WHAT A YEAR !!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012 DEAR ANGLERFRIENDS !!!!

FIREWORKS IN TROMSØ LAST MIDNIGHT 2011

FIREWORKS IN TROMSØ AT 00.01 AM 2012

Together with my wife Jorun, my children, grandchildren and friends we had a wonderful celebration of New Years Eve in Tromsø - beautiful cold weather, clear sky and a nice breeze - just strong enough to remove the smoke from all the rockets and fireworks.

The year 2011 has been full of activities and funny action. After a stormy beginning of the year, we had a wonderful spring and summer with nice trips and good fishing together with many good friends.
The autumn 2011 has also been full of excitement and nice fishing experiences from september until some days before Christmas.
In late October I had 3 days of  crazy Halibut action together with Henrik Bolten and Gunter Storr.

Henrik and Gunter with some of the nice Halibuts

We landed many big Halibuts and this proved that the Halibut season includes October as one of the best months of the year. Fishing in October can indeed be very challenging, but in my opinion this is the most thrilling and exciting part of the season. Panther Martin jiggs work very good for me when the drift is slow  in dark light conditions, but we had great success with trolling with cod as baitfish.
The bigger the cod is - the bigger the catch will be !!!

A new area of fishing was opened with extraordinary big success by my friend Henrik Bolten - halibutfishing from kayak. Henrik had great success with Halibutfishing from his Native Mantaray sit on top Kayak  this summer. Henriks 175 cm / 75 kilo Halibut landed with his Van Staal Pro Reel just outside Kvaløyvågen is still the biggest halibut landed from a kayak and still a  World Record catch.
Henrik will probably work as a Norway fishing Guide in assosiation with Kingfisher in 2012, and I believe Henrik will be a favorite guide for many of the foreign anglers going up here. Henrik knows this area very good, and knows the tricks how to get the nicest fishes.


Kayakfishing will be a new challenge also for me in 2012, and Santa Claus has been very kind to me this Christmas. In 2012 I will carry with me two sit on top kayaks onboard the "BigFisher", one Emotion Fisherman and one Ocean Torque with Minn Kota electric engine . I look forward to launch them on the hot spots and together with good friends go for the big halibuts also from kayak. Reports will follow - be sure !!

The new Ocean Torque w/Minn Kota

The new Emotion Fisherman Sit on Top kayak

My fishing vessel - The M/V "BigFisher" has been working very good without many problems this year. After having trouble with the cooling system, I replaced one of the two Volvo engines and Twin-Disc gears.  The new Volvo 312 HP engine and Twin-Disc gear have been stable and good, and this makes it possible to perform interesting trolling at both low and high speed. With the old gear the vessel was too fast for low speed trolling.




This spring I will try out the Canon down-rigger and paravan hunting for wild salmon outside the coast. A lot of salmon comes from the Barentz sea up to the Norwegian coast heading for the rivers where they were born and where they will give birth to new generations of wild salmon.

Normally the professional fishermen go after the big salmon with drifting nets, but trolling with down-rigger in different depths will be interesting to explore. Reports from this will follow !!

I had a wonderful and very active year in 2011. I bring with me a lot of good memories and new friendships into the new year -
I will let you see some pictures from my picturebook of 2011.
A review of some of my activities, travels, work and meetings with nice people during the year 2011.
Thank's for all thegood times we had together in 2011  and wish you all a Happy New Year  !!

MEETING IN PRAQUE

VISIT IN KARLOVI VARY , PRAQUE - THE SPA VILLAGE

WINERY IN BRNO-TESTING 20 DIFFERENT WHITE WINES !!! HARD WORK :-))

VISITING WINDMILLPARK IN AUSTRIA, LOOKED NICE

BARBEQUE IN BAD BERLEBURG WITH BURKHARDS FRIENDS

LISA IN BAD BERLEBURG WITH BURKHARDS FIRST PIKE

MORTEN AND MARIE-LUVISE IN BAD-BERLEBURG

TROLLING IN VENEZIA

NICE BOATS-BUT NO GOOD FOR FISHING

LEIV AND  THE BEAUTIFUL CHURCH IN FINNKROKEN

HARD WORK IN FINNKROKEN - MAKING A NEW BOATHOUSE AT THE MUSEUM
LEIV, HALVARD, ANDREAS, ØYVIND, HARALD AND HIS BROTHER

MY WIFE JORUN AND THE ISLANDS OUTSIDE FINNKROKEN

MAKING NEW BOATHOUSE FOR THE MUSEUM IN FINNKROKEN

NEW FUNDAMENTS FOR WINDMILL AT VANNØY

MATS WITH HIS  FIRST ROD AND HIS FIRST HALIBUT - LOOK AT THAT SMILE !!

MY GOOD FRIEND BURKHARDS MEMORYPLATE AT THE GRAVEYARD ISLAND , FINNKROKEN

MY COMPANY KIME MAKING GROUNDWORK FOR THE NEW MACK BREWERY OUTSIDE TROMSØ

JON THE FISHERMAN ON "BIGFISHER"

Severin and Alexandra

Nature is still beautiful !!

GUDRUN AND LISA AT FJELLHEISEN TROMSØ

GOING HOME AFTER A NICE DAY OF FISHING

A GOOD MEAL WITH GOOD FRIENDS AT OUR CABIN IN FINNKROKEN

JORUN AND ANTJE

ANTJE AND TROMSØ

THE ARTIC CATHEDRAL IN TROMSØ  IN MIDNIGHT SUN

THE WINNER TEAM

WE DIDN'T WIN THE RACE, BUT WE WON THE ELECTION

RINGO LOVES FISHIN'

SKIDOO-TRIP IN FINLAND WITH MY COMPANY COLLEGUES

MY DAUGHTERS SON MATS IN THAILAND

"BIGFISHER" WAITING FOR ACTION TO BEGIN

ROCKERS

ON A BOAT-TRIP IN HONG KONG

BAD WINTERWEATHER IN TROMSØ

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN OSLO

VERY GOOD TEAM

WE WON THE CITY PARLIAMENT

INGEBORG, ANDRE AND JORUN ON "BIGFISHER"

AURORA BOREALIS IN TROMSØ

MY FRIEND BURKHARD - HE WILL  FOLLOW "BIGFISHER" ON EVERY FISHING TRIP IN THE FUTURE

FRIENDS IN THE LAVVO IN MY ARCTIC CAMP IN SKIBOTN

GOOD BUSINESS IN ROCK - FROM VANNØYA SITE

MATS AND MATILDE

HALIBUTHUNTER

BOAT TRIP IN BEAUTIFUL VENEZIA

THE MOSES PROJECT TO SAVE VENEZIA FROM RAISING WATER

GREAT DIMENSIONS ON THE PORTS TO SAVE VENEZIA

VISIT AT ZETOR PLANT IN CHECH REPUBLIK

PARKING LOT IN VENEZIA

NICE HALIBUT

HENRIK AND SUNNY

CARSTEN AND LISA

GUNTER

KIM EIRIK WITH NICE HALIBUT - FROM TRIP WITH THE ANGLING CLUB

DOMINIQUE

RINGO

M/V "BigFisher" in Sommarøy harbour 22.july 2011-
Best Boat in Tromsø Intenational Deep Sea Angling Competition 2011

LEFT HAND ACCURATE GUNTER

NICE POLLACK

LAST TRIP IN 2011

Exploring December

December in Tromsø - wonderful light on the sky.


The sun is under the horizon, but indirectly the sun lightens up the sky.
The dominating  colours are black, dark blue and red.

Today the weather was nice, no wind and the temperature around minus 6 degrees Celcius.

I went out with the "BigFisher" in the morning, and made some drifts after halibut north of Tromsø.

Had two strikes, but didn't succeed to catch them
Watch the video from my echosounder - I had some visitors down there - but unfortunately they didn't like my cutbait today.

Nevertheless I had a wonderful day on the sea today. -
And surely not the last trip this year if the weather stays like this.

CATCH AND RELEASE

I have been questioned by a reader of my blog about my attitude to C&R.

Many serious  tourist anglers practice C&R , and I appreciate that they are doing this when fishing in the Halibut Kingdom outside Tromsø.
Peronally I practice C&R from time to time, but not always.

Some bad weather

As a norwegian citizen I am allowed to bring with me back home more than 15 kg fishfillet  for eating and I am also authorized to deliver fish to the local fish factory.

Among the local fishermen up here C&R has not been usual. Since I was a small boy I have been fishing and taken care of the catches for food. When I could bring back home a lot of nice fishes, my mother was very happy and shared the fish with family and friends.

Some nice weather too

Anyway- Many of the big fishes we catch onboard the "BigFisher" are measured and set back into the water.
After having landed one of the big halibuts, it is a very good feeling to see the predator swim back and fulfil it's mission making many halibut-babies.

Some nice fishes

But from time to time after hard drills some big fishes are severely hurted and has to be taken care of.

I appreciate very much that also foreign anglers feel responsibility to contribute to take care of the norwegian  fish resources .

The city Tromsø - capitol in the Halibut Kingdom

This year has been a very good season for halibut fishing - hopefully next year will be even better.

Look forward to see all of you up here - it's a paradise for nice fishes !!!


 I wish all friends and bloggers a Merry Christmas and a good New Year !!

Wintertime in North Norway - the sun is under the horizon

OCTOBERFEST OUTSIDE TROMSØ !!

Very good fishing the last weekend in October.
 Together with Gunter Storr and Henrik Bolten we had wonderful halibut catches outside Tromsø.
85 cm. 135 cm, 142 cm and 150 cm Halibuts.
The weather was very good, nice temperatures and breeze - winter is still some days away !!!

Small beauty

Hungry

Happy moments

Very happy moments

Nice catches this autumn on M/V "BigFisher"

Happy Captain

Could this be the last trip with "BigFisher"  this year ???? 

Hopefully not !!!!

SEARCHING FOR HALIBUTS

Tromsø Deep Sea Angling Club

KIM - the Halibut Expert

Together with friends from TDSAC we had a nice fishing trip last Saturday the 22.10.2011. In a beautiful weather we started onboard M/V "BigFisher" from Skattøra Marina early in the morning.

We left harbour early in the morning

Beautiful day onboard the "BigFisher"

We were three boats together, and headed out to the halibut kingdom outside Tromsø. Outside the coast it was calm conditions, no wind and the sun was shining from a blue sky. Cant't be better at this time of the year :-))))
Onboard the "Bigfisher" we landed two Halibuts - one small and one beauty at 138 cm / 30,6 kg -  nice catch by Kim - the " halibut Expert "!!

Nice Halibut 138 cm

For me it was not the last trip this year - next week I will go hunting the BIG ones for THREE DAYS  together with good angling friends.

Going home after a nice day of fishing

STORMFISHING

STORMFISH ON M/V " BigFisher"

This weekend we had heavy rain and stormy weather from west and south-west - and the planned clubtrip with the Tromsø Deep Sea Angling Club had to be cancelled due to the bad weather.

I was so keen on halibutfishing, so Saturday morning  together with Henrik and Sunny we decided to make a try in the sheltered waters around Kvaløyvågen in Kvalsund,

We tried in the opening of Kvalsund outside Seiholla without luck, and decided to try Skagøysund. It was some wind - but not too bad for the BigFisher.

Henrik lost a nice Halibut there, and when it was getting dark the wind from west increased and instead of doing  a very inconvenient trip against the waves back to Kvalsund we went north and found shelter for the night in Vargsundet beetween Rebenessøy and Hersøy.

During the night we had heavy rain and gale conditions.

Sunday morning we went out to Grøtøysund to check the conditions. It was heavy wind and rain, but inspite of this we had a rough and wonderful day of fishing out there.

After a nice drill I caught a 120 cm halibut ,  and Henrik hooked a big one that broke his strong line after a short fight. Possibly this was a 100 + fish that we have been hunting for out here.

A lot of water on deck this weekend

To avoid the bad weather from west we went north of Ringvassøy and through Langsund to get back to Tromsø.  In Tromsø the weather was nice and calm with temperature of 9 degrees C- not bad in the middle of October.

A wonderful weekend !!!

STORMY WEATHER



M/V "BigFisher" ready for halibut-action

The weather forecast is no good this weekend - rain, strong winds from southwest and heavy rain. But still I believe it is possible to go fishing in the more sheltered areas around Kvaløyvågen.

Maybe the halibuts enjoy bad weather !!!

Look forward to an exciting weekend on  M/V  "BigFisher"
Fishin' is the mission !!

R.I.P. BURKHARD PLICHTA

My good friends Gunter Storr (left) and
Burkhard Plichta (right)

Hav og Fjell and Nordic Sea Angling Fishing-Guide Burkhard Plichta lost his life in a tragic car-accident the 7.th of October 2010 .

Today - one year after the accident I still remember your friendly smile and  miss our good friendship very much. We had many good fishing experiences together.
And I am sure about this -
Sooner or later we meet again !

Rest in peace-dear friend !

OCTOBER IS HERE !!

My reliable friend - a young and beautiful eagle

Made a nice trip yesterday on M/V "BigFisher" together with Sunny and Henrik outside Rebbenesøy. Beautiful weather during the day - rain and some shifting winds in the afternoon. It's nice to watch the incredible wild  nature at this time of the year -  earlier this week it was heavy storms out there.
But the halibuts are still active :-)))

Consentration

Two of them had to follow us back home for dinner- sorry friends - no Catch and Release today !!

My eagle-friends were watching us - it's always good to visit your beautiful environment.

October is  still a virgin - and it's still time for more adventures out there !!

Still time to go !!

Sorry Jimmy -Today : Catch and Deepfreeze

GIANT HALIBUT - NEW WORLD RECORD ???

HALIBUT 245 KG - NEW WORLD RECORD ???

Reinhard Wuhrman from Germany landed a big 245 kg Halibut outside Senja in august 2011. He had a hard fight that lasted for 1,5 hour, and during the struggle he broke his rod. It is not confirmed that this is a new World Record because Wuhrman used a harpun and the weight was not controlled due to the international rules.  Anyway - this was a giant halibut, and at this time of the year the giants visit the shallow waters just ouside the coast in North Norway. Opportunity knocks !!!CONGRATULATIONS !!

Beautiful September !!



Nice Catch

Time runs too fast - this September  I have been so busy with hard work and election campaign, John Fogerty consert in Tromsø, Wedding in Valdres and Name-giving day in Oslo. The weather has been so nice with high temperatures and sunny days. But the halibuts are still on shallow waters, and we still have time to go hunting for the big ones.

The Bay of Kvaløyvågen - best harbour outside Tromsø

Heaven on Earth

SørFugløy

Nice catch - Big Pollocks, Big Cods and Nice Halibuts

Last sunday I went with M/V "BigFisher" with good friends to some hot spots very far out  in the Arctic sea outside Tromsø.

Gunter and me  wih a 25 pound big pollock

Gunter with a nice Halibut

We had a wonderful fishing day - Big Pollocks up to 25 pounds, Big 30 pound Cods  and 3 nice Halibuts from 85 to 115 cm  on the same day.

Henrik and Dominique with a cod

Dominique with PB Big Pollock

The cod we found on 40-50 meters deep, the Big Pollock at from 90 to 170 meters and the halibut at 15 to 25 meters.

Havsule - we met this wonderful speed-diver in the open sea

A wonderful fishing day with hard drills - on a pilk and two rubber worms I had 3  Big 25-pounds Pollocks hooked at the same time. It's hard work to pull them up from 170 meters depths.

I am very thankful  for another wonderful fishing day in the Halibut Kingdom outside Tromsø !!

Best regards Morten
Captain M/V " BigFisher"