In the heat of the summer we thought we’d share some correspondence from one of our favorite European fishing journalists who went off-the-beaten path to very northern Norway during a 10-day holiday and writing assignment of abundant recreational fishing in a cool location.
For Roberto Ferrario it was his third fishing trip to the north Norway fjords. He and his fishing partner Giovanni flew from their native Italy to Denmark, then to Oslo and from there to Tromso. With a population of 62,000 the small city is the outpost and home to the world’s northernmost brewery, university, planetarium and mountain cable car. It is also 200 miles north of the Polar Arctic Circle.
“From there we drove another hour north,” Ferrario said. “There’s no other region in Europe that can offer the angler as many species of fish and possibilities as the fjords in northern Norway. With its inlets, bays, headlands and islands, the coast, rivers and lakes are a multitude of challenges to the angler.”
He described the region as a sportsman’s nirvana with haddock, cod, coalfish, ling, torsk, arctic char, arctic trout, Atlantic salmon, catfish, pollack and many more fresh and saltwater species.
“In Italy we don’t have those kind of fish in our seas. We have mainly bluefin tuna, dorado, broadbill, groupers and all are in very scarce quantity.
The temperature differences from Italy to northern Norway were also extreme even in the summer time.
“In Italy we have 36 degrees Celsius (about 90 degrees Fahrenheit) while in Norway we found around 10 â 12 degrees Celsius. And because of the location and long days we had almost constant sunshine.
“There is no bad weather, just bad clothing,” the Italian writer emphasized.
“If the fish are there, we faced the rain and cold. Only strong winds would stop us – then it is dangerous to put out to sea and waves and current make it very difficult to find good fishing spots. On windy days we would go up the fjords, anchor landward of the islands and fish in sheltered waters.
“That is one of the best things about the fjord Norway. We can always find good, safe fishing places, and big fish can be caught even far up the fjords. For many the cod is the king of saltwater fish. It bites all year round, though the main season is winter and early spring. The cod moves in big shoals towards the coast and imminent spawning means the fish are hungry and greedy.
He said an evening on the coast with spinning or fly rod is a wonderful experience for the patient angler though the two men used mainly the jigging technique.
“It is the most productive style of fishing. Well wrapped up in warm clothes, in the middle of the day when there is some warmth from the sun, we’d go out onto the fjord with jigging rod, plenty of 100-200-gram jigs, rubber worms and some feathers, fishing from 30 to 350 feet in depth.
Roberto said it is not rare to catch specimens of over 10 kg (20 lb), the average weight being about 4 kg. When the days grow longer and the spawning season is over, most of the cod start to migrate towards the ocean. The fish that stay behind find hunting grounds among the seaweed near strong currents.
He said the most common fish along the coast of fjord Norway is the young coalfish.
“If you come across a shoal of young coalfish on a summer’s day, your catch may well explode from the water. The fish grow in the course of the year and the season for big coalfish starts after the mackerel season, at the beginning of September. Like pollack, these fish like warm water and will bite in shallows and far up the fjords. In recent years it has become increasingly popular to fish for coalfish with small herring or mackerel.
“If you manage to keep the bait moving, you may very well land a specimen of more than 10 kilos.”
Roberto and Giovanni who said they don’t like to kill fish, released all of the fish they caught — exactly 1334 of them.
He ended his correspondence saying sea and fjord fishing is a fascinating experience and no fishing permit is required.
