Gaula 2009 — week 26, Evjen beat
The trip was organised by Jesper from Odense, who handled everything: beat rental, accommodation, meal planning and so on — it is wonderful when someone else does all the work for a change!
On arrival the water temperature was around 9°C and lightly coloured. A few days earlier there had been a brief flood of 400 m³/s (see the chart further down). The level was falling quickly and there were occasional fish showing at the surface. We were six or seven people spending a week on the Evjen beat. The beat is divided into three zones: zone 1 is a fly-only zone ending in a shallow passage to zone 2. Both zone 2 and 3 have a deep run along the near bank, offering a good chance of fish holding before moving up through the shallow passage. On zones 2 and 3 worm and spinner are the most practical methods.
Thorkild had contact with the first fish in the middle of zone 2. The salmon took a spinner right on the edge between the deep run and the shallow, calmer water. Just as the fish was about to be landed the line caught between two large rocks and snapped. The salmon weighed around 10–12 kg. Disappointing, but a good sign of things to come.
Later that evening I landed a beautiful 6.5 kg salmon on the same stretch. The following day the level had dropped a further 20–30 cm and zone 1 was coming into good fishing order. Just before supper I spotted a fish showing in the middle of pool 1 and went through with a small fly. A salmon came to investigate but wouldn’t take. After dinner both Jesper and Henrik went through the pool and I followed as third rod a quarter of an hour later. In exactly the same spot as before a fish took — and this time the hook held. The salmon was just over 4.5 kg, beautifully fresh and silver but with no sea lice.
The heat and the rest of the week
The following days the sun blazed from a cloudless sky with daytime temperatures of 28 to 30°C. Water temperature climbed rapidly to around 15°C by the end of the week. Nobody had a fish on the hook for the remainder of the week. The last couple of days we tried various fly sizes, but the only person to get rises was Jesper — using a very small Hidge fly skimmed across the surface. Neither of the two salmon actually took the fly.
Virtually no salmon were caught in the Gaula in the second half of week 26 — it was as though no fresh fish were entering the river, and those already in it hugged the bottom.
Beyond the fishing itself there was also time to test equipment: new fly lines and Loop rods — always a pleasure when things match and work together, even more so with a skilled casting instructor (Jesper) on hand to offer corrections. Alongside the two salmon we had wall-to-wall sunshine from 2 am to 11.30 pm every day, excellent food, red wine and beer, and campfire evenings every night.
Statistics — river flow and catches
A poor excuse for why we didn’t catch more fish...
Morning light on the Gaula
