It was one of those days with a thick fog belt that seemed to engulf everything around Sätervik, a small sleepy fishing townin Northern Norway. Everyone on this trip and in our small group of fly fisherman was getting sick of hunting for fish out inthe fog without any VHF and Radar sincewe almost got rammed buy a commercialfishing boat the previos night. So wedecided to go the 12 nautical milesinto port and have some drinks.When we almost had reached our campI told Gustav that we should try the pinnacles just outside the camp in a last attempt for the day. He looked at me with a stare that could have killed a man, but soon gave in because of my continuous nagging. I rigged the 8 weight fly rod with a small green and white baitfish fly patternand we started to fish the bouy that was closest to the camp. On the third cast I hooked into something big that outspooled me in less than 20 seconds. Now, everyone was back in the game for real and everybody was forgetting about the fog andfreezing weather. We made a second round around the bouy and immediatly Gustav hooked up to a big fish that wrapped his line around the Bouy. We made the next pass a bit further from the Bouy around the 20meter mark. On the last cast of the drift I felt a small bump on my fly and stripped striked into something solid. The next run made blisters on my hand when i hand breaked the reel that had lost it’s drag. I managd to stop the fish after a 100meter run. After that the fished tangled itself in the damn Kelp! We drove up to where the fish was tangled and after a little while the fish got loose from the kelp and the fight was on once more. After 30 minutes of fighting; the fish was by the boat and I could lift up a plus 6 kg Pollock. After this we went home to celebrate with loads of bear and whisky. A very bad trip had quickly been transformed into a great one!
Awesome! That is a monster pollock .. I was surprised to hear that pollock that size would be so inshore and near the bouy … Here in Maine, the inshore pollock are typically very small. A fish of that size is typically found in off shore waters. Seems to me, a Pollock that size on the fly is an accomplishment .. Of course, I am only one person .. but, I have never seen a pollock like that so close to shore, that size and on the fly. Nice work. Just curious … what water depth were the fish at? Pollock are often near the bottom, but it sounded as though you were catching them in the mid to high water column around the bouy. Also, what a great way to end the trip and the last minute fish made everything worth it. I enjoy pursuing fish that are difficult to catch … as the rewards are proportional to the effort. Sometimes the difficulty is weather related, tough to find the fish, fish not eating or any number of obstacles … overcoming those difficulties and keeping positive and focused on the goal is often tiring and frustrating but worth it! …. great job!
When I was a kid, we had a summer place on the Ocean and Pollock were great fish to catch but I have never seen one caught on a fly and I haven’t seen one that big in years. Glad to see you and your fish. Are there Atlantic Salmon in Norway and are their numbers good? Reply on the sight to Greg, thanks.
Nice Pollack ! ( in my favorite country…)
these fish are also possible to catch from shore flyfishing clousers and sandeels..
Zeebaars
Hi Jeremy
This is a very nicesized pollock even for
Norwigien inshore waters. The biggest we have hooked prevoius years have been around 15-17 pounds and they are great and dirty fighters especially on light SWF gear like an 7-8 weight rod.
The fish took just outside the bouy but the water there is around 15-20meters and i had let that deep express shooting head all the way to the bottom. But he fish took the fly half way up so maybe 8-9 meters.
But we have got some really big one on gurglers and poppers also, but thats 1 night out of 10. This fish took a small baitfish pattern and had prevoius just laught at all out efferts with the big flies that normally works great. The weather is just an obstacle to go around with good gear and a good crew.
Best Regards
P-A
Hi Greg
Glad you liked the article and the fush.
We have a lot of fish in the 4-8 pound mark
here that make up great fishing with he Flyrod. Norway is the number one location for fishing atlantic salmon but it costs a fucking furtone if you want the good places and rivers. What are u looking for more precis? Send me and IM and will try to help you out man.
P-A
Thanks man and of course they
could be found from the shore
especially from rock ledge shores
with high tides. Great fighting fish.
Best Regards
P-A