It is not just the salmon in Norway that impress Jonny

My wife Jo and I had been lucky enough to secure a dream job running the fantastic Reisastua salmon lodge on the banks of the fabled Reisaelva (or Reisa). In preparation for our summer job we had done our homework in what we might expect from the Reisa, with monster Atlantic’s at the top of the list and our first impressions on arriving at the lodge did nothing to dispel what we had heard. All over the lodge walls were great photos of proud anglers holding humongous silver salmon and just a glance over the pages of the record book showed that we had reached salmon Nirvana. 

Jo Stephenson with a nice brown trout

Over the next couple of days, we prepped ourselves and the lodge for the arrival of our first guests. The day before the group was due to turn up, Roar (the lodge owner) asked me to clean the under-water cameras that were situated in the river close to the lodge. After giving the lenses a good scrub I returned to the lodge to find Roar fiddling with the large TV in the lounge and muttering in broken English that it wouldn’t work. After sometime of flicking through various options, we managed to get a near perfect picture from the underwater cameras streaming in the lounge. Roar went on to explain that the main run for the salmon was too far out in the river for the camera but during high water they would often travel close enough and fill the screen with their large torpedo shaped bodies that would cause pandemonium with the guests rushing for their rods whenever one passed.

Reisa fishing guide Kris bags himself a good sea trout

After a couple of hours of working outside, I returned to the lounge for a drink, glancing at the TV screen my jaw dropped. ‘Roar’ I shouted ‘there’s a huge trout looking straight at the camera’, Roars response sounded unfazed ‘of course, they are my pets’ by this point another slightly smaller fish had entered the screen and I would have estimated them at 6 and 4 pounds respectively. I asked Roar if there were trout like these in any other parts of the river, he replied that they were all over the river and that they were a pest to him whilst he was salmon fishing and not only browns either, but in August the sea trout would come and that they were also a nuisance to him: well this was a “nuisance” that I was willing to put up with.

Marina Gibson with a trout

Over the first month, Jo and myself were extremely busy with the lodge, being fully booked pretty much the whole season - although we did find just enough time to each land our first Norwegian salmon. By the time August had come around, things were just starting to quieten down and with a few less guests and a better understanding of time management around the lodge we started to get a bit more time for our own fishing. With a little less water in the river at that time of year, I was able to fish lighter setups that turned these “pesky’ trout into superb quarry.

Jonny Stephenson pleased with his sea trout

My favourite rod for this type of fishing had to be my Hardy jet switch 7/8# as a 5 or 6 pound trout was a good scrap but I still had the control to handle a salmon (just). The fishing this time of year was really great with a mixed bag of salmon, brown trout, sea trout and sea run char that if you got lucky could all be taken on the same day. I was amazed at how the local people had little to no interest in the awesome sport that these specimen trout had to offer, with just a hand full of dedicated trout Anglers fishing the river and all of which boasting double figure browns and sea trout over the last few seasons. This coming season Jo and I will be returning to Norway to run Reisastua lodge, but this time it will not just be the giant Atlantic salmon that we will be preparing for.

For more information email Jonny and Jo here. They still have rods available from July 15th.