Norway - Day 2 (of 6)

It was after midnight, still light (of course) and we had just dined on some of Brian's fine cuisine. The boats had been cleaned, Halibut filleted and washing up done. With another full day's fishing on the horizon it should have been time to get some sleep but the lure of the dock was too much to resist! The light rod's came out and the 6 of us started day 2 with some light gear Coalie bashing.....of course there was a point to this as well as being fun, we would also have a few dead baits to try out later in the day.

We were at it until gone 2am and of course there were attempts to repeat the Halibut from the dock on day one without success.....that is until Dale tricked a smaller one into taking a Fiiish Black Minnow!

6 men dropped to 5, 5 dropped to 4 and 4 dropped to 2......I think I was one of the last ones into bed. I was tired but found it hard to prise myself away from the fishing! It took a while to drift off after all of the excitement since leaving the Hotel in Alta but I must have gone eventually.....snoring like a bear apparently!
The alarm went off at 7am and although still tired as hell it was easy to get up.....it always is when you're off out fishing! There were some duties to perform before we could go which became an everyday ritual while we were there. The boats had to be refuelled, there was breakfast to cook, Halibut to vacuum pack, 6 packed lunches to put together and more washing up to be done. The last job was a run to the shop when it opened at 10am for milk, bread and sundries before setting off.
Today I was on board with Dave and Brian. The weather was glorious and the plan for today was to take advantage of the settled conditions and head into the open sea just outside the shelter of the Fjord's to look for the larger Cod found on the plateaus in deeper water. As ever the scenery on the way out never failed to impress me....

The wind was a bit fresher outside the shelter of the Fjords but for now at least it was fishable. We found our first plateau in 100 metres of water and positioned ourselves up tide ready for the first drift through. Brian and Dave went down with large pirks and I thought I'd ring the changes with a 'Red Edd'. Cod hit all 3 of us on the first drift through, some small fish and a few better ones...

Brian had slipped on a cheeky rhubarb and custard flyer that accounted for the first Haddock of the trip too!

Dale, Ronnie and Mike were on the same drift line about 50 yards away.....we could see that they had boated a good fish so went to investigate before we motored back up for the second drift. It transpired that Dale had bettered his huge cod caught yesterday with a fish of 44lb.....WOW!!

As we queued up for the next drift the wind started to pick up which pushed us along a lot faster making things difficult. Heavier pirks had to come out to stay in touch with the bottom and the fish became hard to find.....just as if someone had flicked the 'off' switch. Dale, Mike and Ronnie headed in after their third drift to try inshore while we stuck it out for one more. That last drift didn't see a fish at all...that is until right at the end of it when Dave's rod bent into something big. This one had to be a big cod and certainly took a while to reveal itself. After a lot of give and take, finally the brute came within view. I gaffed it just under the bottom lip on the second attempt so as not to injure the fish and Dave's prize lay on the deck of the boat. Dave threw a few punches in the air, let out some excited whooping and I'm sure - a little bit of wee when the scales registered 41lb. Another beast of a fish that went back after a quick photo session.

With the breeze right up now and white horses starting to form, we headed in to see how the others were getting on in the shelter of the cliffs. They were having a ball with some colourful cod in the shallower water.....

We started a drift in the same area and changed over to the savage gear eels. Cod and Wolfish were soon hitting the lures and we shared in the action for the next half an hour. The other guys decided on a move to look for Halibut but as we were drifting parallel with the shore at an ideal speed and covering lots of ground we decided to carry on. It payed off a while later when both Dave and I hit into suspect Halibut at the same time! These things go where they want to and unfortunately induced a tangle. Dave's fish came to the boat first wrapped up in my line...quickly gaffed and swung aboard the knife came out to cut me free so that I could land mine. We were lucky to see both of these fish....low doubles at 11 and 14lb!

We carried on with the same drift and Dave found another one of similar size...this one to a sneaky dead baited Coalfish on his second rod. Two fish on the deck...rude not to have a shot of the pair!

The bites started to dry up so we motored back up to the sweet spot where we had the two fish on at once in an effort to cover the same ground. It payed off, I dropped a fish and Dave found another one on a dead bait!

After seeing two fish come to the dead bait I rigged up a second rod too....only problem is the Wolfies like the dead baits even more than the lures!

After the 4th drift through the bites dried up and with all in agreement we opted for a move and a change of scenery.....just before I went arse over tit on some Halibut slime and banged my head on the window ledge inside the cabin. Christ did I hit it hard and really lucky it didn't split open - an instant tender lemon shaped bump appeared instead! Lesson number one - keep the deck clean, it's all too easy to get caught up in the moment with the fishing and forget simple things like that.
I sat a little dazed and sore and made the most of a sit down while we motored to the next mark. A couple of ibuprofen, a washed deck and 30 minutes later I was ready for more! This mark is known to hold a few Halibut and after a couple of drifts Brian finally hooked into what we thought was his first one...as it neared the boat though we were surprised to see that a big cod had taken the dead bait. Not like the huge fish we had seen in the morning but still a good one at 25lb!

 
It was a lot slower here, both with the fish and drift speed but just before we agreed on another move Dave found his fourth 'Butt' of the day!

We made the move anyway - we only had 30 minutes left before we had to think about heading back. On our first drift through we had takes and fish from the off, Wolfish and Cod were hitting them as soon as they touched the bottom....

I hooked a definite Halibut next drop at the same time as Dave found one too. Mine shook the hook out half way up but Dave managed to see his 5th one!

Straight back down and I hooked another....this one stayed attached and proved to be the best of the 7 low double fish we'd had today at 15lb.

Well, the fishing was on fire but we'd run out of dead baits and time....the others were already back at base and we had a good hours run before we would be there! On the plus side we'd certainly kicked some 'Butt' today and found a great mark to come back to tomorrow......this location became known as the 'Butt Hole'!
Speaking with the others back at the house, they'd missed out on the Halibut today but had some great action with more cod and also found a new mark of their own - Dab Bay.