Tackle for Norway

The few time we have been there we used only artificial lures. Ron Thomson ripper pirks worked well and being quite thin compared to some other lures worked well in strong tides and in deep water. Weight depends on depth and tide run, but anything from 100g upto 500g is ideal. My home made pirks also worked well. Copper pipe filled with lead with flouresecent paint. Some of the more expensive pirks such as the solvekroken (sp??) can be good as their shape allows the pirk to flutter and move eratically, might have the edge if the fishing is poor.

Above that we used fat boy hokkais or gummi makks. All caught cod, ling, pollack, coalies, haddock and even a small halibut.

Never tried bait but fishing with mackeral or herring on a long flowing rig is supposed to be good for the flatties inc halibut, wolffish and big ling. Fish with a decent length of luminous tube above the hook.

Pirks can be bought in petrol stations shops etc etc but are expensive depends if your flying and the cost of extra baggage. We didnt get charged for some reason (we were about 15kg over each!!!)

Any size rod will do depends what your going for and how you want to play the fish, 12lb right upto 50lb class rods. A level wind reel is really handy for fishing deep water and a lever drag is also useful but both not essential. I would suggest a lever drag if your going for hard hitting strong fighting fish, its easier to control and may avoid losses if your taken by suprise.

Braid is a must to be honest especially in deep or fast flowing water. The strength depends again on how you play the fish but if your pirking i would suggest going for something heavier say 30lb +.

Not sure whats about in June in Tronheim or to what size but i would certainly expect cod, pollack and coalies should be some big fish up there.

Here`s a tackle used for ling on deep water, can of course also be used for other fish.

here on the west coast they mostly use a big sølvkroken on the lower part with rubber worms of various colours above - the sølvkroken is usualy the 500/750g size.
the catch is usualy cod and coalfish - occasional others.
i use a variety of "christmas trees" of different coloured pirks on the lower part with every kind of lure above - sometimes it gets slack with one set so i switch to another. the main difference between me and the locals is they use bait for long lining only - i use it all the time, makes a very big difference.
often i use the esca, particurlarily in deep water where it makes a good difference particurlarily for cod.
My favourite is to have 2 rods, one static with just bait, the other active with a good christmas tree. this way ive hooked many very big halibut but have failed to bring in a really big one - just too much - and they tend to chew through the line.
bait, i dig a lot of worms - theyre useful, but also herring, perhaps better than mackrel, strips and whole fish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybsBCwjjSTM
Line, im slowly going over to braid but i prefer to use monofil of 60 kg. Bit like wire on the reel, why? Over rocky ground you often loose lures which get hooked on the bottom - 60 kg, just tie the line to the boat and drive away - later a pair of plyers will fix the bent hook. Only trouble is you can only get a limited amount on an average reel so deep water is out. The locals use this line all the time so there is sense in this.
Fishing in 60 metres plus the bottom here is more often than not flat and sandy or muddy so lighter line is an advantage as you can get more on your reel.
There is one place i often fish which is about 150 to 200 metres deep, using monofil of about 30 kg you cant tell if a fish is hooked as the line stretches so much - i just leave it for a period and pull it in - i know the area well so there is nearly allways a good torsk waiting for the lure to land.
the reels i prefer are the penn senator, easily fixable if there is trouble and strong enough. ive had trouble with level winds. the kiss principle is allways useful - Keep It Simple Stupid.
i dont know anyone here who uses booms - ive often seen Germans pulling them out of the water, but on the whole they seem to have the same luck everyone else does.
There are a number of things you can do to "cheat" - prebait the area you want to fish - one ive heard of here is you run a rope through fish guts and bits, then drop it over the side with a weight on one end and a boy on the other. Find a sea mount and drop several then simply go from one to the other and fish.
at the end of the day though most of you are sports fishermen you want specimen fish - the locals mostly fish for food.