Back in January talking to my pal Barry Ord Clarke we
decided on a weekend that I’d travel to Norway to fish with him for coastal Sea
Trout… Barry suggested a week before Easter when usually the weather has come
up above freezing and spring is well on the way. This time last year we were
looking at 16°C in Norway and Britain was bathed in a heatwave… this year
temperatures plummeted and are below seasonal norms. In the days prior to me
leaving the UK for Norway high winds and snow were forecast from the North East
giving wind chill factors of -20°C. This was as much about survival as about
fishing… never mind catching.
Last Wednesday night and on final approach into Oslo snow
whipped past the window of the aircraft. On exiting customs I was met by a
friendly face… an unmistakable broad Northern grin across Barry’s face.
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| Emma photo by Barry Ord Clarke |
I woke to a white Norway with a temperature of -7°C in the
sun… it looked so deceptive. Stepping
outside I felt the rawness of the wind this was seriously cold. Barry said that
we’d meet up with Emma Bäcker Håkonsen a
freelance fishing journalist later that day when the temperature had warmed up.
I would point out that we are talking about the temperature increasing to -1°C!
Emma had identified an area between two islands that had a pocket of ice free
water… it looked like we were going to struggle to get sea trout in my 4 day
trip to Norway!
We drove to the meeting
place… everything was white; we crossed bridges over rivers and open sea that
were solid ice… this was looking dire. To acclimatise I was dressed in my
thermal underwear and Simms fleece bib… if you are fully dressed in the car
then you’ll freeze when you get out into the open. On arriving at the bridge I
got out of the car and quickly dressed. The wind was biting and by the time I
was gearing up my fingers were freezing as I tied on my first fly. Emma arrived
with her casting rods with dead bait rigs on which she would float fish a small
brisling (sprat) along the current to tempt the sea trout. The wind was force
5-6 and fly fishing was going to be difficult… Emma was going fish off the main
pier in the wind whilst I was going to fish on the leeward side of the bridge.
Out of the wind and in the sun I covered the water with my fly allowing it to
drift with the current. No joy!
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| photo by Barry Ord Clarke |
After a short while Barry and Emma appeared,
they had retreated from the windy mark. Emma had success… 2 sea trout had
succumbed to what is a deadly method of fishing and she had lost a further 4!
They were surprised that I’d not seen anything and Emma decided to rig a second
rod for me and we’d fish two rods on my side of the bridge in the relative
calm. The action was basically over… she had hit the feed at just the right
time. After 3 hours and plummeting air temperatures we called it a day.
The weather was going
to be a major problem for us and the fact that the ice had not retreated as
much as Barry would have liked may cause us issues over the weekend when we
were due to fish the Norwegian coast.
There was no need to
get up out and early as the air temperatures were just too low and we had to
wait for temperatures to rise for us to stand any chance of a fish.
Saturday arrived and
-3°C in the morning sun… Mmmm… we had breakfast and set off for the coast. We
drove on roads that punched their way through mountains passed settlements
whose wooden houses generally painted red, yellow ochre, grey or white provided
relief from the tracts of forest. Large fields covered in snow showed the
evidence of Nordic ski tracks that continually looped the boundaries of the
fields… crossing bridges I’d see folk fishing on the ice boring holes with
giant augers. It’s part of the fishing experience seeing an alternative
landscape.
The geological
architecture of post ice age Norway is impressive, immense rounded granite rock
structures carved by raging sub-surface ice melt-water rivers hurtling glacial
deposits past and carving perfect curves in the bedrock.
We crossed from the
mainland and then two islands to reach our destination… we saw inlets with ice
and without ice… would we be in luck?
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| Photo by David Edwards |
On arriving at the red
(perhaps burnt sienna would be a nearer description) cottage we saw ice in the
top of the inlet but open water glistening in the midday sun. Step out of the
car – hell, it was cold… we got changed out of the wind on the verandah and set
up our rods… I never took notice of what fly Barry tied on… I decided that as
the sea trout that Emma had caught were eating brisling and sticklebacks then
I’d tie on a Virtual Minnow… Pearl white BUG-BOND body with a dusky pink zonker
– that’ll do nicely!
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| Virtual Minnow photo by David Edwards |
My titanium studded
boots bit into the ice as we crossed the top of the inlet… clicked on the
granite and crunched on dry sea-weed.
Our first mark of the
day was a granite finger that looked as if it was trying to escape the ice with
the surrounding inlets on either side having ice in the upper reaches. Barry
took the first inlet giving me the opportunity to fish open water immediately.
The water was crystal clear every speck of sand was visible to the naked eye…
that meant we were visible as well. A half crouching approach… strip line and
fish into the water’s edge before getting anywhere near the water is important…
many a fish is lost that is feeding close to land. Nothing, so I move in and
strip more line… now I am punching the Arctic air with my 7wt intermediate line,
working methodically in a fan shape in front of me and casting further each
time.
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| Open water coastal fishing photo by David Edwards |
The only sounds were
the false casts of two rods working in unison, then I heard Barry exclaim that
he’d felt a pluck on his fly and then another. My thoughts were none other than
I was sure he was going to catch… his home turf and all that! Then watching my fly come close felt a tug
and a saw a movement behind… was this, a fish or my imagination? I cast again a
full line toward the centre of two orange buoys in the inlet strip, strip,
pause, strip, pause – bang “Barry, I’m in!” “Keep your rod tip high” was the
response from my pal… I tried desperately to get line on the reel and play the
fish with line in the other whilst watching this bar of silver flicking and
turning in the water beneath me… for one horrible moment I thought I had lost
it… line now on the reel I let the brake do its work with the rod tip taking
each twist and turn of the fish in its stride. As the fish quietened and the
fight ebbed from it, I slid the fish over the sea-weed and onto the ice. This
was my first coastal sea-trout caught in open water. Barry measured the fish –
50cm and at 1.3kg was a fin perfect specimen – it was a male in prime
condition. Wow! I was elated and could feel the internal glow and smile pervade
my whole body.
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| My Sea Trout photo by David Edwards |
Barry took some
obligatory shots which were later lost when his camera short circuited and
deleted the images he’d taken… fortunately he’d taken a couple of shots with my
camera that is a record of the event… I photographed my fish on the ice with my
phone and we recommenced fishing. Time to move on.
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| David Edwards photo by Barry Ord Clarke |
This time I was wading
in the inlet wading to over my waist… initially not unpleasant with my layered
system but after a while I did find my personal tackle succumbing to the cold…
the water temperature was 2°C, Barry had explained that the fishing really
didn’t start until the sea was over 4°C… I’m not sure whether my body would
have measured an extra 2 degrees of “warmth”!
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| photo by Barry Ord Clarke |
We trekked across pack
ice in inlets and across large smooth slabs of granite to get to open water but
our casting met with a still cold silence… nothing doing was this going to be
it for the day? Barry had packed some pasta from the night before which was
eaten out of the wind and in the afternoon sun… warmth in my bones at last!
We crossed a snow
covered grassed area near a cottage and spotted tracks… roe deer, squirrel, fox
and then a set of large cat pads… lynx? A lynx had been spotted on the island
some time ago… keep your eyes peeled! Each successive cast drew a blank… we
were casting rather than fishing and the day seemed to be over. I heard Barry
exclaim just like a football player does when he’s missed an easy goal by
putting the ball wide of the open goal mouth! A fish of the 2kg mark had come
to take Barry’s fly just as he’d lifted the fly off the water. The big fish was
still there… he cast again a follow and a take but not from the bigger fish… it
was still a keeper. Cast again and another follow – fish on but again not from
the bigger fish… another keeper. Then all quiet… nothing. The show was over!
During the casts to the bigger fish which
Barry saw on two occasions, the fly was taken by fish coming from another
direction. As we walked back with our catch my pal was saying that he should
have been using his Proppen fly earlier in the day.
All three fish we
caught were over 1kg. They were fish that hadn't spawned last year and having spent the winter in salt water they were in great condition and silver (just what we wanted).
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| Barry Ord Clarke photo by David Edwards |
Sunday – my last day in
Norway… an evening flight so a day’s fishing ahead. The morning temperature was
-7°C with a raw wind from the North and clear blue skies again! As we got
closer to the coast it was obvious that fresh ice had formed overnight… this
was going to be a tough day!
We retraced the
previous day’s tracks as best we could but fresh ice hampered us. The high air
pressure also kept the sea level much lower… high tide didn’t happen! The wind
was so excruciating at times… I could only tie on a fly by taking shelter out
of the wind as I couldn’t get my finger tips to work properly. The spots from
the previous day weren’t working and Barry suggested moving toward the mouth of
the inlet to fish in deep water.
Much scrambling and
clambering over rocks and we arrived to a howling wind that would carry your
soul off to the old Norse gods in a whisker! Large flatwings were the order of
the day… out with the secret weapon – a Steve Silverio Flatwing fly. The
Guideline fast intermediate WF7 line had been on the rod all week and here I
would have liked a sinking line – but you can’t have everything in life and
patience is a virtue. I cast three or four times and waited for the blue line
to slip deep into the dark abyss. During each retrieve I strained my eyes to
catch a glimpse of the fly 9 foot behind the loop of the fly line… I must have
cast a dozen times and I saw something follow my fly… as I got to what must
have been 15 ft sub surface I could see a fish… it wasn’t computing in my
brain. Pause the retrieve and fish on… I couldn’t believe it another first – a
flounder that when on land weighted in around the 1kg mark. Fantastic… this is
a fish that could save the day! We continued and had a few more flounder
follows but no takes… no more fish were seen and we decided on a lunch break.
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| Flounder photo by David Edwards |
Mushroom Arrabiatta
pasta and a few sandwiches washed down with Farris mineral water… for
entertainment the local wild cat stalked us waiting for a morsel from our
plates. After relaxing in the sun we
decided to try for that big fish… it was evident that after a few casts this
was fast becoming an exercise in casting and not fishing. We therefore called
it a day.
I packed and stowed my
gear ready for the off… the same friendly face with the Northern grin left me
back at the airport content and happy that I’d got the job done and had caught
my first Norwegian sea-trout in conditions that were far from easy.
Grateful thanks to my
pal, Barry Ord Clarke for guiding me and putting up with me for 4 days... for
his support, selfless enthusiasm and inspiration both on and off the water.
**********
Notes:
If you are
contemplating a trip to Scandinavia during the spring you need to prepare for
the worst!
I wore:-
Base layer compression top,
waderwick thermal long johns, fleece pullover, fleece bib, fleece jacket. Two
pairs of socks, one thin pair and one hiking pair. Breathable waders, tungsten
studded boots and a Gore-tex wading jacket. Baseball cap with fleece lined wool
hat with ear flaps(very important) and wore fishing mitts occasionally. Eyewear pair of Costa del Mar Double Haul Crystal Frames with Blue 580G lenses
Gear:-
Scott S4S 7wt with
Danielsson 8Eleven LW reel, WF 7wt Guideline Coastal series fly lines Fast
Intermediate and Floating. Tapered leaders Seaguar Fluorocarbon – own construction
to an advised specification.
Flies:-
Too numerous to name
BUT if you follow www.thefeatherbender.com
for fly choice and advice of sea trout fishing you won’t go wrong!
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