The Scandinavian Peninsula provides perfect access
for Swede Jonas Englund and
his 2052 Walkaround to get to the fish

story by EMILY HAUSER * photos COURTESY JONAS ENGLUND

Jonas Englund has spent an enormous amount of his life on the water, and it doesn't seem likely that that will change any time soon. But then, he makes his home in Sweden, a long, skinny country with some 1,700 miles of coastline and more inland lakes than you can even hope to drop a line in. Fishing is in the culture, if not the very air.

Jonas is the proud owner of a 2052 Walkaround, a boat he bought when his three sons-now all in their 20s-were old enough to take up diving and he needed something bigger, handier and safer than the boat he'd had. His boys love the 2052, he says, "because it's easy to maneuver, it's safe onboard and when there's bad weather, we can always go inside."

But of course, the real reason to own such a vessel is for serious fishing, and whenever Jonas has the opportunity, that's what he does. A dentist by trade, he and his wife live in the seaside town of Båstad in Southern Sweden, where the lion's share of the town's income is derived from herring fisheries. Home to fewer than 5,000 souls, Båstad hugs the shoreline, surrounded by the deep green of the Hallandian ridge.

The 2052, however, can be found in the harbor of the equally picturesque Torekov-only a 10-minute drive away. The Englunds usually fish right off of Torekov, or around the nearby island of Hallands Väderö, where seagulls wheel and cry above seal colonies basking on the rocks.

"My best fishing memories," Jonas says, "are in the autumn, like in September, when the lobster fishing starts. We leave the harbor at six in the morning. It's totally dark, but we navigate with the GPS. At around eight, we come to the fishing spots and start setting our cages for lobster. Then we lift the cages-you are allowed to have 14 cages per person-at about three- to four-hour intervals. A day like that normally takes 10 to 12 hours¿We sometimes come home, in the dark, with 20 to 30 lobsters, and lots of crab."

The Englunds bring in flatfish and cod in addition to crab, "and when we dive," Jonas says, "we see up to 20 different types of fish." The island serves up excellent fishing opportunities for most of the year, though winter brings strong winds and temperatures that hover around freezing.

Sometimes, when the weather report looks good, they'll head 25 nautical miles northwest for Middelgrund, an offshore bank in the Kattegat, the body of water that connects the North Sea to the Baltic. Here the depth changes dramatically-from 40-meter depths the sea floor suddenly presents itself only six meters down. "You can see the bottom," Jonas says, "but there's no land in sight. That's a very unique feeling."

A shoal in open water, Middelgrund is home to a highly diverse population of flora and fauna and, in addition to cod, the Englunds often hook catfish that they tempt out of the homes they've made among shipwrecks. "Many of the wrecks here are from the second World War," Jonas says. "The catfish love to live in those hidden places."

Occasionally, the family also goes south to Öresund, the seawaters between Denmark and Sweden. "The fishing is extremely good in that water between Copenhagen and Helsingborg," he adds, "because no commercial fishing is allowed there."

During all the excursions, the 2052's features play a very important role. Trophy's Drainage Response System (DRS¿) keeps the cockpit dry and safe, and both the 16-gallon aerated baitwell and twin draining 17.5-gallon integrated fishwells nicely accomodate long days of fishing. There's ample rod storage and a molded-in knife stowage station, as well. And for a father looking out for his family's safety, the 2052's "aggressive-grip" textured surfaces provide an additional level of security.

Jonas spent much of the 1970s in the Swedish Navy, earning the rank of captain and commanding a torpedo boat, operating in the waters surrounding Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark. He traveled to places as far-flung as Trinidad, Panama and the Galapagos. It was during this time that he caught a nearly 12-foot tiger shark off the coast of Ecuador-hooked on Christmas Eve, no less!

Eventually, he left his naval career for dental school, and captained a ferry among the 24,000 islands of the Stockholm Archipelago-some of which are inhabited, and some of which are barely big enough to provide a home to wildflowers. "It was the best job any student can have," Jonas recalls with obvious affection.

Though he maintains a private dental practice, Jonas has not given up on international sportfishing. Recent years have brought a sizeable rockfish off Malta, wahoo, kingfish and snapper in Trinidad & Tobago and a reef shark off Rarotonga and Aitutaki in the Cook Islands. "I often go on international dentist courses and seminars," Jonas says, "and when I get a chance, I fish, of course."

Indeed, Jonas has begun to plan his next adventure: traveling to Antarctica via Buenos Aires to take in the glaciers and animal life. "It would be fun to fish there," he says. "Who knows what you will get?"