Norway: land of the Atlantic Salmon
I'm going to Norway in a few weeks. I may have a day or two to sneak away while there, and am seeking any info on fishing possibilities.
This is the true home of the Atlantic Salmon, with a large percentage caught over 50 lbs., from what I've heard and read. The GAULA and ALTA Rivers seem to have the most fame surrounding them.
I am however aware, that very little day light will be available this time of year, and temperature will be down right severe. Maybe fishing won't be a possibility. But, at least gotta try!
Anyone been, or could recommend a:
1. river
2. guide
3. any other info
Re: Norway: land of the Atlantic Salmon
Dear Lord I envy you ,ive always wanted to go there ,Im norweign and ive heard the fishing is comparable to new zealand ,
Good luck when you go ,fish no matter what !
Re: Norway: land of the Atlantic Salmon
Dave,
If the conditions aren't right for actual fishing much, you can always do some scouting and shopping. Much of the tackle you will find there is completely unique from what we are used too. Perhaps you can locate a killer steelhead fly or exotic material to sneak home in your luggage. I know that many of the smalls streams in Norway are loaded with brook trout and they are easy to catch. Licensing may be a bit complicated to figure out.
Have a great trip.
Re: Norway: land of the Atlantic Salmon
Daveman -
obviously. we're ALL extremely jealous. Best of luck! I do have one suggestion/possibility for you. I know fishing for sea trout is big out in that part of the world in the way fishermen get fanatical about steelheading here. If you go to http://globalflyfisher.com/ and check out the forum area, you can probably get some great info and maybe even make some contacts. I don't know if the slamon fishing is viable this time of year, so this might be a worthy second option for you.
Good luck on your journey! Going to try the centerpin with Aaron in Pulaski this weekend - can't wait.
Dave
Re: Norway: land of the Atlantic Salmon
Alan- Did they stock brookies or are they Artic Char? I think you get good sea trout over there as well.
Dave- You might want to check out the website speypages.com. They've got a very good forum with lots of international anglers. Its Dana Sturm's website, a big shot in the spey world. Anyway, there are quite a few Scandanavians on the forum, and they might be able to help (not to mention Dana, Bob Meiser, Mike Kinney, Kerry Burkheimer, Gary Anderson, Simon Gawesworth, Andrew Moy from Tightlines, etc., etc.). I know the site is dedicated to spey fishing, but they should at least be able to point you in the right direction. Also, though they're swedish, you might want to contact members of the LOOP, Scierra or GuideLine pro staffs. They might be willing to cough up some info. I'd check out some youtube videos and sexyloops.com and salmoncrazy.com. Finally, ask Juice to borrow his copy of Charles Ritz's book. He was a big fan of fishing Scandanavia, particularly the Alta, and, provided things haven't changed much since the 50's, has good pictures of sections of the river and descriptions of where he fished and how.
One more site for ya Dave
http://www.flyshop.no/
Re: Norway: land of the Atlantic Salmon
Rego, I don't know for sure, they might be arctic char. I don't think they stock. Sometimes it's hard to tell a char from what I know as a brook trout. In any case, there is fantastic salmonoid fishing there.
Re: Norway: land of the Atlantic Salmon
I only ask because brook trout are native only to North American waters east of the mississippi drainage, i.e. hudson bay watershed, st. lawrence watershed, and East coast... no ohio river drainage, etc. So if they're there, then they must have stocked em. I would think, if they don't stock, then they're artic char. Probably some go sea-run. Check out this artic char (not a dolly, they're only in PNW):
http://www.environment.no/upload/4697/SjoRoye_173.gif
sea run version
http://www.seafoodfromnorway.com/binary?id=33572
and what dave is after:
http://www.higharctic.com/pics/photo...rly%20Char.jpg
Re: Norway: land of the Atlantic Salmon
I would be after one of those too, what vibrant colors!
Re: Norway: land of the Atlantic Salmon
Re: Norway: land of the Atlantic Salmon
You get a lot of them in AK too. Thought there its often hard to tell them apart from Dolly Varden. There's long been confusion over what's an arctic, what's a dolly and what's a bull in the PNW. Best I can tell the char look like the last picture, the dollies have a bit greener back and are found only in coastal areas, and the bulls are inland, bigger, carnivores and more of a grey green.
Re: Norway: land of the Atlantic Salmon
Wow, thanks for the replies guys, greatly appreciated!
What great pics Rego, I definitely want one like that behemoth. Those colors are beautiful, to say the least.
I've kept my Norwegian investigation going, but no real leads yet. I'll be in Oslo, so finding a way to get to a local stream/river may be tough. Alain, I will, regardless if I get to fish or not, make sure I get to one of the angling stores and get some rare and unusual materials.
I'll keep you posted.
Re: Norway: land of the Atlantic Salmon
Check out that flyshop link i posted. It has an interactive map of norway by geographic region that tells you what the fishing opportunities are in each area. I guess around olso there are a bunch of good rivers but acid rain really screwed them up so they lime them and they're rebounding.
Re: Norway: land of the Atlantic Salmon
Sorry about this guys, meant to post this last week when I returned from Norway.
What a great country, and a really beautiful one. I got off the plane in Oslo, went to my Hotel downtown, and right across the street was a fly fishing/Spey tackle outfitters called Sportsfiske. Incredible. Every fly in there was tied in the shop. Three guys were tying flies all day there, everyday. The most remarkable sight was the tube flies. I ordered some, which I'll post very soon. They catch all they're huge salmon, brown trout, sea trout, etc. on spey and tube flies, HUGE, HUGE FLIES. These flies averaged about 5'', and some spanned over 10''. They are SERIOUS about their salmon fishing. One of the shop tyers lived in Seattle for 8 years, so we talked about the steelhead here in the US, which impressed and excited them. If I had a video camera, I would have taken footage of them tying spey or tubeflies for a TPO "International Exclusive"! Hopefully next time.
The best river to fish, the Alta, is EXTREMELY expensive to fish. You must submit a lottery ticket drawing in January to see if you get chosen to have a license for the next August run of Atlantic Salmon. AND, you can't fish from 12-6 pm. That being said, the day light lasts for a LONG time during that part of their year. It costs 40,000 kroner, which comes out to be about $8-10,000 for only a few days (3) of fishing. BUT, those who have done it, say it is WELL worth it. You would not believe some of the pictures I saw of the fish that came out of that river. . .over 5-6' in length, weighing more than 60-70 lbs. ALL wild of course.
Like Alain had said, I tried to purchase some rare materials for tying, but they were VERY expensive. The most important "ingredient" for the best producing spey and tubeflies is a type of dog hair. To give you an idea of the cost, it makes Hungarian Partridge look really cheap. The dog hair had extraordinary volume and smoothness, and gave a lot of body to the heads of the spey flies. They also use a lot of goat hair.
In terms of equipment, prices are off the wall! They're "Sage equivalent" is SCIERRA. Very pricey, but considered the best over there. Rods usually ran well about $1,500. Reels were similarly priced. WAY more expensive than over here.
I almost had the opportunity to fish the Oslo Fjord for Sea trout, but couldn't quite squeeze in enough time. I'm definitely going to try to fish Norway in the next few years.
Re: Norway: land of the Atlantic Salmon
Scierra is Henrik Mortensen's company. Tightlines fly shop sells some of their stuff. Not nearly as expensive over here, but still pricey. Did you get any opinions on the other scandi companies, GUIDEline, Vision, Danielsson and LOOP?
Re: Norway: land of the Atlantic Salmon
Rego,
It seemed that LOOP are most popular reels in all of Scandinavia. Scierra has the market cornered over there, they make EVERYTHING: jackets, waders, fly boxes, rods, reels, wading poles, etc, etc, etc. Every piec of gear you need, they make it. One of the guys told me that the scierra waders are made at the Simms factory here in the states. Is that true? Danielsson was also present there, but not nearly as much as Scierra.
I still can't get over those pictures of the Salmon. . .unreal!
Re: Norway: land of the Atlantic Salmon
Dave,
You didn't get to get in a river at all?
Did you get to watch anyone fishin? See many of the rivers over there?
Any landscape pics, rivers?
Glad to hear you enjoyed your visit either way.
Re: Norway: land of the Atlantic Salmon
Hey Ed,
I unfortunately couldn't sneak away long enough for a half day of fishing. A boat trip around the Oslo Fjord takes a minimum of 7 hours.
While flying over the Northern part of the country, one couldn't help notice the huge lakes, and the hundreds and thousands of tributaries. . .a truly unbelievable sight.
I saw plenty of great photos in the local fly shop with huge brown trout, Atlantic Salmon (obviously), brook trout, and char. Best part of the trip was watching the guys tie massive tube flies. Too bad I didn't have the video rolling.
