Sun, Wind & Trout

Yet again it was time to visit the island of Smoela (map here)

If you clicked on the map link, which you should do, you saw that there is no shortage in places to fly fish (fresh water or salt).If I can "complain" about anything, it would be that there are to many places to fish :D

Anywho, Lise an I arrived pretty late at night, but we had to do some fishing before we set up camp. So we decided to try the place where I caught the rainbow trout last year. The tide was a bit to low, but we gave it a go. A few rising fish, non big, but Lise managed to catch a pollack, that must have been the limpest fish in the sea.

As the night got colder, it was time to put up the tent and get the ready for a slightly cold night. And as we got those things sorted, a few fish wre rising in the lake near the camp site, so we had to try and catch a few before bed.

A slight digression, sleeping in a tent must be one of the best things in the world. I don't know why, but there is something about sleeping on the ground and listening to the sounds of nature while falling asleep.

Any way, we woke up to blazing sun (which reminds me to by a polar filter for my dslr camera) and after a nice breakfast we packed up the tent and went to the same little creek we visited the last time we were here.

The wind was blowing pretty bad, and was cold to, so there were not many rising trout, but a few risers showed that there was some life in the creek. Lise got the first go, but had some trouble with hooking. This was very unusual for her. I, on the other hand did not have such problems, and after a while I got my first trout of the day.

We continued fishing down the creek and taking photos, many of them over exposed due to the strong sunlight, with a nice lunch-break consisting of home-made pasta salad (made by yours truly). With tummies full, we decided it was time to move.

On the way to another creek, we had to stop for some ice cream. Yum yum yum! After that nice cool-down, it was back in the car and tosome more fly fishing!

This creek also gave us some nice surprises last year, and we took turns in fishing/taking photos. Both of us landed a few trout each, and the day was coming to an end. But before supper, we had to try Straumen. But nothing more than a few nibbles at the fly happened there.

By now it was getting late and supper sounded really good, so it was in the car and to the new camping site. The tent went up in no time and dinner never tastes as good as under an open sky after a long day of fly fishing.

On Sunday the wind was really blowing, and getting stronger. We ate breakfast and packed up the camp, before we headed to little creek near the camp. But the wind was blowing so hard, that we decided that sightseeing sounded much better than using ultra-light gear in strong wind.

So after a nice drive around the island, we got some coffee and crisps, before we drove to the ferry. And the wind sure did make the ferry ride fun, with plenty of waves and a fair amount spray.

The weather was so nice, even if it was windy, that we stopped half-way to take a lunch beside one of the clearest rivers I've seen.

All in all it was a very nice trio, even if the wind ruined the chances of getting any of the bigger fish, but using ultra-light gear and hunting trout in small creeks is a lot of fun too!!!



You can see all the photos from the trip here.

Autnmn Time = Grayling Time (2011)

There is nothing better than planning a fly fishing trip, during a week filled with work and school. Once again we set way for Roeros, it's close and there is plenty of grayling to satisfy the urge. And since there are plenty of them, in varying water conditions, I focused on short-nymphing. A fun, yet hard way of fly fishing. More on that in another article.

Because Lise had to work til 16.00, we decided that eating a good dinner (super-hot curry) was better, than leaving in the middle of rush hour. At 19.00 all was ready and we set off. It was dark when we got there, so getting the tent up was No. 1. The temperature was so low (it was - 1.7 the day before) that getting into the sleeping bag was No. 2. And believe me, it was so cold that only my nose was sticking out of the sleeping bag.

This was the view in the morning, a bit chilly too.

But the sun came up and all got better. So after a hearty breakfast and something warm to drink (toddy) we got in our waders and got ready for fishing. Lise had to borrow my lousy Soelvkroken waders, size XL (that is super wide and short), because hers Guideline Gaula started leaking after 8 days of use...

NIce huh? :D

But staying dry, is more important then looking good! Anywho, we started fishing, and soon Lise landed a few nice fat grayling, while I was short-nymphing my way towards a nice deep pool, where the big fish wait. I started with a light anchor fly and two droppers. It resulted in 0 fish, until I started fishing the pool. Then I put on a heavy anchor, and soon fish started taking the fly.

The one in the middle, got most of the attention.

After a while, Lise went upstream, which left me all alone in the good spot. In no time I landed about 10 grayling, the biggest about 400 gr. And when Lise went to the other bank, I got a snag. Well it was no snag, but a really big grayling. With my good luck 4x tippet was not (!) enough and shortly after it snapped. After a few "nice" words, it was time for lunch.

Grayling and mashed potatoes. With our bellies full, we wanted a short break from fishing and decided to try and find some edible mushrooms. No luck there, but Lise went downstream, and found some nice fishing spots instead. So after a quick cup of tea, we put on our waders and headed downstream (north side of the river) with the rods.

Every good-looking pool was fished and a few grayling were caught. After a few kilometers the bush got so heavy, that walking thru it was a bore, but we were lucky because there was a really nice pool at "the end of the line". Since Lise used a single nymph, fished downstream, she got to fish first. For some reason the bigger grayling wouldn't stay hooked, and when she got tired of this, it was my turn. Now I had changed my rig to; heavy anchor, small cream nymph with bead head and a red hot spot, hot orange bead head, PT nymph. It worked a charm, and soon I landed a few nice grayling.

By now it was getting colder and darker, so we headed back to cook some good dinner. And man was it good! Minced meat, olives, shroons, lingonberries in red wine sauce, home-made bread, mashed potatoes and paprika-garlic salad.

Then it was time for bed. Lise fell asleep in a breath, while I read LOTR book one.

Ah, wind and clouds full of rain. We ate a quick breakfast, packed everything down and put it in the car, before it started to rain. But fishing was on our to-do list, so we headed downstream (on the south side). Just like yesterday, we fished all the nice spots. On our last visit here, we came over a big and deep pool, that was given some extra attention this time, and here I scored a double.

We fished our way down to some cabins, and by that time it was "drive home" time, so we headed back to the car for a late lunch, before starting the drive back home.

In famous words of The Starks "The Winter is coming", and a bit faster then I like, but there is still time for some good fly fishing.

More photos here.

O Grayling Where Art Thou (20111)

When the weather forecast says sunny & little wind, it's fly fishing time. So me and Lise decided to try some grayling fishing in River Glomma, the upper parts near the town of Roeros.

We got there on Friday night and started fishing straight away, a few fish were rising, but none really big. Moving downstream and looking for rising grayling, we finally came over one that looked nice and big. After a quick RPS (Rock Paper Scissors), the winner got to try. Yes it was me.

The fish was rising steady, closer to the other bank. I gave it a try, but casting far with a 3wt is pointless. So we were gonna try that one again tomorrow from the other side.

Nothing much happened after that, except Lise hooking a "huge" minnow in the tail. And since it was a bit chilly we lit a fire and got some hot food in our bellies.

Here you can see the huge fish :D

We woke up to some strong wind and after breakfast (and a few futile attempts with the fly rod) we decided to go in to town (Roeros) and check out the sights. Now Roeros is famous for the smelting plant museum and a lot of old houses are just the way they were back in the day, so it's almost like going back in time. A lot of crafts men and women, make everything from pottery to hand carved cups, boxes and so on.

The main street.

After a lot of sightseeing we ended up in a small shop, where the owner was a old fisherman. There we got a few tips about a small river and a lake. Glomma was not that good now, he said, and you always listen to the locals. So after a long talk and good gelato, we arrived to Dals river. Small, fast flowing and full of grayling.

The wind was still pretty strong, but we had to give it a go. There were no bugs on the water, so I went for good ol' wet fly. And just after a few casts I landed my first (ever) grayling.

Lise was fishing on the other bank, and after a while she hooked a nice one.

That one became dinner.

After that good meal and a cup of tea, we went to the lake. Now in this lake, trout of 1 kg + are plenty. Well that was what er were told and meeting two guys telling us the same thing, kind of confirmed that. And yes we saw plenty big fish rising, but (and there is a big but) all of them out of casting range and the lake was not that suitable for fly fishing, with only a few places with enough room for a back cast.... But if use of a bellyboat is allowed, then there is good possibility for great trout fishing.

So we went back to the river and fished our way further down stream. When twilight came we had to put up camp and by the time it was done, it was sleepy time.

Sunday morning was also very windy, so we took our time to eat a breakfast and enjoy the tea in the sun. Since Lise's waders where leaking, she wanted to fish from the bank, so I went to the other side and waded out to the pool. A few casts with the wet fly and a few small grayling caught, but the local guy said that the big ones are deep in the pool. So on with a peeping caddis, up stream cast, mend, let sink and at the end of the pool tighten the line and let the fly rise. BOOM! This one feels big and heavy, but as I glimpse the silver in the sun, the fly comes out.

Lise is catching the trees and the bushes.

Since the pool is really deep I rig up a three fly short line setup. Caddis larvae as the anker, a small dark bead head second and a small buzzer as the top fly. On the third cast a fish takes one of the flies and I set tho hook. A short wile later I land a nice grayling, the camera resting in the tent...

The wind really pick up, so we brake camp and head on home.

All in all a good trip and landing a grayling mission achieved.

More photos here.

Fiskebackskil, Sweden (2011)

Fiskebackskil, Sweden is a nice place. Well that's what I've heard. So when Lise said come over and we'll do some fishing, I packed my stuff and drove down south. After a few (more like 9) hours driving I was finally there.

After a good stretch me and Lise grabbed a bite. Driving makes me hungry! With a full stomach, fly fishing seemed like a good idea. It was a bit late and windy, but what the hell.

Mackerel! Man can they fight! With them came garfish, but they where impossible to hook. Pretty bad, since they where really big! And yes, the hooks where sharp as hell....

I managed to hook a nice sea trout, but that one screwed me over and lost the fly in a nice jump...

Feeling the long drive in my body, it was time for bed. And I slept like a baby.

The next day brought the sun, but also the wind, so I spent the early hours helping Lise with her research. After dinner we took a quick trip, but nothing much happened. So it was off to watch a movie.

So hot! was the first thing that came to my mind when I woke up. The sun was shining and the wind blowing, but unlike the day before it was really hot. So Lise had to manage her research her self, while I took my fly rod and went fishing. One small sea trout, one mackerel, plenty of takes and a sunburn before lunch. Not bad.

After lunch I went fishing again and Lise went to the lab. Not much action, but a few really big fish followed the fly. Looked like they competed over it, but none of them took the damn fly.... And of course, the gar was there, but no hookups. This is odd, because TMC 777sp hooks are horribly sharp...

Dinner time! Well, more of a second lunch. So we planned to barbeque the mackerel before the evening session of fly fishing. And it was a great barbeque, pesto marinated mackerel, potatoes, veggie packs and local beer. Mmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmm!

After that awesome meal, we took the boat out. Mackerel was hunting all over the place, but Lise wanted to focus on the sea trout. So we did. I got one tiny sea trout an mackerel. That was it...

Of to bed.

Saturday was just as hot, but not as windy. So we spent the day inside, until it got a bit cooler. After that we went fishing, just to catch a few fish for the barbeque. And so we did, but that stupid gar was there again! And still no hookups.... Lise taught I was stupid, because I'm the only guy who wants to catch gar... Well I do! And I caught a new species on the fly to :)

A greater weever.

The barbeque was great with homemade burgers, chili and garlic marinated chicken and of course mackerel. Full to the brim we decided to fish from the docks. Unlike the day before, there was no mackerel hunting on the surface, but Lise managed to catch a nice mackerel. And since there was a nice breeze, we decided that a movie sounded really good. It was.

Driving back to Norway. After a good breakfast it was time to head back to Trondheim. Can't say that it was  an appealing thought, but duties call.

The Rainbow, The Brownie & The Sunset (2011)

This time, I and Lise went to the island of Smoela, where the fishing is great and the fish are plenty!


Before you start reading, check out this map and ask your self: Where should I start fishing? Oh, feel free to zoom in and see just how much water there is.
Now, back to the story. We packed the car up with plenty of stuff to keep us going for two days and headed out to that beautiful island. CC could not join us, since he had a lot of laboratory work to do for his Bachelor.
The hard thing was not to stop and do some fishing along the way, because thee are a lot of nice spots along the road....
We arrived to Smoela at 19.00 and we decided to start fishing at once. Sea trout was the target fish and a nice spot (of the possible billion) was chosen.

The water was clear, with a nice current that made it feel like salmon & sea trout fishing in a river. On with an olive shrimp and on the third, or was it fourth, cast something takes the fly hard. I hook it nicely and the thing goes crazy. Jumping and pulling like a train. It's something silver and that's always a nice thing. To my surprise and dislike it's a rainbow! A first one for me, but they are not indigenous to Norwegian waters and it's pretty clear that this fellow escaped from a farm. So a quick blow to the head takes care of any harm it could do. We meant to eat it, no point in wasting food, but the fish appeared to be suffering from nephrocalcinosis. So it became sea gull food...
After we caught a few small coalfish, we decided it was time to find a place to put up our tent and make camp. We did some fishing after the camp was ready, but caught nothing. Bed time, well sleeping bag time.


Morning, clear skies and a slight breeze. Lise is still in Dreamland while I'm gathering wood and preparing for breakfast. By the time the fire is burning and the tea water is boiling, Lise gets up and joins me by the fire. The breakfast is nice and tasty, as usual, and now was the time to start fishing. Target fish, brown trout.


Before we could do that, we had to buy a fishing license. And the only place to do that was on the other side of the island, so we jumped in the car and got to it. It was almost noon before we got to the fishing spot, but hey, we got the whole day left.


The breeze was making small waves on the lake and there where a few guys I know from Trondheim there, so we decided to fish our way down the small creek that was going from the lake to the sea.


At once we ( means I) saw a few rising fish. None huge, but on light gear (3 and 2 wt) it's all fun). I was the one to catch the first one.

Lise followed quickly with a few fish to. To our delight there was a lot of L.marginata spinners everywhere. Then at 13.55 the L.Marginata started popping up all over the surface. The fish went crazy and so did we. Having fun fly fishing is way above big fish hunting in my book, and fun we did have. Since the day was saved we went to a different lake to see if there was any action going on there. There where a few fish rising, but none of them took anything dry. Who cares, on with a nice tasty dry fly, and they took it every time.


Here are few of them drying in the sun.

Time for lunch. Home made BBQ Ribs, mmmmmmmmmmmmmgood! After lunch we caught a few more trout and before we knew it it was time to head back to camp. There we rested, enjoyed the lovely evening and, of course, cooked a great dish.



With good food in the belly it was a true pleasure to go to bed. Slept like a rock!

Last day, woke up hot like hell. The sun was burning on the tent. That cold water from the creek, running by our camp, came in handy. And as usual we ate a good breakfast, then broke camp and packed up the car. That gave us the possibility to fish as much as possible before having to get back to Trondheim, and not having to mess around with packing when tired from all the fishing.
So, out with the map and try to decide where to go..... we chose some lakes closest to our camp. Same thing, lots of spinners and rising fish, but none huge, So we hiked along the lakes, did some recon and caught a few trout each. It was so hot that I had to soak my cap in the water all the time to keep my head cool.


here is a picture of one of the lakes.

Fed up with the heat we went to the only petrol station on the island and got some ice cream, man it was good. After enjoying the ice cream we had to get going if we were to catch the ferry. On the ferry we met the guys from Trondheim, and they too had "poor" fishing. The biggest about 400 grams. They told us that they used Sink 3 lines with nymphs to get fish that size... Well, I and Lise sure as hell didn't want to use anything else but floating lines, otherwise we could just as well fish for sea trout.


All in all it was a great weekend and the first trip with the tent. Next time we just hope for a bit better conditions to see if those big trout are there.

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.

Igor & Lise's super-fantastic camping trip (2010)

Me and Lise took a weekend trip to Selbu-area to do some fly fishing and test out some new waters.

Day 1: Friday

Since I had to work till 17.30, we headed out at 19.00, after a delicious pasta dish with mushroom sauce that Lise made. After a 1,5 hour drive, we were at the "parking lot" ready for the ca. 10 km hike to the place we chose to camp at. We reached the place at 22.30, just before dark, and the tent was set up super-fast by Lise herself.

Home sweet home.
Since we were a bit tired, we desided to go straight to bed, so we'll be well rested for the next day.
Day 2: Saturday
Wind, wind and more wind. Woke up because the tent was shaking from the bloody wind.... But the sun was shining....



Gorgeous Gorge :D :D :D


So we decided to explore the whole area and see what kind of lakes we got around our camp. Since the wind was blowing like crazy, we didn't see any rising fish at any of the lakes, but there was a lot of cloud-berries, and they tasted soooooooooooooooo good! yum yum! Lise was just a little upset, that we didn't bring that pancake batter powder we planned, because pancakes, cloud-berries and some sugar.... Delicious!!





Around 19.00 the wind started to calm down so we managed to catch a few trout for dinner. And after all that walking around the wild, it tasted good with some woked vegetables and lemon juice. And what is really interesting, is that this trout had almost white flesh. It can only mean that there are not a lot of crustaceans in the lakes.






After dinner, well it was two dinners actually, we did some more fly fishing in the lake nearest the camp, but no big fish caught. Then it was of to bed with hopes of a windless Sunday, the last day of fly fishing/camping.
Day 3: Sunday
Sunday was a sunny day! Hot and no wind. After a quick breakfast, we decided to try the lake that was just over a small hill, south-west of the camp.





Since it was crazy-hot, Lise had to go back to camp and put on some shorts. Meanwhile, I just looked at the water surface and the caddis swimming across the surface, to see if there is any rising fish. Suddenly I hear this plop sound somewhere to my right, and a second later I see one fish rise 20 m from me, but 2 m from land. At that moment Lise came back and I had to fill her in on the intel, when again a fish rises again. This time about 30 m away, but still close to land. so I run a few meters and put my swimming caddis pupae imitation where I saw the rise. Two seconds later the fish takes the fly, head &tail, and I hook it nice and easy. It felt realy big, but alas the fish wins this one.....

I spot two really nice rises on the other side of the lake and we, well Lise, decide to fish around the lake. Me on one side and Lise on the other side. Nothing happens, although there are plenty of caddis on the surface. Maybe it was the heat. So we go to another lake to check out if there is anything happening there, eating cloud-berries along the way. When we get to the lake, we see absolutely no sign of life. The sun burning hot, we jump in the lake for a quick cool down. After we got dried, which took just a few minutes in the sun, we head back to the lake where I lost the nice fish.

Lise takes the same side as before, and after a short while I see one nice one, rise some 50 m from Lise. She heads down and casts her Animal. After a few minutes I hear her say "Oh no, it took the fly, but didn't get hooked". Well, can't catch them all, I think for my self. She'll get it next time. Meanwhile I manage to break my 5wt, but after a quick mending MacGyver-style I'm back in the game. Not that it matters, because I don't catch anything and Lise manages to miss the hooking again. I head in Lise's direction, and half way there I hear the all familiar sound of a fish getting hooked. Lise's 4wt is in a nice bend, so I ask her if the fish is of a nice size. "It's OK" she says. After I net the fish for her, I see that the fish is anything but OK, it's f*****g awesome! Lise's biggest so far this season. Unfortunately we had to eat so that pretty thing ended up in our bellies.

Well, when the lunch was over, it was time to break camp and head home. The 10 km hike back to the car was awful. We just talked of what good fly fishing we left behind, but work and other duties call..
In the end we had a great weekend, despite the terrible wind on Saturday and I can speak for both of us, when I say, we'll go back!

The Trip to the North, Part Deux

Well, me and CC ditched school again to go fly fishing.

Since we took the whole day "off", we desided to go to the same spot up north where I caught that 3.2 kg seatrout. så we got in the car an sped to the magic-spot ;)

When we got there it was perfect! Just the right water-color and slight wind. So we rigged our gear fast and got to it! It didn't take long till we started catching fish, but none of the size we wanted...

Long and thin.....
Then CC got some nice fish, around 1 kg. Me? Nothing much.... Suddenly CC hooks something nice. "I think it's a cod" he says.....
Right, a cod!?

!.9 kg of pure silver. CC's new personal best.

Not long after I hook a nice one to. 1 kg on the spot. Then we started making fun of Raymond, since he does't like cold :D (All good fun, we say the same things to his face, just as he tells us we fish with lures & spinning gear (streamer flyfishing) hahahaha). Anywho, right in he middle of the "trash talk", with only my leader out, something bites.

"It feels nice" I say, before the fish takes the line and 30 meters of backing in few seconds.... While I play the fish, CC is saying "don't lose this one, don't lose this one...." Like that is helping :D

Well, I don't lose the fish, and after a superfast photoshoot and weighing, I let it swim away.

What is it about seeing them swim away? It just feels nice, knowing it will live to fight (and spawn) another day.

The run

The fish & one happy guy

Oh yeah, almost forgot. It was 3.2 kg

The Trip to the North

Me and CC ditched school and went flyfishing for seatrout.On our way north we picked Raymond, since he was interested in coming with us. When I say north, I mean few hours away from Trondheim. Was it south of Levanger or north of Steinkjer? Not sure....

Well we reached the place late in the morning, and that good feeling that something is about to happen was there. It didn't take long time to catch the first fish, CC did it, not big but it was seatrout.

I was just able to either loose fish or not hook them... My calm was disappearing fast....
CC lands another trout....




I finally land a fish, but it's a cod... Raymond is freezing :D
Then CC desides to go pee, which means going out of the water and finding a place to do it. While he's away something great happens, I hook a BIG seatrout and after a good fight the scale stops at 3.2 kg. New personal best for me.




Man was I happy, and the look on CC's face after I showed him the picture, unforgettable!
Raymond was still freezing :D

Bosnia 2009

This time I was sure I was going to land a fish in Bosnia, the weather was perfect! Rain and about 20 oC. I was in Sarajevo with my brother and some friends, mostly partying and counting down to the day I was going to Neretva.

The day soon came, but with it the sun and scorching heat. How it's possible that the temperature can rise form 20 to about 40 oC during the night, I don't know, but it did. Still, Neretva is cold all year long.

We came to Grenko's place about 11.00 and used some time to rest a bit and check the place out. Well, my brother rested

while I checked out the river. This is just down the road from Grenko's place....

So after catching my breath it was of to the flyfishing-only beat to test out the fishing. And Neretva is so beautful whith that clear water... Since it was insanely hot, nothing was hatching, so I put on a nymph and started to work the water. Nothing.... Try and work over all the spots that could hold the fish, nothing..... Then suddenly I feel something, was that a fish? Could be. Few more casts over the same spot, but nothing happens.... Then at the end of the beat I spot three rainbows in a deep hole, just chilling in the cool water. Not big, but OK-sized. I'm not sure how many of my flies pased those fish, but they could't care less. So no fish this time either.

Two photos of the flyfishing-only beat.

Nice, right? It is, Bosnia really has some beautiful rivers.
After spending to much time in the scorching sun, I desided it was for the best to give up and join the non-fishing part of the group for some food and dring.



Grenko has a really great place where we could rent small cabins (if we had time to stay longer) and great food cooked over open fire. We ate pita (special Bosnian dish), grilled calf liver, calf brissel, calf kidneys, calf steaks and some (a lot) moon-shine made of pears and home-made white wine. He also does rafting, so the plan is to visit Grenko again and use those raftes to get to the places which are impossible to reach on foot. And catch some fish! :D