Norway Trip Hellesoy 2006.

[lobsterkid]

:yeah:Day 1. Arrived in Norway in one piece anyway.Me, martyboy and bigpirk on a mission hopefully to catch some fish.Got to the cabin at about 3pm.Met up with schula who showed us round the place.Very nice cabin although we knew what to expect as we had been before.Because of the storm blowing the boats were moored in the harbour so we had to drive round to the harbour to check out the boat.A new gps sounder had been fitted so we had to learn how to operate it. Piece of cake now all we have to do is wait for the weather to improve then its fishing time:yeah:

[lobsterkid]

:) Day 2-.As the weather had improved it was time to hit the sea.First stop was a mark we had named the pollack pole.This is a mark thats starts off at 45m then rises sharply to a peak of 25m then dives again to about 60m.The fish last year were mostly on the top of the peak, with the better sized fish being on the deeper side of 60m. First drift over not even a bite.Mmmm not looking good.Tried second drift slightly nearer the pole.Same again, nothing.:uhuh: This was begining to look bad.Was coming in march a bad idea? maybe.On to the next mark about half a mile further on.Again another peak but much bigger.This one starts at 45m but comes up like a cliff face to just 8m depth then drops away again to 50 m.Surely we'll get something on this one.This was covered in coalies the last time we fished this.Again 2 drifts later not a fish in the boat.OH Man are we in trouble.We moved on to our next mark.This was not a peak this time more a gully.Starts at about 35m then slopes down to 60 m then back up to about 40m.Bigpirk was in after about 5min.Not a big fish but a cod all the same about 2lb.Then martyboy was in with a cod about the same size.Not great but a start.Then bigpirk hooked in to a better fish.Turned out to be a small halibut at 6lb.Getting better.But that was all.No more fish on the next drift.Time for a shift.The next mark produced a small ling for myself and that was it.Next drift produced a small whiting for me and martyboy but that was it.Christ can it get any worse.:unsure: Time was getting on so we moved south to try our last mark.
Bigpirk hooked up first.Nice cod about 9lb.:yeah: AT LAST A DECENT FISH.I quickly followed with one at 7lb but that was it.NO MORE FOR THE DAY. Hope tomorrow is better.:g:

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[lobsterkid]

:) DAY 3. Weather had improved even more.Still a bit of wind but hopefully we could make it past the islands today.Started off at a reef we had again fished last year. Depth started at 15m going down to 70m.Didnt hit any thing untill the 70m mark.All 3 of us into fish this time.Turned out to be a small pocket of lumbfish.(TUSK).Right this proved something.Fishing the shallower reefs where going to be a waste of time so it was back to the chart.There was a deeper reef further out which sat at about 74m and dropped off to over 115m.This would be our next target.Again straight into fish and again it turned out to be lumbfish.But as the reef came to an end we hit different fish .These turned out to be pollack about the 4-5lb mark.Better but not in any numbers.Just north of this reef was another reef at about the same depth so we we headed for that.We knew that there could be bigger fish on this because the germans last year hit some decent fish on it but again it had been in may.We scratched around on a few drifts.I managed to pick up a decent pollack but again nothing huge.We then moved over a bit and martyboy connected with a good fish.Turned out to be a nice cod at 21lb.:yeah:
Yah beauty.Thats what we had come for.Bigpirk also picked up a nice cod so the day ended on a great note.:notworthy At last

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[lobsterkid]

:) Day4.Headed for the same reef where martyboy picked up his 21lber the day before.Martyboy was in first with a cod about 6lb.Followed quickly by another 2 again around the same size. I then picked up one about 4lb and bigpirk followed suit with the same.Not huge fish but a steady stream.We then headed right out for about a mile to the outer reef.This looked promising because it jumped up and down from 40m to 80m right across it.Didnt connect into any thing special.Picked up a few lumbfish each.The wind picked up quickly from the north and started to make things uncomfortable so we decided to head back in to the inner reef.Again it wasn't much calmer so we headed close inshore to the outer islands to catch some lea.This was much better but the water was much deeper.Started off easy at 60m but before we knew it the depth was 100m then 240m.:unsure: Man was it deep.Picked up some nice pollack on the first drift along with a couple of fine redfish so decided to try another drift.Same again a few more lumbfish this time but nothing special.Time to head home. Not a bad days fishing....:)

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[lobsterkid]

:) Day 5.The weather hadn't backed up as much as was predicted but determined to try martyboys mark again we headed for the reef.Took the long way round for comfort but it was short lived when we got into the open sea.Tried a few drifts over the exact mark using the GPS but didnt connect with anything at all.Very disappointing.:uhuh: Tried back out on the outer reef. I managed to pick up a nice pollack at 9lb but not much else doing except the stalwart lumbfish.Again the wind being the main pain in the butt factor increased again so we headed back in to the lea to try the deep water drift again. I changed tactics by dragging a coalie fillet across the bottom while martyboy and bigpirk carried on with the pirking.Again they picked up more lumb and red fish while i managed to hook a good redfish at 240m.Not doin that again as the reel in almost ended me.We then decided to head south to try another reef.While on our way down we noticed a lot of cormorants hanging about a shallow reef and decided to try round the back of it.:g: If theres birds then maybe theres good feeding as well.Behind the reef a large rock stood up. A quick squint at the chart told us that there was a good depth near it so we started the drift close to the rock.The depth started at 55m then went down to 80m and then back up to 35m.As soon as we dropped all 3 of us were straight into fish and boy were they good fish.Martyboy was the first in with a cracking 20lb cod, next was bigpirk with one about 10lb i got mine up to find yet another lumb.OH PANTS. :schmoll: Next drop again all three of us straight into fish.
Again martyboy with a near double and the same for bigpirk.This time i had a nice cod at 7lb.By this time we were back into the shallow so tried one last drift as it was getting late.Again all three of us into fish again good stamp cod for martyboy and bigpirk. I dropped 3 fish in a row before getting 2 coalies in.So this was where they were all hiding.:yeah: Guess where we are fishing tomorrow.

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[bigads]

This is like a book m8....how many more chapters have i got to look forward to?

Great thread.....:yeah:

[martyboy]

Lobsterkid i didnt know you could write so well. You sure your good lady isnt writing this for you. I thought my post was informative...you have put me to shame.

Bigads - i was there and i know what happened.....but i too am hooked on the thread.....one more cracking day to come.

[John007]

What an excellent read..........looking forward to last chapter....

5* thread for sure

John

[lobsterkid]

Day 6.Sorry this might be a long one.To carry on slightly from day 5.When we got back to the cabin after day 5 we found that we had new neigbours up above in the top level of the cabin.These guys were german and it was their first visit to hellesoy. Now in past experience we found that most of the germans who we have met tend to keep themselves to themselves and don't really interact with us.(MUST BE A GERMAN THING:g: )But these guys were brand new and it wasn't long before we were sitting having a few beers and chatting in broken english and even more broken german.
The next day (day 6), the door bell rang.It was our host schula.Bad news boys there is a lot of fog on the water today so please be careful.Now the cabin is right on the water front and even has its own pontoon berth but we never used it because the harbour itself was closer to the fishing grounds.From our cabin it was fine but we were on the fjord side of the hill.When we drove over the hill that was when we saw the fog. Visibilty was half a mile at most. Just have to hope the plotter is working.When we got down to the boat our german neigbours were already there loading their boat. They asked if they could follow us and we said no problem.Safer in numbers on a day like today. Now to explain the terrain a bit.
As soon as you leave the harbour there is a string of islands about 1/2 a mile in front of you.Beyond them the open sea.We could barely see them but could just see our one time favorite mark the pollack pole.We had to pass this anyway to get to our secret mark so headed for that. Once we were close to that all the islands were clearly visible so it was easy sailing from then on with our german neigbours close on our heels.Once we reached our mark it was a quick thumbs up to the germans and we started fishing. Bigpirk was in straight away with me and martyboy right behind him. Again about 15 m up both me and bigpirk dropped our fish while martyboy still clung on to his.Now where had i experienced this before?The day before we had dropped umpteen fish and it could be only one thing."HADDOCK".Probably the most difficult fish you can find to stay on the hook. Especially at this depth using braid.So straight down again. Quick tap of the pirk on the bottom and then bang, in.By now martyboy had his up. A nice cod over 10lbs. Jammy git.This time i managed to hold on to this fish which turned out to be a nice haddock of 4lb. Yah beauty.Best haddie i'd ever caught in my life.Mean while the germans who were just a bit to the right of us started coming over our drift so we had to move over a bit. Still didn't make any odds because we still hooked into fish yet the germans seem to be struggling with only a couple of fish between the three of them. It soon became apparent why.They were bait fishing with plain herring and no attractors. Bigpirk then hit a good fish which turned out to be a cod at 16lbs.:) I then started to get the hang of the haddies and started landing some nice ones up to 3lb .Cracking fighters even at that size.The germans then came over to us and pointed north saying "we go over there. you come when go home."We thumbed up and carried on fishing.Just then i hit a good fish. It took a while to bring in as we had moved slightly off drift this time into 100m of water.Turned out to be a 21lb ling. Thank you lord. Now i can die a happy man.:notworthy
This was when it struck home about the germans.They had disappeared into the fog. Surley they didnt mean " is this the way you go home".Hope not because they were heading in the opposite direction.Best moment of the day had to be on the next drift. We moved over to the right of the rock and restarted the drift.Again right into fish.I landed a cod close to 10lb,martyboy had one near 12lb then bigpirk hit a fish and started to bring his in. About 5m off the bottom his fish went mental and started to run.The expression on his face was just pure class as he struggled to control his rod even bringing him to his knees.He eventually got it up to find a cod about 4lb on the pirk and a cracking coalie of 10lb on the gummi. Brilliant laugh. The fog then started to clear.No sign of the germans.Oh dear:unsure: We continued to pull in more fish before having to head home again. On the way back to harbour we kept our eyes peeled looking for the germans but there was no sign of them.Relief hit us when we got back in the harbour to find their boat safely tucked up for the night. We met up with them later on that night and soon found out what had happened.One of them had started to be sick which had upset the other 2 slightly so they had cut short their drift.They had indeed asked if that was the way home and had ended up on the island of fedje 3miles north.After meeting someone there they again went in the wrong direction and cut across the fjord to radoy which was another 4miles.Then come back across the fjord back to the harbour.That was another 5miles.A scary journey for any man.The ironic thing was they had their dog with them.Guess what its name was???LUCKY:)

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[lobsterkid]

:schmoll: Day 7 and day8. Total disaster.The wind really got up from the north and blew its heart out.We had no chance of getting off on day 7 so ended up staying at the cabin. I had brought a few dvds so we just sat and watched them.Frank the german came down with a bottle of schnapps so we polished that off while playing poker.Day 8 the wind was still blowing hard but we managed to get off for a couple of hours.We headed for the pollack pole but it was no use.The wind was just too hard.We thought about crossing the bay and ducking in behind the outer islands but decided it would be safer to call it a day.Besides i think franks schnapps was starting to kick in again.:yucky: That night as we packed for home we reflected on the trip. This was our third time we had been and probably our most successful trip.We had fished 5 days out of a possible 8.The first we discounted because we didn't arrive till late in the day so we managed 5 with the last 2 being blown off.The first day was mince because we spent most of the day fishing marks that where to shallow.Days 2 and 3 where better and days 4 and 5
where probably the best days i have ever had in my life.We all beat our personal best.Bigpirk caught a halibut that made him smile for the rest of the week.In a nut shell.....FANTASTIC.....

[bigads]

That made for great reading guys.......well done on your fish.

Thanks for that highly entertaining read.......:clap3:

[lobsterkid]

:) :roll1: We did have some really funny moments.On one of our early drifts i picked up something heavy in about 90m of water.Turned out to be a size15 trainer.Of course it was usual cliche jokes from the lads then martyboy picked up something heavy.Turned out to be an old mop head. Of course that fired of a pile of laughs.The joke being i wonder if the local school is missing their janitor in which case i think weve found him:roll1:

[lobsterkid]

:unsure: A strange looking thing which we did catch has finally been identified.
We had never seen anything like this before. It was a strange looking thing that we thought was some kind of exotic starfish.Lets see if anyone can identify it:g:

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[Marcus]

its deepwater fjord coral isnt it?..

[lobsterkid]

:) Sorry marcus. I posted another thread on this. It's called a gorgons head. Believe it or not but it,s actualy a type of brittle starfish.:)

[Jamie Donnelly]

really? cool!!

[MLG]

That looks pretty impressive, do you see many of them?

[lobsterkid]

:) It's the first one any of us had seen. We knew it was some kind of starfish but it was so complex looking we also thought it might have been a kind of coral.:)



http://home.online.no/~kaatelne/UV_bilder/Pigghuder/medusahode.htm

[Big.D]

Great post Simon, wish I could have made it with you lot :)

[lobsterkid]

:) I know this an old thread,but it's one i'm very proud of.A lot of writing, spelling correction.LOL. Now that i've got the hang of this picture malarky i thought i would add some pics. Only 8 weeks till my next visit. Can't wait.:)

[Atle M]

fun reading on a boring night at work:yucky: only one more night to go and i'm off fishing the whole weekend! :clap3: The weather here is perfect for fishing now simon! no wind, -5c and lot's of cod in the sea :clap2: