Next to Kuusamo is a national park with pristine forest, hills and rocks (up to 500 meters above sea level), powerful stepped rapids, waterfalls, canyons and the famous hiking trail "Bear's Path" (in Finnish "Karhunkierros").
But Finland attracts not only with the beauty of its nature. First of all, for many of us it is important that even in the most remote place a tourist will find cozy cottages with any degree of comfort, and in a village or town - a three- or four-star hotel, water park, restaurants and shops. Many are also attracted by the fact that in the Kuusamo region, and indeed throughout Finland, there are excellent roads, and in the north they are half-empty, driving is a pleasure. Therefore, about half of our tourists prefer to come to Finland by car. You can also rent cars, scooters, ATVs, boats, fishing or any tourist equipment without problems. In northern Finland, of course, it is cooler than ours, but not much, so on the shores of lakes near every recreation center or cottage there are equipped beaches.
20 kilometers from Kuusamo is the resort of Ruka. It is a ski center, but here too tourists are offered all kinds of entertainment - ATV safaris, rock climbing, horseback riding and, of course, fishing.
For vendace - to Kitkajärvi
In southern Finland there is little vendace, but in the Kuusamo area, if you scoop a bucket of water from a lake in spring, you can't see the bottom, there are so many fry. And the most vendace is in Lake Kitkajärvi. The maximum depth of this lake is 47 meters, but the average is 15. And fish are usually caught here at depths of 1.5-2 meters, less often at 6, but cunning taimen are pulled out of such holes. However, more about taimen later. For now, let's go catch vendace.
In ancient times, on the shores of the lake, the Sami honored the "god of vendace" and offered sacrifices to him in their pagan sanctuaries. By the way, at local markets, vendace and whitefish are the same price. So do not treat small fish with prejudice. Do not forget that it is also a whitefish, only very small.
Salted, or more often simply fried whole, vendace is a fisherman's delicacy. To keep the taste of butter from overpowering the taste of the fish, the vendace is lightly dusted with flour before frying. Finns often make a pie from rye flour with vendace. It is called kalakukko - literally "fish rooster". And nobody knows why. The same "rooster" in Kuusamo is made with pork and rutabaga, but with vendace it is tastier. The pie is cooked in a Finnish oven at a low temperature for several hours, and then it is left to steep for about five hours, wrapped in a towel.
Professional fishermen catch vendace with a net up to 350 meters long. At a time they pull out four or even five tons. Well, in the middle of summer, fishermen also invite tourists to fish. For this purpose, wooden pontoons have been built on the lakes, and in an hour to an hour and a half (and for 15-20 euros) you can quite feel like a real fisherman.
For taimen - to Kitkajoki
Vendace is good, but a real fisherman dreams of catching taimen. The biggest trophies weigh five or even seven kilograms. Lake taimen is smaller, the usual catch is two to three kilograms per fish. Experienced fishermen will be surprised: what kind of taimen are these in Finland? And indeed, no matter who comes to fish with the Finns, everyone confuses where the salmon is and where the taimen is. And the Finns seem to like this confusion. So let's sort it out while we are still at home, in a calm environment, and not on the lake with a spinning rod in our hands.
Taimen is a salmonid fish. In Finnish, salmon is "lohi". This word may seem familiar. And you are not mistaken: our everyday "loh" is exactly the salmon. In old times in Rus, salmon that go to spawn were called "lokhi". At this time they can be taken with bare hands. So then. We all roughly know what salmon looks like. But if you pull something resembling salmon out of Finnish water, for Finns it will be either "lohi", or trout, or taimen. However, Finns distinguish them only by size. Once I caught an obvious taimen weighing just over a kilogram, and the instructor called it trout. I pulled out the same one, but about two kilograms, and it was already "lohi"!
Indeed, river taimen is something between trout and salmon. And lake taimen is sometimes even called lake salmon. But the angler still needs to remember: there is very little trout in the Kuusamo area, and there are no real sea salmon at all. The sea is far away, salmon have nothing to do in the depths of Finland, and they are not artificially bred here. Therefore, in Kitkajärvi and Kitkajoki there are only taimen - either river or lake. The usual size of a Finnish taimen is up to three kilograms. The largest taimen was caught in Finland in 1937, weighing 12.7 kilograms.
With a net - for whitefish
Whitefish in Finland are found both river and lake. Professional fishermen catch whitefish with nets. Tourists also have the opportunity to take part in such fishing - for 15-20 euros (including the ride from the tourist base or cottage) you can go in the evening with fishermen to a remote lake that is stocked with whitefish, take out the previously set traps and nets, and do some spin casting.
Freshly salted whitefish will be ready in a couple of days, or even earlier. Finns eat it with their national rye bread, shaped like a bagel. This bread was once the staple food of poor Finnish peasants. It is not very filling, but it can be stored for a month: you thread it on a stick, dry it, and eat it in small amounts.
With a spear - for pike
From the point of view of a domestic fisherman accustomed to poaching, the most elite kind of Finnish fishing is still nighttime hunting with a spear. In our country, spears are banned everywhere, and this fishery is almost forgotten. But who hasn't in childhood hit burbot under stones in a stream with an old grandmother's fork! In Finland you can relive your childhood: hunting with a spear is prohibited only in some private waters. Finns spear any large fish.
Wielding a leister is not like scooping crayfish with a wicker trap. At night you knock back a hundred grams with salted whitefish (criminal liability on the water begins with a glass of vodka; before that it's just a fine, though a hefty one), take a good flashlight, get into a boat and ride off singing, and closer to the spot you turn off the motor and quietly row for about a hundred meters, or better two hundred, so as not to scare anything away. And somewhere under a snag you suddenly see the dark back of a pike. You raise the leister behind your ear, like some bookish whaler after Moby Dick. Strike! The main thing is not to make any noise in the boat before the leister hits the water, not to creak.
And believe me, a pike speared with a leister is much tastier than one caught on a spinning rod. Why? People can only guess, and the fish keeps quiet. Some reader will ask where to get a good leister. Well, in Finland! They are sold right here. Great leisters, though expensive. But you can rent one. For those who don't know how to use a leister, it's better to do just that: pay for a night hunt and go spear fish with an instructor. He'll show you pike spots, set your hand properly, and teach you what's what, so you can both catch fish and not tumble into the dark water yourself.
Burbot - for the Lazy
One cannot help but mention the ancient Kuusamo method of lazy burbot fishing. Neither a net, nor a leister, nor even a wobbler is considered the pinnacle of fishing thought here. The Finnish lazy man's dream is to wait for good ice, and nearer the shore, at a depth of about two meters, cut a hole in the ice and lower a birch trunk into the water. Why birch? Because burbot are attracted to the white color. The brighter the birch bark, the sooner they will swim to the trunk and... crawl up it. Why will they crawl? Don't ask again, or you'll scare them away. In short, the burbot climb, and the Finnish lazy man stands by the ice hole and waits, and soon the burbot fall into his hands by themselves. Compared to the cunning Finnish Matti, our Emelya with his buckets is just resting.