2017 Report
Two beautiful fresh run salmon caught on Muren
2017 REPORT
Quotas. With the exceptionally large number of fish returning to the river last year (nearly 4000 fish in 14 kms of river) the River Owners’ Association agreed to raise the quotas slightly from last year.
1 to 10 June. 2017 has arrived with a bang, as in it has been a great start to the season. Whilst I was not at Osen until 7 June, I have the advantage of seeing the fishing record book which tells me that the first fish was caught at 8 minutes past midnight on the 1 June by Morten, a classic Gaula 5.2 kg fish with a length of 80 cms and no doubt shaped like a torpedo, as most of our fish need to be to ascend the white water of the upper river. By morning 10 salmon had been landed, 21 by the end of the first day and by the time I arrived on 7 June the tally stood at 52 with only 4 taken for the freezer.
The river was at an almost perfect height of 150 cms at the start, rose to 185 and fell to 170, before rising again to 185 after some rain on 8 June. The water temperature has reached 10 degrees Centigrade probably about average which is the temperature that usually sees the first brave salmon climb the ladder to the upper river. As at 10 June, the camera at the top of the ladder had recorded 27 fish, all being sea trout or brown trout. so we await the first of the run salmon. Last year the river was at 13 degrees at this stage and we had already had 130 or so fish in the upper river, but this year we will have to wait a little while longer I suspect. The plus side of this is that with the colder water and large river the fishing on Lower Bank and on Murren should be better. There appears to be some snow left over from the winter so again that indicates that the river should continue to be a good size for the next few weeks after which it is dependent on hot weather to melt the glacier water and rainfall.
Lower Bank tends to fish best two hours before low water when the stream from the river is best. Despite this, I had the need for some peace and tranquility so went down the Lower Bank at high water. I have noticed over the years that new fish often glide up stream close to the bank at high water so breaking all usual conventions I gave it a go with a small single hook fly and was rewarded with fine fish of 8 kg. I made a mental note to break the mould more often.
Eleanor, my niece and the maid for June this year, is a novice to salmon fishing, but has already proved a keen fisherman and had several bites from Muren. It is always wonderful to see the surprise on new fishermen as they realise, rather too late that there is a fish on the end of their line. Eleanor was no different and despite having a couple of fish on, failed to control them so the line went slack and the fish managed to wriggle off, but she seems determined to catch a salmon and is delivering a good cast with a straight line so it is only a question of perseverance before she lands her first fish.
11 to 18 June. Some rain towards the end of the week before saw the river rise from 170 to 185 cms. Our German party included two Irish and two Norwegian gentlemen. The first fish to be landed was shortly after they had arrived that evening, a beautiful female of 8 kgs taken by one of the Irish guests harling with me, his first for 21 years and certainly his biggest, but this fish was subsequently put into the shadow by another taken by him of 9.4 kgs later in the week.
It was very good fishing for the next few days except for the head of the family, who is now in his mid eighties in age and despite being an experienced fisherman was dismayed at loosing his first four fish. He later made up for this, although his habit of loosing fish never quite left him as he described a battle with a monster which took him all the way down to Lands End at the bottom of the estuary in a battle that lasted 45 minutes before losing that one too; as someone who has fished all his life he described this fish as the fish of a life time and despite losing it was said to be happy and exhilarated at the experience.
The two Norwegian guests only stayed for two days. One was a novice and the other quite experienced. The latter having had no luck declared when he got to the bottom of Muren that this was going to be his last cast before departing. Remarkably, a very obliging fish took, and he was able to leave Osen with pride in tact and his name in the record book!
The first grilse went though the ladder on 12 June with the water still at 10 degrees. A day later a larger salmon of 85 cms when through the counter. By the end of the week the tally was 61 fish, all sea or brown trout except for the above two fish.
The week ended with the party taking 23 fish. Eleanor had a go on the wall on Saturday evening and showed fine poise when a fish struck. I always say to inexperienced fishermen that once the fish is hooked the only thing that matters is that the rod remains bent, so when the fish leapt out of the water during the ensuing fight, I asked her what size she thought it was and she quickly chastised me that she was in no position to know as she only had her eye on the bend in her rod! Needless to say, her iron discipline paid off as she successfully remained in contact with the salmon and eventually landed an impressive 4.9 kg cock fish. I landed 3 salmon myself that evening, including a prize 9.4 kg one, so Eleanor with her first salmon bagged and me were more than happy with a fine evening’s fishing.
18 to 21 June. A group of keen Norwegian fishing friends took the house and river for the next 3 days headed up by Morten, who had acted as guide for Norsk Hydro for many years when this company rented the river. At the start the river stood at 165 and these 3 days were cold and very wet. As such the river remained at 10 Centigrade with little snow melt in the glacier but the heavy rain was sufficient to raise the river to 195 at its peak. No fish were tempted up the Ladder apart from 2 sea trout.
Morten’s experienced fishermen had no hesitation in showing the way, and despite the cold conditions heavy tackle and flies seemed to persuade somewhat reluctant salmon to take. After the first day, it was notable that Morten himself remained empty handed. It was suggested that Eleanor, the maid, could provide some advice on how to catch fish! To rescue the situation Morten was taken by boat into Ladder pool where one of his classic favourites, a single 5/0 Durham Ranger secured a bite. We were all greatly relieved that Morten had got a fish, the boat was rowed back to the bay below Muren and Morten fought the, clearly large, fish from the bank. His rowing guest fetched a net and stood ready with it; when the fish eventually tired, the fish swum towards the net but as often happens with large fish it was difficult to get the whole fish into the net. The fish hovered balancing on the edge of the net for what seemed an agonising few seconds before the netter quickly dropped the net and scooped again, fortunately securing the fish properly this time and no doubt escaping the wrath of Morten had it not been netted properly. It was a near escape as I was later told that the fly had come out of the fish’s mouth as it was netted! We were also greatly relieved that Morten’s empty run had come to an end.
However, Morten’s poor fortune continued as the week progressed; I have agreed a vow of silence on the matter so cannot say the number of times that he went down the wall without a bite. With Morten’s reputation as an excellent fisherman at stake we shall move on to say no more on the subject save that plenty of fish were caught by the others in the group! During this period we hardly saw the sun but interestingly on the two occasions when the sun showed two fish took almost immediately. The cold temperatures made the fishing more difficult but on the final afternoon with the river at 195 cms, the rain stopped and some brighter weather with slightly warmer air blessed us so two other fishermen without fish mounted an expedition into the upper part of Lower Bank resulting in success for both fishermen and and for another fishing from the bank with a prime cock fish of 9.3 kg, followed by 7.5 kg and and 4.7 kg specimens from the boat. There was much gladdening of hearts aided by a tot of fine single malt whisky for all. In total for the three days 25 fish were taken, a figure that cannot be complained about.
22 to 25 June. My next guests have been coming to Osen for several decades and it is now almost a ritual for them to come to fish and have a few days to relax. But there is never any time to chill until the first fish has been caught. As if on order within the first hour the first fish was landed, a fine 4.7 kg fish from Muren. The same angler took another fantastic fish the next day. With Morten rowing Ladder Pool, the fish took and it was clear that it was sizeable so a decision was made to land the fish on the Lervik side where there is less stream, or at least that was the reason given by Morten; the fact that there was already quite a gathering of fishermen watching the struggle on the other bank may have been a factor as who can resist an audience especially when it is the opposition fishermen! Nevertheless, there was plenty to be happy about when a king salmon of 11.2 kg was landed.
The river started this period at 185 and came down to 165 cms, still a big river however, the rain and cold weather continued to plague us so salmon were generally harder to come by. Another indication of the late arrival of summer was the annual race up Storehesten (1209 metres) which went ahead but due to the wind and cold it was decided that the finish would not be at the top of the mountain.
Lower Bank fished well to start with but despite lots of fish showing and providing a display more akin to synchronised swimming further attempts there resulted only in a few sea trout. This three days ended with 9 fish, so sufficient to exhaust their quota and allowing each fisherman to take two fish back home with them.
At the end of the week Eleanor managed to catch her second salmon, a very fine 6.3 kg fish which she handled with consummate skill and I was fortunate enough to land 3, including one of 8.8 kgs; whilst playing this one I had a phone call from my cousin, the owner of Osen. It is always struggle to get ones phone out whilst keeping a tight line but it is somewhat satisfying to be able to say that I could not talk right now as I had a fish on!
The tally for the week was 38 fish and total fish caught since the start of the season stands at 132. 3 salmon and 67 sea trout have passed through the ladder, so the run of salmon to the upper river has yet to start. We do look forward to some warmer weather which is promised to arrive in the next few days.
25 June to 2 July. A family from Bergen stayed this week. The weather was cold but brighter in the first two days and then at last the lovely summer weather arrived. The river went from a grand 165 to 99 cms by Saturday so quite a dramatic fall due to no rain and cold weather reducing the snow melt.
The first fish to be hooked was what looked like a fine 7 kg fish on Lower Bank, but being powerful it played nicely and having brought the fish close to the bank it took a deep dive across the river and somehow the fish came off; on inspection of the line we found that the leader had probably broken because it had a knot in it. I have lost many big fish which is why we recommend 30 lb leader; a new spool of leader should be bought every year as old leader does weaken with age and 30 lb leader is strong enough even if it has had the odd knot in it.
Ever so reassuringly, the same angler took another fish at 2100 hours on the first night. The next day I was rowing the same guest in Ladder Pool and we had two fish on in short succession but unfortunately lost both. I suggested that the brake on his line was a little tight before returning to the top of the pool to try again. Third time lucky maybe, he struck another fish, but disappointedly he said that it was only a small one; it is difficult to tell the size of a salmon when it first takes, but this small one turned out to be 88 cms long and 6.5 kgs in weight! Perhaps he was measuring this fish against his first experience of Gamlegjerdet a few years ago when a giant of a fish took all his line and broke the line at the end of his backing. Despite fishing hard for the next two days he had to leave mid week and had had no luck so I took him in the boat again but we had no joy so at the end of the Muren pool it was clear that his sport had run out so I suggested one more cast at the tail of the pool before calling it a day; it was not a particularly memorable fish at 2.6 kg but it is strange how that final cast often seems to reward one’s hard work.
As the week drew on the falling river became less productive especially with the bright wall to wall sunshine. Gloriously warm temperatures resulted in guests, the housekeepers, Eleanor and Issy (newly arrived) and me taking a dip in the fjord, in my case for the third time ever which indicates that the weather was indeed very Mediterranean. It was not good fishing conditions but nevertheless 8 fish were taken in Ladder or on Muren during the guests stay, which was commendable. Issy, who comes from a keen Scottish fishing family, had yet to catch a salmon so after a few lessons on casting on the grass, we put her on the wall to try her luck. Her casts were short but the line was straight and delivered at 45 degrees to the stream I was surprised that after five casts Issy had her first strike. However, whilst I was surprised, I was not quite as shocked as Issy who seemed to panic as the fish tore away, had quite forgotten her lessons on the grass and ended up hugging the rod rather than holding it; of course the fish recognised the inexperienced angler and decided to spit the fly out. Disappointed, Izzy took up her rod with even more vigour, and quite literally 10 casts later took another salmon, and this time remained composed as she let the salmon play out the line whilst keeping the rod bent at all times. 20 minutes later she landed her first salmon, a 4.1 kg hen.
This week saw the first run of salmon up the ladder (8 salmon and 40 sea trout) but still the water remained at around 11.5 Centigrade.
2 to 8 July. This week was characterised by a low river of 90 cms rising to 115 and then dropping to 100. At these levels we have difficult fishing on Muren as the better stream tends to be on the other side of the river and with the late run of salmon there were not many fish upstream so I was not expecting great fishing this week. The chilly weather continued and to make matters worse no salmon went up the ladder which I mentally put down to the cold. However, when no salmon were recorded for a second day, it was concluded that perhaps an otter was patrolling the area; even with an otter a number of fish usually make it. However, on the 3 day of no fish I phoned the scientists who install the counter equipment and they suggested that it was because the counter computer hard disc was full. This was changed and the counter resumed normal operation. Even when the counter is not working, it is connected to the internet and one can now see the number of salmon going through on one’s phone in the comfort of one’s living room on http://l-ss.com/Fishcounters/FC-Osfossen. Those who are arm chair fishermen may also like to know that water levels above Sande are measured and shown graphically on the internet too at http://www2.nve.no/h/hd/plotreal/Q/0083.00002.000/plot.gif.
The river temperature hit 12 degrees at long last and the salmon started to run in greater numbers (11 to 82 fish per day) with the ladder absolutely teaming with fish on 3 July, the day that I spotted the first fish just above the ladder, always a glorious moment to experience.
One of the guests, who has caught big fish off Muren in the past took another sizeable fish this week. The fish charged out into the rocky area below the fos and despite the persuasion of a well bent rod it would not budge. The salmon sat there for some 15 minutes, seemingly unaware that it was required to be landed. After some discussion, it was decided to take the boat out to see if the line had perhaps got caught around one of the rocks. At high water the rocks are covered and an dangerous back eddy exists that would take one into the waterfall and once there it would be impossible to get the boat out and it is likely that the boat would be swamped. As such one has to be careful and it is strange to be rowing away from the waterfall, so we approached the fish carefully until the line was vertically above the fish where upon the line shot out of the water and the fish (or rock) was lost; on inspecting the fly there was a scale on the hook so we at least had some evidence of the fish that got away.
A huge number of fish are sitting at the bottom of the waterfall and many guests said that they have never seen so many jumping, however with the low river it is difficult to catch them. One of my guests, whose record for catching fish is usually impressive, continued to show how it was done, with 7 fish to his name, all caught on Muren, including what appeared to be a 1.6 kg Pukkelfisk; literally translated it is a camel fish because it has a humped back and it is thought to originate from Canada. (I am told that a number of these fish have been found in Norwegian waters). Afternote: Another guest told me that the fish originate from Russia where they have been introduced in great numbers to boost fishing up there. They are OK to eat but not as good as salmon and they should not be frozen as this ruins the texture of the meat. In any case we do not want them in our river and they should be killed when caught.
This guest brought his son this year with the hope of him catching his first salmon. Normally at my diplomatic best, I put my foot right in it one morning when I came down to the river and saw what can only be described as the smallest grilse I had ever seen. Most salmon come back fat and weighing some 3 to 5 kgs after a winter or two in the Atlantic. So when I saw this poor specimen of 0.8 kg hanging on the fish rack I remarked that it could hardly have ventured out of the river and certain did not warrant being called a salmon. The son told me proudly that it was his first salmon! I quickly recanted and congratulated him! I am pleased to say that right at the end of the week his father rowed him in Ladder Pool and he took at 3.6 kg fish and I for one was very happy that he did eventually catch a proper salmon. His father later told me that it was at the first time that he managed to catch a salmon whilst rowing a fisherman; it being his son’s first proper salmon too was just the icing on the cake.
Having not caught any fish up river, it seemed that enough fish had passed through the counter to warrant giving it a try but a guest who has a superb record for taking fish out of Rekevik spoilt his record with a blank and on another night with another guest no luck was had, but on the third attempt an angler (who prides himself on only going for the biggest fish) had a fish on and we were gradually rowing up to the island when the fish wriggled free.
I had had complaints from Svein Petter, who sometimes acts as a guide on our water and who also runs some fishing upstream, about a tree in the ladder in Rekevik Fos. He told me that he could not sleep at night until the tree was removed as it may stop the fish from passing the ladder; under such pressure, Issy and a guest accompanied me armed with a chainsaw and removed the offending branches that had fallen into the ladder. I am not sure that the tree was an obstacle to the salmon, but I was certainly concerned that Svein Petter got his sleep at night! Rekevik Ladder is on the far bank and being difficult to get to, I had never seen it so it was with interest that we went there. Having cleared the tree, we took the opportunity to fish the top two tails of the Fos and had a couple of takes in this rarely fished pool.
Whilst I had caught a number of sea trout, the first salmon to be caught up river was taken by me in Åmot on Sunday morning; a fine 6 kg female which I landed, measured at 85 cms and released.
The total fish caught now stands at 159, 19 in the last week, with some 400 salmon through the counter.
9 to 15 July. This week saw the return of some Danish guests who had previously fished here last in 2013. The week did not look promising from the start with a below average river of 97 cms where it remained.
Reports came back of a large fish seen in Åmot; an encouraging sign of life in the river and early in the week I was rowing in Rekevik and we had our first contact with a salmon in this pool. It took close to the yellow rock and went downstream briefly before following us upstream to the island where we land the fish. Half way to the island the salmon wriggled itself free but the first fish to make its presence known in this pool was a moment to savour.
Another guest took a large salmon on Muren which charged around the pool displaying all the prowess of the king of fish with deep, long charges which impressed all those watching. On landing the salmon, it was a fine specimen, but not the 10 kg fish we had all thought but a 6.2 kg which had been foul hooked on its top fin!
I took the Kattehol boat down from Rekevik and fished Gamlegjeret and Åmot with a guest. Whilst in Åmot I managed to hold the boat behind one of the large boulders in the fast water. As one does this the boat is dragged upstream in the back eddie and often the boat will nudge the rock; this time rather alarmingly the boat managed to get stuck on the top of the rock and it would not come off without executing a complete 180 degree turn, a little too exciting a manoeuvre in fast flowing water!
On Saturday evening after the guests departed, I went up river to prove that there were fish to be had but I too came back empty handed. The positive side to this is that it suggests that there was nothing wrong with the fishing party’s skill but more a reflection of the difficult conditions. One’s chance of catching salmon seems to be partially proportional to change, be it height or colour of water, air pressure, temperature, brightness, etc. Many of these factors seemed against us and the catch for the week was correspondingly poor with 6 salmon taken. The week ended with the promise of heavy rain which hopefully will change fishing prospects.
16 to 22 July. My guests this week were a German family. Three generations and some friends. On the first night, with the river at 100 cms I took a mother and 17 year old daughter harling in Skjaerer, the pool just above the waterfall. I had rigged two house rods, one with a conventional large fly and one with a small single hook fly. Out of consideration the mother offered the choice of fly to her daughter and of course the inevitable question arose as to which was best. Of course fishermen, the daughter included, believe that the bigger the fly the bigger the fish it will catch so the daughter took the larger fly. The small fly took several trout whilst the larger fly was left untouched. Then the mother took another fish which sat mid-stream – this was no trout and judging by its stubbornness to move gave every indication of a large fish. After a while I manoeuvred the boat downstream but despite good contact with the fish and a bent rod the hook came out. We continuing to fish and the daughter did manage a consolation brown trout but the winner for the evening was most definitely the small fly.
The promised rain did materialise and the river rose to 152 cms, with coloured water to start with and then it cleared. What a transformation, with a great stream on Muren and a huge run of fish through the ladder of 207 followed by 94 the following day. Whilst the run of salmon has so far not compared with last year, I was told that the number of salmon through the counter has been the 3rd best since the counter has been in operation.
Such conditions promised good fishing and with a higher river fish could not navigate Rekevik Fos. As such the same two ladies were taken up to Rekevik harling with Stein Georg and came back with the first two fish to be caught there this season. Another fish was taken up there by another angler and several fish, one reported quite large, were lost.
Fishing up river is much more demanding. The fast stream and the bushes and trees demand spey casting in many places or overhead casting from a boat. I took the daughter up to Åmot to show her how to best cover this complex pool. I had a fish on but lost it and then took another, handed her the rod and as darkness fell she played it for about 20 minutes before we successfully beached a fine 3.8 kg hen fish which we released.
The same daughter later successfully caught her first fish on Muren using a spey cast and later using overhead casting from the boat took a large fish in Gamlegjerdet. The reel screamed as the fish took more and more line. Well into the backing, the line was still going out fast and I was concerned that the fish was going down into the rapids below the pool. With about 150 metres of line out I saw the fish jump out of the water about 70 metres down on the far side of the river and realised that it was just the weight of line bowing across the fast stream that was pulling the line out. Holding the rim of the reel more firmly stopped the line and in trying to bring the line in the fish got away. A couple of days later, I was rowing the same girl in Gamlegjerdet, where we lost one fish again, took another sea trout of just over a kilo, and then was into a much bigger fish. Having now experienced the strength of the fish in the fast stream, she kept a much tighter line, had good control of the fish, and after a 30 minute fight was blessed with a great salmon of 6 kgs.
A day later, I took the mother out in Gamlegjerdet and we had an almost repeat performance of a salmon lost, a sea trout taken and then a salmon caught. Gamlegjerdet was at its best! A good week was topped by the families 7 year old son taking his first fish by boat in Rekevik, a brown trout, which being generous was measured at 0.7 kg and entered into the fishing record – he later asked me if he was the youngest person ever to catch a fish!
17 fish were taken by the family this week making it 184 fish caught in total, and the counter stands at approximately 1100 fish through the ladder.
23 to 30 July. The last week of the season is taken by an English guest, some of his family and friends. The river was back to low conditions having fallen to around 100 cms, resulting in difficult conditions on the wall. Stein Georg took two of the novice guests to Rekevik where the lady guest had a fish on, managed to keep hold of it until it was almost landed but it slipped away just when they thought that it was in the bag. The next night’s rowing produced a good tug in Rekevik but that was it. With plenty of fish (50 daily on average) going upstream through the ladder, and many fish seen below the waterfall, one would have expected the fishing on Muren to be productive but the salmon seemed intent on travelling straight through to the ladder without so much as a second glance at any flies.
With 101 fish through the counter, on Thursday I took our principal guest to the island at Kattehol. He fished towards the far bank from the island whilst I did the near bank, not a particularly productive part of the beat. I did have a nudge so I suggested that the guest give it a try too. Within a few casts he had struck a fish of 2.3 kgs, not huge, but it was the first fish to break the spell of poor fishing which was most definitely something to celebrate. The fish was dispatched and served up for lunch the following day.
The second fish of the week was taken in Rekevik that evening.
As the next day was due to be a very low tide, I persuaded the same angler to have a go on Lower Bank early the next morning as there might be just enough stream to make the fly move a little. He came back empty handed which was not altogether surprising however I got the blame for his missed beauty sleep!
With some rain the river rose to 110 and brought better opportunities for a fish. As such I moved the Åmot boat, kept at Lower Bank early in the season until most of the snow has melted, up to Rekevik by trailer and I rowed it down to Åmot fishing all the way. On the way down a fine sea trout was taken in Gamlegjerdet.
We had two visits to Accident and Emergency that week. Two of the guests decided to climb up the Floyen waterfall. There is a fine farm track but they decided to take it straight, somehow got a bit lost in the vertical woods and ended up on hands and knees rock climbing through the dense, steep-sided Norwegian forest. The next day one of the guests discovered that he was covered in ticks and being concerned for Lyme’s disease decided to seek a doctor’s advice at Forde hospital. The advice, recorded here for future reference is that there are two possible symptoms; if one gets fever after 2 weeks you should seek medical advice, and if after 3 to 4 weeks a red circle with white spot occurs on the skin, then again one should seek a doctor. In both cases, it is highly unlikely that you will have Lyme’s disease. There is also no point in taking antibiotics until the symptoms have developed after 2 to 3 weeks when the antibiotics will then have something to work on.
The second visit was a double hooked fly caught squarely in the back of the hand of one of the guests. It was well and truly embedded and although the patient said that it did not hurt, none of us were brave enough to try to push it through and snip the barbs off.
Pleasingly, most of the novice fishing guests managed to get a fish before the end of the week thanks in no small part to Stein Georg who acted as guide for the week and provided some timely assistance. All in all it was a disappointing week with the promise of rain that did materialise but too late to be of any real assistance in improving sport. The tally for the week was 5 fish, not a disaster if one considers that only one experienced fishermen was on the river.
Season Summary. The total fish caught from 1 June to 30 July was 186. Somehow I had thought of this as being a good season but looking at the statistics it is about average. In terms of salmon through the ladder, the run having been slow to start, built up a head of steam in mid to late July resulting in the third best season in the last 10 years with 1850 salmon through the counter by the end of July – this healthy figure bodes well for future seasons.