RobL

Hi Gumbus. The fishing in Norway is great provided you go to the right place at the right time. I would suggest that anyone going on a sea fishing holiday should make sure that he is North of Alesund. Although there is some good fishing to be had near Bergen. This generally involves either long drives or flying which can be cheaper. Quite a few anglers go to the south as it's easy to get to and cheap but unfortunately the fishing is generally no better than at home. Charter boats are rare and good charter boats, that is with highly specialised skippers as in the UK even rarer. If you get a self-drive make sure its big enough and fast enough to get you where you want to go. Make sure you have booked a guide for at least the first two days at the beginning of your trip, better still for the full duration. I work as a guide at various destinations and my anglers can expect to catch 20 lb cod and coalfish plus much bigger fish with a bit of luck. English anglers don't come over very often unfortunately. Most anglers tend to be German. Expect to pay upwards of 500 ponds per head excluding travel and fuel costs for a group of five people. Any less than that and you are cutting corners. Which might be okay and still can be fun; it just depends on how high your stands are. RobL

They are down as far as the Lofoten but not really common there. There are a lot around the North Cape. That's a crabs leg that’s worth bothering with. Robert

You're lucky the last time I was in Weymouth all they had was a load of pollocks.

Yeah! Don't they look miserable. Very serious things these Norwegian conger; perhaps they had to pay by the yard Anyone want a bash? Let me know. RobL www.fishingsport.com [ 19. January 2005, 11:30 AM: Message edited by: RobL ]

Hi Cyrano. It really depends on what you want to do. There's a big difference between fishing for conger in the channel or trolling for sail fish. The reel you have is capable of both. The rod you use depends on the line that you intend to use. If you intend to use the reel somewhere warm were pelagics are expected then just one set up will not be enough as good crews can handle upwards of 8 rigs behind the boat. If you want to bottom fish, or live bait for small tuna then that’s different again. The reel you have is capable of maintaining free spool with about 8-10lb of drag. This means that you can get away with lines of up to 40lb and your drag will not fade to quickly. Your best bet is to go for a good quality 35-40lb braid and leave enough room on top for 25 to 50 yards mono topshot of 30lb-40lb breaking strain; depending on what you’re doing. Then I would suggest any quality 6-8ft graphite boat rod in the 20-50lb range or rather several. You can still troll with such a set up, you can live bait for small to medium tuna, and you can fish the wrecks for conger and pirk for cod. ABU sovereigns are good but so are many others. I prefer the Shimano range either Beast Master or Antares. That’s what I give my customers to use anyhow. RobL

There are occasionally conger caught as high as, let’s say, northern central Norway. But the northern range probably stops about Trondheim. There was one very notable catch this year in August the eel was 2,25m long and weighed 35,5kg and caught in the Romsdal Fjord. There have been a few notable ling catches there recently so that’s probably how the anglers got lucky. They are an unusual catch, but not unheard of. Divers see them occasionally but not as often as in the UK. Anglers would probably catch them more often if they fished with heavy traces and bait. But as most of the angling done is pirking for cod and coalfish they simply don’t get connected. @Salar. Whoever told you that wallop about giant conger and the Baltic really had some fun didn’t they A few years ago they had one in a shrimp net in the Baltic and it made the national papers as it’s never happened before …….or since. RobL

Hi Rosy. I have never fished Mandal. As I said the hype or should I say hyper fish are all caught well north of there. But; it's a very beautiful region much more so than further North where everything is rocks and fish. The Mandalelv (elv=river) is a fair to good salmon river. If the weather gods play tricks on you take some spinning gear and a few spoons and spinners and give it a try there are several good beets that are really reasonable. In the estuary, which I am told is sandy you can expect plaice and probably flounder. In Norway there are still plenty of place about and you should have a lot of fun with them. You should be able to dig bait in the area at low water. Ask a local for a fork if not try Mackerel strip on a long flowing trace or a heavy flounder spoon. Prawns are also a good standby. When you get out a bit there are plenty of codling and small coalfish. Take a few sets of wrecking feathers with you along with a selection of pirks from 50g – 300g. If you are able to access deeper ground a bit father out and away from the estuary then its worth trying on the bottom with big baits for ling they can top 20 kg here also. These are going to be your biggest catch. If you find a few banks or ridges next to deep water then theer will be a few better coalfish around. Try casting 50+g pirks around these. Let them sink and wind like fury, if there are any big coalfish around you’ll find them. Take a medium spinning outfit with you using a fixed spool reel and 300m+ of 20lb braid. Second set should be 30lb gear for heavier pirking and bottom fishing. You could be fishing in depths of up to 200m or more so you need a decent reel and a lot of line. Say 500m 40-50lb braid. For the ling just akt as if theyre small conger a 1,5mm trace is fine. There are several people doing charters in the region. The quality varies but they are all value for money if youre used to UK rates. If you get a bit further off there are some very big ling on edge of the trench that runs between Norway and Denmark. But that is off shore. Do you need further advice regarding tackle? If so stick with Zebco and Quantum for spinning gear. It’s great value for money and very reliable. For a multiplier and boat rod I would go for a 20 or 30 lb Shimano Beast Master and a Torium 30. Again also great value and the Torium has a very fast retrieve that gets your gear back in the boat nice and quick. Don’t forget a butt pad. Of course; if you ever want to catch some real fish then you are welcome to come along on one of our trips a bit further north. Same gear but the fish are a bit ……………..different [ 04. January 2005, 10:41 PM: Message edited by: RobL ]

Hi Rosy. I’ve spent a lot of time fishing around Norway in recent years. If you are a bit more precise I’ll give you all the help I can. Where exactly are you going? What tackle and tactics do you use at home? What tackle and tactics do you expect to use in Norway? What is your target species in Norway? What is your usual target species at home? Will you be using a self drive boat? If so how big is it, how big is the engine, what electronics are on board? Will you be chartering a boat and skipper; if so who and where? If you wish you can take a peek at my website: www.fishingsport.com there in the forum I have described what works for me in Norway by and large. Generally the exceptionally big ling, coalfish and cod that are causing all the hype about Norway at the moment are caught well above Bergen. However there are some exceptions give me e few details and I’ll do my best. RobL Pic of Mike and Berni. Ling 20kg, cod 17kg coalfish 18kg; one day off Hitra October 2004 [ 02. January 2005, 01:03 PM: Message edited by: RobL ]

Hi Stu Speak to "Blue Fox" Skipper – Phil Britts, tel: 01841 533293, mobile: 07977 563807 Co-owner/crew – Mike Turner, tel : 01841 521325. Newquay was really only made by Gwel-An-Mor organising the charters and running the accomodation. That's pretty much over now. Phil Brits is one of the countries best anglers and also one of the most expierienced charter skippers, the boat is not expensive either. Padstow is also nicer than Newquay and if you want a bit of highlife Newquay is only 1/2 an hour away. RobL

It's a bit of a dilema. If you use a reel with a l.wind then you avoid cutting your thumb when laying the line. But it tends to get in the way terribly on the odd fluff up. In reelsizes up to 7000 I use a l.wind above that I do without and get by fairly well. The slightly thicker dia lines are not so bad. I've started using a fixed spool on the boat for lightlining for big coalfish and cod in Norway and that works best of all. I still use a decent multi for 30lb upwards though. [ 16. December 2004, 06:56 PM: Message edited by: RobL ]

There are a lot of sane people in Norway. (There's a lot of nutters as well but they're nice nutters!) RobL www.fishingsport.com

It's a private deal with Norway. Fishery stocks are something that is barterd if the Norwegians are giving away fish they want something somewhere else. One of the main reasons why Norway voted against joining the EU was PUBLIC CONCERN OVER EU FISHERIES POLICY. Norway takes it's fish seriously. RobL www.fishingsport.com

Sorry Mikec, you're using the same arguments as every other comercial fisherman I've ever spoked to. "The damage isn't done by me it's all the others". Filets, fertilizer and pig food do not spawn! No matter who catches what when or where. If you want to make a living from the sea try doing charter work or taking out divers or whatever; but you can't remove fish from the sea on a comercial basis, in order to pay off a boat, pay off a morgage, run two cars, go on holiday, send the kids to a decent school and pay taxes without damaging fish stocks in your area. Doesn't work. Does it? RobL

Do I feel sorry for fishermen yes do I feel sorry for the industry NO! The sooner it all goes to the wall the better! I have seen boxes and boxes of angler fish stacked 2 meters high and the fish where so small I could get two on my hand and nothing hung over my fingers. And then I am supposed to believe that it's a stupid quota system that is ruining the stocks. Of course the system is stupid because the boats should not be allowed out of the port! I know of boats that trawl a deep sea fish called the orange ruffy that are caught by trawling nets that flatten deap sea corals that take thousands of years to grow. The fish themselves are recond to need over twenty years before they spawn. And that is just Killybegs. I've seen commercial boats of north Africa finning sharks, and I've seen commercial fishermen netting sea trout and salmon in the Baltic that have been hatched and released by anglers with anglers money. Where ever there are no quotas or severe restrictions then the fisherman run riot. And then it's always the French, or the Scottish, or the Danish depending on the geological position of the harbour bar you're in!! For the individual who lost his job in the industry or the owner who can't service his loans. Of course I feel sorry for them, it's personal tragedy. But really you're trying to pirate a resource that belongs to everybody and you should take what is yours and leave your hands of the rest. I nearly got into a fight in a bar in Cornwall as a fisherman said that he earned his living off fish so it was okay if the anglers caught nothing as that’s only a hobby. I told him that I am an angling journalist and guide and if there are no fish there are no anglers and that I was also entitled to a job! You can't feed the world from the oceans and you can't sustain huge investments in boats and industries indefinitely on the backs of a few fish. Get real, get a job or open a shop and leave the bloody fish alone! The reason I spend so much time in Norway is that there are still fish there and the reason there are still fish there is that there is not as much pressure on the stocks. It’s managed sensibly and the Norwegians don’t treat it as a free for all. RobL www.fishingsport.com

Hi Jabee. We have had quite a few enquires already so we have put up a few other dates. This means we are advancing much faster than planed but I guess it's better than the other way around. Here are the dates that you asked for: Tour-dates: 08.04. - 18.04.2005 18.04. - 26.04.2005 07.05. - 17.05.2005 11.08. - 21.08.2005 16.09. - 26.09.2005 07.10. - 17.10.2005 The second tour is a bit cheaper I didn't want to put the prices in here. If your interested go to www.fishingsport.com RobL