What a magical week we’ve had here in Vesterålen. The thermometer has shown 20 degrees the last few days, and the winds have remained light throughout the week! Thus, we have also been able to choose fishing spots freely and have had several long trips during the week. With rising temperatures, the peaks have been filled with baitfish, and then the larger fish such as Cod, Pollock and Halibut have also started to hunt up at the bottom peaks.
In the Guideboat, we spent a lot of time fishing with lighter setups, which provided excellent sport for our English guests. The tops have delivered many Cod of 5-15 kilos, and Coalfish up to 12-13 kilos have been happy to clip our jigs upwind in the shallows.
If you have checked our Facebook page this week, you may have seen that they landed a monster 220 cm Halibut! This inspired the other groups, and first-timer Daryl landed a nice 150 cm fish during the first drift!
On Tuesday, the sea was once again mirror-bright, and the heat was on. We quickly found a Cod and Coalfish on the bottom tops and had constant action for several hours! But in the last hour of the fishing week, boat 3 called me on the radio. They can tell that their friend’s boat had just landed a 150 cm Halibut a little further out and that they had been battling a BIG fish for 40 minutes. We were only a few minutes away, so we drove out to visit them; we could see they were hooked up to a substantial fish.
The fish had been hooked on a shallow top at a depth of 16 meters and rushed straight off the edge down to 200 meters. No wonder they probably took another 30 minutes before we saw the fish! Eventually, a giant Halibut of 195 cm breached the surface. Angler Magnus was understandably completely exhausted after over 1 hour of fighting. But we secured the fish and took a few quick pictures before this Queen swam back to the depths.
Everything feels perfect for the big ones now, and we’re incredibly excited about what will happen this week. We can only hope the weather holds…
Tight Lines // Jørgen & Douglas
Contact US
If you, like many others, have ever dreamt about fishing the prolific waters of Vesterålen and would like to know more information on how you can join us, you can contact our sea fishing specialist, Paul Stevens, on 01603 407596 or email at paul@sportquestholidays.com.
