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.
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.
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!
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!
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