Just back from a cracking weeks self drive boat fishing to Loppa in northern Norway. Third time up there and 2nd time in this area Situated in the far west of finnmark, the area is awkward to reach and along with the three flights, a 2 hour bus ride and 2 hour ferry journey are required to get you there.
I travelled up alone, Newcastle - Amsterdam, Amsterdam - Oslo, kip in Oslo airport then morning flight from Oslo - Alta. Met the lads at the airport who had travelled the day before and stayed overnight in alta.
Finally reaching the digs at 1.00pm
Shown to our boat and on the water. With us all being shattered we fished close by taking cod to 15lb and haddock to 10lb.
Back to the digs for a few beers and an early night.
Next day we headed down the fjord and over to the west of loppa island. The area was wicked with big cod, mainly 10lb to 25lb, with a few bigger ones to 43lb.
This carried on the next couple of days with loads of cod to 35lb. Fishing was cut short on the 4th day, as I managed to get a 10/0 trebble through the hand well past the barb
. we went to see our host, Tor, who seemed to enjoy the task in hand (no pun intended
) of pushing the hook out the other side, before snipping the barb and pulling the hook back out.
Bandaged up, me and the lads fly fished of the jetty infront of our house taking coalies to 3lb
We had a full day fishing the shallows for halibut,....but didnt catch any! we were treated to a cracking sunset though!
Later that night, and the highlight of the trip for me was watching the northern lights. Absolutely stunning, with the lights seemingly appearing as green smoke flickering out of the mountains. As it doesnt get pitch black at this time of year the lights arn't as vivid as in the winter and my shiote camera couldnt pick them out
Next day we had a good day fishing west of kalven taking some nice coalies to 10lb midwater, and loads of good cod to 40lb.
Our last day, we fished the mouth area of frakfjord and the area was shoaled up with huge cod, there were some monsters down there and we were cursing 15 to 20lb fish. I had a huge fish on, easily my biggest of the week almost to the surface after a 10 min struggle in 100m, when the snap link straightend out and the fish was gone. Looking down into the water the white underside of a huge cod could be seen 5m down or so, before it dissapeared!
We still managed good fish to 45lb, and our only halibut of the weighing around 15lb.
So thats about it, excellent fishing, fantastic company! We could have fished harder, but prefered a good drink and a chill out on the nights. Roll on next year, got more pics, mainly scenery if anyones interested.
Tight lines.
I travelled up alone, Newcastle - Amsterdam, Amsterdam - Oslo, kip in Oslo airport then morning flight from Oslo - Alta. Met the lads at the airport who had travelled the day before and stayed overnight in alta.
Finally reaching the digs at 1.00pm
Shown to our boat and on the water. With us all being shattered we fished close by taking cod to 15lb and haddock to 10lb.
Back to the digs for a few beers and an early night.
Next day we headed down the fjord and over to the west of loppa island. The area was wicked with big cod, mainly 10lb to 25lb, with a few bigger ones to 43lb.
This carried on the next couple of days with loads of cod to 35lb. Fishing was cut short on the 4th day, as I managed to get a 10/0 trebble through the hand well past the barb
. we went to see our host, Tor, who seemed to enjoy the task in hand (no pun intended) of pushing the hook out the other side, before snipping the barb and pulling the hook back out.Bandaged up, me and the lads fly fished of the jetty infront of our house taking coalies to 3lb
We had a full day fishing the shallows for halibut,....but didnt catch any! we were treated to a cracking sunset though!
Later that night, and the highlight of the trip for me was watching the northern lights. Absolutely stunning, with the lights seemingly appearing as green smoke flickering out of the mountains. As it doesnt get pitch black at this time of year the lights arn't as vivid as in the winter and my shiote camera couldnt pick them out
Next day we had a good day fishing west of kalven taking some nice coalies to 10lb midwater, and loads of good cod to 40lb.
Our last day, we fished the mouth area of frakfjord and the area was shoaled up with huge cod, there were some monsters down there and we were cursing 15 to 20lb fish. I had a huge fish on, easily my biggest of the week almost to the surface after a 10 min struggle in 100m, when the snap link straightend out
and the fish was gone. Looking down into the water the white underside of a huge cod could be seen 5m down or so, before it dissapeared!We still managed good fish to 45lb, and our only halibut of the weighing around 15lb.
So thats about it, excellent fishing, fantastic company! We could have fished harder, but prefered a good drink and a chill out on the nights. Roll on next year, got more pics, mainly scenery if anyones interested.
Tight lines.
