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Cod though were always the number one target fish, certainly on our trip. As I say, we picked up good
fish all over the place, and on one occasion in a blowy snowy squall, even ventured outside the fjord to
fish the inshore reefs around the Island of Arnoy which were stacked with fish, but generally only up
to around twenty pounds.
And so it went on for the first few outings, until on the next to the last day, on our way back in, Od
picked up an interesting hump like feature on the bottom in around six hundred feet of water very close
to our home base well down inside the fjord, and suggested we give it a few drops.
This was it. The promised land. And to think we'd been sailing over it on our previous outings heading
up the fjord looking for fish which had been there on our doorstep all the time.
We only gave it an hour as we were due back in. But what an hour it turned out to be. Big cod were
coming up left right and centre. At times there were two and three forty pound fish being disgorged
next to each other.
Needless to say, the following mornings destination was written in tablets of stone. And so it continued
just as we had left it the previous evening. Cod fishing of a consistent quality, the likes of which I don't
think I'll ever see again.
They may well get bigger cod elsewhere such as at Lauklines if you have the stomach for the big seas
and cold, but this was sheer carnage. Well, I say carnage, but actually, where fish looked likely to
survive the rigours of being brought up from such depth they were put back in, and many cases appeared
to get back down okay.
Longer term well being is another matter. But if you don't try you certainly won't succeed. And it's just
that type of mentality that has not only made, but will hopefully keep the fishing in Norwegian waters
right up there at the top of the pile, for species and tactics which home waters anglers feel comfortable
and happy with.
Associated audio interview numbers: 51.
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