into action, and after 3 or 4 minutes of intense struggle, we saw a massive pike – Dainora’s personal best so far. A little sneak peek – it brought Dainora the prize in the 'Foreign Fish' category. Once again, there was an exhilarating rush of adrenaline, with hands and legs trembling on the boat. Suddenly, the loss of the tackle box didn't seem quite as tragic, did it?

On the fourth or fifth day, we met a local fishing guide on the shore. He shared some wisdom and secrets on how to attract local zander. After that, things started to get better. Unexpectedly, on the last day, I also had the chance to shine and surpass my personal best for zander! Quite the cherry on top, isn't it?

In summary, we returned home feeling immensely happy. We acquired new skills, mastered the operation of Livescope, both achieved our personal bests, and, of course, had the opportunity to spend a week with wonderful people.
If you consider going to Rusken, don't forget to take warm and waterproof clothing, even in summertime. Also, do not hesitate to chat with local fishermen; their advice helped us a lot. And of course, be ready to change your fishing plan and well-known techniques, as every lake dictates its own rules.
Where to next?

We also tried a night fishing session, which was fun and resulted in Dainora catching something. However, as we observed, daytime fishing proved to be more successful for us.