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Halibut Fishing in Shallow water – Nappstraumen Fishing Report

What a week! We are very pleased to see anglers are catching, not only a great range of fish but also some stunning sized fish! Its safe to say Jørgen had a great few days on the water with the customers! You can find the full blog below –

Halibut Fishing in Shallow Water

On Monday, it was May 17, Norway’s Constitution Day. Most people were probably in a float procession, eating ice cream and enjoying a glass of champagne. But on Monday, I celebrated May 17 in a slightly different way. I had a visit from Andreas and Klara from Denmark, who have settled on Senja. Andreas works for the Danish fishing magazine “Sportsfiskeren”, and today we were going to fish, and take pictures for an upcoming article. It was absolutely glorious weather on Constitution Day, and today’s goals were Halibut, Cod and Coalfish. We started with Cod fishing to begin with and it was not long before we had found what we were looking for. The exposed peaks outside Nappstraumen are rich in baitfish, and Cod usually hunt just below.

On a 13 meter high peak, the small Coalfish stood close, and it was clear that there was some larger echo under these Coalies. We drifted off the edge at the top, and Klara was to drop the jig for the first time. She does not have time to get to the bottom before I say stop! The rod is in a solid bend, and the laughter creeps slowly forward in everyone in the boat. This was heavy, and Klara struggled to get the fish up from 30 meters deep. After a good fight, we can lift in Klara’s most significant fish ever! Today’s goal for both was to get a fish over 10 kilos, and you could say that it started well… Klara’s Cod weighed in at 13 kilos before we let it back! We drove further out towards the flatter part, and it did not seem to stop with fish. One could easily see larger saithe on the lot, but they would not take. Fortunately, both Andreas and Klara caught several fine Cod in the 5-8 kilo class right afterwards.

Now, we were happy with the Cod fishing, we fished up some small Coalfish for Halibut bait. Outside of Nappstraumen itself, there are endless possibilities for varied fishing. Including a bunch of bays, flakes and channels for Halibut to lay and wait. Today we chose to fish a very shallow cove for Halibut, and it turned out to be a good idea! Only 5 minutes from the cod mark, was a very nice and large bay. Here you can fish from 5 meters deep, down to 30 meters. We lay in the middle of the bay at a depth of 10 meters. Here we went through some techniques and prepared the baits and jigs. There is usually a lack of drift in such bays, so you are often dependent on using the engine or the wind to help. It was completely windless, so we had to drive bottom trolling out of the bay. Andreas chose to run a jig, which turned out to be the correct choice!

We did not manage to do more than 1 drift out on the 11-meter curve before something was on Andreas’ jig. Andreas was patient and waited until he felt heaviness before setting with a solid strike. And there it sat! After the strike, the fish went straight out, away from the boat, under the boat and then infront of the boat. On the very shallow water, halibut have few places to go other than straight out. This gave an insanely cool fight! After several rounds in several directions, the fish calmed down, and we could land it nicely and carefully. After only 5 minutes of fishing, Andreas was able to land his largest Halibut, which we measured at 103 cm! After some quick pictures, we put it nicely back in the water again. We continued to drive slowly out into the bay, and I quite quickly hooked a fish on a spinner. This was just below the minimum size, but still very fun on light equipment. When we came out at 18-19 meters, another fish slammed into Andreas’ jig, and this was also just below the minimum size. But the right kind! We put in another drift, and it hit right away. Unfortunately, Andreas did not get a fixed fish. But it was not long before the pole was bent again. Another fish of smaller caliber that quickly regained its freedom.

The day came to an end. Andreas and Klara had a long drive ahead of them, so we decided to drive closer to the camp to fish in the local area. When we stopped in the current, a herd of Porpoises came swimming towards us! Some Lovely company you can often get out here. The current was relatively dead, and we were really just waiting for the fall to start. Although the wind was weak, there was a remarkable rise from the bottom. Unfortunately, it would not take any of our baits. As the current turned, we changed the edge to where the current pushed the most. Andreas immediately gets a small halibut below the minimum size. It feels like a good mark, but time is short. Later in the drift, a MEGA ladder follows my bait up and down for a minute. Unfortunately, we did not get it to take , but it is good to know that there are fish in the immediate area! It was with the last drift, and we went ashore soon after, very happy.

It was an incredible day with very friendly people! The weather was great, and the fishing was excellent too. Thank you so much for the trip, Andreas and Klara! Hope to see you again. An alternative May 17 celebration for me, but it could hardly have been better. Next week we will get a lot of people at the camp on Å, and we are looking forward to it. The halibut season is starting to approach down on Å, so this will be very exciting! Stay tuned!

Tight Lines // Jørgen Zwilgmeyer

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We do still have the odd week available for the 2022 season at Nappstraumen in our luxury Cabins. If you would like to join us at the famous Lofoten Islands destination call us on 01603 407596 or email us info@sportquestholidays.com.

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Tight lines,

Paul

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