While most BC anglers are gearing up for the steelhead season, December is usually the month when I venture to Northern Europe. Each year, I find myself back in Denmark spending some quality time with my girlfriend Nina's family for the Christmas holiday. It is a culture-rich, friendly and small country where you'll find magnificant food and splendid entertainment. It is not known as a prime fishing holiday destination. In fact, most Danes would be eager to travel to more exotic parts of the world and hook that big one. Nevertheless, I always bring several rods and reels along with me when I visit.

My flight to Denmark was one agonizing experience that needed to be forgotten fast. Still recovering from a stomach flu, I had to practically drag myself onto the airplane on the day of my departure. The flight plan did not help either. A short flight to Calgary was followed by a nine hour flight to Frankfurt, Germany. Just to make matters more interesting, my travel agent decided to let me wait at the smoky, crowded airport in Frankfurt for six hours before a short connecting flight to Copenhagen! By the time I arrived in Copenhagen, some twenty hours since my departure in Vancouver, I was exhausted but relieved and glad that my fishing rods stayed intact throughout the whole ordeal.

My first question when I arrived was, "Are the lakes already frozen?" because Denmark's winter often sits at the borderline of freezing point. It's too cold for my liking, and chilly enough to form ice on water surface, but the ice often doesn't get thick enough to stand on. Therefore ice can be somewhat problematic during the wintertime. Just my luck, the lakes began to freeze a week or so before I arrived! Not to worry of course, angling fanatics will always find ways to fish no matter how many barriers there are, right?

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