Sea Fishing Lofoten Islands Norway Unique Sea Fishing Experience

Thanks for such a great trip, we will book for next year highly recommended

The weather was very mild during our week (late Sep) and Norway had experienced an unusually warm summer. Locals told us that the water temperature was too high and the halibut fishing would be better when it had fallen below 11 degrees. Sadly, this was true for us. We had decent cod and big coalfish and some fun catching plaice but the halibut eluded us.

The fishing is quite close to the camp but without venturing too far we ran up a bill of £350 for fuel. Visitors should be aware that the transfer from the airport is three and a half hours.

For those interested in the wildlife we saw a whale, dolphins and sea eagles.

The free provision of the minibus to go supermarket shopping in Leknes (10 mins) was very useful.

I HAD A GREAT HOLIDAY BUT WOULD NOT RETURN AS I PREFER TO FISH IN T SHIRTS AND SHORTS, THIS WAS A TRIAL TRIP FOR ME AND I HAD A GOOD TIME BUT PREFER SUNNY CLIMATES
I DO HAVE ONE GRIPE I HAVE 3 TO 4 FISHING HOLIDAYS EVERY YEAR AND NOW KNOW THE PROBLEMS THAT ARISE DUE TO MY SIZE SO I DOUBLE AND TRIPLE CHECK ANYTHING THAT I CONSIDER MAY CAUSE A PROBLEM BEFORE BOOKING I RANG YOU UP AND ASKED 3 TIMES ABOUT HIRING A FLOATATION SUIT AND EXPLAINING THAT I AM 6FT 2" AND 24 STONE BUT WAS ASSURED THAT THE CAMP HAD SUITS TO FIT AND ON THE LAST TRIP TO NORWAY THERE WAS A BIGGER GUY THAN ME SUPPLIED WITH A SUIT
SADLY THIS WAS A NEW DESTINATION FOR YOU GUYS AND ALTHOUGH I ASKED YOU JUST ASSUMED AND DIDN'T DOUBLE CHECK THAT THE SUIT SIZE WOULD BE AVAILABLE,THIS TIME LAST YEAR WE WERE TOLD IT WAS -16 LUCKY FOR ME AND YOU THIS YEAR IT WAS +9 I COULDN'T EVEN GET THE SUIT ON ONE SHOULDER JUST IMAGINE IF IT HAD BEEN -16 AGAIN THIS I WOULD OF HAD TO SIT IN THE CABIN ALL DAY AS THERE IS NO WAY I WOULD OF BEEN ABLE TO GO OUT ON THE BOAT IN THOSE TEMPS SO TO PUT IT POLITELY I WOULD OF BEEN PEED OFF SO IN FUTURE PLEASE DO NOT ASSUME BUT DOUBLE AND EVEN TRIPLE CHECK AS WE ALL WORK HARD FOR OUR MONEY
HOW WOULD YOU OF FELT IF YOU HAD PAID £1600 FOR A FISHING TRIP AND YOU COULDN'T EVEN GO FISHING SO PLEASE LEARN FROM THIS AND YOU COULD SAVE YOURSELF AND CLIENTS A LOT OF BAD FEELING AND GRIEF
REGARDS JOHN

Amazing fishing holiday.Would highly recommend Sportsquestholidays.

Great fishing, good boats but the accommodation facilities were a let down

I took 4 fishing friends to nappsraumen fishing camp on the lofoten isles in Norway, one off which was a 73 year old who had never flown before and who's bucket list wish was to catch a large cod (over ten pounds ) job done!!! What a fantastic week. We had the large cabin with plenty of space and a bedroom each, spot on. On day two, one off my friends lofty, fell over a flotation suit and dislocated his arm, Martin one of the guides took us to hospital and after a lot of exrays and pain he had it all sorted !! (Thanks Martin you were fantastic) Many thanks to Paul and Mel at sportquest for all your help and guidance for the holiday of a lifetime, if you are thinking of using sportquest to book your holiday I can recommend that you have made the right choice ( tight lines )

Hi Paul,
Ok feed back is better than the last visit I made to napstrumen, again had some issues with the flights as you well know.

Fishing was a lot better, still needed to do a 45 minute steam to find good sized cod, biggest landed was 40 lb, most around 10 -20 lb. No halibut landed but had some cracking takes including one in the first 30 minutes of fishing that snapped a brand new rod and then 70 lb braid . Good numbers of plaice up to 3 lb and 2 at 5.5 lb.

Accommodation was better as we had one of the new cabin's on the right hand side, but there was no microwave ( not such a big deal) , no kettle (major issue) , kettle was sorted by our brilliant guide (his personal kettle) and as the week progressed we ended up with no cutlery as it was cheap plastic that snapped as we used it. When we approached the guide about this he returned with the following msg from the lady in charge, she leases the cabin from someone else and they have no control on how the cabin is stocked with item's. Also it would have been nice if the beds were made up on arrival and the sheets actually fitted the beds lol ! This isn't really criticisms just thought you should know.

Guide was Jonathan and have to say he was bloody great, on the ball when it came to advice and weather report's, and had a great sense of humour and understood British sarcasm brilliantly , I hope he is there for your hosted trip.

No doubt we will be going for a 6 year

cheers mark

Long journey, but good scenery when we arrived at Norway. First days fishing, it rained all day. Managed to get out to the north on instruments as we could not see much land due to rain and low cloud. It was worth it, as we boated 29 cod, most 15lb to 20lb and Spencer had the best, a fish of 39lb. This gave us our quota of cod fillets for the three of us for our trip.

Second day we targeted the plaice. Plenty of fish, and we kept 10 fish each for filleting, and returned the rest along with some smaller dabs and codling. We tried for plaice later in the trip, and recommend changing the hooks for circles, as we found all the fish were lip hooked and easy to return. Must say, the plaice are still rather thin this time of year.

The weather was quite windy the rest of the trip, but when we got out, we had a few decent cod ,but failed to make contact with any halibut, although several were caught by other boats. The coalfish were scarce for us, just one of 10lb.but we did not target them specifically.

All in all, a good trip with excellent accommodation, 1st class rod and reel hire, and good advice from the guides.

Just returned from Lofoten and had an excellent time.Sometimes it was a fish a drop with haddock,coalfish to 20lb and lots of double figure cod to 37lb.We did not manage to catch any halibut and Jonathon the guide said that the water temperature was a bit high and that the halibut were out in deep water.If i went again to target the halibut i would either go in may or october. Jonathon the guide on site was excellent and nothing was to much trouble. Although i took my own rods and reels the quality of tackle on hire is excellent with shimano talica 10 reels and westin rods and also a well stocked tackle shop.The arronet boats were great and could reach speeds of up to 30 knotts and can also handle a big sea.I would certainly go back to Lofoten.

The camp and fishing was really good, the camp guide was excellent.
the boats were epic.
The cabin could have done with a bit more storage for our clothes, there was only one very small wardrobe for two of us and no cloths hooks in the bedroom or bathroom.

JUNE1st -8th. This year we were not as lucky with the weather as we would have liked but we didn't lose any fishing time. Fishing in the sheltered waters was a little limited to smaller fish when the weather offshore was restrictive. The Arronet once more proved itself a really hardy boat which rode out the rough seas really well and enabled us to fish in conditions that most sub 10m boats just wouldn't. We manged several "firsts" with some great coalfish sport in particular. Camp was very well positioned and well equipped. The cabin was more basic than the others we have visited.

The best part was the fishing it was great! Catching 23 kg Halibut.

Fantastic weeks fishing, aided by good weather.
The boat and camp manager were great. The toilet/shower with underfloor heating and constant hot water was fantastic.
Sleeping arrangements diabolical!

Would go to Norway again, but earlier in the year. May - July for better fishing.

The accommodation was as we expected, but had to ask for towels (which were provided) and for dish washer and TV to be repaired, which were not.
Received guided day on day 5 of holiday, after which we were much better equipped to take best advantage of holiday. This information should have been given much earlier. None of this spoilt what was a fantastic week of fishing - we still had a great time!

Thanks for organising this trip. It all went very well and was lovely first trip to Norway. I managed a couple of very nice sized Halibut, loads of Cod to 35LB and a mid 30 Coal fish.

cabins were what we expected and the guides and boats were perfect.

Thanks Sportquest

Cracking holiday!
Chalet superb! Brilliant boats (local nav. chart would have been useful though).
Suggest a microwave needed in chalet.

From the initial booking process through to the flights and transfers, everything went smoothly.
The accommodation and boats were first class. We had a good fishing experience.
Would we recommend Sportquest? Yes!
Will we be going again? Definitely!
A very professional company.

Thanks for a great Holiday

Thanks for a great Holiday. We had some good fishing

Good points.
Location and equipment (boat, engine, etc) were excellent, second to none. Fishing at this time of year was very good outside. Fantastic location + ease of access to boat. Communication with Sportquest always available.

Memorable moments.
High standard of fishing outside the sounds. Being guided to Moskenstraumen on our 1st day - fishing for Coalfish was excellent. Catching my 1st Halibut - only 2 caught one the camp that week.

Suggestions to make the holiday better.
A notice board / white board with info close to boats - weather forecast, wind directions, what areas are fishing well + for what species, catches from previous week, any trips that the guides are planning. Guides to show at the start which rigs work best for Halibut and Plaice (their Plaice rig was specific for that area). With less experience fisherman an idea of which area would give a lee from that days wind. Just general info left on a board to make life easier.

Areas where there could be an improvement.
Cabin was ok, clean, but a little tired. No real complaint, a camp after all. Don't think I would like to stay there in April. The bed linen (when we got it) was old + not much of it. Poor.

A small thought.
At the end of the week all flotation suit dumped outside walk in freezer. A cage or box needed perhaps (just didn't look professional). Also, the overflowing recycling bins in this are made the area messy.

Blessed with fantastic weather + location all enjoyed the trip!

All transfers were great!
It was devastating to see certain parties at the camp keep every single fish being caught, regardless of size or weight. This is being done on an industrial scale with all fish vacuum packed, labelled and dates for re-sale.
You will have no camp left if this is not addressed urgently or when word gets out.
Would not return for that reason.

Went to Leknes the facilities are excellent. The fishing is weather dependent but very good in open sea areas, the local bay is available in bad weather but is not nearly as productive.

The return flights were horrendous. Up at 5 in the morning and arrived at Manchester airport 12hrs later.

A direct flight would take about a couple of hours, but unfortunately is out of the question due to remote location.

However, five takeoffs and five landings with one stopover exceeding 4hrs and another of only 40 minutes, diminished by a flight delay, left us a baggage laden half marathon between gates. It is a bit of a challenge for an old geezer like me (78) and my mate of 70 hard years who occupies a well endowed waistline and whilst predominantly liquid fuelled, he is no rocket.

Overall very good but would not choose this venue again unless I could shed a few years, a few pounds, supercharge enthusiasm and develop a craving for airport hurdling.

I would however recommend the venue to those who value good fishing, large catches, very nice fishing boats, great accommodation and excellent and very professional guide. Sportquest did a crackin' admin job, were very pleasant, supportive and efficient.

Unlucky with the weather as we are all 68+ years old in our party, we only fished when it was fairly calm. Enjoyed the Plaice fishing, we also had some nice cod and a few coalfish but no luck with the halibut. Boat and cabin excellent and Martin the guide is a great chap. The cost of an extra case was excessive due to the Wideroe flight so we had to cut down on gear and could not take enough fillets home (not your fault). will go again and have pictures if you want them.

Ron Sanders







Norwegian Krona have new notes. We had a lot of money from previous trips that was not spendable, it may be a good idea to add this to your advice sheet.

Older Kroner banknotes without the hologram are not accepted in most places in norway.

Good holiday thank you

The freezer was located in the drying room so every-time it was opened hot air went into it. The fish fillets inside the cool box did not freeze and you had to leave the fish on the shelf until it was frozen then put it in the cool box.

The fishing and boats we excellent, the accommodation is a little basic but a great trip.

Flights were excellent all on time . The new cabins in lofoten were A1. Boat and engines A1. Guide was very helpful. Camp has improved vastly since last visit 3 years ago.

A really enjoyable holiday with great fishing. Both Calle and Ross are superb guides that looked after us really well, put us on the fish and we all had a great time.

I would say that this holiday was the best I have had tp date