Join Dave as he returns to Norway to sample the sea fishing deligts this country has to offer. This time he's after flatfish rather than the cod the area is more noted for.

Right from the outset we had decided that on this trip we would make the effort to target anything but cod. During my trip to Northern Norway in the spring, we had caught staggering numbers of colossal cod to well over 40lb, as recently featured in an article in Sea Angler, and the likelihood of topping that success was remote, to say the least. This trip, in late September, we wanted to see what else was on offer in these fish rich Arctic waters, with the various species of flatfish being top of the list. We knew they were there as I’d seen pictures of thumping great plaice and dabs, and many of the anglers and charter skippers I’d spoken to on previous trips had talked about superb flattie fishing, all we had to do was find them; and then catch them.

Excitement
We started the trip off with a few days staying in a delightful self-catering wooden chalet near the town of Saltstraumen, which is famous for its infamous Maelstrom, about which I’ll be telling you in another article. We had woken to a bright, sunny and crisp morning with the outside world tinged with frost. After we had finished breakfast, Byron and I began pouring over a chart of the area, trying to locate likely areas to begin our flatfish quest. Our self drive boat lying at her mooring less than 50ft from where we sat, was fuelled up and ready to go; and boy were we excited!

As is so typical of Norwegian waters, the average depths throughout the fjord were measured in hundreds of feet, but we quickly found a couple of small bays and inlets that looked promising. One in particular, Kodvaagen, located just along the coast from where we were staying, looked particularly inviting and that was where we decided to start. It was less than a 10 minute run along the coast and as I eased back the throttle and we came off the plane and gently glided to a halt, we could see that the place did, indeed, look as promising as it had on the chart. Kodvaagen is a narrow inlet that is flanked by kelp and mussel encrusted boulders, with a gently shelving sandy beach at its head. Watching the echo sounder we could see the bottom was generally flat with depths starting at around 60ft at the mouth of the inlet and sloping upwards as we moved inland, and from what we could work out appeared to consist of mostly sand and gravel; flatfish country?

Dead calm
It was almost low water when we arrived and with barely a breath of wind, we calculated that the boat would drift ever so slowly. Actually, conditions were spot on and by starting in the middle of the inlet at around 50ft we drifted a perfect line right through the inlet and onto the sandy beach. For bait we had frozen black lug and squid, which we presented in the time honoured way of flattie hunters off long flowing traces terminating in fine wired, long shank hooks, the snoods resplendent in coloured beads. For the record, I was using a two-down-one-up rig terminating in size 1/0 Mustad 3261BLN Aberdeen hooks and a flat-sided 4oz lead. Conditions really were glorious and despite air temperatures that barely made it above freezing, we languished in the sharp low altitude northern sunshine as we started our first drift while watching the sea eagles gliding overhead.

It was Byron who got the first bite, a distinct rattle on the tip of the spinning rod he was using, which came more or less at the end of the first drift. At the first indication of the bite Byron allowed line to pour off his reel so as to prevent the bait from getting dragged away from the fish, thus giving it ample time to fully take the bait. The ruse worked beautifully and when some 20 seconds later he flicked the bale arm on his fixed spool closed, his rod assumed the healthy bend of a hooked fish, which as Byron had already confidently predicted was indeed a flatfish. It was a really plump dab that had we weighed it would have gone well in excess of a 1lb.

Following a quick photo session and brimming with confidence from success so quickly, we chugged back along the bay to start our second drift. Barely had we got going when my rod was all but ripped from my hands by a powerful rattling bite that required little else from me other than smartly lifting the rod to set the hook. This fish fought well all the way up to the boat and I’ll be honest here and say at first I wasn’t quite sure just what it was I had hooked.I’ll also say that when I first saw the fat 4lb haddock that eventually broke surface alongside the boat I was pretty pleased with myself. I love catching haddock, a species I rarely see when fishing in the UK these days. Not only when fresh out of the sea are they one of the most beautiful of fishes with their purple tinged flanks and distinct St Peter’s thumb print, but when cooked fresh they make superb eating, and I could already taste this beauty!

Haddock time
Barely had we continued our way on the second drift when Byron brought his first haddock to the boat, closely followed by my second, and then third. Quite clearly we were onto something good, a fact that was confirmed midway on the third drift when Byron boated our first plaice and I got our second dab, and we both caught more haddock.

As the morning progressed into early afternoon and the flood tide started to creep up the beach, so our tally of fish grew. We very quickly lost count of the number of haddock and occasional codling we boated, while our haul of dabs and plaice steadily grew with all of the dabs weighing well over the pound while the average size of the plaice better than double that. The condition of all of the fish we caught was from my experience unsurpassed. We had struck gold, our first morning flattie fishing in Norway and we were catching them thick and fast, with loads of specimen class haddock thrown in for good measure; this was light tackle small boat angling at its absolute finest.

Midway through the afternoon Byron got yet another fierce rattling flattie bite on his rod, which after the obligatory free-spool and 20-30 second wait resulted in his rod bending over at an alarming angler. “Stuck!” declared Byron thinking his rig had fouled the bottom, at the precise moment his rod started banging away as the ‘snag’ woke up! From the outset it was clear that this was by far the biggest fish we had hooked all day, with initial bets going on a decent cod. Byron played that fish for well over 10 minutes while I stood by with the cameras, both of us straining for that first tell tale glimpse of colour and a positive identification.

Enormous
Eventually I saw the first flash of white and moments later I had to blink to confirm that I was indeed seeing what I was seeing. Some 20 feet beneath the boat I could see a flatfish the size of a bin lid hanging vertically on the end of Byron’s line. “It’s a halibut,” I shouted, absolutely convinced that I was indeed looking at a small halibut. But then the fish turned itself horizontal and tried, successfully, to power back off into the depths and we both clearly saw that the fishes back was covered in bright red spots, some of them the size of a 2p piece. It was a plaice, a seriously big plaice, and when several minutes later we finally managed to lift it aboard the boat where it hit the deck with a satisfying thump, the two of us just sat there for several minutes staring at it, grinning and shaking our heads in disbelief. Later, back at the chalet, that fish tipped the scales at 8lb 5oz, easily the biggest plaice either of us had ever seen.

The following day was pretty much a repeat performance of the first day, though our best plaice was a ‘mere’ five pounder! During the four days we fished at Saltstraumen and then later in the week at our second destination, an hour’s drive further south at Hamn Fiskeferie, we caught plenty of plaice, dabs and big haddock every time we specifically targeted them. In fact the area around Hamn looks to be even more promising for flatfish, almost like a blue print for flattie territory with dozens of shallow water bays and inlets, with thick lugworm beds exposed at low water, all within the shelter of a beautiful fjord. Considering this and the fact that halibut are regularly caught here along with massive cod and coalfish not to mention numerous other species, and you’ll no doubt understand why I’ll be back fishing in Norway again at the very earliest possible opportunity.

For more information on sea angling in Norway, contact Anglers World Holidays on Tel: 01246 221717.


This article appears courtesy of Sea Angler magazine.