Salmon fishing in Norway 2013

Ole and Carl — Kvænangselva & Repparfjordelva

For many years we have wanted to try a Norwegian salmon river smaller than the Gaula. We ended up in the northern part of Norway — Finnmark and Troms.

The first river we tried was Kvænangselva, a beautiful small river where you really feel you are far out in the Norwegian wilderness. The river is divided into two sections: the lower part from the mouth up to an old fish ladder, and the upper part which stretches far up into the mountains. We pitched our tent a few kilometres upstream of the fish ladder.

Small waterfall on the lower stretch of Kvænangselva — A small waterfall and the beginning of one of the many pools on the lower stretch of the river.

Overview map of the Alta area — Overview of the Alta area.

Overview map of Kvænangselva — Overview of Kvænangselva.

The lower section is easily accessible and has plenty of beautiful pools. The water is crystal clear — you can see every single stone and fish in the river, which means you have to sneak around to avoid spooking the salmon. Unfortunately there were no salmon in the river during our visit, but we caught a few trout a little further upstream. The middle section also has some lovely runs, and each pool can be fished through in about half an hour.

Ole fishing for salmon in Kvænangselva — Ole fishing in one of the many pools downstream of the fish ladder.

The waterfall at the fish ladder on Kvænangselva — The waterfall at the fish ladder — the ladder itself runs through the rock face.

Upstream of our campsite the river has 20–30 metre steep sides in places, requiring some scrambling to reach the water. In other spots beautiful pools sit like pearls on a string.

Upper stretch of Kvænangselva — Two images from the upper stretch of the river — wilder and more pristine, and absolutely stunning.

Repparfjordelva

The next leg of the trip took us north to Repparfjordelva, about 2 hours’ drive north of Alta. The river holds salmon far up into the mountains and is generally very shallow. We bought a fishing permit for the first stretch between the mouth and the village of Skaidi — permits are available online.

There are many fine runs and pools, but the river is more of a shallow, braided type. We fished almost continuously for 12 hours without catching or feeling anything. We chatted with a couple of locals about flies, and were eventually told that the flies should be very small and completely white! We switched to smaller, pale-coloured flies — Ole landed a small salmon or trout which was released. If I were to choose again I would probably buy a permit for a stretch further upstream.

Ole fishing at Repparfjordelva — late in the day, but the sun is up around the clock.

Overview map of Repparfjordelva — The map shows Repparfjordelva west of Skaidi. The red circle marks the fishing zone where we fished.

Repparfjordelva near the mouth — Repparfjordelva — less than 1 km from the mouth.

Alta

And one final image from the Alta river — famously impossible to get a permit for — but an absolutely gorgeous river with masses of large salmon. On the last day we drove up into the mountains near Alta and fished for trout in some lakes. We caught many beautiful trout up to about 40 cm — every single one fought like crazy from the first second. A great ending to a week without the big salmon.

Carl :-)