NORTHERN NORWAY

A FISHING PARADISE DO DISCOVER

Roberto Ferrario

An enrapturing adventure in the wild Norway fishing for cod, Arctic char and other more.

There where several years that I wanted to plan a fishing trip in Norway to explore the fishing either in the sea or in rivers and lakes. This North European country has a very rich sea, mainly populated by cod and rivers and lakes with a good amount of brown trout, Arctic char and salmon, all these in spectacular and unique landscapes.

So, thanks to the diffusion of the Internet, I started to move in the web system to find the "right place" where to make a fishing trip as I dreamed for several years, days spent in the fjord and in open sea with a boat to do some jigging for bottom predators and, at the same time, days dedicated to the spin fishing in freshwater.

At the beginning of this year (2004), I find the place and made the decision and soon I was in contact with a Norwegian fishing agency, Din Tur  that was mainly specialized in renting small houses (cottages) and fishing boats. So immediately, with my friend Giovanni, we booked our fishing trip for the month of August.

Our choice was on the Lyngen Fjord, one of the most productive places in all the North Norway; placed 400 kilometers over the Polar Arctic Circle, not too far from the town of Tromso. The fishing center was the Lyngen Tur & Havfiskesenter, a very new center with 5 cottages that can accommodate 6 anglers each. The boats that were at our disposal had the same high quality of the accommodations and were center console Uttern boats powered by 40 HP outboards and with GPS and fishfinder.

This fishing center is placed in a crucial position for the sea fishing because the best fishing areaS are not far more that 10 minutes by boat. Furthermore, the rich river Botnelva is placed very close to cottages and can be easily reached by boat. At 10 kilometers by car, it is possible to reach several other rives and the big lake Jaegervatnet.

                                              
Having a house at its own full disposal, with no obligations of any timetable, we were able to plan our days as we wanted and fish the time we desired. The same rules were for the boat that we could use in any time of the day and the time we wanted.

MULTIPLICITY OF SPECIES

Scarcely any other region in Europe can offer the angler as many species of fish and possibilities as north Norway’s fjords; with its fjords, bays, headlands and islands, the coast, rivers and lakes .The fjord country presents the angler with a multitude of challenges.

There is no bad weather, just bad clothing! If the fish is there, we must face the rain and cold. Only strong winds can stop us - then it is dangerous to put out to sea and waves and current make it very difficult to find good fishing spots. On windy days we go up the fjords, anchor landward of the islands and fish in sheltered waters. That is one of the best things about the fjord Norway. We can always find good, safe fishing places, and big fish can be caught even far up the fjords. For many the cod is the king of saltwater fish. It bites all year round, the main season being winter and early spring. The cod moves in big shoals towards the coast and imminent spawning means the fish are hungry and greedy.

 

Well wrapped up in warm clothes, in the middle of the day when there is some warmth from the sun, we go out onto the fjord with jigging rod, plenty of 100-200-gram jigs, rubber worms and some feathers

It is not rare to catch specimens of over 10 kg, the average weight being about 4 kg. When the days grow longer and the spawning season is over, most of the cod start to migrate towards the ocean. The fish that stay behind find hunting grounds among the seaweed near strong currents. Even though this "seaweed cod" is strong, we would recommend single hooks on the jig. The cod is not a deep-water fish, so shallows of 5-50 metres should be good territory. In the summer the color of the jig is less important than the rubber worm's "radiation" - hooks with yellow or red plastic are good "summer bait".

In May life in the sea really begins to come alive. The water temperature rises slowly and most species of fish move in towards the coast. After the spring herring (April-May), the coalfish, ling, torsk and catfish take over the fjords. Near the river mouths and above the sandy shallows you also have a good chance of a sea trout. A spring evening on the coast with spinning or fly rod is a wonderful experience for the patient angler.

The most common fish along the coast of fjord Norway is the young coalfish. If you come across a shoal of young coalfish on a summer's day, your catch may well explode. The fish grow in the course of the year and the season for big coalfish starts after the mackerel season, at the beginning of September. Like pollack, these fish like warm water and will bite in shallows and far up the fjords. In recent years it has become increasingly popular to fish for coalfish with small herring or mackerel.

If you manage to keep the bait moving, you may well land a specimen of more than 10 kilos.

Another typical "summer fish" that is very common in Fjord Norway is the frisky and tasty pollack. It thrives best near the rock-face and many large specimens have been caught from the shore far up the fjords. If you are fishing from a boat, you should study the sea charts closely and find the underwater cliffs. Pollack lurk in the seaweed and bite best on bait that sinks down slowly. So it is a good idea to jig slowly keeping a taut line. If you catch a pollack, stay in the same place for a while - you could catch a lot of fish. The pollack likes strong currents and 50-60 gram jigs with long extra hooks on the leader are very effective.

The season for ling and torsk is from May to the end of September. These fish prefer cooler waters and rarely enter shallow ones. However, you do not need to go far out to sea - you can fish in depths of 100 metres just off the islands and far up the fiords. Torsk are known for being greedier than ling, but there are some interesting likenesses. Large jigs (at least 200 grams) with small extra hooks are effective and for those who prefer natural bait, we would recommend pollack or mackerel fillet at the end of a strong, fairly short leader. The torsk is usually well and truly caught once it has bitten, but a big pollack will generally put up a good fight.

In recent years fishing for catfish has become popular and many of these voracious customers can be caught off the coast of fjord Norway. There is no rule for catching a catfish, but it often frequent areas which vary in depth. The favorite food of the catfish, sea urchins and sea cucumbers, is a proof that they like stony ground. When the sea gets really warm in the summer, the catfish moves into shallower waters and may even bite at a depth of 5-6 metres. The catfish has very dangerous teeth - so remember to put a stick between its jaws before taking it off the hook.

In late summer, when flocks, of screaming gulls announce the shoals of mackerel, it would be recommended a leader with light-coloured feathers to move near the surface or at a medium depth.

Sea and fiord fishing is a fascinating experience and no fishing permit is required.

Also for freshwater every year there is an huge migration of fishes: the Atlantic salmon and the arctic char. As for the salmon, they start to arrive in rivers usually during the month of June, instead for the Arctic char best month to catch them is in July. The salmon numbers Aare not as high as in past decades but it seems to improve year after year; the average size can vary from 5 to 15 kilos and in the Troms area there are several good rivers. The closest rivers at the Lyngen Tur & Havfiskesenter where the good chances are the Botnelva, the Jeagevanet (in this close season start the 17 August) and a little bit more far the is the Signaleva, the Malselva. A friend of mine, that wanted to do more freshwater fishing for trout and arctic char in the Malselva, caught a nice 15 kilos salmon.

As regard to the arctic char, when it starts concentrating in the deeper pools of the rivers for spawning, they make the fishing very easy. The average size here seems to be around 1 kilo with some exemplars of over 2,5 kilos.

This area has also a good population of sea trout that can be found at the mouth of the rivers; the best moment is with the increasing of the high tide because the fish start arriving. Best periods are in summer and mainly during the evenings; nice fishes up of 5 kilos are regularly caught in Lyngen Fjord.

A GREAT WEEK

The fishing week that we spent in the Lyngen fjord was surely superlative. I widely traveled in 4 continents to fish the most exotic or strange fishing destinations and I can state  that this fishing adventure of mine was one of the most fascinating, wonderful and productive fishing trip I have ever made.

In my past fishing trips around the world, I never had a so big number of fishes caught and so many different species in a single week.

The first fishing day, I have to admit, we were very lucky because in very short time we started to catch fishes in almost every cast.

We moved our 18’ boat at the mouth of the river Botnelva; we decided to start fishing here because we collected information of the presence of a good stock of sea trout and Arctic char that was in this zone.

Instead, here, by the first cast done with a spoon, we have had a strange, but much appreciated surprise: cod, pollack and coalfish where here in big schools and bit our spoons in an incredible speed. So with the help of the eco sounder, we decided to anchor the boat and start a more easily vertical fishing with small silicone jigs. In that morning, with light lines, I think we caught about 50 fishes each with a weight that could vary from 1 to 3 kilos. As a start it wasn’t bad at all, arctic char and sea trout could wait for some more.

So, on the second day we decided to come back to the same place, thinking to have understood everything about fishing in that part of fjord. Well, everything was changed, the tide was different, the rivers were flowing with muddy water and on the screen of the eco-sounder we couldn’t see any fish. A little bit demoralized, we tried other places at the end of the fjord but with not too luck, until we found a good spot just in front our house. The water had an average deep of 7 meters and was full of fishes.

Here, with silicone lures, we caught a good amount of cod and in the afternoon we have had the luck to catch some small halibut. The average size was 2-3 kilos for the cod and 4-6 kilos for the halibut.

On the third day, due the fact that the sea conditions were not too good, we decided to dedicate the day only for freshwater fishing in rivers. So we moved by car to the Struoskaret and the Veidalen rivers that can be easily reached. Being the month of August, we perfectly knew that the annual July migration of Arctic char was completely ended we hoped to find some fih still in the deepest pools of the rivers.

On both rivers we have found a great quantity of small arctic char, probably born in the previous years, and also many arctic brown trout; a kind of brown trout but much smaller and of white colors. Anyway, we were able to catch some nice Arctic char of 1 kilo that we also appreciated cooked in the oven in the same evening.

In the Struoskaret river, there is a beautiful lake with the water of an impressive and wonderful blue sky color; here we spent several hours but strangely with no luck at all. Anyway, several people informed us that in this lake there is a permanent population of big Arctic char that can easily reach 2-kilos.

To climb the two rivers sometimes was very hard due to the slope, so we stopped several times to relax a little bit, but also for eating the very tasty bilberrys that were present everywhere.

The best lures for the rivers were spinners of medium size in silver and orange colors; the best fishes we caught with Blue Fox and Martin spinners.

The owner of the cottage is a very passionate person for sea trout fishing and every evening he went by boat at the mouth of the Botnelva river to catch them. He fished mainly by trolling or spinning with small spoons, but sometimes he caught some nice sea trout also with float and worm as bait.

So due the fact that in summer at these latitudes there is light for almost all the night we decided one evening to give a try at the mouth of the river to catch some decent sea trout. When we arrived at the river, we immediately saw lots of predatory activity and we started trolling 2 spoons. Our lures were attacked by coalfish, haddok and small cod about every 5 minutes. It was impossible to catch a trout there!

Anyway, after more than 1 hour of great action, we had the opportunity to catch a small sea trout and we lose an other nice one under the boat.

In the next days we alternated the fishing either in the calm water of the fjord and outside it or in rivers for freshwater predators. The best fishes we cough outside the fjord were cod and torsk of 8-9 kilos. For these deep water fishes, we used mainly metal jig from 30 to 200 grams while in shallow waters were very productive silicone imitations or big worm with lead head.

                                                           USEFUL INFORMATION

For general information about Norway you can visit the web site www.vistnorway.com .

As regard to fishing, we have booked our trip with Din Tur, that is a Norwegian fishing agency that offers more than 80 fishing destinations in all Norway either in sea or freshwater. For any destination, there are indications about the distance of the house from the sea, distance from the nearest river and lake, distance from the nearest restaurant and supermarket and so on.

In this case, we chose to go at the Lyngen Tur & Havfiskesenter in the Lyngen fjord in the Tromso area.

You can contact Din Tur at: Din Tur, Neptunveien 1, N-7650 Verdal, Norway or  office@dintur.no  or visit the web site www.dintur.no .