Lakes & Rivers, Sweden & Finland

Northern Pike

Esox lucius

A toothy ambush predator of northern weed beds, famous for explosive strikes and slime. Pike sit motionless in cover and lunge at spoons, spinnerbaits and large flies passing within range.

European Perch

Perca fluviatilis

The European perch — 五道黑 in Xinjiang, named for its five dark bars — is a bold, schooling perch found in China only in the Irtysh and Ulungur waters, and a perfect first lure target.

European Grayling

Thymallus thymallus

Europe's own grayling — a DIFFERENT species from the guide's arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus), listed in Habitats Directive Annex V. Its huge sail-like dorsal fin and love of clean gravel rivers make it the classic autumn target on chalk streams. It shares rivers across northern and central Europe with trout.

Vendace

Coregonus albula

A small pelagic whitefish of deep northern and alpine lakes — in Finland the muikku, a cultural icon that spawns in shoals in autumn, is fished through the ice all winter and whose roe is a festival food. Common in the far north, scarce and warming-sensitive in the south: a fine fish for the finest tackle.

European Whitefish

Coregonus lavaretus

One page for the whole Coregonus lavaretus complex: the famous local lake forms — Felchen, Renke and Maräne in the alpine and northern lakes, sik in Scandinavia — plus the anadromous Baltic form that runs rivers to spawn. Not splitting it into dozens of lake species is the correct biology: it is a complex of close relatives, and local names and rules are part of the fish.

European Smelt

Osmerus eperlanus

A small, translucent silvery fish of cold northern lakes, Baltic lagoons and lower river reaches — Stint in German, stynka in Polish. It is famous for the strong cucumber smell of a fresh fish. This is a different species from North America's rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax). Around the Baltic it is an ice-fishing and spring-spawning classic; many populations are freshwater fish for their whole lives and never run to sea.