The idea of trying to catch Artic Norway's monster coalfish on the fly came about from a filming trip we did to the tiny island of Rost. This small fishing community sits far from the coast of Norway, out from Bodo and above the Artic Circle. To those in the know, the seas around Rost are known to be some of the richest in Europe. Huge numbers of big cod, coalfish and halibut congregate their at various times throughout the world, and their somewhat warmer months of June, July and August luckily happen to be prime sport fishing times. You do not want to be up there during winter time. Seriously tough fly fishing gear is needed to put big flies down very deep for the massively powerful coalfish, and we had fun putting the new Hardy Zane rods and reels through a living hell.
Rost exists as a small commercial fishing port, and the local fishermen fish these harsh seas during winter for cod. They then dry them on these wooden racks that you can see all over the place, and once dry, the cod is exported mainly to Italy where it is sold and used as dried, salted cod, called "baccala". I simply can not imagine how bleak it is out here during the dark winter months. But get yourself up here in early summer and you can enjoy twenty four hour daylight and more fish than you could believe. Big coalfish leave big cod for dead every time and you really can take them on the fly. Those giant Storm Jigging Shads also work seriously well when fished with conventional gear.
Practice makes perfect. The fly guys spent a while working out how to get their 6/0 Mega-Clousers down to the big coalfish sitting generally below twenty metres, but in the meantime they had fun smashing a few "smaller" fish up to about 10lbs. We used to have some good fishing for coalfish here in the UK, but sadly not any more. To hook big coalfish you really need to head to northern Norway where their stocks are in a far healthier state. I honestly never thought I would ever see cod and coalfish fishing like it. Doing it on the fly was far out.
While some fly fishing purists might well turn their nose up at this extreme form of "get your fly down deep" fly fishing, we couldn't care one bit. The guys accepted the challenge and then while we were there they worked out how to get down really deep, taking into account the wind and tide pushing the boat and thus lifting the lines up. Nick Hart eventually looped two 1000-grain shooting heads together and "cast" his monster, weighted fly as far uptide as possible. Once that line straightened behind the boat, he stripped like hell. Big, 20lb plus coalfish on #12 fly outfits are very doable, but they will put your gear through some serious grief.
The fruit of some hard labour - Nick with a world record size coalfish, weighed at just under 30lbs. The fact that he can't claim a record because his leader was too heavy strikes me as a little daft, but who really cares ? We proved that it could work. If you are going to head to Norway to try for these fish, go with an open mind and perhaps take a mix of fly and conventional gear, to allow for all conditions and depths. Sometimes the fish will rise right up close to or even on the surface, and at other times they will hang deep. Big fish pull serious string, plain and simple.
To visit Rost for the fishing :
Contact WildWater Fishing
Web : www.wildwater.se
Kristian Keskitalo email : kristian@wildwater.se
Per Jonasson email : per@wildwater.se
Fishing out there takes place start of May through to mid-September. Best for halibut May to mid-July, cod and coalfish fishing good all the time, biggest numbers of large coalfish are there from mid-June through to the end of their season.
Getting there : fly Oslo-Bodo, ferry from Bodo-Rost. WildWater Fishing will advise on ferry times, very easy to organise.
Henry Gilbey
Henry works full time as a fishing photographer, writer, TV presenter and tackle consultant. A complete fishing junkie since the age of seven, he fell into presenting TV fishing programmes by mistake, but this was all the excuse he needed to forge a career in fishing. Never happiest than when photographing good looking fishing, Henry loves to catch virtually anything that swims. Bass are a current addiction. See more at www.henry-gilbey.co.uk and his blog at www.henry-gilbey.blogspot.com
