fishing in norway

[halken]

i am off to norway :) for a weeks fishing in june, we will be fishing the southern norway shore and boat championships and i was wondering if anyone has any tips on fishing this area :confused:

[Scrudgy]

Can't help you with advice mate. But judging by the size of the cod pirks I saw in a tackle shop in Stavanger - I would guess you are going to have a good time.

The tackle shop was stocked with a lot of pirks, and rubber eels. Black and red seemed to feature a lot in their tackle.

The may help you with lures.

Also, as Norway has no tide to speak of, it is impossible to collect worms or crabs etc. Therefore all baits are fish/squid based.

Cheers

[ste1590]

is it avik brygge your going to im going there in june ive been told they mostly use pirks and lures. as baits are unavailable there, my source says that if you take some with you it gives you a big edge ,more importantly it also annoy,s the many germans who fish there. main species are pollock codling coalfish and some truly giant ling up to 80lb good luck ps there also said to be huge shoals of mackerel come in from march onwards

[Fred]

STE1950

Don't forget to take your beach towel for the sun bed.

Fred

[gusangus]

hi halken, It might be an idea to take some lumo pirks from fishtek they glow for about 20 mins with a 2 minute daylight charge they are popular with the Irish boats who fish deep water, and as the depth of water will be similar taking a couple would be a good idea, http://www.fishtek.co.uk or telephone 01647441020

[havengel]

I live and fish in Oslo, originally from the western coast of Norway. I guess you can use the same equipment as used in UK. The fish size in Sothern Norway are generally more modest than the size of fish on the Western coast, so no heavy equipment are required unless you go offshore.

For beach (Well, there are few or no beaches here :D ) I use either beachcasters 4-6 oz or 3-3,5 lb carp rods, as nice fish can be caught near shore and long casts are seldom required. An uptider might be used from boat and shore. Heavy beachcasters might be useful when fishing from rocks or for deep water, but are not necessary. Prawns, mackerel and herring are the most used and effective baits, I often use a cocktail of prawn and fish or mussels and fish. Often can a spinning rod with a 20-40g pirk, spoon, wobbler or jig be the most effective for both cod and coalie and catch fish when the baits are left untouched, good pirks can be bought in Norway.

For boat I would recommend a 12-20 lb rod for inshore fishing, and a 30-50lb for offshore or deep sea (200-400m). I use braided line on all my reels. I also use lighter equipment when fishing is slow, a 8 lb rod with an Ambassadeur 6000 or similar gives good sport even with small fish or for targeting ballan wrasse with whole shrimp. For cod the most effective is a shiny pirk and worms(proven in a test lately), in Norway they are called Svenskepilk and Gummimakk. Proven to be effective by decades of use to deliver big cod, I suggest you buy a 250g Svenskepilk and a set of 6/0 Gummimakk on 0,90 mono, you sholud be able to find them in most shops. A small strip of mackerel on the Gummimark adds to the attraction. I have also used large rigged Eddystone Eels with succsess for pollack and coalie. For baitfishing mackerel and herring gives most bites, either used in strips on 2/0-4/0 hooks, or whole fillets on size 6/0-10/0 hooks. Fresh baits are the best. I have hooked small 4 lb ling on a whole mackerell fillet and 12/0 circle hook, so don't be cheap on the bait when fishing in areas with big fish. If you are really lucky, you might hook up with the 200 lbs grandmother halibut on a bottom bounced herring :D

[poacher]

welcomehavengel, glad to have you on the site m8, hope you enjoy........

[robertlangford]

Hi Halken.
How did you get on.
Robert

[halken]

the fishing wasnt very good, the holiday which included the southern norway beach and boat championships was great but the quality of fishing was not what we were promised there was about 150 from england there plus some europeans we fished four days and the best fish in our party was only4lb wedid ok in the competition but it was a species hunt rather than a specimen hunt, considering that we are all fairly good match anglers (8 of us )we were disapointed with the area. next year we are going back to norway but we are going across to bergen and staying in radoy hopefully with better results this time

[robertlangford]

the fishing wasnt very good, the holiday which included the southern norway beach and boat championships was great but the quality of fishing was not what we were promised there was about 150 from england there plus some europeans we fished four days and the best fish in our party was only4lb wedid ok in the competition but it was a species hunt rather than a specimen hunt, considering that we are all fairly good match anglers (8 of us )we were disapointed with the area. next year we are going back to norway but we are going across to bergen and staying in radoy hopefully with better results this time

Hi Halken.
I was there too, we probably met. Although I didn't fish the comp.
I thought people would be disappointed. You know, there is a lot of wonderful fishing in Norway but it starts above Bergen.
But; what where you promised and by whom?

[halken]

The trip was organizes by sam harris a local fishing journalist and he had 2 meetings before we went he told us he took a few peeler crab with him and after he had been fly fishing for a couple of days he used the peeler crab (which was in a poor state by then and he was hammering out the cod upto 5lb . While he was doing this he was being watched by some german anglers and seeing what he was catching started fishing around him using lures and they didnt catch much .So we took hundreds of crab with us but we didnt see any of the 5lb fish he told us of. Originally the boundaries were from avik brygge to lindesnes lighthouse but thes were opened up for the shore anglers and even then the lads who did a lot of travelling didnt get the big fish we thought were there. 12 of us are going back next year but we are sailing into bergen and stopping at radoy about 45 km north of there hopefully seeing some better fishing next year

[robertlangford]

Hi.
There are a few times and a few places I suppose in that neck of the woods where you can expect a couple of decent cod but I wouldn't expect to hammer them out.
There did seem to be a lot of bad blood, but I didn't really understand what was going on. Actually I treid to keep out of it.
What was the general feeling of the contestants towards the organisers?
Robert

[halken]

every one we talked to was disappointed all thinking we were going to get good fish. Then we got talking to a lad from north sheilds who was living and working as a fish filleter, he had bought some maps and made a pretty good job of marking the best places to fish unfortunatley for us the photocopier broke down and there were only 2 copies the bloke who won the comp (chris stringer was supposed to have one and his mate another. we only found out about this on the 3rd day and of course this made things worse. at the presentation they co..ed up a few placings then decided the last days prizes would be given on the ferry, there was a group of lads sitting behind us who were due prizes and they went mad at not been able to photgraph there mates getting there prizes . so it left things unfinished at the venue and lett down the prize winners. i have had a letter in the last couple of weeks offering us places in a competition in sweden ran by the same organizers next year but we have decided to go back to norway next year in june to fish around the bergen area.

[robertlangford]

Hi Halken. Who was the organiser.
I was there but didn't get involved in the details.
When are you going up to Bergen. Will you be boat fishing or only fishing from the shore or is it the competition that interests you.
The prize table seemed pretty loaded.

Robert

[halken]

Hi robert there are 12 of us going next year 2 or 3 will be boat fishing and the rest of us are going shore fishing, we might have a freindly competition between us but the main reason is to try and get some quality fishing done .Any help or advice you have will greatly appreiciated
cheers kenny

[halken]

sorry forgot to say we are there from 17th june for a week

[robertlangford]

Hi robert there are 12 of us going next year 2 or 3 will be boat fishing and the rest of us are going shore fishing, we might have a freindly competition between us but the main reason is to try and get some quality fishing done .Any help or advice you have will greatly appreiciated
cheers kenny

Hi Kenny. The best way I can help you is to suggest that you make sure that you have a big roomy boat with plenty of power, preferably a diesel and a good plotter. The boat should certainly be capable of 15 knots. Look for reefs and such that come out of depths of 150 - 300 m up to 20 m or so from the surface and fish the edges with medium weight spinning gear for coalfish, pollack and cod. If you manage to locate big shoals of small coalfish then fish underneath these with self-hooking rigs or big shads (18cm+), for big cod. Also try fishing at night as the bigger fish are quite often more active then and there is often less wind. Big fish is the issue here, at that time of year you may be lucky and find some big fish but you increase your chances many times over if you have a guide that knows the area. One thing that I did notice in southern Norway was that many of the contestants fished so close to land that they could of done just as well from the rocks. If you don’t feel confident enough to go out and look for the fish, then you should again get a guide. If not don’t bother with a boat.
Re shore fishing; I haven’t done much of that in Norway. But if you find lugworm beds my guess is that you'll find a few good plaice, 4 lbers are quite common.
Another tip is that you should take a hand held compass with you as almost none of the rental boats have a compass. Don’t know why; so take one with you.
Robert

[halken]

Thanks for the info robert i will speak to the lads and see what they say
cheers kenny

[robertlangford]

Your welcome.
Tight lines Kenny

Robert

[norwegian]

Hello. If your going fishing in Norway a good tip would be to post your questions at http://fiskersiden.no/forum2/
That's Norways largest forum for fishing and there's guaranteed to be someone there who knows the area you are going to. They won't mind you posting in English either.

[lobsterkid]

Hi halken.The only place i can see on the map of radoy which is where you might be stayin is in bovaagen.Boat marks worth trying would be around the kraakeboen reef.There is a ship load of reefs in that area.plenty peaks to choose from.These are to to the N.W. of where you are staying.

[Rønsingen]

Hi halken
I live on Radøy and have been fishing here for one year. I only fish from the shore so the with the boat fishing I can’t help you, but I have some (not much) knowledge about the shore fishing. If you are after cod I wouldn’t expect the biggest but up to 5lb is not to difficult. I stroke the jackpot a couple of days ago and caught a cod that vas 17.25kg from a little doc (?). But this is not normal. What’s normal catch is ling up to 10lb most is between 4-8lb the biggest I know is 29lb from the shore.
Fore this fishing you don’t need the most extreme gear but an surf or carp rod is the preferable choice. But the cod was landed on an 10-60g 11” rod and an 4000 size shimano reel.
The reason for the chances for bigg fish from the shore on this island is that some places it is very deep close to the shore. The biggest fishes are cougth at night either at top tide or at bottom (?) tide. (Unlike south Norway we have tide here (1-2m)) so you can finde bait here if you find a beach ;). But most of the fish is caught on mackerel or herring fillets. I usually use 4/0-6/0 circle hooks, and an pulley rig or an single paternoster rig.

If you like to fly fish in the sea there is good possibilities to get some good Pollack. My best yet is 8lb and I have seen bigger. Normal flies like clouser and leftys work great and the colours green/white, blue/white is the ones that has worked for me.

Hope this helps you, and if you have any questions joust ask.

By the way, her is my blogg where you will find my cache reports from my trips around the island. www.janhinri.blogspot.com (sorry but it’s in Norwegian….)

Ps: sorry for the bad English….

[Marcus]

welcome Ronsingen..Hope you enjoy the WSF forums..and thanks for the info,,A good read!

Marcus

[halken]

Thanks rosingen for getting in touch, have you tried fishing in august or september as this is when we are in norway this year. Have you tried worm baits or peeler crab when you are fishing or do you stick with fish baits. Thanks for your help

[Rønsingen]

Hi again. I haven’t been fishing much with bait in august/September. But I have fished a lot white my fly rod after pollack and this time is a good time for poppers. Dosent give as many fish but it`s realy cool! It fights better than the cod so it is worth a try.
I usually fish whit fish bait but also whit shrimps after whiting (?) and flattis (?) but so far it is the whiting that is the most interested… some time I combine makrell and shrimp with elastic tread and this works for the most species.
I know many people here use worms so it works well but I haven’t taken my time to dig for them yet since I get what I want with fish bait… peeler crab should work great after cod since many of the cods I have landed has crab in them so if you have the opportunity you should try it.

Jan

[martyboy]

Ronsingen......i've seen your cod on www.fiskersiden.no Thats some catch, well done.

[Devon_fisher]

hi guys how much does it cost to rent one o the self hire boats on average for a day?

[norwegian]

Hi again. I haven’t been fishing much with bait in august/September.

Jan


This is a good time for catching large pollack from shore. My favorite method is fishing with a float and a large fillet of mackerel or herring. You can also use a whole herring or something. Remember that livebait is illegal in Norway.
Fishing at nigh is usually the best time, so use a cracklight on your float. I've caught 12 lb pollack on this method, and also loads of cod up to about 9 lb, coalfish etc.
Good fun as you sometimes can spot the fish if it isnt too dark.

[Rønsingen]

Thanks for the tip Norwegian but I have tride a bit of baiting after pollack and after getting 8 pollacks on my fly from 3-8lb in one and a half hour and no one on my bait at the same time and place, I concluded that the fly was a bit more efficient. After this episode I have been using my fly rod and not my bait rod after Pollack :)
But it has to be said that I was baiting at the bottom about 6m down and not with a float.

[norwegian]

I know a lot of people use their fly rods for pollack and I dont know whats more efficient but I love fishing with a float + you sort out the small fish with a big bait.

[Rønsingen]

Yes you sort out the small fish whit big bait. That’s way I use big flies 12-20cm in length. I get small fish on them to but rearly smaller than 2-3lb so I can live with that.
But I don’t say that flies catch more fish than bait and I think that when you use a float you can get as much if not more than what you get on a fly.

But since my experience is whit ground bait I recommend fly vs. ground baiting…

[PanamaJack]

Hi Ronsingen
There're great pictures on your personal web site - a tremendous Sea Trout and that Cod is 'something else'! I presume though the Cod didn't come on the fly?

I don't know whether you're interested but the IGFA - the International Game Fish Association - based in Florida, maintain world fly fishing records for a range of fish including Atlantic Cod and Coalfish - the latter is what they refer to as 'Pollock. Most of the weights within the tippet classes - 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 10kg are held for small fish, less than 5 kgs. The only better specimens are for Cod 8.35kg on a 4kg tippet and for Coalfish on an 8kg tippet 8.39kg and 13.12 on 10kg. In addition EFSA - the European Federation of Sea Anglers - but for just a single fly fishing class.

Details of tackle limitations and claim procedures are on their respective web sites - http://www.igfa.org and, I think, http://www.efsa.co.uk. (If I've got those wrong you could pick them up through a search engine.)

Both also maintain records for Sea Trout, but the IGFA doesn't differentiate between freshwater and sea run fish - hence most of the records are held with that 'giant' strain of fish they encounter in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.
Dave

[Rønsingen]

Hi and thanks for the tip, but im using quite strong mono when im fishing for Pollack since the bottom isn’t wery nice to my leader where I fish so I have to get quite a big one before there is any point of sending it in to Igfa. I don’t like the idea of a fish swimming around with my hook because I used a leader that snapped…
It’s a bit difficult to get down to 80-90m of depth with my fly so the cod took a mackerel bait


Halken: was it at kvalheim “feriehytter” you were staying? (I thought I read it on fiskersiden.no) If it is you should have a good opportunity to find lugworms not far from where you are staying. Sins there are quite a lot of intertidal zones there. It isn’t far from my best Pollack spot either so I can send you an email with the spot if you are interested. You also have an strong tidal current not to far away, where the fishing is good from boat and from shore after cod/pollack/Pollock this place is between the island of Radøy and Austerheim.

Here you have a map of the islands:
http://www.nordhordlandskart.no/nordhordland/index.jsp
If you choose “flyfoto” in the scrollbar to the left under “Karttypar” you will get a airplanepicture of the north of Hordaland including Radøy. Here you can zoom in and se how the island looks and also a bit of the tidal zone so you se the bottom types…

[nypy]

hello everyone
have you been in Lofoten Norway, there are very good fishing places and good fishes too?

[The Big Man]

And nypy gives excellent advice about fishing north Norway. :-)

[nypy]

hello Big Man, thanks for the recommendation and the hint of this forum

[halken]

ronsingen i have sent you a pm

[nypy]

some cods too
http://www.rpteam.net/photogallery/lofootit09-05/images/55.jpg
http://www.rpteam.net/nypy/jokke.JPG
http://www.rpteam.net/photogallery/lofootit09-05/images/46.jpg