2022 Report
Introduction. Each season Skandinavisk Naturovervåking, which is responsible for the ladder counter, provide us with a comprehensive report on the previous season. I have just read last year’s report and it confirmed that there was a good run of salmon to start with but then no salmon from 7 July to 9 September 2021 due to very low water (down to 20 cms at times.). It was therefore somewhat worrying that the river would have enough salmon to sustain future years. However some rain in September and a late run saved the day. In total over 700 salmon made it to the upper river and this exceeded the theoretical minimum by 30%. As such, quotas for 2022 remain the same which is good news. That said, last years total salmon population for the upper river was the worst in the last 10 years, mostly attributed to the low river conditions through most of the summer.
I arrived in Norway on 8 June for the first time in nearly 3 years, Covid having made travel to Norway rather difficult. It is wonderful to be back to normal and even better that there has been a good snowfall over the winter. As is tradition, I like to predict how the season will progress so with plenty of snow still in the mountains and somewhat cold and rainy weather predicted for the next week or so, I expect fishing to be good for most of the remainder of June and we hope that good water levels will remain in July, especially if we get some periodic spells of rain. I am therefore hopeful that we can expect a better than average season.
1 to 10 June. In the first 10 days the river started at about 140 cms and rose to 160 cms. 55 fish were taken, no monsters but some in the 8 to 9 kg range and most at about 5kg in weight.
12 to 18 June. I am writing this on 14 June. With some heavy rain the river is up from 160 to a thunderous 230 cms. The water turned a little brown and the odd tree and weed in the water dampened the sport for a short time. Nevertheless, in a day and a half our first guests have caught 5 salmon and lost as many again. The long term forecast suggests more rain next week so even the most pessimistic person should have little to complain of. Furthermore, 12 June witnessed the first salmon to ascend the ladder, 4 large fish at close or in excess of a meter long. 29 trout have also passed the counter since it went operational on 19 May. The water temperature is hovering between 8 and 9 degrees so it may take a little while before many more salmon venture upstream as normally it has to be 12 degrees before they run in great numbers.
It is now 17 June. The River has fallen from 230 to 190 cms which is still supreme conditions and the fishing has reflected exactly that. Muren, the Ladder Pool and Lower Bank have all been successful. Particularly notable was Lower Bank which was fished 2 days ago with Stein Georg rowing a gentleman and young lady guest. The man took a large fish, in excess of 10 kg but after a struggle it was lost. This was followed by another taken by the lady fisherman. The party landed on the Lervik bank at which point the fish was close to shore but then took off downstream at great velocity. Seeing her backing running low, the lady also took off into the night running down the bank as fast as she could and frantically winding in as she went. After some 45 minutes, an attempt to net the fish, and with her arms aching with the struggle the line suddenly went dead and the fish was lost whereupon the lady fisherman lay down on her back with her arms out on the grass bank totally exhausted. Stein Georg reckoned that it would have easily been the biggest fish of the season at somewhere between 12 and 15 kg. Not to be put off, the three got back into the boat and the young lady promptly was into another fish of 4.2 kg which she made to look easy in landing it within 10 minutes.
The young lady in question has been coming to Osen for close to a decade since she was 12 years old and I have seen her catch her first salmon initially by boat harling, then as her casting progressed by overhead casting from the shore and prior to Covid she caught her first fish with a spey cast. Last night I did suggest to her that she go to bed early and get up before everyone else in order to do Lower Bank at low water when the stream is at its best. Of course she disregarded my first piece of advice and was still on the river bank chatting away until beyond one o’clock so it was with considerable surprise that when I awoke I saw her as good as her word half way down the beat. She arrived back at the house to tell yet another chapter of her fishing career. She was towards the end of Lower Bank when a fish took which she brought under control but then realised that she did not have any pliers to remove the hook from the fish’s mouth. Not to worry, she thought, I shall phone John to lend some assistance but then realised that she had forgotten her phone. She was therefore stuck with a salmon and no means of releasing it. Luckily she was able to hail someone on the Lervik bank who kindly rowed over and assisted her in releasing the fish unharmed to the deep. It is a lesson to all of us including me for I had not realised that in all the fishing she has done over the years, it was the first time that she had caught a fish totally by herself - so another milestone passed!
19 June. The week is over and currently the fishing total stands at 77 fish since the beginning of the season on 1 June. Total catches for this week have been 24 fish. It has rained, and rained and we have scarcely seen the sun but the fishing is excellent so who cares for the sun! 4 salmon and some 30 sea trout have been through the ladder but the water temperature remains 8.5 degrees, yet too cold for salmon to take to the upper river.
19 to 26 June. The week started poorly and I was not the only one to dread the prospect of a difficult few days with cold air and water. But like most of these phases of salmon fishing, it passed with Morten breaking the spell with a fine 5.6 kg fish. I took one of my guests harling on Lower Bank - he admitted to having little faith in the fishing on this beat and with that attitude the Almighty ensured that we came back empty-handed. However, the next day I took the same guest in Ladder Pool and after covering the top part thoroughly he declared that he had had enough. I said I was happy to continue rowing to which he shrugged his shoulders as if to say that was fine if you want to waste your time. Shortly afterwards the line went tight and a fish was on - a fine one judging by the way the line went out. The fish surged across the pool, twisting on to its side and surfingthe surface of the water. Then it went deep and erupted into the air some 40 metres upstream, shaking its head wildly. This was a fish full of energy behaving more like a very large sea trout. It took about half and hour to bring the fish in and on weighing it measured 7.8 kg a beautiful cock fish. My guest had been rewarded despite his lack of faith - the Almighty gives out his rewards in mysterious ways!
This group of guests stayed for 3 days after which they had caught 10 fish including one on Lower Bank of 10 kgs and another on Muren of 6.7 kg both by a guest who had not been to Osen for 3 years having fought off cancer. We were delighted to see him back and enjoying such sport.
The second half of the week Morten stays on with some guests of his own. Skilled, keen and well disciplined local norwegians, the tally for the next 3 days was a commendable 20 fish. I took one fisherman to Rekevik for the experience rather than the chance of catching a salmon, there being only 6 salmon through the counter but those salmon are probably sitting at the lower end of Rekevik. We had a lovely row, enjoyed the scenary and as a bonus returned with a brown trout of 1.4 kg which was sitting exactly where salmon normally lie and giving the fisherman that burst of pleasure as the fish took.
I had the opportunity to do a little fishing myself over both last and this weekend and to cut a sorry story short, I caught nothing despite the good conditions. This run of bad luck, or perhaps I am losing my touch, carried on with a total of six fish lost before being rewarded with a grilse of 1.5 kg, hardly a fish to write home about but it was the first grilse of the season.
Jemma, the maid for June this year has learnt to cast reasonably and I took her out the in the boat to do Ladder pool. She has yet to catch a fish and with only one weekend left before Alice arrives I was keen for her to experience catching the mighty salmon. She had one brief tug at the line, and then hooked another but she was rather slow at raising her rod and the fish slipped away. With no luck at the top of the pool it was not looking promising but then another struck her fly and everything indicated a good sized fish of 5 to 6 kg. I manoeuvred the boat downstream and was considering landing in the bay below Muren when a canoeist appeared on the scene and placed himself somewhat inconveniently between us and the bank. My best norwegian was not up to explaining what I wanted him to do, and with my hands tied to the oars some wild gesticulation was out of the question, but he did get the message eventually dragging his canoe up the bank. Jemma meanwhile was doing her best to handle the fish by keeping the rod bent at all times, however the fish moved towards us, the rod straightened, the line went slack whilst Jemma franticly reel in, the line tightened and the fish was still on. We beached the boat having played the fish for some 20 minutes and Jemma was carefully climbing out of the boat when the line when slack. Jemma was distraught, in fact the sounds coming from her were something akin to those made by a woman in childbirth such was poor Jemma’s despair at losing this fish in the last stages of the fight! With three salmon lost in the space of an hour, she was determined to catch a fish and was straight onto the Wall but despite her efforts (and mine) the fish had clearly decided it was siesta time.
26 June to 2 July. The week looked promising with an excellent water level of 180 cms and rising but for some reason the fishing was slow not just on our side but on Lervik bank too. ‘With a big river and coldish water for this time of the year maybe we should have been fishing with heavier lines. My guest suggested that it might be the fact that the farmer had just spread muck on his fields and that the run-off had put off the fish. What ever the reason, only one fish was caught, a 4 kg fish casting from the shore below Bryggen on Lower Bank - always a satisfying result as this stretch requires patience, stealth and a good deal of skill.
Mid week the party changed over and with it a change of fortunes. On the first evening I was rowing Lower Bank when we heard a shout from the Muren and one of the guest’s ran from Lower Bank where he was fishing to assist in taking in a 4 kg fish. No sooner had we finished with the boat in Lower Bank than the we spotted the waving hands of another fishermen on Lower Bank. I went to his assistance picking up a net on the way. I was in no hurry, thinking that he was an experienced angler and that if it was a big fish it would take some time to land and if it was small he could probably manage to beach it himself. Nevertheless, he continued frantically waving but I was not going to go any faster to his assistance. On arrival the fish was close to the bank and the rod almost bent double, clearly a monster of a fish content to sit stationary in the water. Shortly after this the back of the fish emerged to the total embarrassment of the fisherman he had managed to haul in not a fish but a large branch. In fairness it is easy to mistake such an immoveable object for a giant salmon and many such fish have probably been lost because the fisherman thought his fly had caught the bottom. Even so we had some laughs at his expense!
Another unusual occasion occurred whilst rowing in Ladder Pool - a fish jumped out of the water so close to the boat and landed with such a perfect belly flop that it soaked me with water - I cannot recall such inconsiderate behaviour happening to me before! The week also marked a pair of salmon spotted just outside the ladder above the waterfall, another salmon rising in Gamlegjerdet and the counter standing at 187 fish, encouraging but still a very late start with the water still only 11 degrees C. After the disappointing start in the latter half of the week things pick up with a total of 12 fish taken in the end, the river falling from 190 to 150 cms.
3 to 9 July. The first salmon to be caught at 6.7 kg on Muren was using a relatively small fly suggesting if nothing else that salmon will respond to a change of scenery. The same fisherman continued with small flies and took another fish later and a 6 kg fish in Rekevik, continuing a tradition over many years now of taking a fish in this great pool.
I was told that the Lervik bank had caught a salmon of 10 kg - a nice fish and nothing strange in itself except that it had two flies in its mouth. Should any of my guests admit to losing a fly to a large fish in the last week or two the fly can be reclaimed!
This week saw the first salmon caught in Rekevik, and indeed two other fish were successfully landed on the island subsequently; with a continuing large river, salmon cannot ascend Rekevik Foss and with over 200 fish through the counter this pool is proving productive - however, not every time as on the third occasion we came back empty handed - rising river (205cms) and coloured water.
The hallmark of this season so far has been the large river, cold water, significant snow in the mountains, patches of which still lie down to about 500 meters and buckets of rain. After 2018 (and last year although I was not here due to Covid) I promised I would never complain about having too much rain and continually having to bail out the 6 boats. However, it would be nice to see the sun occasionally. Even the ruts in the track outside our hut were streaming with so much water that a salmon could almost be found there! The guests chose to have a BBQ one evening but even hardy Norwegians eventually admitted defeat due to the heavy, chilly rain.
Jemma, the maid for June this year, departed on 5 July having not caught a salmon during her stay - an accolade only achieved by one other of some 20 maids in the last 12 seasons. That said, she had many of the attributes of a future fine angler, particularly determination. In all she had three good (estimated at over 6 kg) fish on in Ladder Pool and on all three occasions was close to beaching the fish when she lost them through no discernible fault of hers - just bad luck. She has done rather better than me - I am using my great grandfather’s vintage reel given to me for my birthday, a 5 inch Bernard and Sons of Jermyn Street, London which makes the finest noise when rotated. Although I have had many admiring glances at my fine equipment, I have yet to catch a fish using this antique, having so far had over 10 close encounters but lost them all - I am beginning to think I have lost my touch but for now I am able to blame the reel.
Towards the end of the first three days of the week all had caught fish apart from two guests. I took one of them by boat in Rekevik and a salmon took in the V at the bottom of the pool - the fish speed downstream and put up a tremendous battle. We landed it on the island and on weighing it turned out to be 5.5 kg but had put up a fight more like a much larger fish. The other guest not to catch a fish was fishing on Muren shortly before having to leave when he too took a fish which was being landed in the bay below the wall when the hook fell out and the fish turned to swim out into deep water. One of the young guests was holding a net and with incredible quick thinking and with speed only attainable by a man of his age dived after the fish and managed to scoop the fish into the net to the relief of all watching and allowing all guests to leave with a salmon to their name!
With the river standing between 180 and 190 cms in three days, this group caught 18 fish - an excellent record. The guests changed over midweek on 5 July and at this point the fish went on strike. Offers of larger flies, heavier lines, even the promise of higher pay did not resolve the situation! We did have a similar situation the week before when nothing was caught for 3 days coinciding with the arrival of an excellent fisherman. He wrote an email to me afterwards suggesting that the muck put on the farmer’s fields could have been responsible but this time no muck had been spread on the fields - I think that we quickly forget the vagaries of salmon fishing. Cold weather and the river still hovering around 10 degrees left the salmon lying deep and determined not to be tempted by anything, a spell not broken until 10 July when the next fish was caught by the next party. It is depressing when the fishing turns poor and one simply has to be patient and wait for things to change. To make matters worse, one of the guests went down with Covid - having a hut in the mountains locally he was able to isolate himself there and luckily no one else seems to have been affected.
The week ended with 18 fish, as I said, all being caught in the first half. The river remained high, the water temperature still 10 or 11 degrees. Despite the cold water, by 10 July 361 fish have gone through the counter, 57 of them last night and a trip to the ladder provided an exceptional spectacle with large salmon jumping from one step to the next every few minutes. Total catches stand at 135 fish.
10 to 16 July. The next party was a British family of a longstanding guest and his son and daughter. The daughter was not particularly keen on fishing which left the river to two rods most of the time.
I took the son to Rekevik on their first night and gradually worked down the bottom of the pool harling. A fish took and shortly after sped downstream, then held stationary as I worked the boat up towards the island. The fish decided to take off down river again, a prolonged run taking the line so far into the backing that we were concerned lest we run out of tackle. Eventually the fish stopped and it was nursed upstream where it was landed at 2330 hours on the mostly submerged island - a fine 5kg cock fish that had put up a fight worthy of something much larger. How satisfying it was to break yet another spell of difficult fishing, with nothing caught in the last 5 days. To rub salt into the wound of the previous fishermen, the son was then taken by boat with Stein Georg on Lower Bank in the small hours of the following day. If my memory serves me correctly, he was into a very big fish which he lost whilst trying to land it in nearly total darkness but nevertheless returned with another salmon of 4.2kg shortly afterwards. He had continuing success with another fish taken in Ladder later in the week. His father, usually more successful, had to put up with one sea trout for the week - a disappointing result given that the river by the end of the week was still a respectable 150 cms but the water was still cold at around 11 degrees and the weather not much better.
At the end of the week I took the first salmon to be caught outside Rekevik in Gamlegjeret - always a pleasant milestone to achieve as the season progresses; it was also taken on my great grandfather’s vintage reel which up until then had felt or lost close to a dozen fish and I was close to discarding it for fear that the reel was not functioning properly. However, with this fish it performed perfectly and it was a double pleasure to bring this reel back into service, probably last used by my father with an 18 foot split cane rod some 40 years ago.
The newly arrived maid, Alice, also scored an early success with a wonderfully fresh run fish of 5.2 kg still with one sealice on it, taken in Ladder. Given that this was her first salmon she played the fish with commendable composure. The weeks tally was 7 fish in total, a little disappointing but again put down to somewhat cold and wet conditions.
17 to 23 July. This week the river started at 160 cms and gradually fell to 115 cms. One guest accounted for almost all the fish, 3 salmon and 4 sea trout. Two of the salmon were farmed fish taken on Muren, however the third was a fine wild salmon taken by boat in Skjaerer, the first fish of the season to be caught in this beat. The rest of his fish were sea trout again taken harling by boat on Lower Bank. I took the same guest fishing in Katterhol for the first time this season. He took casting towards the far bank whilst I threw a line towards the home bank and was rewarded with a sea trout of 1.2 kg which in the fast stream there played like a much bigger fish.
I took another guest out in Ladder Pool later in the week; there were so many fish showing that I can only describe the water as fish soup. Despite this we came back empty handed. It was the story of the week that Muren was not very productive. It has continued to be rather cold and the water temperature only reached 12 degrees on 19 July, encouraging 99 fish through the Ladder that night. Western Norway has had a cold summer whilst many parts of Europe were reporting a heat wave and England saw record temperatures of over 40 degrees. This day saw the river drop below 130 cms for the first time since 2 June which allows fish to climb Rekevik Foss and traditionally heralds poorer fishing at the lower end of Rekevik.
One of our young guests, a 13 year old boy took a large fish on Muren by fly during the night. He played it into the bay at the bottom of the wall but unfortunately lost it as the fish was close to beaching, it being very dark and difficult to see in the long grass.
My guest from last week spent 6 days on the King’s Beat at the River Laerdal. The group of good fishermen apparently caught one sea trout between them whilst I am somewhat smug in saying that we had 9 fish over the same period!
At the end of the week in fine weather, Stein Georg took the guests on his sailing boat to Laukeland Foss where a bracingly cold swim was enjoyed and on return we went to the Tønna for a traditional Norwegian sea food buffet.
The week ended with me foraging for salmon. In Âmot I was at the end of the home bank of the pool but just needed my best long cast to cover the two rocks at the bottom marking the end of the productive part of the pool. The fly landed perfectly and the line swung across and below the two rocks. Just at the moment when I felt the fly had passed the best spot the line went tight. Shortly afterwards the reel screamed as the fish took off out of the pool where the river is shallower and the stream stronger. I was on the edge of following the fish downstream when with close to 80 metres of line out the fish stopped. It took great patience and straining arms to inch the fish back up where I coaxed into into shore and tailed it by hand. It measured 82 cms, a conservative 5.6 kg male which I subsequently released.
24 to 29 July. The week commenced with the river at 115 cms, 680 fish through the counter, the water temperature hovering around 12 degrees and more heavy rain expected which took the river by Monday afternoon to 150 cms and somewhat coloured. This rain encouraged 163 fish up the Ladder on Sunday, 56 on Monday and a further 32 on Tuesday. The large run of migrating fish produced early success in Rekevik and on Muren where two salmon were taken. The cold wind lasted until midweek when a much welcomed drier and warmer spell raised our spirits. However, despite perseverance our guests had not no success later in the week.
30 July to 1 August. At the close of my stay in Norway I was able to do a little fishing, almost exclusively concentrating on the main pools up river. The number of fish through the counter passed 1000 by the end of the month, certainly enough fish to provide sport but not the prolific numbers that have resulted in excellent fishing in some past years. I was rewarded with two grilse one in Åmot and the other in Gamlegjeret and a 1.3 kg sea trout in Katteholen which given the fast water there was a joy to catch. Larger fish eluded me but I did spot large salmon showing at the bottom of Amot and Katteholen - which I reluctantly had to leave for others to stalk.
Summary. It is now mid August and I notice that the river remains large and the weather wet and cold where England continues to enjoy the last of a heatwave, a pattern that often seems to be the case. Conversely, when it is miserable in England then frequently Norway is enjoying a fine spell. The weather has been the principal determinant (is it not always?) so we have enjoyed some excellent fishing followed by fallow periods mostly due, in my mind, by the unusually cold weather and wind. So despite excellent river height, it having rained for prolonged periods, the cold water delayed the salmon entering the upper river in great numbers until August and made fishing difficult at times. Nevertheless over 1000 fish through the counter and over 160 fish taken suggests a continuingly healthy river for future years.
