FishTwits Blog

06-16-09

Roadtrip with Dad to Norway: In Search of a Fishytale

Fast Facts for Norway

Total KM travelled: 1920

Number of Lakes: ~450,000!, Number fished: 6

Number of Rivers: ~ too many to count, Number fished: 5

Number of Fjords: ~ 4000, Number fished: 2

It begins

Having just graduated from my MSc at Lund University in Sweden, I met with my Dad and we headed off for the road trip of a lifetime, up the coast of Sweden, across the south of Norway and finally down through the north of Denmark and back to Lund.

As soon as I knew we were going on this trip I got excited, a quick look at the map reveals a vast series of lakes, rivers, streams and a staggering coastline of fjords, if a fisherman was to design a country from scratch, I doubt he could do much better than this.  At this time of year the sun sets at around 3am and rises at about 3.10am making it possible to fish basically 24 hours a day.

The vast array of fishing possibilities is almost Norway’s downfall, as Dad and I looked at the map and started planning our route, I started saying things like ‘oh if we go this way we will go past 12 streams, 6 rivers, 3 lakes and we can get to 2 fjords the next day.  Dad was quick to point out that this would hold true almost no matter which route we took.

Day 1

Having had our graduation party the night before (it was lucky enough to study with a great group of people from around the world – I will miss you guys!), I was in barely any state to even get my bag packed (which might be why I ended up hiking through snow on sandals – but more on that later) and I slept through what my dad informs me was a pretty boring drive up the west coast of Sweden.  But by the time we got to the ferry port in Stromstad, I had recovered from my hangover but decided to stick with a Coke whilst Dad had what turned out to be a $15 non-alcoholic beer! As I sipped my Coke and Dad guffawed in astonishment at the most expensive non-alcoholic drink he’d ever had, we discussed the plans for the evenings camp site, the pipe dream of building a yatch together and sailing it around Scandinavia and finally settling on the fact that neither of us knew the first thing about how we should fish the Norwegian lakes and rivers that would pepper the first part of our journey.

We struck up a conversation with the bar tender and it turned out that what he lacked in decent beers, he more than made up for in fishing knowledge.  He described several promising lakes and rivers which were within a short driving distance from the ferry terminal in Sandefjord.  Eventually we settled on Lake Goksjo.

We set up camp in an idyllic location next to the lake with sun low in the sky and I strolled down to the water’s edge for a fish.  Unfortunately, my spinner did not hold much attraction for the trout and redfish that were continually breaking the glass like surface of the lake to snack on the smorgasbord of insects that ventured too close to the water.  This was a fly fisherman’s paradise and I have promised myself that I will return here, fly rod in hand.

Beautiful Lakeside Campground

My spinning rod just wasn't cutting it in this fly fisherman's paradise

Day 2

The next day we stopped for breakfast in a small town where, much to Dad’s delight (he is an avid cyclist), a local cycling road race was about to take off.  We chatted to some of the officials and Dad managed to wrangle a free shirt and pair of socks from the local cycling shop who was sponsoring the race.  It just so happened that this shop was right next to the local outdoors shop and as Dad continued to talk cycling, I wandered across to talk fishing with a very helpful Norwegian.  We looked at a few different fly fishing setups that would be good for a beginner… but after consulting my wallet, I decided to settle for a selection of his favourite spinners.

Back into our rental BMW (which we managed to get for the same price as a Ford Focus) and we headed westward through the Ryfielke region with a lot of territory to cover if we were going to make it to Preikerstolen the next day.  We consistently took the most minor roads we could find and as Dad put it ‘It was astonishing. Climbing high above fjords, clinging single-lanedly to fjord-side cliffs then over into valleys through snowfields, the road often cut through snowbanks on either side past lakes covered in iceflows, fields of boulders, forests.’  We managed to time our rest stops to coincide with some of the most beautiful fishing spots I have ever been to.

This looked a likely area for Salmon..

Alas, no fish.  Half an hour per spot does not even come close to doing these spots justice but I am treating this trip as reconnaissance..

Day 3

Not much to report on the fishing front, Dad and I climbed Preikestolen, known as the Pulpits Rock.  A steady climb through mountain forests and past small artic lakes to a  spectacular, pulpit shaped cliff top, 604m above the Lysefjord.

I fished a few times whilst we were waiting for various ferry’s to take us across the Fjords but apart from spotting a pretty impressive Garfish, the Norwegian fish remained uncooperative.

Day 4

Today we headed for another hike, this time at the other end of the Lysefjord, to Kjerag.  A boulder wedged between two cliffs with a 1000m drop either side.  As we set off on the hike, we looked at the sign recommending that good footwear be worn as conditions could be icy and slippery, Dad glanced sceptically at the sandals I had borrowed from him asking if I was sure they were the ‘best’ choice?

As I slipped and stumbled my way up the steep granite rocks and wondered how long it might take frostbite to set in as I walked through shin deep snow, Dad climbed up like a mountain goat, leading me to question not only my choice of footwear but also whether my lifestyle over the last year of beer, meatballs and the occasional walk to uni may have had a negative impact on my fitness when compared to Dad’s 200km plus of cycling each week…

This is by far one of the most spectacular hikes Dad or I have ever done, the sparse moon like landscape of granite and snow littered with thousands of small rock sculptures (if any one can tell me the significance of these, I would be very interested!), surrounded by snow capped mountains and sheer cliff leading jagging down to a turquoise fjord below.

Weird rock sculptures everywhere in Norway

The wind started to blow pretty hard right at this moment...

We settled in for the night at Lysebotn Campground which has to be one of the most beautiful camp grounds in the world.  The photos don’t do it justice, if you try to imagine the perfect camp ground you might say ‘it should be soft and grassy, maybe with some snow capped mountains in the background’ you might also include friendly staff and a nice little pub nearby.  This place had all of that, but to top it off it was located at the end of a beautiful turquoise fjord with a waterfall cascading down the side of the cliffs finishing almost on top of our tent.  Not to mention that the pub had a chef that could make a roasted half chicken, pork filet and dessert to die for.

Satisfied from dinner, Dad and I shared a couple of beers and wines as we watched videos of base jumpers in the local area (I am definitely going back to Kjerang to do that one day!) and played an epic game of Uca.  As Dad wandered off to bed, I wanderd out to the jetty rod in hand and fished well into the night, knowing that this would be my last night in Norway… still nothing… but I can’t imagine much of a better spot to catch nothing…

Final Day in Norway

It was a perfect morning as we opened the flaps of our tent to gaze out onto a calm fjord and watch the sun glisten off the waterfall.  It wasn’t a hard decision to rent a canoe and spend our last morning in Norway paddling and fishing the Lysefjord.  There is nothing quite as relaxing as fishing from a canoe and Dad and I spent a good few hours paddling about, fishing, talking and just generally taking in the natural beauty of our surroundings.

Dad fishing the Lysefjord

As we started to head back to shore, I was beginning to give up on the idea of catching any fish in Norway but in my mind that did not matter so much, I knew there were fish to be caught in this beautiful country, I had spent five amazing days with my Dad driving through narrow twisting roads between snow capped mountains, fjords, conifer forests, vast lakes and crystal clear streams hiking some of the most spectacular trails in the world,… and I had fished some of the most beautiful places in the world.

As is usually the case when you are fishing, as my find started to drift, I was suddenly brought back to reality with a sharp tug on my line.  I almost fell out of the canoe in excitement as the fish pulled against my light tackle, I couldn’t say exactly how the long the struggle lasted but finally… I managed to land… this monster salmon!?

Monster Salmon!