Just back from a week self drive boat fishing, up at loppa, northern norway. This area of norway is a bit of a trek to get to, but the effort spent travelling up there can be well worth it.
The weeks before us travelling, we were getting good reports of 50lb + cod, and 100lb + halibut being taken. We stayed at sandland brygge, situated in the far west of loppa, right on the main fishing grounds of that area.
view from the terrace.
sandland brygge
We stayed in a brand new apartment and hired a dolmoy 22ft, 115hp outboard, which proved to be a safe and comfortable fishing platform for the week.
We arrived at about 10pm local time, and after unpacking we were soon out on the fjord catching cod to 10lb and millions of coalie to 5lb. After a long kip we were greeted with calm seas and warm weather, and were into the fish from the off.
One of several nice wolf fish to 16lb, taken on pirks.
Unfortunatley, on the second day a big weather front from the north blew in and sat bang on top of the area for most of the week, the previous weeks temps of 22 degrees, were long gone as max highs of 5 degrees were the norm, with the wind chill it must have been close to 2 degrees!, The northerly winds also brought big seas which meant the the offshore marks arount loppa island were now out of reach.
We fished the inner fjords for the next few days, taking loads of smaller cod to 30lb and halibut to 25lb.
The last couple of days the improved slightly and we ventured out in a lumpy sea to the north east tip of silda, where we took large numbers of cod to 30lb and a cracking coalfish of 23lb (pic of coalie to come as soon as I get it!)
We also managed to get over to the west side of loppa island, an area known for big cod, but after trying numerous marks, with just an odd wolf fish or tusk to show for our efforts, and with nothing showing on the depth finder, we decided to head back in.
The next day, with the wind easing we fished ground between silda and loppa and took large numbers of cod to 35lb and halibut to 25lb. Cheap chrome pirks were dropped down and within 20 seconds, a cod of between 8lb and 30lb would snaffle up the lure.
So thats about it for the trip, no biggies this time, but with travelling that far inside the arctic circle, your always at the mercy of the weather. Our host informed us that generally the summer weather is pretty stable, but when it is blown in from the north, as in our case the fishing can become patchy with the shoals of cod heading offshore.
Cheap chrome pirks, produced the most fish, whilst large 9'' shads and 1lb coalfish deadbaits took the better fish. A large halibut estimated in the 60lb to 80lb bracket caught on a shad was lost on the gaff, coming into the boat, when it wriggled of the gaff (which was through its head) and snapped the braided mainline.
All in all, a cracking trip with good mates, roll on next year!
Few more scenery pics.
And finally, the midnight sun.........
Tightlines!
The weeks before us travelling, we were getting good reports of 50lb + cod, and 100lb + halibut being taken. We stayed at sandland brygge, situated in the far west of loppa, right on the main fishing grounds of that area.
view from the terrace.
sandland brygge
We stayed in a brand new apartment and hired a dolmoy 22ft, 115hp outboard, which proved to be a safe and comfortable fishing platform for the week.
We arrived at about 10pm local time, and after unpacking we were soon out on the fjord catching cod to 10lb and millions of coalie to 5lb. After a long kip we were greeted with calm seas and warm weather, and were into the fish from the off.
One of several nice wolf fish to 16lb, taken on pirks.
Unfortunatley, on the second day a big weather front from the north blew in and sat bang on top of the area for most of the week, the previous weeks temps of 22 degrees, were long gone as max highs of 5 degrees were the norm, with the wind chill it must have been close to 2 degrees!, The northerly winds also brought big seas which meant the the offshore marks arount loppa island were now out of reach.
We fished the inner fjords for the next few days, taking loads of smaller cod to 30lb and halibut to 25lb.
The last couple of days the improved slightly and we ventured out in a lumpy sea to the north east tip of silda, where we took large numbers of cod to 30lb and a cracking coalfish of 23lb (pic of coalie to come as soon as I get it!)
We also managed to get over to the west side of loppa island, an area known for big cod, but after trying numerous marks, with just an odd wolf fish or tusk to show for our efforts, and with nothing showing on the depth finder, we decided to head back in.
The next day, with the wind easing we fished ground between silda and loppa and took large numbers of cod to 35lb and halibut to 25lb. Cheap chrome pirks were dropped down and within 20 seconds, a cod of between 8lb and 30lb would snaffle up the lure.
So thats about it for the trip, no biggies this time, but with travelling that far inside the arctic circle, your always at the mercy of the weather. Our host informed us that generally the summer weather is pretty stable, but when it is blown in from the north, as in our case the fishing can become patchy with the shoals of cod heading offshore.
Cheap chrome pirks, produced the most fish, whilst large 9'' shads and 1lb coalfish deadbaits took the better fish. A large halibut estimated in the 60lb to 80lb bracket caught on a shad was lost on the gaff, coming into the boat, when it wriggled of the gaff (which was through its head) and snapped the braided mainline.
All in all, a cracking trip with good mates, roll on next year!
Few more scenery pics.
And finally, the midnight sun.........
Tightlines!
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smaller cod to 30lb just love it great pics as well:exclam::exclam:
