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 [...]

The German tourist Günther Kinnerman, has cought a 223 kg Halibut in Magerøysundet off North Cape, Norway. According to NRK (Google translate link) the fight lasted for two hours and he had it up twice before he managed to secure the fish to the boat on the third attempt. The fish weight in at 223kg (491,6Lb) and was  256cm long. NRK reprots that the old record belonged to a Dane, at 208kg. That halibut was 202 and was caught in Lofoten. But only a couple [...]

I tried to do some maintenance on the ABU Ambassadeur 7000i C3 i purchased a couple of years ago. It was not the first time I opened it up, but the sinking feeling of disappointment was still there as the plastic-fantastic guts of it was revealed. My confidence in this reel was initially quite okay. But it has grown worse as the reel as deteriorated in front of my eyes. And it has not really been used that much. The heaviest load it has experienced [...]

Been blanking for a few trips. So it was time to head back to the Mercur quay in the polluted waters of Harstad harbor again. This time armed with mackerel for bait. The weather however was not very cooperative. And while it was gray with a hint of softness in the air, before I had the second rod up, a good wind was blowing straight in my face, and the rain was drumming hard on the fish-mobile parked next to me. But before I could [...]

A new law strengthening the rights of commercial fjord fisher men in Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, the three northern districts of Norway, will ban the trawlers from the fjords. No more will the huge ocean going factory trawlers come into the fjords and leave them devoid of life. 10-15 years ago they came to my fjord. Where I spent my summers fishing for cod and coal fish from my grandfathers rowing dingy as a kid, or if luck would have it, I could get out [...]

The weather was rather nice, with the sun shining form clear skies. So I got my kit into the fish-mobile and headed for Mercur in Harstad harbour again for some possible flatties. As there simply is no herring to be purchased in the area, and the mackerel has not arrived yet, I would have to fish for bait. Either saithe, or perhaps whiting. But none of those would be there for me on this trip. So with no bait suitable for the halibut, it was [...]

In 2010 Norway introduced a mandatory boating license. That is you need a licence to drive a boat with some exceptions: If you are born in 1980 or later, and will drive a boat that is more than 8 meters (26,2 ft) or that has an engine that has more than 25Hp, you need a licence. Smaller boats than mentioned above you may drive without a licence from age 16. If you are born before 1980, you don’t need a licence at all. But boat [...]

I’ve seen them in use, but always balked at the expense of a rod pod. Besides it would just be another piece of unnecessary crap to drag along on trips, adding to the weight of kit bags, rods, bait and everything else that you tend to drag along. But with a bigger fish-mobile and with me having taken up shore fishing, my tolerance for what I would bring along has gone up. But still, a rod pod will set med back 5-800NOK at least here [...]

This may sound incredible, but I have never caught a flounder. In fact I have never landed a flat fish at all. So yesterday it was off to my new mark at Mercur in Harstad. It sits smack in the middle of what is probably one of the most polluted harbours in Norway, after about a hundred years of ship building industry. The bottom is so loaded with  heavy metals that I am surprised the fish can manage to swim. But my fishing buddy Andy, [...]

It’s been a while since my last entry on this blog. Well, last season went down the drain as the wife got pregnant, and when our baby boy was born, I got seriously ill shortly afterwards. Well, now I am on the mend and did the first shore fishing trip of the year this last Friday. The mark was a quay right across the harbour from the centre of Harstad, where the previous weekend my fishing buddy “Andy” caught a 39lb halibut from the shore. [...]