Annual Norway Trip - March 2006

**martyboy** · 22-03-2006, 22:43

Just returned from Norway with Lobsterkid and Bigpirk. It was an excellent trip all round. We fished at Hellesoy on the Oygarden penincula on the west of the country right at the edge of the North sea. So ok there are no record breaking cod to be found in these water like the marks at the north of the country but to us folk from scotland, who these days are lucky to catch a 10lb cod from the local shore or boat marks, it was a fantastic trip. The week went something like this........

Day 1 -
The day was spent familiarising ourselves with out haunts from last year and only managed to land a few small cod, ling and whiting. Although bigpirk caught a greenland halibut of 5lb. Ok, so its small in comparison but it provided a great fight and a nice suprise catch.

Day 2 -
The previous year was fished in May and the high reefs where abundent with hundreds of coalies and pollack. The coalies towards the end of the trip where pests but the some nice pollack lurked beneath the carpet of coalies. The first day proved that these fish had not arrived at this time of the year and we where a bit worried about the lack of fish. We decided to fish the deeper reefs and eventually found some fish. Lumb, pollack, small ling, cod and red fish showed up to raise our spirits. Then out of the blue at the last drift of the day i hook into a fantastic cod of 21lb. At the same time bigpirk landed a nice 7lb er. So the 21lb cod isnt huge by norwegian means but for us it was a monster. The fight it put up was superb, with the level drag set right it tore strips off the reel and provided a great end to the day. Confidence had been renewed and the mark was to be hammered the next day.

Day 3 -
The wind picked up slightly and we couldnt get out past the chain of islands to the marks on the edge of the north sea, so we spent the day fishing the fjord and the passage between the islands. Although slow going we hooked into lumb, cod, pollack, ling and red fish.

Day 4 -
The wind dropped and we hit the mark that produced the 21lb cod. After a good few drifts we found no cod only a couple of lumb, which by this time were starting to resemble the coalies of last year! After 2 hrs or so on the mark the wind picked up slightly and we move closer to the islands, still on the fringe of the north sea but fished in the lee of a rock. What a fortunate move as the fish hit us with a vengance. We took all the usual suspects of the previous days but the quality of the fish were far superior with the cod being the best catch of the mark. While previous days had seen averages of cod to 5lb we were hooking into cod of 8 and 9lb with quite a few fish at 10, 15 and another 20lb er for myself. Lobsterkid got a nice pollack of 9lb and we all shared some big lumb.

Day 5 -
Needless to say we hit the previous days mark early on in thick fog. Straight away we were into some cracking bites and hard fighting fish with a distinctive jigging take and fight. But we just couldnt keep them on. Turned out to be some nice haddock of 4lb after managing to hook 2 or 3 of them. Absolute masters of shaking off the hokkais or gummi's. Great cod fishing entailed amongst the usual suspects and the masters of escape. We caught cod to 16lb with average around the 10lb mark. Lobsterkid tied the heaviest fish of the trip with a lovely 21lb ling. One of the best takes was a 9lb coalie to bigprik. He had reeled in off the bottom when the fish took and took off with tremendous aggression. The drag was set tight and maybe due to the suprise of the take actual took him to his knees while trying to loosen off the star drag. The expression on his face was quality and the rod jumping out of control was probably the best moment of the trip.

Day 6 & 7 -
The wind picked up and we were confined to the cabin. What a total kick in the teeth, as we had found a quality mark and were sure there was the possibility of a 30lb cod or some monster haddock lurking out there.

We fished the deeper reefs in about 70 - 120m of water. Unlike last year there were no fish on the high reefs and the deeper water of 200m only held some lumb and red fish. The beauty of this venue was that we were fishing in manageable depths, although to be said our backs were in agony after a few days of pirking with 500g pirks. I dont know how people can haul fish of 40 - 50lb up from 300m + water, nevertheless it would be good to try. But maybe more importantly despite the strongest winds there are always some areas that you can get out fishing to what with the shelter off the islands. Despite being booked on a few trips out of Whitby they've always been cancelled due to the weather. The scenery is superb and the setting is magical. At the most you might only be a mile or 2 from the cabins with islands all around you and deep water at your feet off the shoreline. You cant ask for a better setting. This is our 3rd year to hellesoy and we're learning new tactics and marks all the time. Next year we'll hit the 30lb cod!! You might see in some of the other posts that one of the locals landed a 37lb cod from the shore from a fjord to the rear of our location.

If any one fancies a trip i can give you the details of the operator, just send me a PM.

**terry f.** · 23-03-2006, 03:21

A real arm acher of a trip there Marty,,,cracking report there bud,,thanks for that.

**garyagreen** · 23-03-2006, 08:16

sounds like a cracking trip youse had marty welldone mate

tight lines gary

**halken** · 23-03-2006, 11:00

well done marty did you do any shore fishing while you were there

**The Big Man** · 23-03-2006, 11:53

Marty

What's a lumb?

**PanamaJack** · 23-03-2006, 12:53

A great report Marty and, apart from the Cod and other species, a Halibut to boot! Well done! And I guess even the more exciting guiding yourself, rather than using a local skipper.
Dave

**havengel** · 23-03-2006, 15:08

A nice catch even by Norwegian measure! Good thing you get these results when you've travelled that far. Next time be here when the big coalie hits the shore during summer, that must be my favourite fish!

**martyboy** · 23-03-2006, 19:36

We planned to do a lot of shore fishing but by the end of the boat session and fixing tea we were shattered and didnt give the shore fishing a second thought.

Im not too sure if the lumb is the correct name. I think its an abreviation of the norwegian or german spelling. Hopefully lobsterkid will post the correct name. Its sort of a cross between a ling, eel and a tadpole. Its bloody strong, slimy and quite a good fighter. Its not the nicest looking fish and i've been told they dont taste too good either. We got then to 6lb with average about 3lb. I've seen pictures of them to about 20lb. They did end up being a bit of a pest.

I think we would like to try different seasons and try to hook up with the big coalies and pollack, but the cod still have a strong pull on us. We'll see what happens in the coming years.

**havengel** · 23-03-2006, 19:57

Tusk (brosme brosme) is the name you're looking for. Exellent food, but takes a little more boiling time or frying than other fish. Fillets salted overnight in the fridge and simmered for 40 minutes is a delicacy! Served with boiled potatoes and carrots and melted butter, and maybe some norwegian Flatbrød

**lobsterkid** · 23-03-2006, 21:15

Sorry martyboy.Didnt get your e-mail till today.I started posting yesterday on a day by day. Blow by blow affair.Might as well keep going.

See you didnt mention the mop head and trainer

Tried to post pictures but they were to big in memory size.Lumbfish is the german name for them.Because they're the only guys we ever meet out there we just stuck with the name.Over here they are called tusk but i can honestly say i have never seen one caught over here.They are mostly deep in depths over 60m right on the bottom.Kept some last year to try them.Didnt like them one bit.The meat is gellatinous and an absolute pig to skin.But they are great fighters till about 30m and then they just blow up and pop up like balloons.One i brought in at 140m went pop when it was in the boat and a large octopus shot out its mouth.