Chrisfly

King of the Ling

2008-03-09T13:10:00.000-07:00

It have been quite a while since

I added my last post, havent

been much fishing for me

the last year. Will catch up

with it all this year, here is a start..

The fishingclub at work,

which I`m leading was short

on people for the last

big-game trip at sea. And the

guys asked me if I wanted to join.

I am a flyfisher now, havent

participated on a big-game

trip at sea for about ten

years, but I thought why not:-)

We counted three fishers and the

boats captain. The place we was going

to fish is only a 15 minutes drive

from Bergen city center by car, and then 5

minutes with the boat.

We can almost call it big-game city fishing:-)

The fishing started 9. am, and after

finished by 2. pm we had landed

21 fishes between 9 lbs and 30 lbs.

19 Lings and 2 Cods.

The whole trip was awesome,

we fished at 80 meters depth

with heavy big-game gear.

And greatest thing was that

I caught the biggest one,

a majestic 30 lbs Ling:-)

The spot and the fishing was

just paradise, enjoy the shots..

Now I remember why I enjoyed

this kind of fishing so much for so

many years! Even though I`m

a flyfisher in my heart I will

definitely do this again!

The whole day was awesome!!

Its a short report, but hopefully

there will be a lot more this year:-)

Until next time...

Cheers

Chris <;))><

Salmonfishing in the river Namsen, July 2007

2007-07-12T13:27:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone:-)

Last tuesday I arrived at home from a
4-days trip up north,
me and my fishingbuddys had been
hunting for Salmon in the river Namsen.
This river is one of the greatest salmonrivers

in Norway, and the total catch each year in

this river is about 30000 - 40000 kilogram,
and that is just the rodfishing!

This year i faught big big salmon two times

with my 15 feet doublehanded Fenwick,

lost the fishes both times, the first time

the fish, a 25-30 lbs salmon went deep

and around some sharp rocks and the

line was cutted. The second time

the 20 lbs salmon bend out the hook!

Awesome!!

I had great experiences,

fantastic:-)

Faught many smaller salmons between

3 lbs and 6-7 lbs, landed four of them and

also some seatrouts and browntrouts.

I had some amazing days in the north:-)

My fishingbuddys also got some salmons,

one of them had experiences like me

and faught big salmons and lost them.

They really enjoyed their stay:-)

Have added some photographs,

enjoy them...

Hope you enjoyed the photos, the fishes on the

pics are some of the fishes that I landed,

and as you can see me and my friends had

a great time...

Cheers

Chris <;))><

FISHING POLLACK

2007-05-01T17:16:00.000-07:00

The spring is here now, and the conditions

for saltwaterfishing was quite good today,

therefore I decided to go fishing for some Pollack.

I picked up the phone and called a

former colleague, my dutch friend

Jan Nipius.

Like me, he really enjoy fishing,

and we made an appointment.

I drove out to his house at 10 AM,

he have a nice house about 45 minutes

drive west of Bergen City, out with

the islands by the coast.

Here he lives with his family,

and a five minutes walk from their house

there is the most amazing fishingspot.

Jan used his powerful surf-rod

this day, he do flyfishing

sometimes also, but cause it

was quite windy he did go

for the lures. I am a flyfisher so

I used my Burkheimers, the

790 Saltwater and the 990 saltwater.

Orvis Vortex(for the 990)

and Orvis Battenkill Large

Arbour(for the 790) is my standards

on these rods. Today I only used my

special Lite-Brite clousers tied with

a red ledeye, of course on Owner hooks.

The Pollack was very deep in the

water today and far from land,

so Jan got the biggest ones with

his surf-rod cause of the reach,

one of them about 11 lbs. I got

a few big ones also, the largest

I got on my flies weighted 6 lbs.

I also landed Saithes by the dozen,

all of them between 1 and 2 lbs.

Jan and me had a really great trip

with a lot of catch, have added

some photos from the trip

and our spot in this post, enjoy them.

My clousers worked perfectly today,

did not loose any of them,

and the fish really enjoyed them.

The fishing today was just awesome,

gonna repeat this as soon as possible:-)

Cheers

Chris <;))><

Lite-Brite Clouser and a small Cod

2007-04-03T20:22:00.000-07:00

Today I thaught that I should try the same fly that I used for troutfishing a few weeks ago at Eikangervaag. Again I had to pick up my daughter Andrea after a 2 days stay with my sisters, and yestarday I tied some specials.

I only used Lite-Brite on the flies, in colours white-green, chartreuse and peacock, a red ledeye is also tied on. The flies that I tied yesterday is tied on Owner Mutu Light Circle Hook, one of my favourite hooks.

Have added a few photos from the tying of the fly, and some of a small Cod that I catched and released. Did not get anything else, but hooked several bigger ones. I fished at the same spot as I did last time and the conditions was not good this time either. But catched and hooked some fishes :-)

The season is started now, spring is just around the corner, and I really looking foreward to that!!

I think that I have proved the last weeks that flyfishing is possible in Norway at winther, even with real bad conditions like low-water and cold, it is just to get out there:-)

Chris <:))><

Trout at winthertime....

2007-03-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

In winthertime trouts are hard to catch, it is really a challenge, but it can be done.

My daughter had spend the weekends with my sister, brother in law and their kids, and I was driving out to them to pick her up. My sister and her family have a house almost one hour drive up north of Bergen city, at a place named Eikangervaag and the coast-area around is knowned for good fishing-spots. Seatrout and Rainbowtrout and dozens of other saltwaterspecies is what you can get here. The streams and lakes have a beautiful Brown Trout also. I packed some gear in the car, my plan was a few casts before I was picking up my daughter.

I started to fish at a narrow strait between a lake and the sea, used my Burkheimer 790 Saltwater, Orvis Battenkill Large Arbour with a intermediate Striper Taper, and a synthetic tied Clouser on a Owner hook. And it worked very well, did not catch the big ones, hooked a big one but lost it and landed a nice small Brown Trout. I could even watch the trouts chasing the fly.

Conditions could not be more bad with temperature below freesing point and low-water, but today it was my day anyway.
Low-water is usually bad for fishing, but the low-water caused a strong stream in the strait that I could use when i was fishing the fly, and in combination with a heavy fly in syntetic material I turned the bad conditions into a good fishingexperience.
Early start on troutfishing for me this year, and a good start:-)
Great!
Chris <;))><

FLYFISHING IN SINGAPORE 2007

2007-03-13T08:17:00.000-07:00

23 february me and my family started on our second journey to Singapore, we where going on an extended winter-holiday.
In the summer of 2005 we visited Singapore for 3 weeks, and really looking foreward to return to this great country. And like last time we stayed at Oyvind and Sumika`s house.
The biggest adventure during our stay in Singapore was of course Oyvind and Sumika getting married.
My brother in law and sister in law got married saturday 3 of march. And the amazing thing is that it is the same date of wedding as me and my wife. Elisabeth and me got married the 3 of march 2004 at the Norwegian Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. Amazing! Anyway, it was a beautiful ceremony at the Raffles Hotel, with guests from about 12-13 different countrys. We ended the day with a Singapore Sling at the Long Bar, a great day :-)

The first week I visited Coho Fishing Tackle a few times, really nice to return to this superb tackleshop and gather again with Michael, Henry, Melvin and the others. Michael was just on holiday when I meet him, he is working in China now, he is running a shipyard. He is a man with many qualitys. When he is away his wife Annie and Henry is running the shop.
Melvin and Huns was going up north in Malaysia for a 4 days trip, they are going to start a fishing-lodge there, a nice place with a great lake. I did make an appointment with him that we should gather for a fishingtrip after they had returned the week after.

06.30 AM wednesday morning he picked me up, and we drove up to "the seven trees", a nice fishingspot at one of the reservoirs. Huns was already there, and he had landed 3 Peacock Bass already. Melvin got a nice Peacock bass a half an hour after we started. 07.45 AM I landed my first, a beautiful Peacock Bass with wonderful colours.
After a while we packed our gear and went for a little breakfast. Mel and Huns brought me to a local cafe, and we enjoyed a very nice breakfast, a Malayan dish named Roti Prata.
Great:-)
After breakfast we went to fish at a fishing ground by The Lower Pierce Reservoir, the spot is just opposite to the place called "The White House" where I fished a lot during my last visit in Singapore.
And here I got my second Peacock Bass of the day, and after I had landed my colourful beautiful fish Huns got one also.

It had been a wonderful day with many experiences so far, Huns had to leave us for an appointment so after a while me and Melvin went to a third fishingspot. We went to The Bedok Reservoir.
The fish was not very interrested in our flies here, did not get any real catch, but we had a nice time here. We walked around the whole reservoir, and that is quite a walk. We could observe several Snakeheads and one of them was a real giant. I did cast after it, but I did`nt manage to tempt the great predator.

This had been a fantastic day, I had landed a few Peacock Bass, the flies that I used was Melvins special Wolly Bugger that he gave me, Huns gave me also some of his specialdecievers. Melvin and Huns are fantastic people with a great hospitality, experts in flyfishing and very engaged in nature and the enviroment. Great flyfishos and good good friends!!
The day before our return to Norway I gathered with An Ren and Zi Yi, we went to fish for Snakeheads in some ponds at Marina South.

We startes with poppers, and after fishing a half an hour i hooked a Snakehead, fought it for a little while, but lost it. Damned!
Anyway, it was quite a fun!

We visited several ponds this day, hooked some Talipias, and Zi Yi hooked a Tarpon in a pond that is connected with the sea. He lost the fish, but he had great fun!

I did not get many days of fishing this time, but the fishing I had was just great. I only brought one rod with me to Singapore, and that was the Coho # 4 Rod that I bought last time I was here. The rod worked perfect, I also use it for troutfishing in Norway.
Miss Singapore already, cant wait to get back, hopefully me and my family will return next year. We had many great adventures in our holiday, there is a lot to explore in this small country.
And of course, we now have a fantastic part of our family living in Singapore. Oyvind and Sumika, our sister and brother and fantastic hosts during our stay here, are two wonderful people that we want to visit as often as we can. So it will be more opportunities.
Cheers
Chris <;))><

Ice on the fjord

2006-12-28T06:24:00.000-08:00

Winther in Norway can be quite a cold experience, but it is also beautiful. Have added 2 nice photos here in the post, the pics shows the Aurlandfjord with ice on the surface.

That is not common, only happends when it is real cold.

Some places in Norway the temperature can sometimes get down to 30 - 40 minus degrees Celcius at winther, but that is uncommon and only a few places in the north and inland. Here in West-Norway we do not have that extreme temperatures, but can reach minus 20 degrees Celcius.

As we can see on the photos it is a very clear weather with beautiful colours. The air is very clear and dry.

Nice:-)

Chris <;))><

Late fall/early winther and the Seatrout is spawning.

2006-12-15T13:17:00.000-08:00

In November and December I did several trips to visit my father in law in Aurland with my family. I maked new oak-floors on the bedroms in my father in law`s house, this work was something that we had planed for a while and november/december is a fine time to this kind of work.
But of course, when we first where there, I used some time to explore the nature and walk along the Aurland River.
This time of year the great Seatrout is ready to spawn and reproduce. I could observe dozens of pairs when walking up the river.
All the fishes on the photos is bigger then 10 lbs. Amazing to watch this scene, some of the trouts seriusly damaged and others with fantastic colours.

As you can see, I have taken a lot of photos of the beautiful nature, and also of the Seatrouts. The pics of the trouts is not good, have written earlier in this blog that it is bot easy to take pictures of moving fishes in a hard stream with a ordinary digital camera. That`s why the pics are like they are.
Anyway, enjoy them:-)

The late fall brings beautiful colours to the nature. I love the orange and yellow colours, and as you all can see on the photos the tops of the mountains are covered by snow.

Hope that you will enjoy the photos..

Cheers

Chris <;))><

No more Seatroutfishing in Aurland this year.

2006-09-11T01:37:00.000-07:00

My plans for the last trip for Seatrout in Aurland this season took a sharp turn.

The intention that I had last weekend, was to drive to Aurland early on saturday afternoon, and fish for Seatrout in the "Aurland River" until sunday evening, did not manage that I m afraid.
When I participated in a Martial Arts Show saturday morning, I injured my leg real bad, so bad that I could not even drive my car.
Well, that s life and unfortunately these things can happend sometimes, now I am looking foreward to next year, because the "Aurland River" angling-opening did close last night.
But, several other Salmon and Seatrout-rivers are still open for angling, and there is also good conditions for fishing after Brown Trouts and saltwaterfishing.
No reason to be depressed, there are still opportunities to get some nice catches.

I will not be able to fish as much that I would like to in the time to come, got promotions coming up in Martial Arts, training as well as my function as a Martial Art-instructor will take a lot of my time.

I also have several re-building projects in my house, which is 215 years old, it was built in the year 1791. There is always some upkeeping on these old sheltered houses. Among other things I got a attic and a bathroom that I gonna fit up. It is a old charming house, real cosy.

Gonna do most of the work myself!

Therefore, it will not be that many new contributions in the blog the next 6 months. Hopefully I will get the chance to do some flyfishing now and then.

Chris <;))><

BIG-BIG ADVENTURE ON SEATROUTFISHING

2006-08-27T23:41:00.000-07:00

Arrived yesterday from Aurland and the Aurland river, have spent 4 days there hunting Seatrout with my flyrod.

There is no fishphotos in this article, I did not take any pictures of the small trouts that we got, they all with the weight 1 lbs and smaller, then when I had my big Seatrout-adventure, unluckily I had left the camera in my car.

The pics that I have added are only pics of the river, me casting and some of the gear that we used. Will try to write some words about the fishing instead, since I did not managed to have the camera with me at the most important moments.

The river have not been very good the last two years, nevertheless there have been landed big trouts at 20 lbs weight every year, and last saturday afternoon it was my turn:-)

5 years ago I had a fight with a 22-24 lbs Seatrout, the fight last for 15 minutes, and now it happened again in the same pool.

I was fishing with my Burkheimer 990 Saltwater, Orvis Vortex/Cortland Quick Descent 9 # line intermediate/fast sinking, and fluorcarbon tippetsmaterial, this is actually some of my heavy saltwatergear. I tied on a heavy gold head nymph # 8, a special pattern that I have designed with colours that is very effective in this river, the goldhead also with tungsten, of course tied on a powerful hook.

This is very special gear for seatroutfishing, but this pool is extremily deep, and the fish very big, I am only using this gear in this particular pool.

In other parts of the river I am using a #5 rod for dryflyfishing, a #7 rod for wetfly/nymphfishing, and a #8 rod for flyfishing at night.

Anyway, I had been fishing about an hour and the time was 2 pm in the afternoon when a big seatrout hooked my nymph. I could feel that this was a really big fish, I managed to use my cellphone and call my friend Nils who was fishing a few houndred meters up the river, and he came down with his big Salmon-net to assist me.

The fish was running the whole show, it jumped up over the surface a few times and then we got a good look and a idea of its size.

Nils meant that the fish was real big, he estimated it to more than 20 lbs, I did not disagree with him. Most of the time the fish was standing still on the bottom, sometimes it went up or down at the bottom. The bottom is full of big sharp rocks and imagine how my tippetmaterial looked like after a while around those rocks with Mr.Big-Seatrout at the end.

After 1 hour and 20 minutes my arms was like gele after holding the rod high and with hard pressure, and I could observe that a lot of spectators had gathered to watch my fight with the fish.

The situation almost caused a traffic jam on the road behind me, people stopped their cars in the middle of the road to watch.

It was dramatic, but after 1 hour and 20 minutes the fish conquered the hunter, lost it, but the fish had good help with the sharp rocks.

My o,279 fluorcarbon tippetmaterial was worn off.

I have had the pleasure to fight a giant Seatrout for 80 minutes, I have experienced this several times before but this time I was not alone, I had Nils by my side as a witness and many spectators around.

Only thing that I missing is that picture of the fish, but next time I will land it. Because, I am convinced that other opportunities will come.

Another funny thing, yesterday I gave one of my nymphs to a friend who is still fishing in Aurland, and he sent me a message to my cellphone one hour ago.

He had just landed a 12 lbs Seatrout on my nymph!

Well, I can comfort my self with the ascertain that my flies are effective:-)

I will return to the Aurland river two weeks from now, hope that I maybee can catch a nice Seatrout then, if not I have to wait until next year:-)

Chris <;))><

BROOK TROUT

2006-08-04T18:19:00.000-07:00

Well, I could not restrain myself, just had to add a pair of photos of some Brook Trouts. The pics are taken last weekend in a little river.

Really like these photos, nice fishes :-)

Chris <;))><

FISHING BROWN TROUT

2006-07-31T14:42:00.000-07:00

I got home on sunday from a very nice trip with my kids, we have been visiting some of my family 200 kilometers further north in the west of Norway. Spent 4 days near a nice small town with the name "Foerde". In the walley "Angedalen" my cousin and her husband are running a hotel for animals and pets. It is almost like a kennel, but the hotel have a higher standard. And when my kids did have a great time with all the different animals in the hotel, or went for a swim in the river by their property, I used some of the oppurtunities to look at the conditions for troutfishing.

My coho # 4 trout rod with my Lamson Radius 1.5, have gradually become a permanent companion on my trout-trips, and this weekend was no exception. I tried my dryflies and my nymphs in several streames and lakes, and got brown trouts by the dozen. Unfortunately not big ones, only trouts with the weight beetwen 0,2 - 0,6 lbs. My troutgear is actually a little bit to heavy for these fishes, a # 0 rod would be superb for this.

The nature in this part of Norway can really be quite magnificent, the photos speaks for them selves. Even though most of the trouts that I got is a speciality to eat, I released them all. I usually fish for the sport and not for food, but apart from my focus on the fishing, small trouts is very popular to fry in a frying pan, or to grill them on open fire. With salt, pepper and dill, sour cream, fresh warm home-made bread, lots of butter and mybee some new potatoes, it is delicious. A real snack.

This territory are further inland, not far from the nearest coast or salmonriver but interior country. Mountains and the forests have an enormous stock of game, and big game hunting, as well as fishing is very popular. I have picked out some photos and added in this post just to indicate the opportunities for fishing.

The streams and spots on the pics are just a few that I visited in the weekend, the spots are countless :-) All of them have trouts like them I catched, but some of them have real giants also. Enjoy the photos........

My son Christian joined me to one of the streams, he have not started with flyfishing yet, but he do baitfishing with worms. And he landed several nice trouts, even before I got my gear rigged :-)

This post became a lot bigger then I thought it would be, I love photographs as well as nature and rivers, and I added much more pics then I was thinking in the first place. It gives you all a scope of our nature and fishing-opportunities here in the the west of Norway. We have a really long winther, but the summer is just fantastic...

Chris <;))><

GREAT DENMARK

2006-07-20T18:12:00.000-07:00

I just want to add a little post from our trip to Denmark and Sweden.
Denmark is a country that I have had the pleasure to visit many times, and like my other visits there, this trip was also great.
As opposed to the Norwegian mountains and fjords, Denmark is flat as a pancake, almost the whole coastline is a giant beach. It is a beautiful country.
Norwegian people are quite introverted, prejudiced, conservative, and bounded by traditions, in Denmark the population are almost the opposite. Danish people are very open, relaxed, hospitable and international. There is many good things that I like about Denmark.
This trip was a holiday with my wife and children, not a fishingtrip. But when I am travelling I always bring some gear with me, you never know, suddenly there will be a opportunitie.
After spending almost a week at the westcoast of Denmark we visited some friends of us, who have a nice house in a small township 15 minutes drive from Copenhagen city. We stayed with them for two days, then early the second morning I got the opportunitie, gripped my gear and went for a little trip.

A five minutes drive away there is a beautiful lake surrounded by moisture wood and white cliffs. And the colour of the water is like turquoise.
The area is also home for a lot of snakes (european vipers, venomous, but not very strong venom ,only uncommon cases are potentially fatal). I did not meet any reptile this morning.
The lakes name is Karlstrup lake and it have a lot of fish, many different freshwater species and imported Rainbow Trout.
To fish in this lake we have to buy a fishing-licence, and it cost 120 DKK to fish there one day, and there is a bag-limit. The lake is under strictly supervision by the local angling club, and that is really necessary, if not the environment could easily be damaged. The local angling club is doing a very fine job here.

I rigged my Burkheimer 790, my Orvis Battenkill Large Arbour with a Scientific Anglers Intermediate Striper taper line and started to fish with different streamers and gold head nymphs.
After one hour of fishing I had only hooked one fish (quite big one to), and lost it immediately. Now I could see trouts starting to take insects on the surface.
Then it was time to rigg my Coho #4 rod, Lamson reel with Scientific Anglers GPX line and start dryfly fishing. Started with a great dryfly, a Europea 12. This is a fly designed by the famous swedish writer, pioneer, flyfisher and flytier Lennart Bergquist, which I have had the pleasure to meet several times, he once thaught me to tie the fly. Europea 12 have been the best dryflypattern in Sweden for many years. The pattern have always given me brownies when I have tried it in streams and lakes in Norway, and the fly also worked perfect in Denmark!
I will also add that Lennart have designed many, many patterns, especially dryflypatterns and many of them are famous fishkillers worldwide.

I did not need many cast before I had hooked my first Rainbow, and the next hour I got several fishes. Lost the biggest ones of course, the ones that I landed was small ones, about 0,5 lbs. Released them of course. But it was really great, I could see the trouts rise from the bottom and take the fly, fantastic!

Well, I had a great morning at the lake, weather was fantastic, sunny with 25-30 centigrade.
Satisfied I drove back for a late breakfast and other activities with my family and friends.

Among other adventures we visited a big oak forest just outside Copenhagen city, and that was amazing. We watched houndreds of Deers and Fallow Deers, many of them real tame. We even observed white Fallow Deers, and that is uncommon.

We spent the last two days of our holiday in Sweden, a beautiful country with a fantastic coastline. Now we are back in Aurland and we have 10 days left of our holiday that we will use for swimming, fishing trips and more summerfun.
Have posted some photos from Denmark and my fishing (small fishes, anyway...).
Chris <:))><

SEATROUT TIME

2006-07-09T06:51:00.000-07:00

It is not easy to take photos of moving fish in a hard stream with a ordinary camera, I tried and as a thaugt the pics did not became very good.

But I had to post them anyway:-)

Me and my family having a stop for the weekend at my father in law s house in Aurland, on hour way to Denmark and Sweden, then of course I have to check the river when I am here, to see if the Seatrout is on its way up the river. And it was! Where the mainroad between Bergen and Oslo is crossing the river, there is a bridge which is a good place to spot the fish. I do visit this bridge everyday when I am in Aurland.

This Saturday I spotted 4 big fish and Sunday there was 5 nice Seatrouts and a Salmon, all of them about 10 - 14 lbs! Beautiful, the Seatrout have started on its journey up the walley.

Seatrout have so beautiful colours, it really is my favourite fish and I am looking foreward to using my Burkheimers here in a few weeks from now. Hope that you will enjoy the pics, even though the quality is not to good.

Keep in mind that in this river there is every season landed 20 - 22 lbs Seatrout, it is one of 4-5 rivers in Norway with giant Seatrout.

This is where my father in law who is a great flyfisher thaught me flycasting 13 years ago, the river is crystal clear and it is my favourite!

PS: The fish on the lowest photo is a Salmon!

Chris <:))><

SALMON AT "NAMSEN"

2006-07-04T18:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I arrived from a great trip to the river "Namsen" .This year was the fifth time me and my fishingbuddys visit this river, and the conditions was good when we arrived.
After two days the temperature starting to get really high, and the river sunk about 40 centimeters, the watertemperature was suddenly over 15-16 degrees centigrade.
Then the conditions was not so good!
We observed a lot of fish on its way up the river and I got 3 salmons, not the biggest ones but great fishes after all.
The Salmons weight was 3 lbs, 5 lbs and 11 lbs, I was satisfied with that. The only stupid thing was that the other guys did not get any catch, we are a group of 7 fishers and it had been nice if everyone got a Salmon.

The river "Namsen" is called "the queen of the Norwegian rivers", and the total weight in catches of Salmon and Seatrout each season is 30000- 40000 kg!

I hooked all my Salmon on a tubefly variant that I tied myself, it consists of green, grey and brown Foxtail and Temple Dog, green/yellow Hen hackle, Teal, grey Heron hackle, Jungle Cock, green and silver Angel hair/Lite Brite, a 3/4" - 1/1/2" tube with silver cone head, holographic silver and a silver rib/Veniard no. 14. This is about what I use to make the fly, of course I ty the fly in different sizes and proportions.
And the most important on the fly is good hooks, I have said it before, I love Owner and Owner tubefly hooks is just the best. Fantastic hooks!

My Fenwick 15" doublehanded rod with Bringsen Black Shadow Salmon reel and a Rio Classic DT Speyline #11, was superb gear to fight the fish with.
I also used another rod/reel this time, a Redington 13", Scientific Anglers Mastery Salmon reel and Guideline Power Taper lines, good fishing gear.

Like the other years we also fished in a smaller river which is connected to "Namsen", the river "Sandoela", a fantastic river, have posted some photos from that river as well. We did not get any fish here this time.
From Bergen where I live it is a 13 hour drive to "Namsen", approximately 900 kilometers each way.
I bought a new car i March, a Toyota Rav4, and now I had the chance to test the automobile. We drove about 2000 kilometers in 6 days, the car accomplished the test very well, with a lot of offroad driving as well.
It have been a good trip for me with the 3 Salmons, now the next big adventure is Seatroutfishing in the "Aurland river" in August.
Have posted some photos here, hope that you all will enjoy them.
Best regards
Chris <;))><

MY WIFE AND HER CAMERA.

2006-06-25T01:05:00.000-07:00

My dear wife Elisabeth have a great interest in photography, she is shooting magnificient pics with her 350D.

Posting here one of her beautiful shots that she did in the "Aurlandvalley" last summer.

The photo which she have given the name "Rock-Face", have got her very good criticism in international photo-sites.

Enjoy the magic rock wall.

I am really proud of her.

Chris <;))><

PANORAMA IN AURLAND.

2006-06-22T14:39:00.000-07:00

I am standing on the terrace at my father in law`s house, the house is located on a hill above the village Aurland, which I have mentioned a lot in this blog.
Aurland means a great deal to me, and I can`t get enough of the nature there.
Top photo is taken a late friday night with a beautiful sunset, and the other photo in the afternoon the day after.
Both pics is taken at the same spot on the terrace.

Enjoy the photos....
Chris
<;))><

VIEW.

2006-06-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

I am gonna share with you a beautiful viewpoint, this post describes a mountaintop in Bergen which is named "Sandvikspilen" and the hiking trail up there. The trail up to "Sandvikspilen" is called "Stolzekleiven" and it is a precipitous stonepath which also have about 730 steps made of rocks and 80 woodensteps. Difference in height from sealevel to the top is 316 meters.

Every step is in different size and height, it is a tough route to the top! Every year in October there is arranged one of the worlds toughest stepraces in "Stoltzekleiven", runners are coming from the whole Scandinavia to participate. I am using about 15-20 minutes up, when I walking there is no stress, taking some photos and enjoying the nature, but the most crazy runners do the whole ascent in only 8-9 minutes, record is 8 minutes and 13 seconds!

Magnificent, or what?

Chris <;))><

ALSO A BEAUTIFUL VIEW.

2006-06-21T02:46:00.000-07:00

It is just a fantastic view at this spot, it is a new-build viewpoint at one of the mountains by Aurland.
Aurland is a village almost in the end of the famous Sognefjord, and at this mountain, nearly 700 meters height over sea-level the local authority have built a big platform of wood, stainless steel and tempered glass. From the platform which is marking out from the precipitous cliffs, you can see straight down on the village and the magnificent fjord. It is just incredible! I have been up there a few times already, access to this spot is trough an old road which is going over the mountain pass to another village with the name Laerdal. The highest point on this road is 1350 meters above sea-level, and there was even snow remain now in June. It is a beautiful drive, the village Laerdal is like Aurland famous for their fantastic Salmon and Seatrout river!
Just beautiful...
Cheers..
Chris <;))><

EXPLORE THE COASTLINE

2006-06-08T15:02:00.000-07:00

This thursday I jumped into my car early in the morning and drove west to the coast, I have used a lot of time the last years to explore our coast, and find good fishingspots.

Saltwater flyfishing is one of my favourites, and in Norway we have some great oppurtunities to do that.

After driving a half hour I came to a real good spot, a place I have tried sometimes before, I rigged my Burkheimer 890 Saltwater, my Vortex, a nice Deciever and started my casting.

It was a lot of fish here, but I only got small ones. I got Pollacks and Saithes by the dozen.

I used many different flies today, like Decievers, Clousers and some Norwegian saltwaterpatterns. Of course tied on Owner or TMC hooks, that is the only hooks I am using for saltwaterfishing. Owner is my favourite:-)

After fishing about 2 hours, landed and realesed lots of smaller fish I hooked a big one.

That was a 8-10 lbs Pollack, I could see the fish coming up from the bottom, and it took the fly right under beneath the surface. That was a really strong fish, it swimmed into the seaweed to hide, and after a few minutes I lost the fish. It does not really matter, I did hook the fish, and it was great fun. A fine day it was at the coast today, conditions good also, with high tide and no wind. A beautiful day, and I used the oppurtunitie to take some photos, have added some of them here.

The photos shows magnificent nature and good conditions, oppurtunities for saltwater flyfishing are endless. This country do have a fantastic coastline with thousands of islands, here is really a lot to explore.

Soon I am going on my trips for Salmon and Seatrout, hope for more nice pics then.

Best regards

Chris <;))><

FRIDAY MORNING FISHING

2006-06-02T23:15:00.000-07:00

This Friday, the 2 of june I used the morning hours for a little trip with my flyrod, even though the conditions was quite bad today with a lot of wind, rain and low water. But, "you cant catch the fish if you dont try", so I gave it a try.

Drove to a nice spot located 15 kilometers north of the city of Bergen, there is a narrow strait under a bridge in a area with a lot of brackish water, the strait is between the sea and a lake.

Used my Coho #4 rod, my Lamson reel, GPX-line and a small #8 silver/white epoxy streamer.

On the second cast I hooked a beautiful Browntrout, not very big, about 1,5-2 lbs.

The size does not really matter, the colours and the pattern does make the Trout a fantastic, beautiful fish, even though that it is not to big.

And of course, on light gear it is good fun:-)

A good start on the weekend.

Chris <;))><

My kids :-)

2006-06-01T03:31:00.000-07:00

Since I was a little boy, my parents have been taking me and my sisters to campingtrips in the mountains and to the sea, there they taught us fishing and survival.

All these adventures that I experienced as a child is the most important reasons for my interest in fishing today.

That is why I am trying to teach and include my own children, so they can have some of the adventures I had as a boy.

Today with all the hardware and software, I do mean that it is important for the children to experience some nature and wildlife.

As a guy who love cooking and good food, it is nice to let the kids get to know different types of seafood.

My kids have been on many trips with me and catched many different species of fish like Trout, Cod, Pollack, Saithe, Haddock, Mackerel, Dab, Ling, Whiting, Tusk, ballan Wrassel, Dragonet, Grey Gurnard, Bull-Rout, Catfish, Deep-Snouted Pipefish, Halibut, Greater Weever, Herring, Spiny Dogfish, Redfish, Flounders and of course differnt types of crabs, also Deepsea King Crab, Crawfish and more.

They have many good memories from these trips.

Have even let the young ones try some flytying, with a nice result.

I have added a lot of pics here, photos of my kids and some of their catches, I am really proud of them, enjoy the pics :-)

When my kids was about 4 and 7 years old, I built for them their own customized fishingrods, and those rods are well used.

Hope that you are enjoing these pics, I know that I do, later I will also add an article of my wife and her interest in photography, she is fantastic with her Canon :-)

Wish you all the best!

Cheers..

Chris <;))><

Flytying

2006-05-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

Flytying is one of my passions, I have my own workshop where I tie my flies.
I have a fantastic wife, who let me build my own room in the house which is only for me and my hobby.

I am a lucky man.........
Holding a lot of courses and flytyingworkshops.

The right pics is from a workshop I did for "Bergen Sportsfiskere", which is one of the biggest angling associations in Bergen.

These photos are from a flytyingcourse i did for our own anglingclub, "Vestafluen", where we tied saltwaterflies, like epoxy shrimps, clousers and decievers.
"Vestafluen" is the company angling team at my job, as a mentor I promote this team and we are about 50 members, and that is fantastic for a company club.

And I just love flyfishing :-)

Indoor Flycasting

2006-05-10T11:48:00.000-07:00

As a promotor for a group of anglers and flyfishers, I am a organizer for indoor flycasting during the winther.

Somethimes in the winther we have the local sports hall to our disposal, and then we arrange social gatherings there we meet, talks, improwing our casting and just having a great time.

This gatherings are really popular, and local anglerdealers also visiting us and demonstrating
new rods and other anglingproducts.

Nice to have this oppurtunitie in the cold winther.

In the firs place, the reason to start with this was to start up a new local anglingclub, I have called this group "Nordnes Sportsfiskere".
"Nordnes" is the part of Bergen where I live.

We also want to arrange anglerdealershows
in this sports hall in springtime.
But temporary we have had these casting-gatherings 4-5 times in the winthertime the last 4 years.

We have been over 30 flyrodders here and 4 anglerdealers with their products at the same time.

That is just great:-)

Flycasting is fun :-)

Chris <;))><

OFFSHORE FISHING

2006-05-09T09:34:00.000-07:00

Posting a small article here, earlier I really enjoyed offshore big-game fishing from boat, angling with real heavy gear. Today flyfishing is my thing, but can remember many nice moments and trips at sea. Posting a photo of a 12 lbs Ling that I catched with my Fenwick Beaufort 50 lbs rod and my big Policansky reel, not a very big fish, but the photo is from a very special occasion, this was my last offshoretrip. And it was a fantastic trip on the sea west of Norway with a great boat.
The Policansky was a fantastic reel, made in South-Africa, I had many big Penn-reels also, but the Policansky was my favourite. I Sold it a few years back, together with one of my Penn stand-up rods. The method is not the important thing, fishing is fun with any method, the thing that matter is that the angler is having a great time.

Chris <;))><

The spring!

2006-05-08T02:06:00.000-07:00

April was a cold month here in Norway, with temperatures below the freezing point at night. Then suddenly the weather changed, the last week have been fantastic with 20-25 deegres Celsius.

Plants and trees have changed from brown and grey to beautiful green in a few days :-)

THE SPRING IS HERE......

Then of course, I have used the oppurtunity to check out some of my fishingspots. The top photo was taken last friday, I had the day off from work and tried some salt flyfishing, didnt get any catch, but it was a nice trip on a beautiful sunny friday morning.

The other two pics was taken yesterday afternoon, did spend a few hours at the mountains just outside of Bergen, there is some really nice troutstreams there. I was full of expectations to try my new trout rod, baught in Singapore at Coho Fishing Tackle. The rod was very nice to fish with:-) Tried some small goldhead nymphs and got some brown trouts. The trouts was really small, but even though they are small, with their colours they are beautiful anyway. They got their freedom back, and I will catch them again when they are much bigger.

Looking foreward to many nice trips this spring, summer and fall.

Will try to attach some nice photos in the time to come, hopefully photos of bigger fish:-)

Keep watching my blog..

Cheers

Chris <;))><

AURLAND AT EASTER.

2006-04-23T15:26:00.000-07:00

Even though I am a man who appreciate spring and summer, I also have nice experiences at winthertime.
Posting here a few pics from the easter last year which me and my family spent in Aurland, magnificent views and ski-ing on the mountain.
Chris <;))><

BERGEN

2006-01-28T12:14:00.000-08:00

Bergen is my hometown, the city is a seaport on the westcoast of Norway.

The population in Bergen is only about 250000 people, even though the county is quite big.

Bergen and the area around is one of the biggest harbour systems in northern europe.

The city is also known for many tourist attractions, like the aquarium, the mountains around and more.

It is an old town with a lot of history, Bergen was also in former times the capital city in Norway.

It is known as the city between the seven mountains.

Have posted a few pics from the city, taken a beautiful friday morning last september. Me and my wife had the day off, and used the day for a nice trip.

The funicular railway is going straigt to the top of the mountain "Floeyen".

Chris <;))><

An early morning at the coast

2006-01-27T11:30:00.000-08:00

It is 07.30AM, and the city is about to come to life.

It is friday and I have taken the day off from work.
I jumped into my car with a flyrod and the camera with direction west.

A beautiful picture from the coast, trought the narrow strait we can see the ocean straight ahead.

I have to say that I didnt catch any fish this day, it was about 4-5 minus degrees Celcius and maybee the day was to cold to tempt the fish.

Anyway, I used my camera a lot, and have posted a few photos here, and the spots on the pics are only a half hour drive from my house.

Beautiful!

A winther morning in january.......

My Cybershot is not the most pro camera, but because of the size it is perfect to carry on my fishingtrips.
And the quality on the photos is not to bad......

What a wiew...

Bergen is a seaport at the westcoast of Norway, I have approximately a 1 minute walk from my house to the nearest docks.

And if I take my car and drive about 15 - 30 minutes west, then I am out with the high seas.
The fishingoppurtunities around here is boundless.........

And of course where we dont have the sea, we have houndreds of lakes and streams.......

Chris <;))><

Saltwater Flyfishing

2006-01-03T09:49:00.000-08:00

A picture can say more than a thousand words.........

Chris <;))><

Trout

2005-12-31T12:00:00.000-08:00

A few photos of norwegian trouts, from 1 lbs to 13 lbs.

Norway is one of the most exhiting countrys in the world when it comes to troutfishing.

A few rivers in Norway have really big Seatrout, up to 25 lbs.

Nice Trouts!

Thousands of rivers, streams and lakes, thats Norway......

All of them full of Trout, Char, Pike, Bass, Carpes and many other species.

But of course, Salmon and Seatrout is what most flyfishers prefer.

The norwegian coastline does the country very, very exhiting for saltwaterflyfishing, but that is another story.....

Chris <;))><

Fjord fishing

2005-08-13T18:00:00.000-07:00

Some of us are doing flyfishing in the fjords also, here I have landed a small Cod in the Aurland Fjord.
Aurland Fjord is nearly in the end of the Sognefjord, which is about 200 kilometers long.
A Clouser did the job.

Chris <;))><

Fantastic nature

2005-08-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

Norwegian nature on its best, the picture is taken at the river Sandoela, and it is a tributary river to the big river Namsen.

I m fishing there every summer, its beautiful.

And it is beautiful at the mountains as well :-)

Chris <;))><

Salmon

2005-07-29T00:51:00.000-07:00

Nice 5 lbs norwegian Salmon, hooked a black & Gold tubefly, one of my favourite salmonflies.
This was on a trip to river Namsen, one of the best salmonrivers in Norway known as one of the greatest rivers in my country.
We have a 4 days trip there every year.

Chris <;))><

Peacock Bass Singapore

2005-07-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

Me and my family spendt 3 weeks of our holiday in Singapore, we stayed with my brother in law, he is living in Singapore and he also have his work there.
It was a adventure for me, as a flyfisher, I did meet the most fantastic flyfishing milieu.
Michael, Annie, Henry, Jeff, Melvin, Huns, Jimmy, Qwek, Albert, An Ren and all you other flyfishers, thank you all for all support and your great hospitality.

Michael invited me to fishingtrips thogether with the guys, and I landed my first singaporefish on these trips.
Coho Fishing tackle, which is own by Michael is a superb tackleshop for flyfishermen, and the shop is also a gathering place for the Singapore flyrodders.

Can`t wait to get back, hopefully I will return to Singapore during the winther 2006.

Best regards

Chris <;))><

Saltwater flyfishing

2005-06-29T19:30:00.000-07:00

This 9 lbs Pollack hooked my fly a Wednesday evening in June. Me and my friends had a fantastic trip to the coast west of Bergen, lots of catches....
Chris <;))><

The Aurland river.....

2005-06-06T13:20:00.000-07:00

The Aurland river is located in the end of the Aurland Fjord, which is almost in the end of the bigger Sognefjord. It is not a big river but it is a beautiful river.
My wife is from this place and at this river my father in law who is a terrific flycaster and flyfisher taught me flycasting for about 12-13 years ago. Have fished here since then, so I do spend a lot of time here.

Here we can get really big seatrout, each year there are landed seatrouts up to 20 lbs, and in 2001 I lost a big 22-24 lbs seatrout after a 15 minutes fight.

Houndreds or maybee thousands of streams and rivers in Norway have a lot of seatrout, but there is only 4-5 rivers which have really big ones and the

Aurland river is one of them.

I have spend many days in this river each season the last 12 years, and just love the river more and more.

This river is "the river in my heart", and looking foreward to july and august, and then I may have some more nice photos for the blog.

Thight lines...

Chris <;))><

How about that?

2005-04-28T01:58:00.000-07:00

This is in one of the parts in the Aurland River, where I fish after seatrout during the summertime.

Top-photo is taken in August, and the bottom-photo is from march, each one from the same area.

How about that?

I am taking a lot of pics in the winther, it really helps me to learn the river, to read the river.

Getting a lot of answers like: where does the seatrout rest? Which dept is it here? Which route would the fish take? Where does the beautiful fish stop?

Using my video-camera also, helps me a lot:-)

Thight lines

Chris <;))><

Flyfishing at the sea

2004-12-16T10:09:00.000-08:00

How about this?

15-20 minutes drive from my house!!!

Nice....

Chris <;))><

Cod

2004-10-27T00:42:00.000-07:00

A small Cod catched on some of my heavy saltwatergear, the fish was tempted of one of my big special saltwaterdecievers. Used a Scientific Anglers Deep Water Express Line and casted from a boat on this bank.

Chris <;))><

The Sognefjord

2004-09-26T17:35:00.000-07:00

The Sognefjord is the longest fjord in the world, and it is full of fish, many different species, this Cod was catched there.
The weight stopped at 25 lbs, the fish hooked my streamer at 14 m depth, my Vortex was rigged with a Scientific Anglers Deep Water Express, perfect line for this type of fishing.

Chris <;))><

Sognefjord

2004-09-26T15:10:00.000-07:00

8 lbs Saithe, took my deciever a sunday in september, the deciever tied on a Owner saltwaterhook. Owner is my favourite saltwaterhooks.
My Powell AXS and Orvis Vortex did the job in the Sognefjord.

Chris <;))><

Brownie

2004-09-10T22:09:00.000-07:00

Not the biggest Trouts, but what a beautiful fish!!!

Chris <;))><

Sea fishing

2004-07-26T15:40:00.000-07:00

Posting a few pics from other fishingactivities then flyfishing, I havent always been a flyfisher. Fishing has been one of my greatest interests since I was a child, but it is only the last 12-13 years that I have been a flyfisher.

Nice photos of Catfish, Halibut and me and a friend cleaning fish on a offshore trip.
Now it is just flyfishing, but nice to show that I have done other things also.
Chris <;))><

Salty

2004-06-26T16:14:00.000-07:00

I have just called this picture salty, is not a big fish or a pro photo, but I like it.

Chris <;))><

Cod and Whiting

2004-04-14T14:55:00.000-07:00

Nice catches in a great fjord in west of Norway, 6 lbs Cod and 3 lbs Whiting.

Chris <;))><

Thailand 2004

2004-03-15T02:34:00.000-08:00

In 2004 I was in Thailand with my whole family, me and my wife got married there, in the Norwegian Embassy, Bangkok.
And of course, during almost 3 weeks in Thailand I got time for some fishing.

Thailand is a fantastic country, with big oppurtunities.

I tried flyfishing there, in a reservoir and in saltwater, also tried some angling from boat.

Caught a lot of red snappers and some other species.
Even a big snakehead chew off my fly and line one day when I was fishing in a reservoir.

Thailand is a beautiful country with a fantastic people, their hospitality is endless.

I have to say as Arnold said: "I ll be back"

Cheers

Chris <;))><

Building my own rods

2004-01-04T02:37:00.000-08:00

As a craftsman which I am, I do like rodbuilding, have built about 30- 40 rods, like Hardy, Fisher, Powell, Winston, Loomis, Sage, C.F.Burkheimer, Greys of Alnwick, and others.

Flyfishing have so much!!!

To the right I am standing by the river Namsen with my C.F.Burkheimers: "590 Trout", "790 Saltwater", "890 Saltwater", and "990 Saltwater".
Each one with beautiful Struble reel seats, the 590 with nickel silver U8, and the saltwaters with U22, and selfmade inserts of titanium, buffalo and whaletooth. And of course the best of cork rings and Hopkins & Holloway rings.

My Burkheimers is my favourites, they are fantastic rods!!!!

Its lovely.....

Chris <;))><

Lanzarote

2003-07-23T14:22:00.000-07:00

Fantastic island this is, Lanzarote is one of the Canarian islands, the islands is spanish and located near the coast of Marocco.

Always when I am travelling, I have my Abel rod case with me, and of course when me and my family spend two weeks at this beautiful island I had to check the saltwater oppurtunities.

And oppurtunities there is.
I hooked several fishes, also a Barracuda, but lost them.

No fish landed, but I had a great time...

Chris <;))><

Pollack

2003-06-25T23:10:00.000-07:00

Nice 7 lbs Pollack, catched with my flyrod a fantastic evening in june, at one of my favourite spots on the coast near the city of Bergen.
Used one of my efficient decievers.

Chris <;))><

Ballan Wrassel

2003-04-16T22:45:00.000-07:00

A Ballan Wrassel I catched one on of my epoxyshrimps, it happened at the coast west of Bergen on one of my favourite spots.

Chris <;))><

Coalfish

2003-03-10T16:10:00.000-08:00

Coalfish/Saithe is one of the most exhiting saltwaterspecies in Norway to catch on fly, here I have landed 15 Saithe s between 3 lbs and 5 lbs, all of them on 1 hour.
Used my Powell Legacy #7, a fantastic rod, Orvis Battenkill Large Arbour with Rio Deep Seven line.
Superb gear for norwegian saltwaterfishing.
The fly I used was a small deciever #6.

Chris <;))><

Seatrout

2002-07-15T01:05:00.000-07:00

Look at this beautiful fish! Seatrout is my favourite, it is a fantastic fish!
This one was about 6 lbs, and I used my Powell Legacy #7, and a Silver Stoat Tail variant #6 to catch it under nightfishing in the river Aurland.
The river Aurland is one of 3-4 rivers in Norway where you can get really big Seatrouts, up to 25 lbs.
I once lost one after 15 minutes fight, and that was a 22 lbs giant.

Chris <;))><

Seatrout, the most beautiful fish in the world

2002-07-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

Nightfishing......6 lbs.....

Chris <;))><

Rainbow

2001-02-23T09:05:00.000-08:00

A big Rainbow Trout, 16 lbs!
Did not use the flyrod this time, but it was a nice catch anyway.

Chris <;))><

Nice small Salmon

2000-09-08T21:54:00.000-07:00

5 lbs Salmon from a small river just outside of the city of Bergen, the name of the river is Os river.
The fish really enjoyed my Hairy Mary doublehook #6.

Chris <;))><

Beautiful Seatrout

2000-08-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

Nice catches early in the morning.
Where?
In the river Aurland of course!
Used a Silver Stoat Tail variant here also, this time doublehook #6, a killerfly.

Chris <;))><

Aurland 1998

1998-08-25T18:50:00.000-07:00

2 lbs Seatrout caught on a Montana Nymph, a sunny afternoon in the Aurland river.

Chris <;))><

Big Cod

1996-09-15T16:27:00.000-07:00

I catched this Cod a saturday afternoon, when I was fishing with my neighbour. We fished from a boat west of Bergen in 1996. The weight stopped approximately at 33lbs.

Chris <;))><