Friday 1 June 2012

Easter Hell (2011)

A trip to CC's cabin and new hunting grounds and sea trout. Or so I thought....

Day 1 Wensday
Woke up to sunny and warm weather in great mood. Cooked a nice breakfast for the gang that was eaten on the porch while the sun warmed the air and the bugs were stirring. After that hearty meal we got ready for some trout fly fishing. We new that there are no monsters where we are going, but this early we just didn't give a damn. And after a short while we where on our way.
The place we where driving to is called Drangedal, and it's about one hour's drive south from CC's cabin.
We where met by clear blue skies, shiny sun and rising fish, although I didn't see any rising fish (almost drove of the road looking for them :D ). No time was wasted getting our light rods ready and in no time we were at the river looking for those rising fish.
I got lucky and saw one of them in the corner of my eye, and first see, first try to catch it. On with one tiny shiny green caddis pattern and after a few casts one of the smallest fish takes it. Jippi!
After that it was Lise's turn to get her first (of the year) on the dry.
CC got a few trout on the nymph and before we knew it, it was time to head back home to make dinner. We made kickass lasagne.
After the food we rested for a wile, then went out to do some night fishing after sea trout. The area we focused on was a few hundred meters away from CC's cabin. We started at the beach and slowly fished our way towards some nice rocks. Lise got one long & slim sea trout.
This fish could easily be 3 kg if it was nice and fat....
Bed time!
Day 2 Thursday
Early up, it was kind of hard to get up, and again a good breakfast. Eating plenty of carbs and fat keeps you going for hours at a time. After a quick cup of tea, e headed to CC's " Two Kilo Spot", a place where the poor guy lost a nice sea trout, even got wet trying to land it. Any way, we got there, the sun was shining and a slight breeze was making everything nice and almost perfect.
Not much happened the first hour, so we fished our way to "The Lighthouse" and straight away we saw rising sea trout. No action. I move a few meters and on the first cast a sea trout follows the fly all the way in. And on the second and the third cast. OK, so I retrieve the fly faster. It takes it, but no hook up. SHIT!
OK, change the fly. Same thing happens. 3 time follows and on the fourth it takes, but still no hook up. Feels like they take the fly really gently. Then I see a sea bass :) It didn't even look at the fly. After several more followers, we move to "The Beach". The place reminds me of a bonefish flat. Here to the fish only follow the fly, but after a while CC hooks a nice sea trout. When it jumped, it looked like it was 1,5-2 kilos. Alas the fish is smarter then us and goes for the nearest buoy and looses the hook.
After a few more followers we throw in the towel and head home, it's pizza making time. The dough needs time to raise.
While the dough is raising, we head to the rocks outside CC's cabin. By the time we got there the fog comes in, thick as cream, but hey got to fish. Right? Right!
So I put on a hot pink J-fly and on the second cast something hits that thing like it hates it and the line slips out of my hand.... Now I say some really bad words that I can't write.
We pack up and head home to cook that delicious pizza. And it was delicious. Extremely fool on food, we try to decide if going out and giving the fishing another go is worth it in the fog. It was not.
We got to "The Beach", Lise caught a flounder and when the night came there was so much noctilucales in the water, that we could see our fly lines like a green line in the water. So we pack up and start scaring small flounders in the shallows. Pretty cool, because they looked like some alien ships.
Met two of the local fly fisherman and they to had no luck.
So we head out to "The Lantern" where we short nymph for small cod and shorthorn sculpins. I even managed to catch a viviparous eelpout. Pretty cool, but no sea trout or sea bass.
Bed time.
PS! My mood getting worse.
Day 3 Friday
Up early again, breakfast. CC leaves to visit some family and me and Lise head out to "The Beach". The first thing that happens is that a sea trout, about 2 kg, swims 2 meters from me. I take a shot at it, but it just ignores my fly. After a few more casts, three sea trout follow my fly. None of them take it..... Lise sees no fish.
We move to "The Lighthouse". We fish for a while and finally something happens, Lise hooks a nice sea trout. After a short fight it's in the net, and this one will be dinner.
It was time for Lise to leave, to spend some time with her mom and dad, which left me and CC to catch the big one.
After we dropped Lise of, we went to the cabin to get our stuff and headed out to "The Beach". Nothing happened there for a while, so yet again we went to "The Lantern". After a few cod and shorthorn sculpins it was time for bed.
Now my mood was pretty bad. Weird what not catching targeted fish can do.....
Day 4 Saturday
After a breakfast at McDonalds (I know) we took the boat out. It took CC a good 30 min to get the engine running, but eventually we headed out to some nice islands near by in hope of catching the elusive sea trout.
Again a sea bass swims by, no interest in the fly.... It's really hot and sunny, so no big expectations for the sea trout, but I manage to catch a lumpsucker. First one on the fly for me and it was sight fishing style. But that poor thing has no power at all, 1,3 kg and it felt just like a big piece of weed. If I haven't seen it take the fly, I surely would guessed weed on the hook.
The bird life on the islands was nice, so I managed to take a few photos of bird eggs int the nests. When the heat from the rocks was too much, we took the boat to a small cove, where CC caught some nice sea trout before. To our surprise the water was boiling with feeding fish! I hook one on the first cast and it's something silver. Nice. Not sea trout, but herring! Big (biggest 500 gram +) feeding like crazy. And they really put up a fight, like tiny tarpon. We have a lot of fun for some time and when the herring stop feeding we head back home to do some barbecue before the night session.
The food was great and the hope of catching a sea trout was still there, although my hopes and mood were not the best. Tired and sick of fish following the fly I was not it the best of moods, I must admit.
We got to "The Lighthouse" and started fishing. In no time both me and CC get a few bites, before I hook something. It took a second to recognize the way a flounder fights. It was a fish, but I just wanted to cry. And to make matters worse a bloody seal shows up....
Tired we decide that TV is the thing. So we head back to the cabin and watch some TV before bed.
Day 5 Sunday
Up early, eat breakfast, wash all the gear in fresh water let it dry and clean the cabin. Pack the car. We meant to do some fishing before heading to Lise's parents cabin to meet up with her, but the wind changed our minds. And after a kebab we jumped in the car and stepped on it. In few hours we were at the cabin with our fishing gear, of course, and after the drive we just rested in the sun before dinner. With a nice dinner in our bellies we took a trip to a lake nearby to see if the trout were active. They were, but not interested in our flies.... So TV again. A movie before bed does the body good.
On Monday we left for Trondheim, after a really nice breakfast with homemade bread and good cheese.
In all this trip was nice, I did catch 3 new species on the fly, but lack of sea trout did leave me feeling a bit useless.


More photos here.

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