Among the years that run like a string of pearls, there is something that can be called a milestone year. For my part, this year I was able to celebrate 80 years with fishing as an important asset in life. It started with perch fishing in Stortjärn, the bathing place in Långå, beginner fishing with kyear, mask and Björntråd for a growing career. An interest that deepened with greater knowledge, better equipment and more ability to the extent that fishing has become a part of my lifestyle. Insight, knowledge and understanding of the values of the natural resource where the fishing path leads. Experiences are essential parts of a good and meaningful life. On that road it is.
The interest in fishing has also given me benefits in the form of trusts and assignments I have received. The first and most unique was the assignment to shape and realize Sportfiskeforum in Älvkarleby with Sven O Hallman's donation of 3 000 cataloged items, a gift he addressed to Vattenfall. Unfortunately, the inheritance went under the hammer for half a million a couple of years ago, but with Sportfishermen as beneficiaries.
The community in fishing is at its best around the campfire. In the extension, I was elected as a member and later guild master of the ancient Dunkrokens Guild with roots in English fly fishing and the Flyfishers' Club of London as a circle of friends.
To be part of work teams dedicated to conservation, caring for and using fishing as part of a natural resource worthy of protection is a fiduciary duty with opportunities to contribute according to ability. As chairman of the board of the Långå Fishing Areas Association, I have had the opportunity to experience fishing- and biotope care in practice with committed and knowledgeable personalities. Visible results in Långåljusnan, among others. The streams are now shaped as they were intended by nature, after being marred by fleet line cleaning and power extraction.
The Grundsjö project's mission is to preserve the unique Grundsjöræding for all time. Now I have been chairman there for just over twelve years. The ground sea trout is genetically related to the big trout in Lake Vättern, Ladoga and two Scottish lakes. The project owners are the County Administrative Board of Jämtland County, Härjedalen, Fortum Sverige AB and the fisheries management areas in Långå and Särvsjön. Together we protect the conservation interest, the natural resource and the power interest, a combination which, among other things leads to preparatory work 2026 for GO ECO™ , to form a lake in the lake through a pond in the pond for spawning beds that are not laid dry and where nutrition is created.
A long time ago, I had a conversation lasting several hours with Gustaf Ulfsparre, lord of Em, when he suddenly said "The other day it was ninety years since I caught my first salmon!”
From my own experience, I suspect that the interest in fishing with all its content is revitalizing. Sport fishing leads to both a long and meaningful life.
Happy New Year to us all!
Helgi Jonsson