Heading home

Heading home

Viking Lars | Saturday, 8 June 2024

I’m on my way back from a week’s fishing in Gaula, Norway. The opening week has passed and catches have been very low. Worryingly low, in fact. Some say catastrophically low, but let’s. The ice on the high mountains melted early and no rain came. The opening weeks can easily run with 300m3/s. By Monday we had less than 50, gin clear, bottle clear water. Usually rain is much better than drawing the salon up river. We did get a flood - still very few salmon.

We tried every tactic and technique in the books. I fished high and hitched on light tackle and thin leaders and a short rod to a sink 3/5 on the 15’ 10-wt. Changing tactic and technique is something I’m always prepared for, but it’s rare that I cover a range as big as this.

It’s part of the game. They’re migratory fish and sometimes stars and moons just don’t align.

But if you have to spend a week fishing for fish that aren’t there, you can at least enjoy leaving with a fine tunes cast you won’t need again until next year. I tested some new lines, a new rod and looked at a lot of flies under water.

I might return in August by which time we’ll know if the lack of salmon is a result of a delayed migration or something much worse.

Have a great weekend!

Lars

PoD: As long as one’s catching nothing, practicing a thousand casts, at least beautiful surroundings are better than a park.