Lauklines trip may08

[atomichaggis]

30th april we left a cold, wet and grey west and headed for a beautiful sunny north. Destination was Lauklines Kystferie based on Kvaløya near Tromsø.

We were picked up at the airport and made a stop at the supermarket to pick up supplies for the stay. I recommend that if you visit then be thorough with the shopping and buy plenty fresh fruit n' veg, cooking oil, butter, salt n' pepper and something to eat that isn't fish! The drive to camp was an eyeopener... real epic scenery out this way!!! Once we arrived My first impression of the camp and surrounding area was just wow!

Lauklines shop, office and conference building:

Happy chappy on holiday:

The harbour and boats:

The cabins:

The weather was lovely and we settled into our well equipped and spacious cabin and made some dinner. some time later we visited the tackle shop to pick up some gear, have a chat about the various fishing grounds and had a briefing on the use of the boat and safety equipment etc. and rented some rods, GPS and flosuits before tucking in for the night. I can't say enough good things about our host and staff there, They are very service minded and offer a fantastic vacation destination and range of activities and services.

Sunset from the cabin:

Next morning... afternoon we woke up and prepared some gear and headed out in the boat.

View of the cabins from the sea:

Some way out to sea (rather a long way) I realised that i had left the map on land... oops! another lesson learned... never leave without a map!!!! I had the handheld GPS with me so I felt confident about getting back but the GPS doesn't have maps, only coordinates so courses are in straight lines. We steamed halfway to the polar ice caps with wide eyes and open mouths... this place is breathtaking! so much so that I used a whole tank of gas in the shortest time ever

Some scenery from the area:

After our magical mystery tour of the artic we decided to wet a line:

After a short while with no bites I got the urge to get my bearings and head back for the map.

Easier said than done on your first day out here:

Luckilly we had ended up in a nice straight line ride home but the GPS was trying to take us the scenic route via the mountains I went on instinct and went the right way. Looking at pictures it all seems so familiar now but I strongly recommend use of a map and better still a guide on the first day out there.

We got back to Camp and got the map and decided to try for a toothy critter at a spot some russians had some luck with wolffish.

roughly here:

yep, definately here:

Mr toothy wasn't home, so after an hours drifting in baking hot weather with no wind in a flosuit had me drained we headed home for dinner.

All in all, our first afternoon was 90% exploring and 10% fishing... something you should factor into your holiday time up there, there is so much to see.

After dinner we headed out with fishing in mind... I wasn't gonna blank on my birthday! We drifted over grounds thet sloped 100-120 metres deep. I fished a whole herring and the Mrs. fished an octopus jig.

Lovely nights out here:

The centre of the world:

The mrs. drew first blood with her first ling:

I got nuisance bites as the sun headed towards the horizon so i switched to an octopus jig too.

Sun hiding behind an island:

With a beautiful sunset and porpoises all around the boat I got my first take...

Small brosme:

Fish were quickly gutted and we had some fun with our feathered following:

I soon got a second take which was a bettering of the last brosme...

Better one:

This was gutted and the gulls went nuts again but none would touch the head. Some time later they gathered around the head making some noise before a massive white tail Eagle swooped down from over our heads and snatched the brosme head! the magic of this place was working.

Around 11 pm We went a short distance to a Halibut spot as recommended by a guide.

Just over here:

This resulted in small Cod and Haddock and we headed home for the night.

Day 2 was overcast but warm. I had another crack at the halibut spot and caught more small cod... don't think I have the patience on such a short stay so we headed not too far from the other nights fishing but stayed clear of deep water so as not to kill any Ling or Brosme unnecessarily as we had plenty of food and wanted to return fish. Ground from 40-60 metres started producing cod in numbers.

heading out:

Fish on:

Loads of cod around this size:

After a while we decided to try a sound between two nearby Islands

Roughly here:

we began in around 20 metres mixed ground.

I always thought of this as a micro species but as I was using a pimped 400 gram sølvpilk I was beginning to change my mind...

My first Ulke:

There was a lot of activity with Gulls and Porpoise across the sound and after a short steam across the finder showed massive clouds in 40-60 metres A quick drop beneath the schoals of Brisling produced instant and constant Cod takes of generally better size than earlier.

Cod:

Safely back in the drink:

Unless one of these guys gets him:

Or one of these guys:

Every drop was siezed upon:

Eventually after catching enough Cod to sink the boat a ceramic guide on the hire rod bust and a welcome break from the Cod workout and a trip to camp was in order just in time for the tackle shop opening at 9pm.

Another beautiful night:

Battle weary but undefeated:

A quick swap of the Fenwick offshore for an Abu big game (much better rod) and we headed out in search of Redfish but after a while with nothing showing on the finder and a fruitless drop into the abyss I didn't have the strength to deal with deep water so we headed back to the sound with the cod in.

The schoals of Brisling were huge now and the Cod were consistently bigger than before.

Cod again:

Cod were spitting up these:

At some point during the mayhem we were joined by a massive Minke Whale!!! It announced It's presence by a massive blow which was followed by a foul fishy stink It was right alongside the boat a number of times which scared the sh%t out of me... this thing was way bigger than the boat. I was worried that I'd end up hooking it and going for a wild ride. Either way it was absolutely thrilling! Unfortunately due to tiredness, cold hands, poor timing, lack of ability and many other factors We couldn't get a clear shot of the whale and most of the pics that night were dark or blurry. The Mrs, just refused to take pics of Cod after a while

After the whale headed out of the sound My Mrs. decided to get amongst the action. Dog tired at 1am...

what can I say :

Someone is sleepy:

That was a magical night... best one I can remember in many years. This place had charmed the socks off me. We got home at 2:45am absolutley knackered

Day 3, final day on the sea and its a scorcher again

We headed for a quite far away shallow sandy sound about as far north as i had a map for.

First drop confirmed what I had previously suspected...

The correct method to catch an Ulke is a pimped 400gram sølvpilk!

My second:

After some exploration of the sound only resulted in small Cod and Haddock we headed for a known wolffish area and had no luck so we headed to the one we tried on the first day.

roughly here:

It was baking hot here again and windstill same as last time. A few slow drifts only produced...

The smallest Haddock I've ever seen:

Until the point as I was just considering leaving, something tugged hard on the Octopus jig...

This was the culprit:

It was gonna go back in but the Mrs. wanted to eat it as I ate the last tiny one I caught all on my own so it was dinner... 3.2KG and a perfect eating size in my opinion. I think this will be the last one I kill, given the choice tho as I'm growing quite fond of them... don't think I can eat whale either now

After that I wanted to check out the cod situation before packing away for our departure. Found a schoal of Brisling on the finder, one drop and...

Cod... Check:

Time was ticking on by so I sent the Cod on It's way and we tried another spot for a short while with no interest then headed back to gut my fish and begin packing away the gear.

Heading out to dump the guts:

Have You ever seen that seagulls movie?:

I wish we could have stayed longer, It would have helped me to be more patient in the search for a halibut, but in anycase the arctic is a magical place, the scenery and wildlife was just magical. I look forward to the next time I drag myself up that way again.

Endret May 5, 2008 av atomichaggis

[toppknot]

Knallbra rapport!

[ThorEH]

Så du reiste til nord-norge for å fiske minibrosmer og enda mindre langer...

[Gotland]

Looks like a nice trip.

The halibut is still swimming out there and just getting bigger for you.

Its always hard to find all hotspots when you are new in a place.

You will probably do it even better if you returns to the same area a couple of years.

[atomichaggis]

Så du reiste til nord-norge for å fiske minibrosmer og enda mindre langer...

Hehe... just saving a blank that night with an easy score. It's not about the fish you get its about the experience : P on a fishing point I got one of my two intended targets and the best cod fishing I've ever known as a bonus.

Looks like a nice trip.

The halibut is still swimming out there and just getting bigger for you.

Its always hard to find all hotspots when you are new in a place.

You will probably do it even better if you returns to the same area a couple of years.

I was overly anxious due to only having a limited time... rookie mistake. Halibut spots were shown to me by the guide there and I was warned to expect some hours blanking but I just couldn't spend a day catching small haddock when there was a great wide yonder to explore.

Next time its a minimum week long stay with some experience in the bank

[ChristerGj]

Flott rapport!

[Trond]

Flott rapport og fine bilder, så ut som en kongetur det der.

[Karl Inge S]

Flott rapport, digger de nye rapportene dine Så utrolig flott ut der nord

[Svendinfiskervenn]

Det både hørtes og så ut som en flott tur! Overraskende ulkefangst forresten:)

[PerH]

Around 11 pm We went a short distance to a Halibut spot as recommended by a guide.

Just over here:

________________________________________

Geee, I'm really home again. I grew up not far from that little island, Tennskjæret, but in Ersfjord. I had a boat there from I was 7 years old and has countless hours at sea in those areas. Right there on the picture your're almost spot on - it's a place with long, sandy flats where I have killed many halibut and it is also known to hold large haddock a little bit later on in season. Not a good spot for other big fish though, you have to go deeper than that this time of year, especially if larger ling & brosme are your main targets. The same holds true for Halibut, it's a bit early for that particular, rather shallow spot. Better when sea warms up a bit. Many decent fishes and memories to remember, I'm sure, but you have to go back and prove to the rest of FS that there are some big ones around there too...

Didn't Andreas tell you about other secret halibut spots? There sure are some much better ones in that area about 10-15 minutes away from Tennskjæret! Maybe he just wants you to come back and explore further...

And the host & hostess at Lauklines deserves all kinds of applause! Sevice minded people indeed, like I told you before going there. I stay there myself every autumn when visiting home for hunting ptarmigan (rype) in the mountains around Lauklines.

Very nice report and enjoyable pictures from the sceneries I grew up among - but you sure got me a bit homesick now, even though spring has arrived here in Bergen! Never thought I would miss all the snow...

[FishingBUDDY]

Knall rapport! Jo flere bilder jo bedre!

[Gjest gjørs]

Knallbra rapport og fine bilder. Det ser ut som om dere har storkost dere. Artig å se at dere fisker i sævne også.

[Gismervik]

Flott rapport og tydeligvis en vellykket tur til nord-norge..

[øysteiin]

Flott rapport, mye fine bilder i tilleg kvalifiserer til en terningkast 6.

[Chironomus]

Nice report! I hope that Mrs didn´t get tired of everything that has to do with fishing now !

[Nils Master]

Fantastic! No more. No less!

[Wiggy]

Sweet effort dude. Looks like you had a great time, and you've a missus that likes fishing.....as if life can get any better?

[torrybra]

Flott rapport og fine bilder fra en fantastisk plass! Fisk ble det jo også, og steinbiten er jo en sikker vinner som topper det hele!

[alek]

Flott bilderapport!

Agnet du den Octopusjiggen?

alek

[atomichaggis]

________________________________________

Geee, I'm really home again. I grew up not far from that little island, Tennskjæret, but in Ersfjord. I had a boat there from I was 7 years old and has countless hours at sea in those areas. Right there on the picture your're almost spot on - it's a place with long, sandy flats where I have killed many halibut and it is also known to hold large haddock a little bit later on in season. Not a good spot for other big fish though, you have to go deeper than that this time of year, especially if larger ling & brosme are your main targets. The same holds true for Halibut, it's a bit early for that particular, rather shallow spot. Better when sea warms up a bit. Many decent fishes and memories to remember, I'm sure, but you have to go back and prove to the rest of FS that there are some big ones around there too...

Didn't Andreas tell you about other secret halibut spots? There sure are some much better ones in that area about 10-15 minutes away from Tennskjæret! Maybe he just wants you to come back and explore further...

And the host & hostess at Lauklines deserves all kinds of applause! Sevice minded people indeed, like I told you before going there. I stay there myself every autumn when visiting home for hunting ptarmigan (rype) in the mountains around Lauklines.

Very nice report and enjoyable pictures from the sceneries I grew up among - but you sure got me a bit homesick now, even though spring has arrived here in Bergen! Never thought I would miss all the snow...

It's a nice Idyllic spot that one It was Marcus who told me about it... and to expect a long wait as there are very few other fish there. I wish I could go back in the summer and try there again but I don't think its possible

Andreas pointed out a number of places on the map too, all shallow sandy areas but said the water temp was a bit low still.

A german party that arrived with us hooked a Halibut on the first day around Tussøy and Høgøya where we done most of our fishing but lost it. We fished every bit around those islands but it was kinda consistent 0-30m small haddock/cod and Ulke 30-60m bigger cod and deeper ling n brosme and you could fish all those depths on the same drift in that area... so much to do, so little time.

You need to send me some coordinates for my next effort

I'd be homesick if I were from there, I miss the place looking at my pics. Mrs. is talking about taking some winter vacation there to see the aurora borealis.

Nice report! I hope that Mrs didn´t get tired of everything that has to do with fishing now !

Thats always my concern Luckilly this place increased her attention span. Not interested in cod? no problem... "look, a whale!".

She was excited about the Sculpins (ulke) too

Sweet effort dude. Looks like you had a great time, and you've a missus that likes fishing.....as if life can get any better?

Trip was great but I need to work at keeping her interested in fishing.

Flott bilderapport!

Agnet du den Octopusjiggen?

alek

Steinbit was caught on Octopus jig baited with prawn (tho it might have fallen off already).

Ling, Brosme, Cod and Haddocks all took it without bait.

All the fish that I caught on the Octopus took the jig when it was held just above the bottom with the movement of the boat working it.

[PerH]

You need to send me some coordinates for my next effort

Coordinates???

We learnt the spots from the old fishermen there. They had their kind of "coordinates", you know - when that big stone in that mountain aligns with the houses at Skamtinden, and so on. I'm too old-fashioned to work those GPS things, I have to be at the sea to know my way around out there...

[atomichaggis]

Coordinates???

We learnt the spots from the old fishermen there. They had their kind of "coordinates", you know - when that big stone in that mountain aligns with the houses at Skamtinden, and so on. I'm too old-fashioned to work those GPS things, I have to be at the sea to know my way around out there...

Those directions work for me too I was a road navigator in a truck for almost 10 years tho so i like my maps as well.