Tuesday 5 June 2012

Autnmn Time = Grayling Time (2011)


There is nothing better than planning a fly fishing trip, during a week filled with work and school. Once again we set way for Roeros, it's close and there is plenty of grayling to satisfy the urge. And since there are plenty of them, in varying water conditions, I focused on short-nymphing. A fun, yet hard way of fly fishing. More on that in another article.

Because Lise had to work til 16.00, we decided that eating a good dinner (super-hot curry) was better, than leaving in the middle of rush hour. At 19.00 all was ready and we set off. It was dark when we got there, so getting the tent up was No. 1. The temperature was so low (it was - 1.7 the day before) that getting into the sleeping bag was No. 2. And believe me, it was so cold that only my nose was sticking out of the sleeping bag.

This was the view in the morning, a bit chilly too.

But the sun came up and all got better. So after a hearty breakfast and something warm to drink (toddy) we got in our waders and got ready for fishing. Lise had to borrow my lousy Soelvkroken waders, size XL (that is super wide and short), because hers Guideline Gaula started leaking after 8 days of use...

NIce huh? :D

But staying dry, is more important then looking good! Anywho, we started fishing, and soon Lise landed a few nice fat grayling, while I was short-nymphing my way towards a nice deep pool, where the big fish wait. I started with a light anchor fly and two droppers. It resulted in 0 fish, until I started fishing the pool. Then I put on a heavy anchor, and soon fish started taking the fly.

The one in the middle, got most of the attention.

After a while, Lise went upstream, which left me all alone in the good spot. In no time I landed about 10 grayling, the biggest about 400 gr. And when Lise went to the other bank, I got a snag. Well it was no snag, but a really big grayling. With my good luck 4x tippet was not (!) enough and shortly after it snapped. After a few "nice" words, it was time for lunch.

Grayling and mashed potatoes. With our bellies full, we wanted a short break from fishing and decided to try and find some edible mushrooms. No luck there, but Lise went downstream, and found some nice fishing spots instead. So after a quick cup of tea, we put on our waders and headed downstream (north side of the river) with the rods.

Every good-looking pool was fished and a few grayling were caught. After a few kilometers the bush got so heavy, that walking thru it was a bore, but we were lucky because there was a really nice pool at "the end of the line". Since Lise used a single nymph, fished downstream, she got to fish first. For some reason the bigger grayling wouldn't stay hooked, and when she got tired of this, it was my turn. Now I had changed my rig to; heavy anchor, small cream nymph with bead head and a red hot spot, hot orange bead head, PT nymph. It worked a charm, and soon I landed a few nice grayling.

By now it was getting colder and darker, so we headed back to cook some good dinner. And man was it good! Minced meat, olives, shroons, lingonberries in red wine sauce, home-made bread, mashed potatoes and paprika-garlic salad.

Then it was time for bed. Lise fell asleep in a breath, while I read LOTR book one.

Ah, wind and clouds full of rain. We ate a quick breakfast, packed everything down and put it in the car, before it started to rain. But fishing was on our to-do list, so we headed downstream (on the south side). Just like yesterday, we fished all the nice spots. On our last visit here, we came over a big and deep pool, that was given some extra attention this time, and here I scored a double.

We fished our way down to some cabins, and by that time it was "drive home" time, so we headed back to the car for a late lunch, before starting the drive back home.

In famous words of The Starks "The Winter is coming", and a bit faster then I like, but there is still time for some good fly fishing.

More photos here.

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