2021 Report

Last year, 2020, due to coronavirus we offered fishing only to our Norwegian guests. Despite this, our intrepid German guests managed to get to Osen as a daughter was at university in Norway and they were able to visit her and sneak in some fishing at the same time – full marks for ingenuity.

A year later not many of us would have predicted a second year of disruption. Norwegian borders have been closed to foreigners for months. A glimmer of light was always there as Step 2 of the Norwegian Government’s plan stated that business travel would be permitted on 27 May. I was full of hope that things would be back to normal soon after this, but when the date came there was little change from Step 1 to Step 2 or for that matter Steps 3 and 4 as far as foreign tourists were concerned. Our hope was that the fully vaccinated could travel. I spent hours over the past months studying the Government’s regulation hoping to find a legitimate way of getting to Norway but finding that different departments contradicted themselves. There have been many false dawns but each time our hopes of getting to Norway were dashed and I am sure that I speak for our guests from abroad and me in saying that this has been a most frustrating time. However, as salmon fishermen, we are actually well trained and prepared for such scenarios – it is like fishing for salmon in a difficult week of sunny conditions with promises of rain and a rising river that never materialise – so us anglers are in familiar territory, well adapted to Covid and the need to be optimistic despite terrible conditions!

Let us hope that conditions this season at least will be good. That said, as my experience of the river improves over the better part of a good lifetime of fishing the River Gaula, I make a prediction that the season does not look particularly promising. There has been a lack of snow in the mountains so we will rely on summer rains to keep the river vibrant and encourage salmon to make their migratory journey.

Quotas are the same as last year reflecting the general good health of the river. This is an issue that should not be taken lightly. Many rivers suffer overfishing, salmon viruses, lice from salmon farms, hydro-electric development and increased human habitation leading to pollution (I am thinking of Førde our next door valley as an example). I realise that we are lucky to have a healthy river but this is in large part because the river is carefully managed. I would urge our guests to play their part in ensuring that equipment is carefully disinfected if it has been used on another river in the last two weeks.

The fish counter was installed in the Ladder on 25 May, a week earlier than usual and from the start there has been a good run of sea trout and one or two salmon made it up at the start of June.

1 to 12 June. The start of the season saw the river at 110 cms and gradually the river rose to 150 cms. Some excellent sport was had. A total of 27 fish were taken many being over 6 kgs in size.

13 to 19 June. The river continued to rise from 150 to 200 cms and then down to 180 cms. In what appeared to be perfect conditions, 11 fish were taken including a fine salmon of 10 kgs and 105 cms in length, taken on Muren.

20 to 26 June. A falling river with the first fish caught at 150 cms and by the end of the week the level down to 90 cms but this did not stop the guests from having a good return for their efforts with 19 fish taken including two taken up river in Rekevik.

27 June to 3 July. Five fish were taken this week with the water level down to a disappointing 70 cms by the end. This level is not unusual for August but reflects the small snow fall over the winter and a lack of rain since. I should add that, as is often the case, England has been having quite a wet summer whilst Norway has been enjoying a dry spell!

4 to 10 July. The river remains stubbornly low but despite this 13 fish were taken this week including a fine hen fish of 8.1 kgs taken on Muren.

11 to 31 July. Up until this time the river has been fished by our normal Norwegian guests. These three weeks would normally be fished by British and Germans who due to Covid have been unable to travel to Norway. At the time of writing I am not sure who has managed to fish the river, but for our normal guests who have not made it this year, it may be of some relief to hear that the river continued to fall from 80 cms to 50 cms on 22 July and 40 cms by the end of July. As a consequence only 3 fish were taken in this period. There are apparently fish in the upper river, but in such low water conditions they are invariably difficult to catch.

14 August. As at the time of writing, my cousin is fishing the river and the river is down to 20 cms. His words aptly describe the low water conditions “We are having the best time ever, with sun and dry weather and not being disturbed by fishing.  A most relaxing and frustrating vacation indeed”

On a serious note, we are in need of some rain to encourage fresh fish into the river as there is always a worry that we will not reach 700 salmon through the ladder, the number of fish needed to sustain the river salmon population for generations to come. There are reports of a good number of salmon waiting off the coast and in the fjords. With the weather looking rather more unsettled we are optimistic that rain will eventually come and restore nature’s equilibrium.

In summary, a total of 77 fish were caught in June and July. By any reckoning this is a poor season, our statistics not helped by Covid in so much as many of our regular fishermen where not there to haul the fish out. Let us pray for a long and snowy winter in preparation for next season and let us hope that by next summer the pandemic is but a distant memory.