Every angler will encounter a day fishing that they'll never forget. Here Dave Lewis recalls a day when he caught a fish of a lifetime.

If you fish often enough, then every now and then you’ll have what is generally referred to as a ‘red letter day’. You know the sort of day, a days fishing when everything comes beautifully together and you either fill your boots catching plenty of fish, or perhaps capture a specimen or two of whatever species you are targeting. Such days are special, an experience to be savoured, and for many anglers it is the prospect of such a days fishing that keeps them going. On the other hand a trip of a lifetime is precisely that, a once-in-a-lifetime experience that no matter how frequently you fish, you are extremely unlikely to ever better. In this article I am going to tell you about what for me was the finest day’s cod fishing I have ever experienced, a trip that culminated in the capture of what I personally regard as one of the finest fish I have ever caught, an amazing, humungous, monster of a cod that thumped the scales down to 51lb 8oz and left me shaking.


Special
Cod for me are a special species. I wouldn’t go so far as saying they are my all time favourite species, but they are certainly up their in the top half dozen or so. As far as my UK/Northern European fishing goes, I’d struggle to decide whether it was cod or bass fishing that got my ultimate vote. Over the past 30 years I have spent a considerable amount of time chasing cod, both at home and abroad. I have fished for cod extensively throughout the British Isles and caught a great many good fish including countless doubles and around a dozen or so that weighed better than 20lb. I have fished for cod extensively abroad too, notably in Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and Norway where in over 30 trips, I have caught thousands of fish that have included at least a dozen 30lb-plus specimens. My previous best of species, a 42lb lump taken last year at Koppangen in Northern Norway; which is where this story really begins.

You might recall the article I wrote following that first exploratory trip to Koppangen, when Steve Humpherson and I filled our boots with large cod, many weighing over 30lb and the three biggest topping the magical 40lb mark. Following the success of that trip, plans were quickly put in place for a couple of return trips with me escorting groups of anglers, and in the middle of May this year I was back along with 12 enthusiastic anglers, all looking for their first 30lb plus cod. It was a four-day trip that featured three long sessions aboard Pendlar, the local charter boat, along with unlimited fishing aboard the camp self-drives. It’s 24 hours of daylight north of the Arctic Circle at this time of the year, so you get to spend a great many hours of each day with a rod in your hand. On some days you more or less have to remind yourself to go to bed and get some sleep every now and then!

The first group included Lee Mathews, a 28-year-old water mains contractor from Fareham in Hampshire, who had won his place on the trip by catching a 24lb 20oz spurdog that won him the coveted 2003 Shimano/Sea Angler Mission top prize. Lee’s previous best cod was a very respectable 22lb fish, and by the end of his four day Arctic experience he had increased this to 30lb 12oz.

Top Stuff
The fishing that first group experienced was good, no it wasn’t, it was very good, with around a dozen ‘30’s’ and numerous ‘20’s’ having been caught, along with huge numbers of smaller fish, you know what I mean, mere 12 or 15 pounders and the like! In addition, the group caught plenty of wolf fish, lots of gorgeous crimson Norway Haddock, torsk weighing well into double figures, coalfish, haddock and even three small halibut while fishing aboard the self-drives at a place now widely referred to as ‘Halibut Alley’! By the end of their all-to-short trip most were already looking forward to next years trip, some had even phoned Anglers World Holidays to re-book!

Change over day left me kicking my heels around camp, getting more and more concerned as the wind increased in strength by the hour. By the time the new group arrived it was too rough to get out in the self-drives and I confess that by the time I went to bed that night I was more than a little worried about the prospects for the next few days. Luckily we were once again booked aboard Pendlar, and despite a brisk and bitingly cold, north-easterly wind we managed a reasonable day’s fishing ending up with about half a dozen 20lb-plus cod along with lots of smaller ones.

The weather the next day was more or less the same, and following a quick discussion with Odd Karlsen, Pendlar’s enthusiastic skipper, we decided to run across Lyngen Fjord where we had concentrated our fishing the last few days. Here we’d try an area known as Rotsundet, a kind of mini-fjord I’d not previously fished. On this day the sun had decided to make a welcome appearance and as we steadily steamed inside Rotsundet we were welcomed by a glassy calm sea, thanks to the lee afforded by the high, snow capped mountains that surrounded us. If nothing else, I quietly thought to myself, at least we are in for a comfortable day’s fishing.

Perfection
It was a new day, a new venue and the conditions now were absolutely perfect. Everyone started fishing full of hope, yet after maybe an hour’s fishing, trying several different marks in the area, all we had caught were a few codling, a couple of haddock and other bits and pieces - alarm bells were now ringing in my head. Then it happened. Odd once again repositioned Pendlar, only this time he called me up to the wheelhouse to view the solid red band of fish the sounder was marking just off the bottom. By now everyone’s pirks had reached the bottom, and when I glanced down to the deck I could see that more or less every rod was bent into fish.

What happened during the next six hours will remain firmly imprinted in my memory forever. I honestly could not put a figure on the number of cod we hauled up, but it ran into several hundreds. Many were doubles, lots were 20s and we got several 30s and one 40, a 44lb lump that fell to my rod giving me a new personal best; we had cracked it! Everyone was elated, again several were ringing back to re-book, this was what we had all travelled to Norway for, and we still had another full day’s fishing to look forward to, plus an evening session aboard the self-drives that produced yet another halibut.

The following day we had planned to run outside the fjord and fish the extensive reef systems off the west coast of the island of Arnoya, the area where Steve and I had enjoyed such great success the previous year. Unfortunately, the wind had once again increased during the night so we ran back to the same area in Rotsundet with both Odd and myself extremely dubious about whether the fishing could possibly be as good. And, as we had guessed, the fishing this day was not as good; it was better; much, much better!

Even Better
From the very first drop on the very first drift we were into big cod, with everyone hooking fish the instant their pirks got anywhere near the bottom, more often than not they were nailed long before - the fishing was unbelievable. Once again, we were catching lots of very big fish, including lots of 20 pounders and the first 30s of the day. Quite clearly there were large numbers of very big cod down there; the problem was that there were so many fish that it was a lottery as to what size fish nailed the pirk first.

The fish were gorging themselves on small herring that were getting coughed up over the deck as each fish was swung aboard. Only those fish that needed gaffing, which included big doubles and any that were badly hooked were kept, all the rest were returned. And trust me, even a 2lb codling will swim strongly back down through the depths when released, and we were fishing in 150-200ft of water. We even caught one 30-something pounder that spat out a 2lb codling that started flapping about the deck. I picked the fish up, dropped it over the side, and watched as it swam strongly back down to the bottom. Talk about saving Nemo!

It wasn’t long before we got the days first 40-pounder, a clonking great 44lb lump that was caught by Andy Mathews, easily breaking his previous personal best; a 38lb 8oz specimen caught just the day before. However, this was now a trip in which records had a habit of being broken not long after being established, and a few drops later Andy’s pirk produced a massive 48-pounder that crashed down on the deck with a most satisfying thump.

And it wasn’t just big cod we were catching on this day; a shoal of big coalies had also decided to crash the party! Every so often, usually when swiftly retrieving a pirk, someone would hook one of these most powerful of sports fish, and during the day we took many to just under 20lb. By the end of this very special day everyone had caught a cod bigger than 25lb!

On a High
I was still riding on a high from the previous day and only managing an occasional couple of drops in between gaffing and photographing fish, but after a couple of hours I finally got a decent spell with a rod in my hands. On one drop I felt a small fish grab the lure, and instead of cranking it all the way up, threw it slack line to try and shake it free, something everyone was now doing. When the line came tight again the rod tip banged over and I could feel I was connected to a far more substantial fish, and when the rod locked fully over and line started to peel steadily off the reel I could tell I had once again hooked another biggie.

For 15 minutes I played that fish, and time and time again could only watch helplessly as line once again flowed back out through the rod rings. By now I was quietly convinced I had got myself another 40-pounder, and as the fish was played progressively closer to the boat I stared longingly down into the depths for that first tell tail glimpse of white belly flashing deep in the crystal clear depths. After all, it could just as easily have been a 30-pounder foul hooked in the tail, you never knew for sure until you saw the fish.

And finally there it was, and from the first glimpse I could see it was something special. It was bloody enormous and ultimately required two gaffs to safely get it over the side, where it positively slammed down onto the deck leaving me staring at it hopelessly. It was easily the biggest cod I had ever seen, the fish of my dreams, and it took me a few minutes to compose myself enough to unhook it and get it onto the scales. As I held it up it my already aching arms were shaking hopelessly, with the scales indicating a weight in the mid-50s, and all I can say is that my reaction was entirely unprintable! When things settled down the fish was re-weighed and settled at 51lb 8oz, by far the biggest cod I had ever personally seen, and surely for me the fish of a lifetime.

That said, we had been told about an even bigger fish that had been caught just the week before on a commercial hand line. That fish had weighed a staggering 40kg - that’s 88lb, and fish in excess of 80lb have been caught in this area on rod and line. If I never catch a bigger cod I’ll end my angling days a happy man, and if I do ever manage to break the next significant land mark, a 60-pounder, I know it will most likely come from the area around Koppangen. Certainly it is only a matter of time before a British angler does catch a fish in this class or bigger here. Take it from me; the golden days of Norwegian sea angling are now.



FACT FILE:
I will be guiding at least two groups back to Koppangen again next May, but many places have already been reserved by this year’s clients so if you fancy experiencing the very best cod fishing in the world, you should contact Anglers World Holidays as soon as possible. Tel: 01246 221717 for more details and to request a brochure. Of course, you can also organise small or large private group trips here, and at the numerous other outstanding fishing locations in Norway.