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Fly Fishing reports 2009 - by Hein van Aar

 (click the small pictures to enlarge)

04-10-2009
There is a new photo report on this site, made by Jurgen Siero from Holland. Click on the picture to the right and have a look !
The fishing yesterday was, well, not easy but rather good. I fished with my dear old friend Pieter a stretch of the fly fishing zone, in about two hours we had both 7 grayling measuring between 35 and 45 cm. We were using nymphs, because there were no fish rising at all. It is getting colder and colder, there are only a few days of fishing left this season, but I intend to use them well. I'll keep you posted.

30-09-2009
I haven't been fishing the last days. but there still are fish rising in the afternoon. Not many, not for a long time, but fly fishing conditions are good. There is hardly any wind, not much rain (or snow), it would be nice if it was a bit warmer though !
The long term weather forecast tells us that in the weekend it will be cold, but not so cold that the fly line will freeze in the guides ;-)  maybe next week it will be a bit warmer again. So it is fly fishing for real men now, not for boys....................

25-09-2009
Yesterday I fished with my friends Jan from Holland and Marius from Norway a part of the Eidsfossen zone. We had great dry fly fishing, catching grayling up to 44 cm. There were different insects on the water, quite big sedges, tiny stone flies, Baetis may flies, and a few small sedges. The best fishing was with the big sedges, skating them over the surface. It didn't last very long, and it was important there was a little sun on the water.
The light and the scenery war really spectacular, this has been one of the most beautiful fly fishing days of the season for me.
The weather forecast for last week was pretty bad, they said there should be a lot of wind. It turned out to be quite good, not much wind at all, only a bit rain, and nice sunny afternoons. For next week the forecast is also lousy - we'll see what happens. The fishing is not easy at the moment, first of all it can be tricky to locate fish because when they rise they only make a very small wake. You'll hear them, but you won't see them. Then you need to make a perfect cast, the presentation has to be spot on, and - of course - you need to use the right fly. To be short : nice fly fishing !

20-09-2009
Several fly fisherman reported grayling up to 48 cm the last days. The fishing has been quite good, the water-level is a bit high and the weather is changing all the time, but fly fishing conditions are ok. Flies that work : small stone flies (needle flies), small dark gnats, Baetis patterns with split tails, small black nymphs (but there are also guys using big red, pink and orange Czech style nymphs, with good results .......).
We have three weeks of fishing left, take a few days free of your work, jump in your car, and come over ! You won't regret it. (special for you Norwegian guys !)

15-09-2009
We have had two days of beautiful weather, perfect water-level and good dry fly fishing. It seems that the grayling is slowly moving into calmer water, and in the middle of the day you can expect to have nice dry fly fishing with Griffith gnat (size 16 - 20) , Baetis imitations but also on caddis patterns, size 14 and smaller. The weather forecast for the coming days is not so nice, but in the weekend things should be better again.
The fishing is open until October 15th, if you should catch a trout you must release it immediately, because the fishing for trout is already closed. 

11-09-2009
A few days ago fly fishing was really difficult because of very strong wind. It is calmer now again, water-level today is 587,72 (bit high for this time of the year, but below 588,00 so good enough for fishing) and fly fishing conditions are good. In the afternoon you can expect (small) hatches of sedge in the faster water, and reasonable good dry fly fishing using Baetis patterns in the slower water. I placed a new photo report, made by Ted & Fred from Holland, they visited us last week. The fishing was not so good as last year they said, but they had a great time anyway. Click on the pic for the report !

07-09-2009
Last weekend, Friday night, the water level came up again. Saturday the fishing was lousy for some and good for others, Jorgen from Sweden told me he had lot's of fun with Baetis imitations, catching grayling up to 45 cm.

Sunday afternoon I fished with Marius. It was clear the grayling were in a positive biting mood, and we had reasonable good fishing on dries and nymphs. The last hour I tried a spot in the beginning of the fly fishing zone, and had really good dry fly fishing, using Green Sedge Emergers, size 16. The water-level is falling fast, so in the next days there will be good fishing again. If it doesn't rain to much !

If you plan to visit Kvennan Fly Fishing, opening hours of Kvennan kiosk are from 09.00 - 12.00 and from 16.00 - 20.00.  At these times you can check in, buy a license, and have a talk with me or Renato. Outside these hours : call me at (0047) 4682 2513

03-09-2009
Fly fishing conditions are perfect for the moment. The water-level is good, the wind has gone, not much rain and nice temperatures. Ted and Fred from Holland report good fishing using dries and nymphs, catching grayling up to 45 cm. Peter and his friends from Sweden told me their biggest fish this trip measured about 47 cm, and they had quite a few grayling around 40 cm using dry flies.
Yesterday I fished one of my favourite stretches in the fly fishing zone. In the beginning there were no rising fish, and as I planned I tried a few new nymph patterns. All of them worked well, but after two hours or so it was over - no more takes. In the top of the run the fish were rising for something, I couldn't make out what, so I think it must have been emergers. Sadly I left my dry fly box at home, it was a nymph trip after all, and it was fun just to watch the grayling rise just a few meters in front of me. In the end I tried streamers, and I caught two big perch ...... Never had one in Glomma before, but they gave a good fight on my light rod.     

30-08-2009
The water-level has come up a bit last night, and is now normal for this time of the year. Fly fishing conditions are quite good. If that lousy wind would only stop ! It seems that Daddy Long Legs don't work so good anymore, but Griffith's Gnat is still producing well. I've seen more and more small (size 16 - 20) olive coloured may flies the last days, members of the Baetis family.

27-08-2009
Anders and Sven-Erik from Sweden reported by email about their last fishing day, last week in the fly fishing zone: "Together we caught 52 graylings measuring from 43 cm down to 20 but not many were smaller then 35. Most of them were between 35-40. Most of them were caught on Daddy long legs but also on small mayflies. They were standing in very shallow water and they were everywhere ! "  There isn't much I can add to this, maybe that nymphing in the morning  - using a Black and silver nymph - can be good. The water-level is perfect, the weather is shitty, there are no hatches, but good dry fly fishing.

23-08-2009
Another picture of the Fly Fishing zone. The fishing yesterday was nice, I had a bunch of grayling up to 41 cm, all on dry flies : Daddy Long Legs and Griffith’s Gnat.
The long term weather forecast is not too bad, so next week the fishing will be good. It is possible to get a forecast for Kvennan now, have a look. A word about the predicted wind : if they say "gentle breeze, 5 m/s" it means that fly fishing already will be tricky.....
I placed a few tying patterns on this website, showing effective and easy-to-tie flies. Go to the fly tying page.

20-08-2009
The water-level in Glomma is perfect in the Tolga region. The weather is not very stable, and it can be very windy at times. In Glomma there are not many rising fish to be seen, but the Daddy long Legs fly is still bringing the goods, I had many grayling rising for it during the last days, some of them up to 48 cm. Nymphing can be tricky, use (very) small patterns, like my "Black & Silver"  , or some micro nymph patterns, for instance the ones that André Brun describes at his website troutbum.com.

17-08-2009
Yesterday I tried the Eidsfossen zone. There were not many fish rising, and there were not many insects. I've seen a few sedges, some small mayflies, midges, yellow sally and daddy long legs. I caught grayling with imitations of all of them, not many, not very big, but it was good fun.
I placed a new photo report, have a look at Johan and Peter's photo report from their trip this summer.

14-08-2009
Another good fly that has been working well for me since June, is this green sedge emerger pattern. I tie it on a size 12 emerger hook, the body is made of flexi body, wing and thorax CDC. I like to use Marc Petitjean's CDC oil to make it float. The water level in Glomma is perfect, the weather is not to bad, a bit cold and a bit windy at times, and fly fishing can be quite good.

07-08-2009
The best dry fly for the moment is "Daddy Long Legs". This fly brings fish up even when they are not rising at all. The fly to the right (hook size 12) is tied by Hans from Holland. He told me a little story about it : "I was fishing near Telneset bridge, and I noticed a Daddy Long Legs flying just 20 cm over the water surface. A fish jumped out and grabbed it from the air. I rushed to my cabin, tied two of them, and half an our later I was back. On my second cast I hooked and landed a 45 cm grayling ...... " On the last day of his fly fishing trip Hans landed a 49 cm grayling, also on the same pattern, in the fly fishing zone. Really a good fly !

02-08-2009
At last the water-level is falling again. The fishing has been difficult the last days, and nymphing seemed to be the best option. Walter and Dennis from  Holland reported grayling up to 49 cm using Czech nymphing techniques, Renato also had grayling up to 49 cm fishing nymphs more traditional, upstream. Hans (uut zwolle) from Holland had a beautiful 47 cm trout on a Glomma Dog. In day time there are not many fish rising, but there were some fisherman talking about small Baetis may flies in the fast water. The picture show Thomas from Scotland, fishing a streamer for big grayling in the fly fishing zone.

28-07-2009
During some fishing sessions I noticed grayling is scattered over the river - it seems that they are not standing together at the best places. Dry fly fishing is possible, but changing all the time. On slow parts of the river a Daddy Long leg imitation can be quite productive, at the faster stretches small black flies seem to work, and so do small may fly imitations (size 16). I had some fun using big streamers, landing grayling between 45 and 50 cm. Håkan from Sweden made this picture of his sun Peder with his first grayling on fly rod using a superpuppa, they fished the fly fishing zone last week.

24-07-2009
The water-level is falling again in Glomma. This morning at Hummelvoll the level was 588,21 - this means fly fishing is possible again. The water is clearing nicely, Renato and Davide reported nice streamer fishing using black streamers, Renato also observed rising grayling.
Want to see more pictures ? Have a look at Sead Smailagic's photo report from his trip to Kvennan Fly Fishing, a few weeks ago.

21-07-2009
Now fly fishing in Glomma is impossible, because of the abnormal high water-level. Yesterday and the days before were wet and cold, fishing was slow but I had a few trout on my Glomma Shadow streamer, and quite a few grayling on nymphs. The river isn't very clear also, so I suggest you do some fly tying, reading, make a puzzle, or try the Hodalen lakes for grayling and pike. The water-level in the lakes is also high, but the water is clear and I think the fishing just might be surprisingly good .....  

17-07-2009
The water-level is about normal for this time of the year, the fly fishing can be good at times and it can be difficult at others. Flies that work for the moment : small may fly imitations, size 16 - 18, grey, ants, yellow sally stone fly imitations, spent spinners size 16 - 18 in the evening, green sedge pupa's, size 14, Rhyacophila nymph patterns (see below) and if the weather turns really sour, try a streamer like Glomma Dog.

10-07-2009
This morning the air temperature is only 10 degrees. In the water it isn't much more : 13,5 degrees. What a difference with some days ago ! It has been a strange summer until now. The first weeks of June were very cold. Then we had more then two weeks of hot, very bright summer weather. Now it is cold and rainy again. Wednesday night the water level in Glomma came up with 60 centimetres, and that is very rare for Glomma in summer time. Thursday the fishing was not good, as always when the river level rises fast. Now it is going down again, and fishing will pick up.
A few days ago I fished with Eivind and Pal, we had some nice fish. The guys used dry flies, there was a hatch of size 20 - 22 Baetis may flies, but they also had fish using an elk hair caddis. I fished my nymphs, as you know, I prefer nymph fishing. One of the reasons for this is that a grayling is almost never hooked deep - I can remove the hook so easy. With dry flies  this is not always the case ! I used Rhyacophila patterns, green sedge in normal fly fishing language, and they worked like a charm. One of the secrets of fishing these nymphs well is, again, presentation. If you fish them up-stream, dead-drift, you will catch quite a few fish. Rise them to the surface and you will really have a lot of fish. Make them not to big, size 14 will do just fine in this time of the year. And what about using a frog pattern for big trout ?

A request from Karen : if you plan to visit Kvennan Camping, and you need bed clothing (sheets) , please let it know in due time, send an email to info@kvennan.com !

07-07-2009
The warm summer weather has ended, it rains from time to time, and the temperature has dropped to about 15 degrees. The water temperature is decreasing also, and that's a good thing. Last night I fished from 22.00 to 04.00, and had good results using size 14 caddis patterns. Fish were rising everywhere, and I had many takes. Setting the hook was something else, I noticed that the grayling took my pupa fly with enthusiasm, but they spit it out so very fast. The presentation of the fly had to be spot on, totally dead drift worked best, but some fish preferred a dragging fly. I was totally alone in the river which surprised me since the fishing was quite good. It was bright enough in the middle of the night to see my fly at a distance of about eight meters, and the atmosphere and silence in the river was great. Just the sound of the water mumbling against your waders, and the splashes of rising fish. Great.
Let me quote John Gierach : "Night-fishing isn't something a lot of us get into seriously. It takes the kind of dedication to actually catching fish that many of us don't have; but it should be done from time to time, if for no other reason than that it's there to be done - an easy adventure. If you ignore too many things like that, you'll eventually end up with a general dissatisfaction with your life. You'll go sour and won't know why. It will be because you never fished at night." (from Trout Bum, "Night-fishing")

The pictures to the right were taken by Lars and his friends from Holland, two weeks ago they fished the fly fishing zone. They had good fishing and a nice time, even though it was their first visit to Kvennan Fly Fishing. And they shot some nice pics.
Thanks, guys !

02-07-2009
Yesterday I fished a stretch in the Fly Fishing zone. There was not much going on, no hatches and the nymph fishing was also quite difficult. But I managed to land this nice and beautiful trout. Renato and Davide report good night fishing, with some big trout on dry flies. Next week the weather will change, it will be cooler and rain is predicted. In day time the fishing will improve again, and I think there will be more hatches. Have a look at this new page, showing a photo report, made by Bernd Ziesche. Your Glomma fly fishing pictures also on this website ? Contact me by sending an email to kff@kvennan.com

30-06-2009
It is still warm weather, and the water temperature rises from 16 degrees in the morning to  almost 20 degrees in the early evening. In day time there are not many insects hatching, and only a few rising fish can be seen. So nymph fishing is the best tactic, but fisherman who like dry fly fishing can always try an ant imitation. It would also be a good idea to fish the fast water. In the pictures to the right Teijo from Ludvika in Sweden is showing one of his biggest grayling from this year, just over 50 cm. He hooked the fish in the Fly Fishing zone, using a special puppa pattern.
Fishing in night time is recommended now, and fisherman reported to me good hatches of several species of caddis flies, the most abundant one seems to be a size 14 grey sedge. Steamer fishing also can be quite productive in the night, use woolly buggers, muddler minnow patterns or my patterns : Glomma Shadow and Glomma Dog.

25-06-2009
Finally summer has arrived to this part of Norway. Day temperature reaches a very pleasant 23 degrees Celsius, there is not much wind, and the water temperature in Glomma ranges between 11 and 15 degrees. In the night the water cools down, in the morning the temperature starts rising again. The nights are short, between 23.30 and 01.30 there is a beautiful period of twilight - it doesn't get dark, not at all. I like to visit the lakes at night, rising fish can be seen everywhere, the beavers are swimming around, making big splashes with their tails when diving under. Pike also seem to like hunting at night.
Several species of up winged flies are now hatching in Glomma. To make things a bit more complicated, there are also several species in their adult stage, laying eggs. So duns and spinners are mixed, and "matching the hatch" can be a difficult task, especially because there are also several species of caddis and stoneflies around. And mosquito's, ants, etc etc. The good thing about Glomma fishing is you can't do so much wrong, almost every fly fisherman will catch some fish. But for sure, doing everything the way it supposed to be done really can bring the goods ! Make some effort to find out what the fish are eating, try to use the best imitation you can tie (or buy) and remember, the two most important things are presentation and presentation. Let me give you a few examples : when fishing a nymph, it can be of great importance to offer your fly exactly at the right depth and exactly the right speed. If you fail to do so you will only catch a few fish, doing it the right way can provide spectacular fly fishing. In the evening there will be caddis around. Some of them are laying eggs, and they crawl or dive under water to do whatever they have to do. If you offer the right imitation on the water surface, you will have a few fish. Making the fly go under - well, you'll know what I mean.
Jerry from Holland reported a 48 cm grayling that fell for a small black ant, Leif and Jonas told me a funny story about a not so shy grayling : " I was fishing the fast water with a superpupa, when I saw a fish rising, just an arms-length upstream of me. I just dropped my fly under the rod tip, let it come down and the grayling took it the first time ! Not a small fish also, it was 44 cm...."

21-06-2009
The weather is improving. From tomorrow on it will be nice and warm, and Glomma fishing will be great. The water level is falling slowly, all the rain from the last two weeks combined with the melting snow caused an unusual high level in the river. Never the less, fly fisherman report good fishing , on dry flies, nymphs and streamers. Marius told me he fished in the night with quite big streamers, and released two trout, 1,7 and 2,4 kg. He hooked two more fish, also very decent trout, but they came of. I've seen the pics of these trout, sadly they were not good enough to use for the report.
There were some stories about broken rods the last days. One of Kvennan Camping guests told me this funny story about fly fishing for pike in the lakes, hooking up with a nice pike, and playing it tough. The guy was wading a bit deep, and the fish decided to swim through his legs with the obvious result. Another and a bit sad story was a guy that used his brand new Winston rod - it broke in the tip section, in the third cast. I borrowed him one of my rods, so at least he can go on fishing.
Yesterday I fished the Hodalen lakes with two friends from Berlin. We tried to find big grayling, but only caught a few smaller ones. Of course we also fished for pike, with not much result, but in the end I hooked a good one: 95 cm and about 6 kg. I think it is worth mentioning  that wading these lakes is easy in many places, providing fly fishing opportunities also for not so experienced casters. And it is always possible to find a spot where there is some shelter from the wind. There is grayling everywhere, and if you can find them, chances are you also have found a few pike, they will be around.

18-06-2009
René and Marius from Switzerland wanted me to guide them and we had a look at some slow parts of the river in the end of the fly fishing zone. There was a lot of rising fish, and hatching may flies. Using CDC patterns the guys had grayling up to 45 cm.
Today the weather is lousy again, rainy, cold and strong wind. The long term weather forecast  tells us that it will be better next week, higher temperatures and more sun, so at last summer is coming.
When playing a big grayling in strong current, it can be quite difficult to reel the fish in. It uses it's dorsal fin as a sail, and there is the risk it will brake of when you use to much pressure on the rod, or the hook may tear out. The best way to avoid this is to take the fish into slower water, or take it to the shore. If that is not possible try this : lower your rod tip, if necessary put the rod tip into the water. The grayling will sink to the bottom of the river immediately, and because there is much less current at the bottom, you can get the fish close much easier. Pull the fish all the way up stream until it is above you, then bring it up to the surface and let it come down again, so you can net it.  Not so many fisherman know this trick, try it, it really works !
Yesterday I fished the fly fishing zone in Tunna. There were not many rising fish, and I've seen no may flies. The upper parts of this little river are very fast flowing, and I think there are more caddis and stoneflies then may flies. I landed about 10 grayling up to 42 cm, and had nice but difficult fishing. There was quite a big trout rising, but I failed to hook it - there was not enough space for casting, so a careful presentation of the fly was impossible. this is a river for casting experts - very challenging indeed !

16-06-2009
The level in the river is going down again, and is now normal for the time of the year. The water temperature fluctuates between 7 and 9 degrees (night and day). Fly fisherman at Kvennan Camping report good fishing on dry fly and nymph, and at times it doesn't seem so important what fly to use. But, as always, it pays of to use the right fly ! I took the two pictures to the right yesterday and today. The top one shows a Leptophlebia marginata, an up winged fly that prefers slow parts of the river. It landed on my rod in the lower parts of the fly fishing zone. Tie it on a hook size 12 - 14. The second fly was sitting on my cabin this morning. It is a member of the Baetis family, body length only 6 mm (!) - this is a species that lives in the faster flowing parts of the river. Hook size 20.
There are several reports of big grayling : Bertil from Sweden released one of 50 cm, Bassam and Henning from Germany landed a 48 cm grayling, Ola and Jonas from Sweden reported three grayling on dry fly measuring close to 50 cm. A word about wounded fish: if a grayling or a trout is bleeding after hooking, and it is not legal size, you have to release it, even if it will die ! It will be food for the predators in the river. The reason for this is that there will always be some people who break the rules, and when I find them with to big or to small fish, excuse themselves - "the fish was bleeding, I had to take it" - you understand.......

13-06-2009
The last days I've been busy with guiding fisherman. Bas and Peter wanted a little help for another day, and they had good fishing with grayling on dry fly (stoneflies) and on nymphs. And we had a lot of fun, it's very nice to experience some good old Dutch humor from time to time ! Harry, a fellow member of the fly fishing club in my home town in Holland, visited Kvennan Camping to fish Glomma. Of course we went out together, and although it was tough fishing, we found a few rising grayling of decent size.
Yesterday I guided a group fly fisherman from Sweden. After an introduction, studying maps to show good fishing spots, I showed them  the "labyrinth" , a river stretch resembling a spring creek. Many may flies were hatching, many rising fish, and the guys had a few grayling on dry flies. I couldn't exactly determine which species were hatching, but Rhodani was among them, and there were dark grey size 12 - 14 may flies with 2 tails and with 3 tails.  Don't know if a fish can count, but it is good fly fishing tradition to try to imitate the insect as good as possible. So, if you tie your flies yourself : use micro fibres for the tail, 2 or three fibres, and split them like the natural has. Flies with straight tails, made with to much material, work not nearly as good.

09-06-2009
Today I fished with Bas and Peter, two novice fly fisherman staying in the Fly Fishing Lodge. They hired me to guide them into the fly fishing zone, and although the fishing was tough at moments due to strong wind, they had a nice time - Peter landed his first grayling ever, and lost another one. Wading was a bit difficult for them because the guys use waders with rubber soles and they didn't bring wading staffs - I strongly advice felt soles + wading staff !
 

Per, Johan and Thomas from Sweden reported good dry fly activity, many rising grayling, hatching flies were stoneflies, size 12 - 14, grey, Baetis Rhodani and Baetis Niger. Biggest fish was a grayling Thomas landed, 45 cm.

07-06-2009
For the first time this fishing season Glomma has dropped under the 588,00 mark. Day by day there are more hatching may flies, and if you know where to go, you can have good dry fly fishing. I haven't been fishing Glomma for some days now, but Renato has. Two days ago he landed and released a big trout on a sculpin imitation, he estimated the fish between 3 and 4 kilo. He was alone so it was not possible for him to make a picture - what a pity, I would have loved to see this fish !
Renato : "I made a cast upstream, to let the fly sink. The line tightened, so I thought I was hooked up to the bottom. When I pulled suddenly the water exploded, there was a fish on ! He took all of my backing before I could turn the fish - what a trout ! I never had such a big one in Glomma before ! "
To the right there are two pics from Tunna, the lower one shows the brand new Fly Only zone. The fishing rules are the same as in the Glomma Fly Fishing zone, and you can fish with the Kvennan Fly Fishing zone license, the combination license or the Tynset license. It is a nice little river, with quite a different character, compared to Glomma. Next weeks I will spend some time exploring it.

04-06-2009
Lousy weather it has been the last days. Snow in the evening, and it has been cold and very windy. The river is falling slowly. Renato tried the fly fishing zone today. Not a single fish was interested in his may fly imitations, but he landed and released about 10 grayling up to 45 cm on a black ant (if nothing works, try an ant !) and he told me he lost quite a big fish when he fished a streamer. The weather forecast promises us higher temperatures and sun for the coming days, next week the temperature will be around 15 degrees and it will rain a bit. Doesn't sound bad at all.

02-06-2009
The water-level in Glomma is falling now. So is the temperature, Sunday evening it was 22 degrees, at this moment (18.00 hours) it is only 6 degrees. The next days will be cold and rainy, but I think the river will keep falling now. The first may flies have been reported : Renato saw a few Baetis Niger (Iron blue dun) and some few Olives (probably Baetis Rhodani, Blue winged olive) and dry fly fishing is quite good in Glomma, but most fish still want a stonefly imitation. Nymphing can be surprisingly difficult, for one reason or another. I guided Jaco and Frank on Sunday, we took the boat to get to the isles at Kvennan, because wading to them would be tough. We had good fishing, between the three of us we had about 40 grayling, between 30 and 45 cm. Most of them on dry fly. Some fly fisherman from Denmark also report good fishing in Glomma: difficult wading, but quite a few fish on dry flies, largest one was 48 cm. In the Hodalen Lakes system things also are starting up, I fished there yesterday with Marius for pike. We caught and released 4 smaller pike on streamers, and we observed small may flies hatching. In a few weeks the Danica hatch will start in the lakes, providing great fly fishing for big grayling in still water.

29-05-2009
Jaco and Frank from Holland wanted to fish the Hodalen lakes, and I guided them. The guys had a nice time fishing dries and nymphs, catching grayling between 35 and 45 cm. The weather did improve as the fore cast promised, and in the early evening also the wind was gone. After the guiding I wanted to try some pike fishing again. No luck this time, but the scenery was really beautiful, and I had the chance to make a few nice pics.

28-05-2009
The river is going down again, but slowly. The water has cleared, and visibility is good. With a bit of luck this weekend will be not so bad for fly fishing the upper regions of Glomma ....
Renato fished streamers yesterday, and had a nice grayling and a decent trout in the Fly Fishing zone. The fields are green, the leaves in the trees are back and summer is coming in the Glomma valley.

27-05-2009
Water-level has come up a lot last night, due to the combination of heavy rain and melting snow. Fly fishing is really difficult now, the water is also not completely clear. Renato reports  a grayling of about 50 cm on a nymph, he landed and released it a few days ago. I don't know what the water-level will do the next days. The weather is improving fast, so the water will fall, but the temperature is also rising fast, so the last snow in the mountains will melt.

24-05-2009
As promised a report about Glomma. Water-level was quite high (588,26), and crossing the river to the isles at the campsite was not so easy, but it could be done. Some fish were rising for stoneflies, but they refused my imitation. I had only one smaller grayling using a dry fly, when I changed to nymph I was more successful. In two hours fishing I landed about 10 grayling, size between 30 and 40 cm, and I lost a good trout. It took my nymph on the swing, when the fly came up to the surface. Not expecting a bite at that moment, I wasn't fast enough to give the trout slack and it broke of.
I tried several nymphs, but it was clear that the reddish brown gold head hare's ear was the best choice. The fish were standing in quite fast water, and careful presentation & good drifts were not important at all : they just hammered the fly. On several occasions they even  attacked my strike indicator. Water temperature was 9 degrees in the afternoon. We can expect more dry fly activity and hatches of may flies when the temperature comes up to about 12 degrees. The long term weather forecast for next weekend is good, so maybe the dry fly fishing will really come off next week.

23-05-2009
This was a beautiful day, lot of sun, nice temperature and hardly any wind. I told you about this thing I have with fly fishing for pike - I just had to try again, so I returned to Hodalen Lakes. At one of my favourite places I hooked and landed this beautiful coloured pike, measuring exactly 1 meter. Like all Hodalen pike, this fish fighted like a tiger. It took a white streamer called "Brambo" , a fly tied by one of my fishing buddy's:  Bram from Holland. It is the only streamer I use, maybe in a few different colours, it is easy to make, doesn't have to much resistant while casting, to be short, the perfect fly for pike. I will place a picture of the streamer and the tying pattern in some days.
Later I tried some places for grayling, and I found a few fish up to 45 cm, that were willing to take a dry fly. In this time of year it is very important to know exactly where to go, because even at the best spots only a few fish are rising. If you fish the wrong place, you will catch nothing.
It is also not so easy to make decent pictures when you are fishing solo, and I am still working on the best way how to do this. I use my wading staff as a tripod, jam it into the ground and with a "gorilla pod" I can attach my Ricoh camera on top of the wading staff. Setting the cam on interval meter, I let it make a picture every 20 seconds, so if I land a fish, it doesn't have to be out of the water for a long time.
This system works quite well, provided the light don't change to much. And most important, the gear is very small and easy to take with me all the time.

This afternoon I want to try Glomma again, report tomorrow, stay tuned.

21-05-2009
Yesterday Davide from Italy and me tried the Fly Fishing zone for some hours. Davide is one of our fishing inspectors, and has been fishing this part of Glomma since he was a small boy.
The fishing was tough because the water-level is quite high at the moment. We saw only a few rising fish, so we fished nymphs and streamers. The problem with these high levels is the very high speed of the surface layer of the water: this makes nymphing for grayling almost impossible, because the only good way to nymph is to fish with the speed of the bottom current. The surface current takes your floating line and leader and creates a lot of sub-surface drag. The best way to fish nymphs right now would be Czech nymphing, the problem is you don't have enough reach to get to the best places.
So the solution was to fish streamers, fished as slow and as deep as possible. Between us we had about 10 fish, half trout and half grayling, measuring up to ca 42 cm. Nothing to brag about, but nice enough in difficult conditions, and good fun on light tackle ............

19-05-2009
Today I tried one of my favourite early season places : the isles at the campsite. There was not much going on, no rising fish at all. Some grayling took my nymphs, and I had a few bigger ones (up to 43 cm) using small streamers. The water is perfectly clear, and it was quite easy to reach the isles using my wading staff. I noticed that the river bed has changed last winter, there are new holes, and old ones, that were always good for some nice grayling, are gone. I had one trout interested in my streamer, but I didn't land the fish. A few weeks ago about 500 trout were stocked at the campsite. This is done buy GLB, the organization that is responsible for Glomma, to compensate for the bad impact that dams and power stations inflict.  These trout measured all between ca 25 and 40 cm, their adipose fin is clipped so it is possible to recognize them from wild fish. In other years the stocked fish were much smaller, and I am curious how many of this new fish will be caught this summer: off all my trout I caught over the years, maybe 5 % were stocked fish. Stories about stocking rainbow trout in Glomma belong to the category of fables & fairytales: there is no rainbow trout in the northern parts of this river, and I think that's a good thing ............

Opening day at the Glomma, May 15, 2009
This season started with a few scattered  hatches of stoneflies (size 10-12, dark grey-brown) and mosquito's. Marius, one of our fishing inspectors and a keen fly fisherman, reported nice dry fly fishing using stoneflies, his largest grayling measured about 1 kg, so ca 45 - 50 cm. He also had two nice trout. I fished the Hodalen Lakes system, searching for pike (I have developed quite an appetite for these toothy monsters, they provide great sport on a fly rod, as I learned in a fly fishing trip to Ireland last month), sadly I was not able to find any. But there were plenty of grayling interested in my Glomma Dog streamer, I had about 15 fish, all between 40 and 47 cm. Great fly fishing ! After that I tried Glomma, hoping to hook a big trout, but all I managed to catch were some trout up to 40 cm. After switching to nymph fishing I landed a few nice grayling. I observed that both the grayling and trout in Glomma are in very good shape, they are quite fat, especially when compared to the Hodalen fish.
The water-level in Glomma is more or less stable (see diagram), a bit high, but with some courage and a wading staff it is possible to fish a few good places. One has to be careful though, the water temperature is ranging between 5 and 8 degrees, and taking a swim is definitely not advised ! There still is a lot of snow in the mountains, but I think the conditions for fly fishing will improve in the next two weeks. I'll keep you posted ............

  last updated : 26-01-2012

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