Yesterday I woke up and decided that fishing was a pretty good idea for the day. So the fish mobile was packed, said farewell to women and children and into the rising sun the mighty hunter/gatherer set forth on his voyage!

After a couple of miles down the road, however, the mobile chirped it’s merry tune. It was the wife informong the mighty warrior that he had left his tea and food at home…
So after returning for that I set forth again. The plan was the jetty at Evenskjær, a small village on the mainland side of Tjeldsund. And on arrival there I set up camp. That is the camping chair, tackle box, portable stove…only to find out that my reel and the box containing every hook I own was still sitting on the bench in the shed at home…and so did my reel.

Once on the road again after fetching these items, and having driven about 30-40km I decided to go all the way to Bogen, and the deep water NATO quay there. I had read earlier reports from other about large cod and perhaps even halibut there. So arriving after half an hours drive, it was just a matter of jumping the closed bar-gate. And hauling kit onto the quay.

When I arrived some foreigners where there fishing. And with a nice cod in the 8-10lb range sitting next to them. However while I was busy setting up, they left. Leaving fish guts all over the quay. Which the local population of sea gulls really appreciated. So I had to clean that up before I started fishing. By now it was drizzling down with that soft, silent rain that will last for hours and days and drive you mad, and make your whole world soaking wet. But the temps where at a tropic 14 degrees Celsius, so it was not all bad.

I baited up with mackerel and frozen prawns, and cast out the surf rod, and my light 20-60 gram salmon rod got the same tackle and bait, only with lighter lead. Then sat down for the wait. And I sat there for about 5 hours without so much as a single nod on any of the rods. Nothing to do but to brew up some tea, and fry some sausage…until I noticed a tiny, but prolonged steady nod on the surf rod.

One of those #¤%& bait thieves O was thinking. A baby codling or something. But this was heavy! I started reeling in, and although there was nice bend in the rod, there was no fight!
Okay, it gotta be cod. The most boring fish in the world, but good food! As I reeled in a moved to the roll-on/roll-off part of the quay. Perfect for landing fish. And when I got there the fish surfaced, and that was no cod. That ugly face and those teeth could only belong to a wolf fish! And the creature was almost a meter long!

But now I had myself a problem. I have never had a wolf fish fish before. And I had left my gaff in the car! And with that fish in the water hissing at me like a snake, I did not want to put my hands anywhere near those bone-crushing jaws. So while i diddled about what to do, the fish hissed once more, flapped it’s tail and was gone…my very first wolf fish was lost, and a prime specimen to booth!

Nothing to do but keep on fishing, as the tide was coming in. I soon had on another first as bait fishing from the shore is concerned, a nice enough coalfish for the table, 4lb. Soon followed by another, this time on the salmon rod, wich was really fun, as it gave a good fight. The Ambassadeur 6500CS Rocket was screaming as the fish took off. And it took a good 5-10 minutes of play before I had the 6,5lb coalf-fish in. Dinner was secured!

As I baited up again the surf rod started to nod heavilly. Yup, a cod. Winched that one in at a respectable 10lb. Cod filet for dinner tomorrow I was thinking!

Then came the grand finale!

Another solid tug, this time on the light salmon rod, and then a considerable bend in the light rod as I started the process of winching in yet another largish cod. But as I god it closer to land, and into the quay, I had to tow it to the RO-RO part of the quay to land it…and unknown to me, my lines had crossed. So looking back I suddenly spot my surf rod laying on the quay, being dragged allong the edge of the quay…and at that moment my line went slack. The braid had been cut against the quay.

Resigned I go to pick up the surf rod. But hey! There is fish there. So I proceed to winch that in. And it’s the same cod! Still with the tackle from the surf rod attached! The hook from the surf rod must have followed the salmon rods line until it hooked up with the fish!, well actually it was entangled in the salmon rods tackle! So I saved both hook, lead and glider boom! And the fish itself? 85 cm and 12lb! My largest cod from the shore so far!

That was it from a rather eventful trip. And with last weeks flounder catch, maybe I am finally getting this shore fishing with baits thing together!