The family got thrown into the fish-mobile and we motored to lake Vikevannet for some trout fishing, and generally just enjoy the unusual high temperatures that where hovering around 25-30 degrees. This lake is overpopulated with undersized trout, and you are pretty much guaranteed to have a tiny trout hanging on your hooks with every cast. Not so fun for the adults, but popular with the kids, and a nice place to take them to learn how to fish.

The wife took the first one today. A 10 cm long specimen, taken with a fly and floater combo. This is a popular way of fishing in Norway, where we use regular fly fishing flies, but on a regular spinner rod. Typically with a casting floater, and a trace as long as your rod, with one or more trout flies on.

Best to hold on to mama when fishing!

I prefer casting spinner lures withan ultralight rod. Mine is a Shimano Beastmaster 165UL that I purchased more than 5 years ago. This rod has been with me on my travels to both Sri Lanka and Thailand, and has cought me hampala barb, striped snakehead and walking catfish in Cheu Lan lake in Thailand, and golden belly barb in the pond at our local Wat (temple) in my wives village in Isaan, Thailand. And of course secured plenty of nice trout at the local lakes around Harstad.

Married to the rod is an Okuma Force FE15 fixed spool reel. For trout I see no reason to change a winning combination. And although I have been using the odd rapala wobler, or Tasmanian devil lure, the one that sees most fish, is the one and only, silver Blue Fox Vibrax size “0″ (3 gram). And of course I had my first trout of the year on this. Not exactly a beast, but never te less a trout.

The lakes shore at Vikavannet is pretty much overgrown with bushes, like most low land lakes in Norway. With just a few places to stand and cast unhindered. So I usually done a pair of waders. That way I get away from the vegetation, and can fish in places that is normally almost impossible to reach. And under overhanging bushes you often find trout. But at Vikavannet you have to be careful, as the lake is so called bottomless. Make a mistake and you sink right trough the bottom. So a wading stick is a good idea, but for me that just gets in the way. But the water is so clear that it’s no problem to see the bottom, so I stick to places where there are stones and pebbles on the bottom. Those areas are firm.

We had a nice day out, and the kids both caught a couple of fish, and had a swim in the lake. But the wife wanted something more substantial. So at the end of the day, we went to the fjords, and hauled some saithe up for tomorrows dinner. The weather was in fact so nice that it was midnight before we headed home in under relentless shine of the midnight sun.