2015 Report
A fine catch on Lower Bank
2015 Report
Pre Season and Quotas.
I am travelling out to Norway in one weeks time and am as usual very excited at the arrival of the new season.
Reportedly there is much snow in the mountains, the weather remains cold and the river last week was standing at about 180 cms and there are visual reports of the arrival of salmon below the waterfall at Osen.
The quotas for the season were set by the River Owners Association with advice from Government scientists. Despite a difficult season last year, with lower than usual catches, sufficient salmon entered the river to maintain the quotas at the same levels as last year which translates to roughly 10 to 12 medium or large fish per week.
I shall report in more detail on arrival in Osen and hope to publish some pictures of the repair work to the ladder which was damaged last autumn due to a huge flood.
1 to 7 June. Summer has yet to arrive! We travelled from Oslo intending to stay at my cousin’s lodge in the mountains, but after a phone call from his wife warning of bad weather and snowfall likely to close the mountain passes, we did the journey in one, arriving in the early hours of the morning. The next few days were memorable for the extreme cold with snow still lying on the mountains down to 200 metres. Large amounts of winter snow remained on the hills surrounding Osen and the highlands inland were largely completely white with a reported up to 6 metres of snow. This might sound depressing but most observers suggest that the meltwater will be feeding the river well into July maintaining a healthy high river which should result in good fishing. I was, however, concerned that the water temperature might be too low for it to be productive fishing in the first few weeks.
Opening night commenced at midnight on 1 June with a river-side fire to keep us warm. A draw of lots was held to decide who was to start fishing first. I was the lucky winner but it was strongly hinted that tradition had it that as winner I could determine who should go first. As such, out of politeness, I decreed that the youngest should commence and after that it seemed to be in age order, or perhaps it was survival of the fittest. Either way, being the eldest I ended up taking the tail of the queue. Opening night is always the first test of whether the salmon have found their way back to their river and it is with some trepidation that one hopes that nature’s annual migration is in order. Given the bracing conditions and the fact that the farm crop season was close to 3 weeks delayed, I was half convinced that the salmon would decide that the water at 8 degrees centigrade was not to their liking, leaving us to no sport. Furthermore, to add to my woes, due to the cold, the river was at a meagre 120 cms hardly the wonderful flood that normally prevails at the this time of the year. Even though I was last in the queue, my urge to control my eagerness to put a fly in the water soon evaporated as family members made contact with salmon. The first salmon to be landed was a fine 6 kg male, which was timely to arrive at 0015 hours. 5 minutes later the second was taken, another cock fish of 6.6 kg and another of 6.9 kg 10 minutes after that. The total catch for the first day numbered 22, the largest being 8.0 kg, so in all, given my reservations, an excellent tally.
Part of the fun of fishing is teasing ones fellow fishermen. One of my cousins is a natural for some baiting of the verbal kind. I had declared that I expected him to land the smallest fish of the night. To my delight and his anguish his first fish and the fourth of the night fell to him, an elderly looking trout of 1.1 kgs – unusual to catch such a poor specimen at this time of year but entirely appropriate given my prediction. Unfortunately, he had the last laugh, as I was not even able to put a fish to my name that night and now live with the shame of it!
The coldish conditions continued but this did not stop the sport. The remainder of the week saw the total increase to 43 fish caught, the largest being 12.1 kgs, followed by an 11.0 kg fish caught by yours truly. Whilst this fish gave a good fight, the best fight of all for me was a 5.2 kg cock, a fish which was convinced that it was twice its actual size.
7 June. The week ended with quite of lot of rain, sufficiently cold to fall as snow on the top of Kvarmshesten (1209 metres), the mountain opposite the house, and this is very surprising for the time of year. Our first guests arrived this afternoon, a German family, and I was very pleased to see them venture by boat down Lower Bank and take a fine 6.7 kg fish; so a good start, and once the river settles and the water turns clearer I anticipate some excellent fishing in the coming week.
7 to 13 June. The week saw the river commence at 210 cms and gradually fall to 170, so a wonderful water level but water temperature remained cold at 9 degrees and due to the cloudy weather and periods of drizzle, combined with the huge amounts of snow still in the mountains the water temperature went down to seven. Nevertheless, 22 fish were caught ranging from 2.9 kg to 9.2 kg with the average being around 6 kg, so nothing to complain about when it comes to sport. Florence and I with one of our guests took a drive up to the Gaulafjell, one of the sources of the river. At the top of the pass, which is close to 1000 metres, it was like a winter landscape still with 3 metres of snow on either side of the road, the most snow for a generation according to the locals. When the warmer weather arrives the river should remain large with correspondingly good fishing. However, the salmon will not run the ladder in great numbers until the water temperature reaches 12 degrees and last night the water read 8.5, so some way to go. According to the fish counter we have only had 5 sea trout venture up stream so far but at least the fishing below the Osfossen waterfall has been excellent. The forecast is for slightly warmer weather next week, so perhaps we will see some brave salmon taking the leap to their spawning grounds. Anyhow, the total fish caught now stands at 66, the final one caught be me on a very small Blue Charm.
14 to 17 June. Our next guests, who have been coming here for 30 years said that it was the coldest spell they can remember. Their arrival is a carefully planned or at least by the one gentleman who arrives by car. As the one to arrive by car and brings the drinks. Due to the quantity he tells me that he has to arrive an hour or two earlier that the rest of the party in order to lay it in the cellar. This task normally takes a matter of minutes which therefore allows him the opportunity to grab a house rod and get an early start to the fishing. Having joked that he should take care with his fishing as last year he ended up in hospital with a hook in both his finger and in a salmon at the same time, 15 minutes later he was into a vigorous salmon. Being prone to accidents did not escape him this year either, as despite having handed him equipment in perfect order, somehow the handle of the reel fell off whilst he was play the fish – thus maintaining his reputation as somewhat accident prone. It was a great credit to him that he kept his cool and somehow maintained a tight enough line to eventually bring the fish to land. He was of course proud to leave a 6.7 kg fish hanging by the river for the rest of the party to admire on their arrival!
After lunch the next day there was some discuss as to the plan of attack for the evening. Everyone except one of the guests had decided what to do, and it was suggested that he should fish Lower Bank by boat with me. Judging from the pregnant pause before agreeing to this, I judged him none to happy with this decision and later on as I rowed for him he kept saying that he could not remember fishing Lower Bank for many years, if ever, and that anyway it was full of trout only. Readers will probably guess that shortly after this he was into a fine fish of about 4 kg. With renewed enthusiasm for Lower Bank he subsequently played another larger fish for some 15 minutes before losing it. That night, living legend, Morten Taule took an early morning raid to Lower Bank and took an 11 kg fish. In the right conditions and with the right fly and line, Lower Bank can produce some fantastic results.
At the end of their stay the party took 12 fish between the 5 rods in three days fishing with the total now standing at 77 and the river at 140 cms.
17 to 21 June. A remarkable 3 days with a group of expert fishermen lead by Morten Taule. They were not fishing particularly hard but were at the right place at the right time and and the results and their collective experience showed. An excellent total of 38 fish were taken averaging 5 or 6 kgs. I do not usually fish much when I have guests, but Morten asked me to try out his rod which I duly took to the wall and second cast whilst still getting the line out, hooked a salmon which I subsequently beached; in handing the rod back to Morten I was able to say that there are not many rods that catch fish after two short casts! – I would also like to think the experts where impressed by my fishing abilities.
Morten celebrated 25 years of fishing and guiding on the river with some fizz and was presented with a wonderfully atmospheric framed photograph of him fishing on Muren with the waterfall in the background which he has requested be hung somewhere in the house. To top his celebrations he also caught the 100th salmon of the season – how fitting was that! Morten likes to set himself a challenge, and although he had witnessed many large fish taken by spoon on Lower Bank just below the old jetty, he had never managed to raise a large fish on a fly at this spot. He told me that he was going to try in the early hours of the morning when the tide was perfect using a heavy line. In classic Morten style he met his challenge with an 11 kg fish of 105 cms in length which he released to come back when it was a little bigger.
On the Saturday evening, after the guests had left, I took Florence, my eldest daughter, in the boat in Ladder Pool with the intention of trying to get her a fish. Over the last two years, since working here as the housekeeper, she has caught a 1 kg fish, followed by a 2 kg fish, followed by a 4 kg fish last year but had not caught anything so far this year. You can see the pattern, each fish doubling in weight to the previous one. With the sun dipping behind the mountain and the rocks just appearing at low water, it was perfect conditions, so I was in a hurry to get her on the water but as usual there was some feminine adjustments to be made before she was ready. However, eventually she appeared dressed for what appeared to be an Antarctic expedition. Florence does not cast particularly long but her line was going out straight and was fishing well when she hit a fish in big fish territory. The fish held its ground for a while as I manoeuvred the boat to gain a better angle on the fish. It then charged off some 70 metres upstream and to the far side of the pool and was in danger of tangling the line around one of several rocks there. I encouraged Florence to keep her rod as high as possible and keep the pressure on the line to ensure that we did not snag the line and by increasing the pressure Florence coaxed the salmon downstream. She played the fish beautifully and we eventually netted a perfect, broad in the beam, cock fish which was clearly over her 8 kg target; it measured 105 cms and according to the conversion chart was 10.4 kgs – she was over the moon and there was an extremely proud father to boot – it is not easy to successfully land a salmon of this size.
Florence puts in long hours keeping the house clean and tidy and looking after the guests, so at breakfast the next day I asked how her left arm was feeling having played this salmon for at least half an hour, and she said it was fine. I said that she must be in good physical shape and she replied that her arms were in prime condition on account of all the hoovering that she does; I have witnessed blisters on her hands gained in the course of her duties – such is the lot of the housekeeper!
21 to 27 June. Summer has at long last arrived with temperatures reaching 20 degrees and meaningful sun. The water is still cold at 10.5 but this week saw the first salmon venture up the ladder. More precisely, on the 24 June 4 salmon passed the camera making the tally 4 salmon and 20 sea trout. Nature is about three weeks later than average and the salmon migration is no exception. It was however a great relief to see the first salmon as a number of things depend their arrival: firstly future generations appear to be secure; secondly, the damage sustained to the ladder over the winter floods does not seem to have altered the integrity of the ladder, i.e. salmon are still able to use the ladder, a serious doubt this year until one sees the first fish.
I was fast asleep in my bed when at two o’clock in the morning, two of my more dedicated guests took a few casts on Muren. I was therefore not a witness to the ensuing battle that took place during twilight hours. A fish took half way down the wall and shortly afterwards sped across to the far side of the river, the hallmark of a large fish. Not content with this, the fish decided to head down stream with the angler in hot pursuit. It is close to a kilometre from the top of Muren to the bottom of Lower Bank and despite the brake on the reel being on maximum, he very soon found himself at what is known as Land’s End at the bottom of Lower Bank. The other fisherman joined him to find that he could follow the fish no further and that worse than that he was standing there with all his backing gone and simply holding his rod and line in the hope that the salmon would not make another run. The fish was of such a size that it was impossible to control it at all without breaking the line. The second guest wisely decided immediately to go upstream half a kilometre to fetch a boat and the two of them took to the fjord and proceeded to follow the salmon winding in frantically the 200 yards of backing. With no where suitable to land the fish, they decided to net the fish directly into the boat, not an easy task and by all
It might have been caught at 2 in the morning but this was no dream!
accounts, although our nets are very large, had difficulty getting the fish into the net, let alone then lifting it into the boat. On return to Oddvabu, the hut beside Muren, the fish measured 111 cms and weighed in at 12 kgs, a truly majestic cock fish.
28 June to 3 July. The river was standing at 162 cms at the start of the week with the water temperature at 11 degrees – a wonderful height for fishing Lower Bank and Muren, but still only a few fish through the ladder. The river gradually rose for the next few days to 181 cms and during this rise in water a pleasing 27 fish were taken, the largest being 8.5 kg. One of my guests, who over the last few years has had considerable success in Rekevik, was keen to try the pool again. I pointed out that 50 fish had been through the ladder and of that 14 were salmon, the rest being sea trout and that it is generally considered a waste of time to fish the upper river until 250 fish have passed the counter. It was therefore agreed that we would put the Rekevik boat in the water and fish it for purely scientific purposes. I was happy to be part of any experiment and some exercise rowing would serve me well. We duly departed for the pool and a small smolt struck which is always reassuring in terms of the attractiveness of the fly. Shortly afterwards in the very spot where big fish usually reside, the rod bent a little and the line went out a few centimetres. Had my sound advice not to fish in Rekevik been incorrect. Well, the fish was big enough to warrant rowing up to the island in the middle of the pool and land it there, where upon we tailed a respectable sea trout of 1.4 kg – it was very brown, looking more like a brown trout, with a large mouth and having been in the river some months or even over the winter. On gutting it later, it revealed pink flesh. It was the first fish caught in the river and gave us both some pleasure, but it was not a salmon, and my advice holds that fishing that night was purely for the advancement of knowledge.
3 July. As I write this, we have just had two gloriously hot days with temperatures in the high 20s. Consequently, the snow is melting and the river is now in flood at 218 cms with the odd tree floating down the river. Fishing in the last 36 hours has been difficult with only two small grilse to show for many hours of hard labour. It is hoped that fine sport will return once the river has settled down.
5 July. The river continues to rise and is now at a trembling 243 cms on the gauge. Standing at the top of the waterfall one can feel the earth shaking as 200 tons of water a second cascade over the great falls. Fishing has been slow in the last few days with lots of debris still in the water but two fish were taken on Lower Bank last night and there are signs of life returning to Muren as a fish rose twice to my fly this morning. The total fish caught as at 3 July was 164 which included 10 farmed fish killed and 81 wild stock caught and returned to the river. The total today is 170 with 163 fish through the counter, 21 of which passed through the ladder last night.
5 to 11 July. This week we had two English families with grown up children staying including some old friends of mine who kindly suggested that my wife, Helen, join the party. One of the guests, James, was the best man at our wedding and he and I subsequently became godfathers to our respective daughters. So it was a rather special week for me to be host to these close friends. Out of the two families, only the father of the other family had fished extensively before but the rest were considerably less experienced or complete novices. I had one firm instruction which was that James was keen to catch his first salmon. It is a tall order at the best of times to achieve this as I have known old men who have been fishing most of their lives who are still waiting to catch one. But Osen is a special place for Atlantic salmon so I was optimistic that we could achieve this until I saw James’s casting which seemed to end up in a tangle in the water – he had had some tuition, but this was on a lake not on fast flowing water, so I suggested that we did overhead casting which he soon mastered sufficiently to present a straight-lined fly with some chance of enticing a fish. Fishermen come with expectations to catch a fish and that pressure is passed on to me and the other guides. The first night passed with eager fishermen but no activity at all, scared off no doubt by the multitude of anglers keen to get their flies into the water.
We had a huge river, holding during most of the week at 245 cms (peaking at 250 cms) and a hallmark of the week was that Muren, normally the most productive beat, was difficult to say the least. However, the Gods were on our side as the first fish was taken by James the next morning on Muren at 10 o’clock so we had already achieved our principal aim and could relax a little – only 12 other fishermen keen for their share of the action!
Thereafter, the week contained so many stories of fish that got away and fish caught that I could easily write a book about it, so the following short précis barely does it justice.
During the week it very soon became apparent that one of the young gentleman with environmental credentials was operating catch and release; at least that must have been the case as he lost so many fish. Eventually he decided the time was right to take things seriously and ended the week with 3 fish bagged including one of 6.4 kg, caught from the wall with his own casting.
Later in the week, two fishermen were in the boat on Lower Bank, when one of them took a fish. Stein George rowed the boat towards the bank and suggested that the second fisherman who had reeled his line in by now, should get out of the boat and hold the bows whilst the fish was played out. Rather than waiting until the boat was a little closer to the shore, the fisherman immediately stepped out of the boat and found himself in neck-deep water! (His willingness to follow orders to the letter was admirable and I am sure he will go a long way in his future profession in the Army).
On another occasion, one of the young ladies, who had done some fishing in the past but had yet to catch a salmon, was fishing with Stein George who was holding his boat steady in the stream at the head of Lower Bank to allow Svein Petter’s boat to pass below. They had two rods rigged when suddenly a fish struck on one of the lines. It seemed that the fish got tangled in the other line but shortly afterwards the two lines went in different directions – they had two fish on at the same time! Having dealt with these fish, one which was released and the other taken, James who was on the bank, shouted some words of encouragement. Stein George could not hear what he was saying so rowed towards James to ask what he had said, and as he did so, another fish struck which was eventually landed after a tremendous battle which weighed in at 10 kgs. Tongue in cheek, James was able to later reveal that he was only shouting for Stein George to move his boat a little towards him as that was where the big fish lay! Stein George, who has fished all his life, later said that he would never forget this night of fishing and of course the young lady who had never caught a salmon had a lifetime’s fishing experience packed into 20 minutes!
Not all time was spent fishing. The group also enjoyed sailing on Stein Georges’s boat where they journeyed under the spectacular Seven Sisters waterfall and on another day an excursion to the source of the river in the Josteldalsbreen Glacier to witness the melting snowfields that have recently swelled the river proved popular. Charles Thomas Stanford, when he wrote his wonderful book “A River of Norway” about Osen and the River Gaula marvelled at the simplicity of life in the fjords around the turn of the last century. Perhaps I can balance the books as we found that an excursion to visit the electronic bottle bank at the local shop proved a wonder to some of my guests; perhaps I shall add it to the itinerary of “things to do” on the website!
I am delighted to say that my goddaughter took a couple of fish including a 8 kg one from Lower Bank. On the other hand, there is often a guest who has no luck at all and one of the guests fell into this category and was surely labeled one of life’s losers. Anyone who has fished for salmon quickly learns that salmon have no respect for fairness when it comes to an equal share of the harvest. However, perseverance to have a fly in the water and a good cast eventually paid dividends, with two fish caught by this guest late in the stay, including one from the wall which gave membership to the elite club of those who had caught something on Muren.
The week sadly came to an end as I had enjoyed my friends’ company just as much as I hope that they had enjoyed coming to Osen. However, there were two things left to do. Behind the scenes, Millie and my wife Helen, had been working hard to keep the house running. Helen said that she really wanted was to catch a salmon if I could arrange it – miracles and the impossible sprung to mind! Nevertheless, we had a few casts on the wall and Millie struck gold on the first trip down the wall – a 2 kg grilse full of bounce but Helen, although casting nicely and despite two bites, failed to make proper contact. We therefore ventured into the boat to Ladder Pool where a powerful fish took and Helen played it well but the fish moved to fast, the line went slack and off the fish came. With no success here we slipped down into Lower Bank, caught another which she then lost after a few seconds. As a last resort I rowed back up to Ladder and tried again. Another large fish struck and again charged all over the pool with the reel screaming at fever pitch, but Helen, wiser to the line going slack played the fish well and eventually landed a glistening 6.3 kg female at 0130 hours. Of course, Helen was delighted that she had not miss out on the fun and to cap it all it was her first proper salmon putting a fine finish to this spectacularly successful week.
In summary, the high water had pushed the salmon down into Lower Bank and it was this stretch that proved the most productive with 26 taken here, 3 in Ladder and 6 on Muren. The first salmon caught up river was also taken in Skjearet on 8 July at 1900 hours by the same fisherman who lost a large salmon in Rekevik two nights before.
Another fine catch from Lower Bank
The total for the week came to 36 fish a fantastic achievement. All members of the group, despite their relative inexperience, caught a fish or more, a wonderful testament to their determination to get on the river at all hours of the day or night and also a reflection on the two outstanding guides, Svein Petter and Stein George, whose blistered hands were the only evidence of the hours of rowing that they endured. But for those thinking that it was all fish and no play my guests produced the Osen Video with some star-studded performances!
12 to 18 July. Our longstanding German family returned for their second week and made an excellent start with a fine salmon taken at 0200 hours on the first night by a lady guest being rowed by Stein George on Lower Bank – a nice fish of 5.8 kgs. The following morning four fish were caught in half an hour on Muren before breakfast and Lower Bank continued to fish well with water levels at between 150 and 165 cms all week.
Later in the week I rowed the head of the family in Rekevik and we came back very satisfied with a fine fish that put up a good fight – the first of the season with me rowing in the upper river. The fish had been in the river a while and was starting to colour and thin; it probably would have been around 7 kg when it first entered the river but nevertheless it fought as if a heavier fish with a couple of traverses on its side across the water – something that one usually only sees in bigger fish. My guest bet me a bottle of wine that it was 7 kg in weight but my judgement was that 5.5 kgs. When we returned to the house and put it to the scales my guess turned out to be correct and with no bottle of wine to hand my guest generously produced a bottle of whisky instead which of course I was very content with! With the water continuing over 130 cms, fish cannot ascend Rekevik Foss and fall back to the V of the pool so despite less than 250 fish in the upper river many of them seem to have taken up residence there. During the week we had two fish out of Rekevik but also lost a good number which gave great sport.
The total for the week came to 23 fish including 3 of 8 kgs or more.
19 to 25 July. The final week comprised an English family with really only one fisherman, the remainder being quite content to relax in the house and take the odd tour of local sight seeing. Unlike last year’s wonderful weather, this season’s offering was generally cloudy and cold with some heavy rain and my guests’ light cotton clothing and sandals were somewhat inappropriate to the conditions. On a few occasions the sun did appear and when it did the contrast was dramatic.
Having said that there was only one fisherman, one of the ladies was seen on Muren under the supervision of her husband and more or less first cast hooked a salmon; this seems to demonstrate that the short cast works well on Muren but despite many examples of this, us more experienced fishermen, including me, strut like peacocks doing manly casts to the far horizon all day long, happily ignoring the evidence that short casts are more effective.
The other male guest was a relative novice to fly fishing who had visited Osen last year too, but had not yet caught a salmon. Having taken him harling for an hour or so on Lower Bank he announced that he really was not too bothered if we caught a fish; I was not best pleased to hear that my hard work rowing was not being appreciated and my initial reaction was to think of my calloused hands, which take a battering during the season. However, I quickly realised that he meant it out of kindness not to waste my time on someone who was not interested in fishing. However, in contradiction to his statement, all through the week he was seen attempting to cast his fly; he did not seem to be a man not interested in catching salmon. However, his casting was not a pretty sight and several attempts by me to assist with his techniques had the reverse effect. Later in the week I suggested that we try Ladder Pool and we at last made contact with a salmon which we successfully landed to everyones delight. The next day he was on the wall and I went up to him to pass the time of day. He said. “John, watch this” and he proceeded to swing his rod from 10 to 2 0’clock and then forward again. The line shot out some respectable distance, the backing glided out through his hands, the line hovered over the water and landed in a straight line – a perfect presentation – he had, after close to two weeks weeks of perseverance, mastered the art of casting and I noted that his professed lack of interest in salmon fishing was not repeated!
At times it was difficult fishing, particularly because the late season and cold water meant that many fish were still sitting below the waterfall waiting for the water temperature to rise before migrating up river. In doing so these resident fish were discouraging new fish from entering the pool and by this stage many fish were probably unsusceptible to the attractions of lures. However, the one serious fisherman of the party discovered a tiny Red Francis seemed to work when the conventional flies had failed. This fisherman took a remarkable 16 fish, the largest being 7.3 kgs and lost many others including some reportedly really large ones. The total for the week was 22 fish.
End of Season Summary. Before heading back to England, Millie and I spent our last few days tidying up the house and doing a little fishing. One evening, Millie managed to embarrass my cousin and I by catching two grilse on Muren whilst neither of us had any success, highlighting again the virtue of the short cast.
I spent some time exploring the upper river but with so few fish through the counter (480 as at 27 July) and the river being high at 190 falling to 155 cms, apart from Rekevik, the rest of the river proved difficult to access and somewhat fruitless. The consolation prize was a 1.4 kg sea trout from Amot and my cousin caught a 4.5 kg fish to my harling in Rekevik.
The total fish caught as at 27 July was 259 – a very satisfactory season. In my mind I regarded the result as excellent but in checking the statistics page of the website this figure is surprisingly close to the 10 year average of 254 fish.
The cold and late summer weather continues with plenty of snow still to melt in the mountains and the water temperature still at 11.5 degrees. There is talk that unless there is a late thaw, considerable amounts of snow from last winter will remain through to next year so perhaps we can already expect an abundance of water and good fishing for next season. The other good omen is that the last few weeks have seen a large number of 1 winter grilse returning and I am told by the pundits that this bodes well for fish that have spent 2 winters in the ocean (4 to 7 kgs in weight) returning next year.
Once again I wish to thank my guests for returning to Osen and hope to see you all again next year.
