1.7. - 2.7.

We started our every year trip by driving to islands of Andorjä and Senja. Nice views, we were looking for hot spots for casting from shore. Nice places were found at area of bridge going to Andörja. We caught lots of little coalfish and one cod of around 2 kilo.

After long night with midnight sun we drove to island of Senja. Road got more and more narrow, at one point we climbed up to mountains where there was still lots of snow and ice.
Finally, the road started to drop and we could see the ocean again. We got to our cabin, place seems nice and boat is very good too. We slept for a few hours and headed to the sea…

Host of Flakstadsvag sjöfiske & camping told us about hot spots and gave a map with gps co-ordinates, so it was easy to get to the places with boat. Main catch is halibut, it is caught by catching a 500 gram coalfish, you hook the coalfish, add a weight of 400 grams of led and sink the whole thing to bottom & wait. We had lots of happenings but we couldn't get any fish up. During the day we caught lots of coalfish (small, for bait), and few cods.
One interesting thing: at one of hot spots there was only maybe 10 meters (around 30 feet) deep. Water is so clean and clear that you could see the bottom. Among other smaller fishes, a huge cod was swimming in the bottom and checking our lures. Our hearts missed a few beats I think! Tomorrow we will go out again, beware, halibuts!

3.7. 2005, Senja Flakstadvåg

We started fishing at late afternoon, I guess we were tired from last nights and maybe, just maybe, some alcohol & staying up late were one of the reasons. Anyway, we fished lots of spots that we had at the map with gps co-ordinates. We had nothing much, little coalfish around 1 kilo as much you wanted, some cods and some cusk. I had one cusk (Brosme brosme) with weight of 4,6 kilo on our way to hot spots. At end of day, we landed a coalfish of around 3 kilos. That's it, no halibuts….
We have been frying lots of fish tonight, and we also made some fish steaks by grinding fishes & adding some smoked pork. Very good, and we got so many steaks that we will be eating fish burgers when we are out tomorrow.

4.7. 2005, Senja Flakstadvåg

We started fishing today at 1 pm. Weather was beautiful, no wind at all and sunny. Only problem was that we were melting with our floating suits.
We landed lots of fish, cod, coalfish and cusk. Also we got a few pollack (Pollachius pollachius), biggest was 5,6 kilo. We also had the chance to look at huge eating party of coalfish on the surface, video of that will come to our website later on… Tomorrow is maintenance day, laundry, cleaning etc. Fishing at evening of course!

5.7. 2005 Senja, Flakstadvåg

Weather has been excellent all the time, almost no wind, sunny and warm. It is too hot to fish at day so we go out at nights. We fished some hot spots close to the deep water, but had nothing much. Then finally we found a spot in 120 meter deep with nice ocean perch around 1 - 1,2 kilo. We landed ten of them, and Kaitsu had something big in the line. It ended up to be a cod of 11,1 kilo, his new record! Still waiting for halibut to come..

6.7. 2005 Senja, Flakstadvåg

Hot weather continues. We spent the day washing car, doing laundry and smoking ocean perch. At evening we went out to see if we could land some wolf-fish. Well, Kaitsu landed a nice 6,9 kilo fish. I missed three wolf-fish because of too big hook.
I had a giant tuna-circle hook on. After changing hooks I started to get cusk of course. We tried some hot spots during the night but caught nothing special.

7.7. 2005 Senja, Flakstadvåg

Last day at Senja. We pack our car today, and we go out fishing last time at night. Tomorrow we head to Söröya island. Results of last trip: nothing special.

8.7. -9.7. 2005 Söröya, Bårvik hytteutleie

After foggy ferrytrip we arrived to Söröya island. At next day we headed out to sea, catching 5 sea-wolfs, lots of little cod and some other fishes.
Island is beautiful and has no trees at all, cabin that we have is excellent as it has sauna! Boat is Big Buster with 60 hp 4-stroke engine. Nice!! Fuel is horribly expensive so you really want to drive carefully

9.7. - 10.7. 2005 Söröya, Bårvik hytteutleie

We went out to catch almost nothing, and waves got so high that we had to return to harbour.
At 10th of July we had a day sightseeing and enjoying scenery. We visited village of Sörväer, where a Russian warship can be seen. The wreck had been going to the India for demolishing, but it had escaped in the storm from the ship towing it.
We also visited a cave called Kvithellhula, where 35 people had been hiding for three months during world war two.

11.7. Söröya, Bårvik hytteutleie

We went fishing at morning, with a visit at gas station. Lovely prices.
We had few smaller fishes as bait, and started to lift up sea-wolfs.
At around 1 pm Kaitsu had a good bite, and as a result a cod of 16 kilos ended it life at sea. During the day we landed some more wolf-fish, I tried to hunt for big cod but without results.

12.7. 2005 Söröya, bårvik hytteutleie

Day was too windy to go out so we spent it by shooting videos of big waves and watching few movies on DVD.
Around midnight wind calmed and we could finally get out. Fish was eating poorly, we landed nothing special. All we got was one broken reel..

13.7. 2005 Söröya - Alta - Talvik

We drove to town of Alta to do some shopping for fishing gear. We also visited a book store and found a nice book about sea fishing in Norway. Day was rainy

14.7. 2005 Talvik

A fellow that has been writing some stories to our site was at neighbourhood, so we took him out to sea for couple of hours. Result: coalfishes, cod and cusk. Fishes were not really huge, around 2-3 kilo.
Talvik is full of finnish people that have found their way here from our website. Nice people. At evening we went to check our wolf-fish spots and landed three nice fish, size 2-3 kilos.

15.7. 2005 Talvik

We went fishing late afternoon, it was quite windy. We tried to catch some ocean perch but couldn't find any.
Wind calmed down later, but fish was eating poorly all evening. We had few fishes to take with us and made some fishballs and smoked one coalfish. Good!!

16.7. 2005 Talvik

We went out over the other side of fjord to see how fishing is there. The wind was a bit strong but not too hard. When we got to the other side, we landed four nice wolf-fishes in less than hour! Biggest was 4,6 kilos. We would have stayed longer but dark clouds started to roll over the mountains towards us from other side of fjord, so we decided to drive home as long as it was possible. There was never a bad storm, dark clouds just looked worse than they were.
We put most of wolf-fishes file into freezer, and we also made a creamy wolf-fish sauce with garlic, blue cheese, black olives and caper. Excellent with pasta!

17.7. 2005 Talvik

We went to check out few hot spots to see if fishes were home. Yes, big coalfish was around, we lost three fishes and could not get any to boat. Goddamn. Using 12 inch shad jigs has been annoying, hook doesn't hold fishes but they have escaped 100%. Later at night we did the last trip out, nothing special to report.
That's it folks, we had a great trip with wonderful experiences. Back in business next summer!