Above: Stu's Point.
About a year ago, Mark Reed, a fishing mate of mine, proposed a trip to Norway to sample the incredible shore fishing that we had read and heard so much about it. We gathered a crew of four (Roy Moore and Ron Brown being the other two anglers), made our preparations as best we could with what info we could gather and made the trip to Trondheimsfjord on the 23rd of October 2015 for a week’s stay at Skarnsundet Fjordsenter.
Our guide, Phill, picked us up from Trondheim airport and we passed the hour and a half drive to Skarnsundet quizzing him about the fishing and getting an idea of what he had planned for us. On arrival at the fishing lodge, we all piled out and after some rudimentary unpacking descended on the pier outside to try and catch our first Norwegian fish. I picked a spot near the southern end of the pier and baited up with a good chunk of bluey. My first cast went out about fifty yards into the inky black waters and the lead kept sinking… and sinking… and sinking. After what seemed like an age, the line slackened and I put the rod in the tripod wondering what kind of fanged beast could be lurking in such depths waiting to devour my offering. The answer arrived after a few minutes with a lethargic bite that had me instantly on the alert. On picking up the rod and beginning the retrieve, I could feel a weight on the end, although the culprit wasn’t putting up too much of a struggle. After some heaving and grunting and an encounter with a rock ledge that I had undoubtedly been fishing over the back of, up popped a familiar looking shape – a dogfish. However, this was a black mouth dogfish as opposed to our lesser spotted friends and sported quite pretty markings as well as a more ‘spurdoggy’ head. However, as we were to find out consistently through the course of the holiday, the black mouth lacks any kind of fight whatsoever and, although not a bad looking fish, is more of a novelty species than a sporting proposition.
The next fish came on the other rod soon after and proved to be a velvet bellied laternshark. These are curious little fish, again sporting a soft bellied ‘deep water’ type of form like the black mouth. The velvet belly also has dorsal fin spurs as well so requires some careful handling. After this initial one, I couldn’t seem to catch anything but velvet bellies and my line was being lacerated to shreds over the back of the ledge. The others fishing further up and down the pier were enjoying an easier time with less troublesome retrieves and more varied species. Our total species the first night included haddock, ghost shark and spurdog as well as the black mouth and velvet bellies. We were all pleased with the final tally and excited that a few hours off the pier could yield so many unusual fish.
I personally had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to target during the week. I was eager to catch one of the monster plaice that inhabit the Norwegian fjords, and to that end, our first day was spent fishing a mark over at a place called Leksvik. Phill talked us through the features, explained whereabouts we wanted to be putting our baits and then left us to it, arranging to pick us up later on. The group was divided into two pairs with myself and Roy fishing a small concrete pier and Ron and Mark fishing from an adjacent breakwall. Myself and Roy hit fish from the off, with a couple of haddock and a codling for me and Roy picking out codling and a plaice. Small codlets were a pest for much of the session, attacking worm baits within seconds but we kept ourselves busy by fishing for the vast numbers of pollack and coalfish underneath our feet. By freelining ragworm or bits of mackerel, we caught plenty of these spirited scrappers with the best ones being in the 2-3lb bracket.
Early on in the session, Mark’s plaice bait was snaffled by something considerably bigger and after a prolonged tussle during which the fish went to ground, a fine cod of 16lb 10oz was brought to the gaff. This was a great start for us and spirits were sky high as we continued to pull out a mix of species. I was particularly pleased to catch my first Norwegian plaice, a fish of no great size but beautifully marked and hopefully a step in the right direction to me catching a monster! Ron and Mark had considerable frustration at their spot as there was a ledge directly in front of them that stole a fair bit of tackle and cost Ron what was undoubtedly a nice cod. He made up for it though by bagging haddock, cod and dab as well as the trip’s only flounder.
After our day at Leksvik, we fished the pier again in darkness. I fished a bit further down the pier than the night before and had improved fishing with dogfish, coalfish and my first ever spurdog to show. The other lads also had sport with the spurs as well, although several hooked fish managed to chomp through the line and escape us.
The next day we headed back to Leksvik with the intention of me fishing for a plaice and the rest of the group fishing a series of rock ledges for mixed species. My mark was a stony beach giving on to sand that given the high tide, I could fish comfortably from the car park. My first cast resulted in a nice plaice and dab double shot that had all the makings of a great start but as the tide ebbed, all I could add to it was small codling and dabs. Still, I fared better than the others who found their mark impossibly snaggy with very little gear coming back, and seemingly barren with no fish caught at all! Personally, I suspected some kind of ghost gear or something of that nature as Phill assured us that the mark is not usually anything like so tackle hungry. That night, the pier had to be fished again to make up for the lads setback earlier in the day. Mark and Ron saved the day by catching a decent cod and a couple of haddock respectively.
The next day we set off to fish a mark known as Straumen field. We were all a bit excited for this one as this spot is known for excellent cod fishing as well as flatfish. Phill was keen to show us the popular ‘shadding’ technique that is used to catch cod on light lure tackle. The mark itself was a decent stretch of shore bordering on an absolute torrent of water that rips through a narrow bottleneck. Phill told us that this was the second strongest current in Norway and I can only describe it as resembling a full-on white water rapid. We arrived at high water and began to fish the ebb in earnest. I had a small coalie first cast and that was my only fish for hours. Further down the line, Mark was cleaning up catching a succession of big dabs along with the odd codling. Roy, fishing next to him, was in on the action too with a few dabs, codling and a grey gurnard making an appearance. In the field itself, Ron and I struggled with a succession of bites that came to nothing. These looked like dabs pecking at the baits but not committing themselves and even a change to size 2 hooks didn’t manage to ensnare one.
Phill returned as low tide loomed to give us a crash course in shad fishing. I was particularly keen to have a go at this as I’d seen a couple of videos of Phill and guests catching cod using the technique and it looked like brilliant fun. Phill set me up with a 60 gram jighead and shad and explained that I needed to get a good cast out, then feather the line down until the shad hit the bottom. When I felt the lure hit the deck, I was to wind in four turns to get the lure moving then when it hit bottom again, another three turns and continuing in this fashion. The lure needed to be reeled in before getting too close to me though to avoid snagging a ledge in front. After a few casts, I started to become locked in to the signals down the line and I could feel the cod pecking lightly at the lure as it dropped. Phill was getting bite after bite but not connecting, explaining that the fish were not really feeding and were just mouthing the lures rather than hitting them properly. We moved onto the next shelf, fishing the spot known as Straumen gully. Here, I had my first proper take and hooked a fish that came adrift. By now, Mark and Roy had joined us and were also shadding away. Ron stayed with his bait rods, a decision that would soon prove to pay off. Bumping the shad down the gully, I felt a bit of weight come on to the line, lifted the rod and was rewarded with a satisfying thud, fish on! The cod thumped away and the light rod hooped over near to breaking point, the fish doing its best to go to ground. After a short and brutal battle, I slid the cod over the rocks and was amazed after such an intense fight to see it was a fish of only about 3lbs. Just goes to show what cod can do on light gear!
Shortly after returning the fish, I heard a bit of commotion further up the point and looked over to see Ron with a fine cod. Sticking with his bait rods had proven to be an inspired choice as a small bite had resulted in a fish of over 10lbs. Ron returned the fish and fished on in the field eager for more. We all eventually joined him, my codling and a couple for Phill being the result of our shadding session (although Roy also managed one spinning a Savage sandeel from his spot in the field!). We packed up and left as the rain came on and we elected to have a relatively early night and hit another mark near the house early doors in search of something different.
A 5am start saw us all picking our way along the boulder beach near the north end of the pier. As the baits went out into the dawn, I couldn’t help thinking that I wasn’t going to see that set of end gear again, and so it proved with everyone finding snags almost straight away. Roy however, did manage to catch his first ever haddock which he was absolutely delighted with! After breaking out of our respective snags, Ron, Roy and I decided to troop over to the pier and fish off there instead with Mark electing to go back to the lodge to sort himself some breakfast out. What followed was one of the most fun sessions of the trip, with dawn breaking to glorious sunshine and a slew of fish, starting with small coalfish and a couple of haddock for Ron and moving on to bigger coalfish in the 4-5lb bracket which fought like tigers right up to the rocks.
Roy and I were conscious that we were doing rather well for species and decided to augment our count by fishing in the harbour behind us with our spinning rods. Phill had already told us of what kind of critters made their home in the scrubby ground and his captures of oddities such as lumpsuckers and lemon sole had certainly piqued our interest! It was whilst we were pottering around the harbour that the ratchet on Roy’s reel buzzed, signalling a run on one of his rods. Roy picked up the rod, felt for the fish and eventually reeled into it. He signalled that there was a fish on but it didn’t feel like much size, but what popped out of the depths amazed both of us – a small halibut! Looking like a stretched flounder with teeth, this little chap was probably only a pound or so but you wouldn’t have known it from the strength of the bite! We were elated as many people come to Norway to fish for this species without success and here Roy had caught one without even trying!
The morning passed on with a few more mini species from the harbour and bigger fish from the pier. I was particularly pleased to see a scorpion fish sidle up from the depths to hide behind a boulder and after a bit of stalking (and the fish trying to eat my swivel!) it eventually nailed my tiny mackerel bait. Roy added one of his own and by the end of the session, we were looking very good for species count and for decent fish landed through the morning. Mark had even emerged and bagged the biggest coalie of the morning at 5.12. Talking afterwards, we all felt that there was definitely a chance of a proper bruiser of a coalie off the pier wall as they were clearly coming through in waves hunting.
Phill had promised us an evening session at a cod hotspot called Straumen slipway and he was as good as his word, getting us over there to fish the hot time. This was a really tasty looking mark with a rocketing current crashing into a small rock island about 80-100 yards out, forming a current tongue that ran strongly further out and a back eddy flowing in the opposite direction closer in. Casting into the border of these two bodies of water resulted in fish after fish, a mixture of coalies and codling. My better codling were in the 4-5lb category but Mark managed a 6 and Roy bagged a cracking fish of 8.10. Ron, fishing the furthest down the line of the back eddy suffered last man syndrome and had the slimmest of the pickings as the cod clearly seemed to be making their way down the eddy and hitting Roy, then Mark, then me first. Still, we all agreed that this was a great spot and we definitely wanted another session here before our time was up.
The next day, we were set to fish a well-known mark called Stu’s Point. The previous day, another party had done well off the concrete platform inside of the point, landing plaice to 3.5 and a succession of dab to 2lbs. Knowing that I was dead keen on catching a good plaice, we all got up early to dig some worms from the sandy beach next to the lodge. Truth be told, the digging was hard going and we came away with a few worms but not enough to keep even one of us going all day. It was a bit of an odd session, truth be told. The weather was beautiful and there was fish there with Ron and I picking out a few codling and dab but Mark and Roy were hitting snags unless they cast into more or less the same area as Ron and I were fishing. The other group were fishing the concrete platform when we arrived but packed up and left after a while. I made my mind up to move over there as Phill had told us there was a gravel bar only 50 yards or so out that held good flatfish. I was getting bites straight away with dabs being the culprits and a couple of them being good fish of a pound or so. After a while, one of the rods dropped right back with slack line falling everywhere and on reeling in, I found myself connected to a better fish - could this be the mother plaice? The answer was no, but what did come up from the depths was a reasonable cod. I drew the fish onto the foreshore by the side of the pier and went down to get it. It was a long, lean fish with a massive head. In good condition it would have been a good 7-8lbs but as it was it was just shy of 6. Still, it was the heaviest cod that I caught and weighed on the trip.
As dusk approached, Roy came over to join me on the concrete platform and was typically straight into fish as usual! I had immense trouble staying awake and nodded off for a while, waking up to freezing feet and Roy telling me he had caught a cod and a dab of 1lb 6oz! We fished on for a while but the cold was biting and by the time Phill came to pick us up, I was well ready to leave. I was pretty knackered that evening and didn’t go to fish the pier with Roy and Ron. As it was, they returned after only a couple of hours with talk of freezing temperatures and pretty slow fishing.
The apartment next to us was occupied by a lively crew of Welshmen and they had had a fine day chasing halibut at a coastal mark about 2 hours’ drive north west of Skarnsundet. Although they hadn’t bagged a halibut, they had enjoyed excellent fishing with cod to 27lbs and plenty of fun on lures fishing under the pier. So it was that on our last full day, we all piled into Phill’s van to see if we could go one better and catch a halibut as well as some big cod of our own. The drive across the mountains was spectacular with stunning scenery and Phill pointing out numerous rivers that offered excellent salmon fishing for surprisingly little money (Scotland eat your heart out!). The mark itself was beautiful, being a channel between the mainland and an island where tidal flow was concentrated into a perpetual stream. The four of us set up along the wooden jetty and Phill put himself at the downtide end, intending to trial a new method of targeting halibut that he had thought up and was excited to try. Anticipation was high as we hurled out our halibut baits before turning to the light gear to fish for some of the good Pollack that we could see cruising underneath the structure. Time passed and apart from a good bite when something grabbed a small codling on my hooks and a bite for Phill, nothing much was happening on the bottom. The fishing in close was fun with plenty of small coalies and Pollack but the bigger ones weren’t giving up easily.
Eventually, Phill showed his class by catching a Pollack in the 5-6lb bracket and Mark managed a respectable cod right at the death but the big cod the Welsh boys had gotten stuck into the day previous didn’t show for us. Still, I left the halibut mark determined to get straight out on to the pier when we returned to have a proper effort for a good fish. After briefly refuelling, I marched out to my now favourite spot on the pier and lobbed in some large bluey baits skewered on pairs of 6/0’s. My first fish was a reasonable haddock and I was well pleased to be back catching! Another haddock followed and I lost a nice one right at my feet that would have surely been in the 5-6lb bracket. Still spitting curses, I cast out again and my next fish was a coalie of 4-5lbs, showing that the better ones were out there again. I left my rods for a minute to speak to Mark when the ratchet went and I looked over to see the rod lurching over crazily in the stand. I ran over to the rod and picked it up and it immediately pulled right round in my hands. A sweep of the rod and I felt the heavy thud of a good fish. The battle played out right to the edge and after some frantic last dives, a final lift of the rod saw a big coalfish emerge and wallow on the surface where it met the gaff wielded by Mark. Laying the fish on the pier, I couldn’t make much estimate of its weight but could only marvel at what a strong and beautifully conditioned fish it was. Comparing it to the coalie I had already caught, it was clearly at least double the size but I wasn’t prepared for the scales reading out a weight of 12lbs on the button, what a fish! I was well chuffed and glad to have contributed a good specimen to the group’s tally. I got into bed that night brimming with the blissful feeling of completeness that catching a properly nice fish never fails to bring about in me.
The next morning, Mark, Ron and I got up at the crack of dawn for one last go at Straumen slipway. Julian, Phill’s right hand man, picked us up and drove us out there and we witnessed another beautiful dawn as we made our last casts of the trip. Fittingly, Ron was much better placed this time and bagged the session’s only cod of any size, a fish of about 5lbs. As for myself, I could only catch a stream of small coalfish but after the session last night, I could have caught nothing but snags and still been smiling!
We returned to the lodge and saw Phill for the last time before Julian drove us to the airport and we said our goodbyes to him before boarding the big bird home. I was happy to be going back as every time I had any time to think about anything but fishing, I realised I missed my fiancé and my dogs terribly but I also realised that I was already thinking about my next trip to Skarnsundet and the unfinished business I had there! That big Norwegian plaice must be caught and next time, I’m pulling out all the stops!
Up next: Part 2 - Lessons in Norwegian.
About a year ago, Mark Reed, a fishing mate of mine, proposed a trip to Norway to sample the incredible shore fishing that we had read and heard so much about it. We gathered a crew of four (Roy Moore and Ron Brown being the other two anglers), made our preparations as best we could with what info we could gather and made the trip to Trondheimsfjord on the 23rd of October 2015 for a week’s stay at Skarnsundet Fjordsenter.
Our guide, Phill, picked us up from Trondheim airport and we passed the hour and a half drive to Skarnsundet quizzing him about the fishing and getting an idea of what he had planned for us. On arrival at the fishing lodge, we all piled out and after some rudimentary unpacking descended on the pier outside to try and catch our first Norwegian fish. I picked a spot near the southern end of the pier and baited up with a good chunk of bluey. My first cast went out about fifty yards into the inky black waters and the lead kept sinking… and sinking… and sinking. After what seemed like an age, the line slackened and I put the rod in the tripod wondering what kind of fanged beast could be lurking in such depths waiting to devour my offering. The answer arrived after a few minutes with a lethargic bite that had me instantly on the alert. On picking up the rod and beginning the retrieve, I could feel a weight on the end, although the culprit wasn’t putting up too much of a struggle. After some heaving and grunting and an encounter with a rock ledge that I had undoubtedly been fishing over the back of, up popped a familiar looking shape – a dogfish. However, this was a black mouth dogfish as opposed to our lesser spotted friends and sported quite pretty markings as well as a more ‘spurdoggy’ head. However, as we were to find out consistently through the course of the holiday, the black mouth lacks any kind of fight whatsoever and, although not a bad looking fish, is more of a novelty species than a sporting proposition.
The next fish came on the other rod soon after and proved to be a velvet bellied laternshark. These are curious little fish, again sporting a soft bellied ‘deep water’ type of form like the black mouth. The velvet belly also has dorsal fin spurs as well so requires some careful handling. After this initial one, I couldn’t seem to catch anything but velvet bellies and my line was being lacerated to shreds over the back of the ledge. The others fishing further up and down the pier were enjoying an easier time with less troublesome retrieves and more varied species. Our total species the first night included haddock, ghost shark and spurdog as well as the black mouth and velvet bellies. We were all pleased with the final tally and excited that a few hours off the pier could yield so many unusual fish.
I personally had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to target during the week. I was eager to catch one of the monster plaice that inhabit the Norwegian fjords, and to that end, our first day was spent fishing a mark over at a place called Leksvik. Phill talked us through the features, explained whereabouts we wanted to be putting our baits and then left us to it, arranging to pick us up later on. The group was divided into two pairs with myself and Roy fishing a small concrete pier and Ron and Mark fishing from an adjacent breakwall. Myself and Roy hit fish from the off, with a couple of haddock and a codling for me and Roy picking out codling and a plaice. Small codlets were a pest for much of the session, attacking worm baits within seconds but we kept ourselves busy by fishing for the vast numbers of pollack and coalfish underneath our feet. By freelining ragworm or bits of mackerel, we caught plenty of these spirited scrappers with the best ones being in the 2-3lb bracket.
Early on in the session, Mark’s plaice bait was snaffled by something considerably bigger and after a prolonged tussle during which the fish went to ground, a fine cod of 16lb 10oz was brought to the gaff. This was a great start for us and spirits were sky high as we continued to pull out a mix of species. I was particularly pleased to catch my first Norwegian plaice, a fish of no great size but beautifully marked and hopefully a step in the right direction to me catching a monster! Ron and Mark had considerable frustration at their spot as there was a ledge directly in front of them that stole a fair bit of tackle and cost Ron what was undoubtedly a nice cod. He made up for it though by bagging haddock, cod and dab as well as the trip’s only flounder.
After our day at Leksvik, we fished the pier again in darkness. I fished a bit further down the pier than the night before and had improved fishing with dogfish, coalfish and my first ever spurdog to show. The other lads also had sport with the spurs as well, although several hooked fish managed to chomp through the line and escape us.
The next day we headed back to Leksvik with the intention of me fishing for a plaice and the rest of the group fishing a series of rock ledges for mixed species. My mark was a stony beach giving on to sand that given the high tide, I could fish comfortably from the car park. My first cast resulted in a nice plaice and dab double shot that had all the makings of a great start but as the tide ebbed, all I could add to it was small codling and dabs. Still, I fared better than the others who found their mark impossibly snaggy with very little gear coming back, and seemingly barren with no fish caught at all! Personally, I suspected some kind of ghost gear or something of that nature as Phill assured us that the mark is not usually anything like so tackle hungry. That night, the pier had to be fished again to make up for the lads setback earlier in the day. Mark and Ron saved the day by catching a decent cod and a couple of haddock respectively.
The next day we set off to fish a mark known as Straumen field. We were all a bit excited for this one as this spot is known for excellent cod fishing as well as flatfish. Phill was keen to show us the popular ‘shadding’ technique that is used to catch cod on light lure tackle. The mark itself was a decent stretch of shore bordering on an absolute torrent of water that rips through a narrow bottleneck. Phill told us that this was the second strongest current in Norway and I can only describe it as resembling a full-on white water rapid. We arrived at high water and began to fish the ebb in earnest. I had a small coalie first cast and that was my only fish for hours. Further down the line, Mark was cleaning up catching a succession of big dabs along with the odd codling. Roy, fishing next to him, was in on the action too with a few dabs, codling and a grey gurnard making an appearance. In the field itself, Ron and I struggled with a succession of bites that came to nothing. These looked like dabs pecking at the baits but not committing themselves and even a change to size 2 hooks didn’t manage to ensnare one.
Phill returned as low tide loomed to give us a crash course in shad fishing. I was particularly keen to have a go at this as I’d seen a couple of videos of Phill and guests catching cod using the technique and it looked like brilliant fun. Phill set me up with a 60 gram jighead and shad and explained that I needed to get a good cast out, then feather the line down until the shad hit the bottom. When I felt the lure hit the deck, I was to wind in four turns to get the lure moving then when it hit bottom again, another three turns and continuing in this fashion. The lure needed to be reeled in before getting too close to me though to avoid snagging a ledge in front. After a few casts, I started to become locked in to the signals down the line and I could feel the cod pecking lightly at the lure as it dropped. Phill was getting bite after bite but not connecting, explaining that the fish were not really feeding and were just mouthing the lures rather than hitting them properly. We moved onto the next shelf, fishing the spot known as Straumen gully. Here, I had my first proper take and hooked a fish that came adrift. By now, Mark and Roy had joined us and were also shadding away. Ron stayed with his bait rods, a decision that would soon prove to pay off. Bumping the shad down the gully, I felt a bit of weight come on to the line, lifted the rod and was rewarded with a satisfying thud, fish on! The cod thumped away and the light rod hooped over near to breaking point, the fish doing its best to go to ground. After a short and brutal battle, I slid the cod over the rocks and was amazed after such an intense fight to see it was a fish of only about 3lbs. Just goes to show what cod can do on light gear!
Shortly after returning the fish, I heard a bit of commotion further up the point and looked over to see Ron with a fine cod. Sticking with his bait rods had proven to be an inspired choice as a small bite had resulted in a fish of over 10lbs. Ron returned the fish and fished on in the field eager for more. We all eventually joined him, my codling and a couple for Phill being the result of our shadding session (although Roy also managed one spinning a Savage sandeel from his spot in the field!). We packed up and left as the rain came on and we elected to have a relatively early night and hit another mark near the house early doors in search of something different.
A 5am start saw us all picking our way along the boulder beach near the north end of the pier. As the baits went out into the dawn, I couldn’t help thinking that I wasn’t going to see that set of end gear again, and so it proved with everyone finding snags almost straight away. Roy however, did manage to catch his first ever haddock which he was absolutely delighted with! After breaking out of our respective snags, Ron, Roy and I decided to troop over to the pier and fish off there instead with Mark electing to go back to the lodge to sort himself some breakfast out. What followed was one of the most fun sessions of the trip, with dawn breaking to glorious sunshine and a slew of fish, starting with small coalfish and a couple of haddock for Ron and moving on to bigger coalfish in the 4-5lb bracket which fought like tigers right up to the rocks.
Roy and I were conscious that we were doing rather well for species and decided to augment our count by fishing in the harbour behind us with our spinning rods. Phill had already told us of what kind of critters made their home in the scrubby ground and his captures of oddities such as lumpsuckers and lemon sole had certainly piqued our interest! It was whilst we were pottering around the harbour that the ratchet on Roy’s reel buzzed, signalling a run on one of his rods. Roy picked up the rod, felt for the fish and eventually reeled into it. He signalled that there was a fish on but it didn’t feel like much size, but what popped out of the depths amazed both of us – a small halibut! Looking like a stretched flounder with teeth, this little chap was probably only a pound or so but you wouldn’t have known it from the strength of the bite! We were elated as many people come to Norway to fish for this species without success and here Roy had caught one without even trying!
The morning passed on with a few more mini species from the harbour and bigger fish from the pier. I was particularly pleased to see a scorpion fish sidle up from the depths to hide behind a boulder and after a bit of stalking (and the fish trying to eat my swivel!) it eventually nailed my tiny mackerel bait. Roy added one of his own and by the end of the session, we were looking very good for species count and for decent fish landed through the morning. Mark had even emerged and bagged the biggest coalie of the morning at 5.12. Talking afterwards, we all felt that there was definitely a chance of a proper bruiser of a coalie off the pier wall as they were clearly coming through in waves hunting.
Phill had promised us an evening session at a cod hotspot called Straumen slipway and he was as good as his word, getting us over there to fish the hot time. This was a really tasty looking mark with a rocketing current crashing into a small rock island about 80-100 yards out, forming a current tongue that ran strongly further out and a back eddy flowing in the opposite direction closer in. Casting into the border of these two bodies of water resulted in fish after fish, a mixture of coalies and codling. My better codling were in the 4-5lb category but Mark managed a 6 and Roy bagged a cracking fish of 8.10. Ron, fishing the furthest down the line of the back eddy suffered last man syndrome and had the slimmest of the pickings as the cod clearly seemed to be making their way down the eddy and hitting Roy, then Mark, then me first. Still, we all agreed that this was a great spot and we definitely wanted another session here before our time was up.
The next day, we were set to fish a well-known mark called Stu’s Point. The previous day, another party had done well off the concrete platform inside of the point, landing plaice to 3.5 and a succession of dab to 2lbs. Knowing that I was dead keen on catching a good plaice, we all got up early to dig some worms from the sandy beach next to the lodge. Truth be told, the digging was hard going and we came away with a few worms but not enough to keep even one of us going all day. It was a bit of an odd session, truth be told. The weather was beautiful and there was fish there with Ron and I picking out a few codling and dab but Mark and Roy were hitting snags unless they cast into more or less the same area as Ron and I were fishing. The other group were fishing the concrete platform when we arrived but packed up and left after a while. I made my mind up to move over there as Phill had told us there was a gravel bar only 50 yards or so out that held good flatfish. I was getting bites straight away with dabs being the culprits and a couple of them being good fish of a pound or so. After a while, one of the rods dropped right back with slack line falling everywhere and on reeling in, I found myself connected to a better fish - could this be the mother plaice? The answer was no, but what did come up from the depths was a reasonable cod. I drew the fish onto the foreshore by the side of the pier and went down to get it. It was a long, lean fish with a massive head. In good condition it would have been a good 7-8lbs but as it was it was just shy of 6. Still, it was the heaviest cod that I caught and weighed on the trip.
As dusk approached, Roy came over to join me on the concrete platform and was typically straight into fish as usual! I had immense trouble staying awake and nodded off for a while, waking up to freezing feet and Roy telling me he had caught a cod and a dab of 1lb 6oz! We fished on for a while but the cold was biting and by the time Phill came to pick us up, I was well ready to leave. I was pretty knackered that evening and didn’t go to fish the pier with Roy and Ron. As it was, they returned after only a couple of hours with talk of freezing temperatures and pretty slow fishing.
The apartment next to us was occupied by a lively crew of Welshmen and they had had a fine day chasing halibut at a coastal mark about 2 hours’ drive north west of Skarnsundet. Although they hadn’t bagged a halibut, they had enjoyed excellent fishing with cod to 27lbs and plenty of fun on lures fishing under the pier. So it was that on our last full day, we all piled into Phill’s van to see if we could go one better and catch a halibut as well as some big cod of our own. The drive across the mountains was spectacular with stunning scenery and Phill pointing out numerous rivers that offered excellent salmon fishing for surprisingly little money (Scotland eat your heart out!). The mark itself was beautiful, being a channel between the mainland and an island where tidal flow was concentrated into a perpetual stream. The four of us set up along the wooden jetty and Phill put himself at the downtide end, intending to trial a new method of targeting halibut that he had thought up and was excited to try. Anticipation was high as we hurled out our halibut baits before turning to the light gear to fish for some of the good Pollack that we could see cruising underneath the structure. Time passed and apart from a good bite when something grabbed a small codling on my hooks and a bite for Phill, nothing much was happening on the bottom. The fishing in close was fun with plenty of small coalies and Pollack but the bigger ones weren’t giving up easily.
Eventually, Phill showed his class by catching a Pollack in the 5-6lb bracket and Mark managed a respectable cod right at the death but the big cod the Welsh boys had gotten stuck into the day previous didn’t show for us. Still, I left the halibut mark determined to get straight out on to the pier when we returned to have a proper effort for a good fish. After briefly refuelling, I marched out to my now favourite spot on the pier and lobbed in some large bluey baits skewered on pairs of 6/0’s. My first fish was a reasonable haddock and I was well pleased to be back catching! Another haddock followed and I lost a nice one right at my feet that would have surely been in the 5-6lb bracket. Still spitting curses, I cast out again and my next fish was a coalie of 4-5lbs, showing that the better ones were out there again. I left my rods for a minute to speak to Mark when the ratchet went and I looked over to see the rod lurching over crazily in the stand. I ran over to the rod and picked it up and it immediately pulled right round in my hands. A sweep of the rod and I felt the heavy thud of a good fish. The battle played out right to the edge and after some frantic last dives, a final lift of the rod saw a big coalfish emerge and wallow on the surface where it met the gaff wielded by Mark. Laying the fish on the pier, I couldn’t make much estimate of its weight but could only marvel at what a strong and beautifully conditioned fish it was. Comparing it to the coalie I had already caught, it was clearly at least double the size but I wasn’t prepared for the scales reading out a weight of 12lbs on the button, what a fish! I was well chuffed and glad to have contributed a good specimen to the group’s tally. I got into bed that night brimming with the blissful feeling of completeness that catching a properly nice fish never fails to bring about in me.
The next morning, Mark, Ron and I got up at the crack of dawn for one last go at Straumen slipway. Julian, Phill’s right hand man, picked us up and drove us out there and we witnessed another beautiful dawn as we made our last casts of the trip. Fittingly, Ron was much better placed this time and bagged the session’s only cod of any size, a fish of about 5lbs. As for myself, I could only catch a stream of small coalfish but after the session last night, I could have caught nothing but snags and still been smiling!
We returned to the lodge and saw Phill for the last time before Julian drove us to the airport and we said our goodbyes to him before boarding the big bird home. I was happy to be going back as every time I had any time to think about anything but fishing, I realised I missed my fiancé and my dogs terribly but I also realised that I was already thinking about my next trip to Skarnsundet and the unfinished business I had there! That big Norwegian plaice must be caught and next time, I’m pulling out all the stops!
Up next: Part 2 - Lessons in Norwegian.
Above: Straumen Slipway.