Well, it’s not exactly a grand vessel, my little Chinese made Hifei HSD 270. And the 4 Hp Johnson Sea Horse motor that pushes it about on the waters was made the year my wife was born. But the boat floats and the screws are turning so at this point I ain’t complaining.

The boat has a wood deck, so I am not to worried about sharp hooks landing there. And I use a plastic tub as my de-hooking area aboard. Rod holders and perhaps a cheap fish finder will eventually find their way into the boat as well. But for now I am having far to much fun farting around my local area trying some well known marks.

I’ve been fishing it in my local waters. That is the part of the sea I can see from my living room windows. So far there  just been a few cod and a baby cusk. But the winds have not been in my favour either, making for some quite choppy seas. The little 8 foot dinghy is braving it a lot better than I am. And so far I have been impressed how good it takes the seas.

Here are some pictures:

Hifei HSD 270 with 1973 Johnson Sea Horse 4hp motor

Baby cusk cought off Arnøya

Heading to shore

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.

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!

But before I could get into the car, I noticed the salmon rods line had gone slack. And when I tightened up there was something there! The something turned out to be a nice sand flounder in the 400 gram range, and 33 cm long, and the second I have caught in my life! And on the 2 other hooks, there was to baby codling.  Am I finally starting to break the shore fishing code?

Baited up and cast out again, only to have the bait clicker on the surf rod go off!

This time it was the unmistakably tugs of a cod, that is it was a 2 kilo codling, that was promptly released as the food safety authorities advices against eating fish from here. Anyway, the rest of the evening was like that. Constantly working rods, but now it was just removing bait thieves from hooks. Nothing to mention, but lots of fresh air. All in all, nice evening out in the rain.

I got set up quickly and finally got to try out my home made rod pod. Which worked a treat. And baited up I made my first cast and was into fish before I could tighten up the line. A tiny baby red codling. That was cast back where it came from, then I cast out again, as I did not even have to change bait.

5 minutes layer I landed another tiny codling. I am talking in the 3-400 gram range here. And now it all stopped for a while. So I ate my dried haddock, and swallowed it down with a couple of cans of Fanta, received a mocking call from my wife, and as I hung up, there was a run on my rod!

This was finally something substantial, and since it was on a light rod, my Abu Garcia Workhorse 2 Salmon/Bass rod, this was going to be a bit more fun, but not a problem at all for a salmon rod. I had my hopes up that it was a bigger flounder as it actually gave a fight, and I had a good bend in the rod. But alas it was not to be. What came up turned out to be an 8lb cod.

I got it landed on the beach next to the quay, photographed and measured, before letting it go. An act which for me is an act of sadnes, as I love to bring my catch home for the table. But when fishing in the most polluted harbour in Norway, I just don’t take the chance.

Anyway, stayed there a couple of hours more, and was joined by fishing buddy “Andy” just as I was packing up. He is the one who caught a 39lb halibut at this mark a few weeks back. So I stayed on for a bit longer for a chat, before heading home to my wife, empty handed as usual…

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, did catch a double digit hallibut here last week. And says there is plenty of flounder. So for the sport, not for the table, it’s and excellent mark.

Only problem, I did not have any bait. That is  a problem here in Norway. There is no tackle shops that sell bait. And in the supermarkets you are lucky if you find some salted herring, and boiled prawns to stick on your hook. So for me the only bait I had as I stopped the fish-mobile on the quay was the latter.

I got set up fairly quickly and made the first cast. Since I did not have any bigger bait, I only used my smaller rod. Hoping to perhaps get some whiting or a baby saithe to use as bait for the possible halibut. And I soon had a tiny codling at the end of my line. It was so small, I only discovered it as I was reeling in to check my bait.

A quick SMS to Andy to tell him that my first catch of the year was in the box, returned me some drivel about his laughing cat, so after letting this one go, I baited up again. And soon had a whiting on, and that one was speedily turned into bait for the surf rod, in trhe vain hope that I would bag a halibut.

Meanwhile on the other rod, I noticed the line going slack. So I checked and there was definitely something on, so I just reeled in quite briskly. But then there was actually some fight to be had. The rod was actually bending and the tip!

And there it was. My first flattie! A little sand flounder it was, and a lovely sight to behold!

I was quite chuffed over it, and so excited I forgot measurements before it was cast back into the heavy metal infested fjord. But I managed a picture, you can see it on top!

Bellow is my first catch of the year….yup, the sea gulls are still laughing.

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. The mark also has plenty of flounder and you may also haul in some cod. So off to the local fish monger to get some herring for bait. He did not have any, but I had some salted stuff and a bag of shrimp, so that would have to make do.

Arriving at the mark, I found Andy and a friend of his busy setting up rod pods, so I asked politely if I could play with them. And with permission granted I set up my rods, cast out and started the wait. To my shame I have never caught a flat fish. No halibut, no plaice, not even a sand flounder. So my hopes where up to add a species or two to my short list. So I got out my bag of dried cod to munch on while eying the rod tips with half an eye and chatting away with Andy.

And there was plenty of action on the rod tips. But nothing that would stick. Andy finally had a 2lb cod that was released. Followed shortly by a sand flounder…and that was that. 6 hours of fishing and nothing. Not exactly an exciting day out. We’ll see what the next few weekends will bring. If I am allowed out…

The boat is an open 16″ thing with a 25hp Mercury at the stern, and it being brand new, we took it easy out to the mark. The outside of Arnøya, a small island off Harstad. The mark is known to yield red fish, saithe and cod.

My rod of the day…well, it is my only boat rod, was an el-cheapo Ron Thompson Steelstick 30lb rod mated to the very same Ambassadeur 7000i C3 that I purchased to go with my surf rod last summer. I figured if a Swede could haul up a 200+ kg halibut on a reel like that, it would be good enough for a few dinner sized cod.

Fishing buddy Torstein and captain of our mighty vessel on the other hand figures that using a fishing rod from a boat is something only Swedes, German tourists and cafe latte drinking souterners do, so he opted for the good old hand line on a fishing wheel.

The terminal tackle for both of us was the good old silver Norway pirks with a few gummimakk up the line. My Norway pirk was however a 400 gram from Ron Thompson, while Torstein was using the original 750 gram pirk from Sølvkroken.

Arriving at the mark we did not hesitate to chuck in our tackle. And after 5 minutes there was the familiar steady tug of a cod. Now there was only the matter of pumping the fish to the surface. The cheap rod did a good job at it. An the reel performed quite well. And soon we were able to lift in a 7-10lb cod. It was also the first fish of the boat, my first of the year, and the best fish I have taken since I took up fishing again last summer. To bad it was the only cod we got on this trip.

The next fish was the captains, a baby Cusk. And soon there after it was my turn to haul aboard. That was my very first of that species so right then size did not matter. And when after 5 more minutes I hauled in a dinner sized member of that familly, I was quite happy.

But now there was no more bites. So we moved further out, and we were soon into cusk again. Then I had a nice coalfish, and a pollach. While Torstein hauled in a couple more baby Cusk. But by now we could see snow clouds approaching, so we headed for shore. We had enough for dinner anyway.

But today we woke up to clear skies, and frozen water puddles on the ground. So with the tide up around noon, I packed my car and headed for nearby Trondenes. It’s only a 3 minute drive.

Set up my surf rod with herring and prawns as bait. The water is quite shallow here…20-30 meters. And on arrival I saw what must have been hundreds of sea gulls having a feast on something 4-500 meters out in the bay.

While waiting as usual I was casting with my lure rod to kill time. When the little fella on the top picture decided to take my red Stingsild lure. And that was it for the whole morning.

I seriously have to find myself a mark where there actually is fish.

Meanwhile surroundings could not be more beautiful. 13th century church, snow capped mountains and blue water included.

Well…not quite. After a few casts I had a spectacular birds nest. I will come back to that as what happened next was that my fishing buddy pointed out that the surf rod was nodding. Sure enough, I was in to fish, and a small codling was winched unceremoniously up onto the quay, photographed and let go again. Then I baited up and cast out.

Okay, back to the birds nest. Slowly got that sorted. But now even with the brake knob fully engaged, my 40 gram lure simply dropped to the deck as soon as the spool was disengaged.

Did a field strip of the reel, but could see nothing amiss. So I simply got better at using my thumb to feather the spool for the rest of the session. And soon winched in this little saithe.He made a brave fight of it. And since I have not had time or opportunity to make my drop net yet, I had to walk him into the beach.

Saithe have quite weak mouths, so on hoisting him up on the quay deck even this fellow would have dropped off the hook, ripped off by his own weight.

By now it was time to check the bait on the surf rod. So hauled in to find another baby codling had been hooked. If the little fella had the sense to let me know he was there by tripping the bait clicker, I would have had him off of there bit a sooner…

Anyway, by now it was getting dark, and my fishing buddy had long sinceleft for home, mumbling something about the weather, and this old, abbandoned quay is a bit eerie at night, so when something made my neck hairs stand straight up…I packed up and headed home.