Char Week in Adolfström

Char Week 1999 in Adolfström

So the annual Char Week in Adolfström has taken place. The leader and initiator of this theme week is Jan Thorfve. It is the 14th time Char Week has been held, with a record number of participants this time - 24 anglers from different parts of the Sweden. From Stockholm, Mora, Orsa, Västerås and Skellefteå they have made their way here. There were also some participants from nearby communities. The weather this week has been good too, in fact even better than we hoped. The participants have been able to note that it is a rule rather than an exception for the weathermen to get it wrong. But when the weather is better than forecast you can forgive the weathermen.

During the week, the anglers visited 11 different lakes with varying degrees of success. Everyone caught fish and the biggest fish weighed 970 g, closely followed by the next-biggest char at 950 g. The smallest fish was assessed at 5g, as the scales did not register a weight. The routine is daily to weigh the biggest and smallest fish. And as a reward the angler is "allowed" to stand up and sing a song in the common room where the participants gather in the evening to tell (make up?) stories about the day's fishing. There was general amusement when the leader himself had to stand up and sing two evening running, as he was the one who made up the rule. Talk about walking into your own trap.

The tours to the mountains have been successful. When the group gathers around the fire for coffee around lunchtime, has fried some fish that has just found its way into the frying pan, has drunk coffee and stretched out on reindeer skins in the growing warmth of the sun, there was a general feeling of contentment. One evening at Lake Gierdos, not one person in the group wanted to go home. The wind had dropped, it was perfectly calm, and there was not a cloud in the sky, although the weatherman had predicted snow. Tranquil and calm without a snowmobile or motorized ice-drill to be heard.
That's a pretty fantastic experience.
As one participant remarked:
"The first days I was so wound-up and exhausted I didn't want to talk to anyone. But now I'm so relaxed I can go home and back to work. But I'll be back next year. The outlook for the 15th Jubilee Char Week next year looks good; it will be in ? week 12, when there will be a full moon. As everybody, knows, that's when the char bite best.

Welcome to

ADOLFSTRÖM GENERAL STORE AND CABINS