50 years!

 Hi guys, well.....another year goes by with little spare time to write very much on here but it goes without saying...life must go on! And it has. Lots has changed in the last 12 months including the big 50th birthday passing! Yes, I know I only look 25 but hey! Gotta be lucky somewhere I guess! All jokes aside, last year saw yet another change in job as I had ten bags full of the motor trade over the 3 years of being in it and found out just how crap the hours and pay were. 

I went back to courier work in August and to be honest really enjoyed it for the best part of 6 months before being offered a supervisory roll in the depot that now is my key position. 

Love it or hate it....it pays the bills. 

Fishing has really taken a back seat yet again but I have to say that is my own decision as I really have lost a lot of love for fishing in the UK. 

Not for the fishing itself but more to do with the lack of excitement to be had near where I live and the overall mass of anglers sat around commercial ponds all chasing a 30lber. Really not my bag. 

This has led me to just finding my angling kicks abroad and visiting all the exciting places I've wanted to fish throughout my life instead. 

The week prior to my birthday in October saw both myself and the wife visit Norway yet again and the search for her first Cod and my first Halibut. 

I did my homework heavily by reading online, map and Navionics searching and lots of good old YouTube. 

After scouring many sites and Videos, I came across a great fella called Billy. Mainly centred around mid to Northern Norway, Billy has his own YouTube Channel 'Billy Fishing'. If you not seen him yet, then please give him a subscribe! Not only is he great viewing but he's also a very good angler with masses of experience and just an all round lovely bloke. 

Anyway, I digress....Marianne and I jumped on a plane to Oslo and then a connecting one up to Bodo. We then grabbed a hire car and drove 4 hours down to Tjongsfjord. 

Being my third trip over I was now really comfortable with Arctic driving and to be honest thrilled to be back up above the Arctic circle once more. 

We hired an Air B&B in the village from a lovely family and settled in for 8 days hectic fishing. 

I set Marianne up the first morning with a 25 gram rubber sandeel and a 9 foot Penn spinning set up. She made her first cast into the Marina. I later found out we shouldn't have fished there but accidents happen! Well, first cast saw her bag a lovely 8lb cod and that was the start of a fabulous trip! The weather was a little bit damp and chilly at times but very bearable considering our latitude. 

We spent the first few hours bagging lots of nice cod to 9lbs before heading in for tea. The evening was spent behind the back of the cabin on our own private rock ledges. This turned out to be very deep at over 50M and we caught a handful of small cod to 7lb and the obligatory black mouth catsharks. 

The next morning we drove out the village to find some new marks to have a go for a halibut....whilst driving through town I saw Billy's van parked up at one of his favourite haunts. We pulled up and went to say hello. We spent a good while chatting and he was very kind enough to give me a couple of marks to try out. 

The next few days passed with many cod being caught and a missed Halibut and huge cod opportunity going begging after spooking them close to the shore in a marina. 

We had numerous nights of epic Aurora borealis watching over the rod tips but I was desperate for that Halibut. 

We had 2 days of the trip left and I was starting to feel the opportunity going out of reach after many hours trying to catch a 'Butt'. 

We decided with the crap tide on the last 2 days, that we would do a bit of sightseeing to break things up a bit. On the penultimate day we took the ferry to the mainland again and went to see the Svartisan glacier....only to arrive and find it had shut for the season! Dam it...I made the quick decision to head back to the marina and see if the halibut I'd seen was still hanging around there. 

We rocked up to the spot and I headed over to where the boats were moored up and started casting around. There was a large shoal of herring hanging around near the surface about 25 yards out and suddenly a halibut came up and grab a load! I couldn't believe it was still in occupancy! 

I made a cast where It came up and started to retrieve. In about 25m of water it slowly came to the surface and as I was about to pull it from the water a huge mouth came up to gram my pink sandeel lure! 

Bloody missed it! I felt sick! I flicked it back out 10 yards and slowly jigged it back....the halibut came round for a second go, only to miss it again! My heart was racing. 

One last try I thought....Same spot again and jigged it up and down, as it was coming to the surface up he came again and got his whole chops round it this time! What then ensued was one of the best fights I've had off a sea fish. Absolutely epic scrap. I was bricking it all the way to the net. 

I'd wanted to catch a halibut since I was a kid and finally 2 days before my 50th birthday I was finally attached to one...I was praying it wouldn't come off. 

After a battle that felt like a week, it finally dropped into the net! I was totally lost for words as the wife would thankfully say. I sat looking at my prize for about 5 mins in the net in the water. After such a long time I had finally caught one of the fish I'd always wanted to catch. I was almost in tears looking at this incredible beast in my net. A small one by Norwegian standards at 20lbs but I didn't care....It was a HALIBUT and on a lure as well! 

I was so excited that I had to call it a day on the fishing as I was just to shaken! I caried the fish down the pontoon towards the boat house where 4 local boat owners were having afternoon coffee and cinnamon buns. As I walked towards them they all clapped and applauded which was not only highly amusing but also really added to the memory of the whole day! The guys weighed the fish for me and shook my hand. What a lovely event....We took our catch home and Marianne spent half an hour filleting both the lovely Cod and Halibut we'd caught in the day. We then sat back with fish for tea, a glass of wine and some lovely Norwegian chocolate. 

Our finally day was spent over on a mark we had fished earlier in the week and despite the smaller neap tides we had an excellent day catching many small cod to 8lb and a bonus new species for myself, a Ling! We both had an utterly fantastic trip which I will remember till I pass away! One of my favourites.

On our way home we stopped in a town to look in a sports shop and spent the best part of an hour talking to the owner about fishing over there. A really lovely guy and extremely knowledgeable to say the least. After leaving there we stopped for fuel at a local 'Best' petrol station. 'Best' do my favourite hotdogs so we thought it would be rude to not stop and grab one. 

Whilst there we got chatting to a guy who lived next to the station and spoke impeccable English. We had such a laugh together that we almost forgot the time and the fact we needed to get to the airport for our flight home. We left our new found friend 'Tom' and headed back through many stunning mountain passes and across some epic bridges. We managed to see numerous eagles on the way back and even stopped at the Straummen to see the tidal flow. What a trip we had, yet again. Another trip was certainly on the cards and soon!

Return to Norway!

Hi guys and girls.... yes, I know it's been a long time since I last wrote on here again! Seems to be a trend with my lack of spare time this last year or so....Well, time for a few stories and some updates from moi. Lots has happened since my last post where Marianne and I visited Norway for the first time. First up, there's been a change in job. As of 6th January I started a new role as the parts advisor for Nissan/Jaecoo/Omoda in Bridgend. 

This came about for many reasons but the biggest being the long daily commute to Audi in Cardiff which some days was taking over an hour each way and amassing a lot of miles on my car. Not only that but a lot of expense in fuel. 

I now have a 15 minute trip each way and cut my fuel bill by 3/4! I still don't seem to have a huge amount of spare time but I do at least get Saturdays free now so hopefully I'll get the motivation back to do more after work and weekends soon. 

So, fishing wise it's not been that busy to be honest with only 2 trips to discuss since November. The first being a return to Norway but a lot further North this time and a trip with my old mate Evan Rees to the Artic Circle and Lyngenfjord near t0 Tromso. 

We headed out from Bristol airport on the 9th March with Easyjet and flew for 3 hrs 15mins into the cold artic air. The flight was spectacular in every way and the the air crew were utterly brilliant! 

Anyone who says otherwise about Easyjet has been unlucky because the guys we had were incredible. They dealt with a sick passenger, fed us all, chatted and made a concerted effort to make the flight as enjoyable as possible. 

One of the girls even took my mobile to the cockpit to get some inflight footage for me! Spectacular! 

On landing we were met by heavy snow storm and minus 10C at Tromso international airport. We got the luggage off the conveyor an grabbed our hire car from the reception area. I left Evan with the luggage and ventured outside into 2 foot deep snow to find our car.....A mission in itself as the car was literally buried! I eventually got the car uncovered and drove slowly to the front of the reception to grab Evan and the piles of fishing kit and bags. 

We steadily made our way out of the city with myself at the helm gradually learning how much or how little grip we had! Things went well and after stopping for a fuel station hotdog and seeing a mother Moose and her baby on route, we finally arrived about 10pm. We had a few drinks and grabbed sone rest before an early start to fish from our private jetty at the back of our AirB&B! 

We got up to mild clear conditions and donned our warm weather gear to venture out and cast into the fjord. Evan was first up catching 2 lovely codling on lures which was his biggest hope for the trip. The bites were a little low on the ground though and the fishing pretty tough during the day. I managed my first fish mid afternoon with my biggest want from the trip! 

An incredible 8lb 12 oz Wolf Fish which took a big old Mackerel hookbait on an 8/0 circle hook. The fight was epic and I had great fun holding a new species! Those things literally just want to eat you! Hilarious.....The day progressed to night and we went insider for some dinner before the tide change and a night session from the jetty.

The fishing on the first night was fairly good with numerous nice codling falling for our mackerel baits and I think we had about half a dozen each. Around 11pm Evan decided to call it a night but I stopped out as there was an inkling of the Aurora Borealis being visible within the next hour. I'm glad I stopped out as around 12.30pm the skies lit up with some incredible scenes! 

The light from the Aurora bathed all of the fjord in greens, blues, pink and purple hues from above! To say it was spectacular to witness sat with my fishing rods out, a gin in hand and a lovely cigar in the other! A night I will never forget as long as I live! I had at this point no idea what was to follow in the coming days though!

Day two started fairly similarly to the previous with a nice full English breakfast cooked by Evan before we went to get changed for the outside cold air. I stood in the bedroom changing and noticed some large fins sprouting out the water just beyond our jetty! 

Evan and I threw our kit on and ran outside to see numerous pods of Pilot Whales passing through the area! This was incredible to see but to be honest did little for the fishing. We had a few odd nibbles from crabs and smaller fish but by mid afternoon we felt in need to of a change of venue possibly. 

We headed into the local village of Sammuelsberg and grabbed some food for our stay from tne local CoopPrix. The food in there was fabulously fresh and we made an instant hit with the locals including a lovely guy called Simen who gave us lots of info where to go and what to see whilst we were there. What a great guy and we still stay in touch now! 

Our next day we headed out further north towards Lapland and the Swedish border. We found a couple of mega marks to fish including one right next to a ferry terminal. The tide was spot on and both of us managed some belting codling on lures from right next to the ferry base. 

We tried another spot with no results probably due to poor tidal times but also met another lovely local guy who pointed us towards a spot 20 mins further North near Rotsund. Apparently a bit of a hotspot!

The next day we headed over to the new spot which appeared to be on private property next to a commercial fish oil processing plant. We took a chance and drove straight onto the groyne and set up to fish expecting to be asked to leave at any moment! To be honest we saw a few staff members and not one of theme seemed bothered by our being there. 

We started to catch some of the best codling of the trip with lots of fish to 7-8lbs. It was a bit snaggy and very deep but the rewards where to catch. We stayed until late and filled our boots! Driving home was very interesting as we had a rather heavy blizzard to attend with. This made driving more fun than usual and the road was barely visible bar the red posts every 10 yards along the side of the road to tell you where to drive in the event of a white out!

After the storm cleared we had a few drinks indoors and headed out to fish off the jetty again. It was okay for about an hour then another blizzard came in and we sat in heavy snow awaiting very little action. I think we gave it till about 2am before retiring to bed. The latter end of the week saw a few clear days and one night we were witness to the greatest Aurora show I have seen to date! 

Waves of green lights smothered the sky over the fjord and left us bother totally speechless as seems to be a common trend with my Norway trips! I spent most of the night photographing the light display and the fishing kind of took a back seat. 

The last few days of the trip were spent over in Rhotsund on the groyne and by the ferry terminal chasing codling with lures. It was a spectacular trip and both of us are desperate to repeat it very soon! On our way back to the airport we stopped numerous times to take some incredible pictures and when in Tromso city we stopped for food and hot chocolate whilst I visited the famous church and the massive bridge. 

The trip home was a bit delayed due to a heavy snow storm and we spent 2 hours on the runway having the plane de-iced before we were able to take off into the strong winds and heavy snow. The take off was epic and above the storm we were even able to witness the Aurora yet again from onboard the flight home! I'm hoping to head out Norway again in the next 1-2 months if possible. Not 100% sure on the location as yet but maybe to Bodo/Lofoton. Probably back to Tromso in March if both Evan and I can get a venue to stay in time. 

Norway baby!

After no less than 20 years since our last couples holiday, Marianne and I finally found the time to book a trip away together! We looked at literally tons of destinations, but just one jumped out on both of us.....Norway! 

We booked a stunning chalet next to Lake Nisser near Vradal in Telemark. The time finally arrived and we flew from Gatwick mid morning, landing at Gardermoen Airport midday. We grabbed our hire care from Hertz and made the 4 hour drive North Westerly, taking in some of the most incredible scenery I have ever seen in my life! 

Each bend in the road gave way to more breath taking views of water falls, ravines, glorious strips of tarmac winding around mountains. We literally ran out of WOW remarks within an hour of being in the country! 

We stopped 3 hours in to grab food from a local store and got our first taste of local living. Finally at 8pm we arrived to our stunning chalet. We got some rest and awoke early to the most incredible view I've ever risen to across the mist covered lake.

 Mountains shrouded the surrounding horizon and all that was audible to the ear were the sounds of running water and birdlife. Utter heaven! 

The first day was spent familiarizing ourselves with the local area and some local sight seeing and hand feeding the local birds at a harbour. 

Marianne caught the first few fish of the trip in the form of minnows off the veranda. We then used a few for live baits to grab some nice Perch. 

Day 2 was spent travelling to the incredible Mount Gaustattoppen at 6770 feet! The weather being nothing short of exceptional! Clear skies to the horizon in a 360 degree panorama! We went up the inside of the mountain in an old train built prior to World War 2. 

It was very special and something I never thought we would ever add to our bucket list. The summit was bathed in sunlight and some snow remanence from the previous nights blast frost of minus 6. After leaving the mountain at Rjukan we took the long road home around the Northern roads through so many stunning, vast regions.

That night we were to witness one of the greatest things I have ever seen in my life! The Northern Lights over our chalet! It was to be our second chance to see them in a year as we were incredibly lucky to see them in vivid animation back in May this year from our small holding on the hill in Wales. 

This time felt different being that much closer to the Artic Circle and the vivid colours electrified the sky with greens, pinks and purple beams of light! Utterly mesmerizing and breath taking! 

Our further few days were spent out boat fishing for Perch and after meeting both the chalet owner Lars Erik and his friends who were holidaying next to our chalet, Sven and Leila, I was lucky to get invited out to net fish with the lads while Marianne and Leila sat drinking Swedish Coffee. 

The trip was a real eyeopener as to how the Norwegians manage to stay well fed through the seasons....

We caught numerous fabulous trout, Perch and a white fish called Sik, which looks familiar to a Grayling. 

After the fishing we retired to Svens cabin for more coffee and to hear his beautiful accordion playing while Leila sang in Swedish! The two sounded unearthly as they played beautiful Swedish and Norwegian Folk. 

We retired to our cabin in the early hours after being given a bucket of freshly picked mushrooms as a gift by our lovely new friends. 

We continued our journeys the next few days, taking in lots of Telemarks incredible panoramic scenery, whilst fishing many rivers and pools along the way, catching endless virgin Brown Trout form the ultra clear waters. We were both in heaven! 

We visited a beautiful lady called Inger who owns a fantastic riding school in Fyrosdol. We had a fab few hours with her riding through a stunning forest on horse back. Marianne got her first taste of riding an Icelandic pony and I rode a lovely chunky cob called Scully. It was the perfect end to a perfect holiday. With just one day left we had to tick off just one more thing off the bucket list....see some Elk! 

We'd tried on a few evenings so far and got close with sightings of fresh droppings and foot prints. Inger reckoned she had a guaranteed spot for us that evening. We spent the afternoon driving to the incredible Giants Kettle falls and even catching a brownie from the pool above the rapids! On the return journey over Skredvatn lake pass we stopped to take in the sunset over the water before arriving at the spot Inger had suggested at her boy friends property. 

We pulled into the field and sat waiting behind a few bails of hay. As darkness started to fall we felt we'd probably missed our chance....then as quickly as we were about to leave, 3 Elk entered the field below us! I honestly couldn't believe our luck! A baby with it's mum and dad! I was utterly speechless and to be honest bloody emotional as the 3 animals peacefully munched away at berries and leaves on a tree in front of us. Just wow! We sat for a good 15 minutes watching them before they finally left the field for other pastures....

We got back in the car and just looked at each other with huge grins on our faces. What a trip! Needless to say we are going back again next year! I honestly can't bloody wait!