salmon fishing in Norway

Many Danish anglers go to our neighboring country, Norway, every year.

They do this to hunt Atlantic salmon in stunning surroundings.

Norway is a rich salmon country, with hundreds of different rivers that vary in width, depth and size of the fish.

Therefore, you must be well prepared from home.

Here we offer our advice on how to best prepare for your salmon fishing in Norway.

Just like with salmon fishing in Denmark, there can be a long time between schnapps.

If you want to catch salmon in Norway, you need to be patient, especially at the beginning of the season.

You may well be lucky to fish on the embankment where the huge shoal comes by, just as you make your first casts across the river.

But a strategy for how to approach fishing is absolutely indispensable.

Be especially careful of jumping fish!

When fresh salmon pass by, they typically push the more stationary fish, often revealing themselves by the salmon jumping out of the water.

The fish that are on the move typically reveal themselves by breaking the surface, a bit like a dolphin.

Whether you are fishing alone or with a group, it is important to approach your fishing strategically.

This is what a strategy might look like:

• The first angler goes down over the water with a floating or very slightly sinking line and a fly that fishes high in the water. Typically a hitch fly or a sunray shadow .
• Another angler goes through the pool with a line that sinks a little more, it could be a sinker 3. Here a more "classic" pattern is typically used, such as " the usual " or a GP.
• Finally, "clean up" is done, with a line that comes all the way to the bottom with a fast sinking line, together with a heavily loaded fly, such as a Fraceasy or a Horst sock.
• Possibly a round where heavy flies or nymphs are cast upstream.

If you have the pool stretched out for yourself, you can approach it the same way.

It is often about disturbing the fish, and thus the pool, as little as possible.

Therefore, it can be very rewarding to wait with the heaviest flies, especially if the water flow is relatively low and the salmon are easily spooked.

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With interchangeable tips, this set-up is easy to use.

You can quickly fish a pool or stretch with several different strategies - give the stretch a rest while you change tips and read the water.

These are also the lures we use for salmon fishing in Denmark .

In Denmark we rarely cast far, and our streams don't run very fast.

While salmon fishing in Norway, you may be faced with completely different challenges.

The stream channel you want to fish effectively could easily be 30 meters away from you, all while you are standing in the water for dear life. When the salmon takes the fly, it even has the current to help it.

Therefore, remember to adapt your gear to the water you are fishing.

For example, if you are going to fish in Bjerkreim, then the gear you use in the Danish rivers is perfect. If you are going to fish in Gaula or other wide rivers, then longer and stronger fly rods are probably necessary.

Read the water

Wherever you fish for salmon, it is a good idea to spend time reading the water before you start fishing. As we have previously made a film about, it is about getting into gear and becoming a Labrador. If you fish carefully, you will typically also learn more during your trips to the water, both in Denmark and abroad.

Sit down, look through the fly box and make a strategy for how to attack the water.

As described above, it is important to have a plan A, B and C - even if plan A works.

Preparation is important

There is nothing worse than standing by the water, feeling like you don't have the right gear or the right flies.

Therefore, ask friends, acquaintances or locals about what works in the particular river you are going to.

You can also ask us at Nordic Anglers, we have fished in many different places, and can definitely give you a few good tips and tricks.

Below you can see how Daniel became a salmon fisherman, as well as what he learned when he landed his first real salmon.

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There is a now immortal quote from Mikael Frödin, which is translated here: "nothing has bred more salmon than an upstream man."

Martin here from Nordic Anglers also mentions it as the most important thing in salmon fishing in Norway - you have to be fast on the fly.

It is a difficult exercise for many who have grown up with an upstream mend, or "sink step", to have to fish completely differently.

You can speed up the fly by pulling your line towards your own bank.

This can be done by actively ingesting the fly, or by controlling your drift with the rod tip.

In rivers with a steady flow, the latter method is particularly effective for Norwegian salmon.

Here you control your line by moving the rod tip towards and away from the brink, in a smooth motion.

Even the same technique can easily be used in Denmark.

Sometimes, however, the speed must be slowed down.

At the start of the Norwegian salmon season, the water can be even colder than we know it from Denmark, and the river can be in flood.

Although speed can trigger fish to bite, it is important to slow down when the water is cold.

Your fly must be able to get down to the fish. It probably comes as no surprise that it is crucial to your success that the salmon can actually see the fly.

You can still skip the classic upstream mend, and continue to slow down, by keeping your line bow on the inside of the rod tip.

This is done by lifting the pole and pointing to the opposite bank.

Fish into the night

Unlike in Denmark, there is often quite good, or best, fishing late in the evening and into the night.

This is especially true when fishing far up in Norway, where there is the midnight sun.

Here, the air temperature and light will provide better conditions for success than fishing in the middle of the day.

Remember that the first fish to emerge typically come up into the river much later than they come up into the Danish streams.

In Denmark, there is no point in fishing into the night when fishing for salmon. In Norway, the conditions are completely different.

Typically, it pays to live like a B person when you're chasing the shiny, freshly fried salmon.

You may experience periods of "crash" that are very intense. Sometimes, it seems like the lower light can trigger these.

It's hard to find anything more exciting than watching a salmon take its hitch fly in the evening sun - it's highly recommended.

Never leave without this fly in the box

Martin swears by having a Sunray Shadow in his box when he fishes in Norway.

It is something that one often encounters that this is seen as a safe bet.

The fly is easy to tie and incredibly effective, for salmon as well as sea trout in Denmark .

In general, it is a good tip for salmon fishing to tie your flies in the same shades as the water.

There's a reason why many local Norwegian patterns are green and blue.

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If there's one thing you'll regret, it's not checking your knots before hooking a big salmon - it tests them for you.

Therefore, make sure to have fresh and strong knots so that nothing pops when the deep suction finally comes.

Salmon fishing in Norway often means fast-flowing water, large rocks and strong fish.

Therefore, be careful not to go too far down in the thickness of the foresail, even though it may be tempting in the clear water.

It is not our experience that the salmon is scared off because you use 0.40 mm instead of 0.30 mm.

We are of course happy to help you put together your gear so you are ready to fish in Norway.

Salmon fishing in Norway doesn't have to be difficult

Although there is a lot of talk about patience and persistence, it is certainly possible to have a truly adventurous fishing experience for Norwegian salmon.

Sometimes you come right after it has rained and new fish have emerged, when this happens they will push the "old" fish into the system, and you will experience that many more fish react when your salmon flies swing by.

When you take a well-deserved break, it's worth checking the catches for the system you're fishing in.

If fish are caught upstream and downstream of where you are, you just have to have the fly in the water.

Typically, you can fish for salmon from June 1st until August 31st. However, the season varies from river to river, and it is therefore important to check the river you want to fish in. Some rivers have the season starting as early as May, others not until July. Finally, there are rivers with an extended season.

Basically, the salmon enter the river later than they do in the Danish streams.

You can catch salmon all over Norway. From north to south and from east to west. There are salmon-bearing rivers all over the country, so the possibilities are many.

The many different rivers place different demands on you as a fly fisherman, as there is a big difference between whether you are fishing in the Bjerkreim River or in Alta.

We have all the fly lines you need to make your fishing successful and we at Nordic Anglers are ready to help you get started with salmon fishing in Norway.

You can contact us here .

We hope you were able to use our guide.

On our Youtube channel we delve even further into fly fishing, fly tying and the different fish species - we hope you'll join in.

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