River Lutaur (Sweden)
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The alpine region of Norrbotten covers an area that is almost a fourth of the entire United Kingdom.
There are more then 20.000 lakes and thousends kilometers of rivers to explore. Moved by those
numbers, we managed to spend few days in this region.
For our first day of fishing we planned a trekking to the flyfishing-only area of
the Lutaur river (Lutaureströmmen).
We hike through the woods, our backpacks filled with waders and fishing tackles. The landscape alternates woods to marshes and ... mosquitos but the surrounding nature is so great that our enthusiasm help us withstand all odds.
After about 10 km walk, behind the last slope, the path starts to descend and we get in sight of the Lutaure lake.
The path leads us to a little wooden bridge where we decide to take a break and have something to eat before mounting the rods.
The Lutaur river springs from the lake, right under a small bridge and standing on it we see trout rising to pick insects from the surface.
The orographic left side of the river belongs to the Pieljekaise National park, the fishing is only permitted on the orographic right side.
After the frugal meal, we switch from hikers into fly anglers and start wetting lines. Several species of mayfles are in the air or drifting on the surface. Plenty of small stonesflies too and fish are in full activity. We caught almmost with any dry fly, small to mid sized brown trout.
After landing severeal trout we manage to bring our eager-to-catch-fish back to normal level and we move along the course of the stream to explore further.
All the brownies which we caught, had a black spotted livrea, the typical red dots missed almost completely. These trout are wild creatures that likely get to see a few human beings during the short Lapponian summer.
It is end of June and the weather keeps on changing from sunny to showers. Moving along, as the river widened so did the fish, that with the increased size become more selective on the fly choice.
In spite of the light rain, large sedges fly around and I find some even inside my backpack. I had excellent result with a big FX-sedge pattern.
The sun came out again from behind the clouds, the weather keeps on changin every half an hour. Nice trout hide under the reeds in front of us.
After a few kilometers the stream forms a pond, where brown trout of 1 or more kilos dwell. Unfortunately it is time for us to head back to our Cabin where the 4th mate is going to join us in a few hours.
On the way back we can still enjoy a few casts and promise to come back the next time to check farther.
We walk by lake Lutaur trying to saturate our memories with the last view of this landscape. As we entered the woods, a partidge starts to follow us. It will stay with us for more then a mile, tripping just a couple of meter away along the path, like escorting us outside this piece of paradise.
We had set our base camp in a wooden cabin at Adolfstrom www.adolfstrom.com The owner mr. Thorfve is an expert guide and can provide any information.
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