Halibut Fishing Holidays in the North of Norway.
Norway Direct offers fully researched Halibut sea fishing holidays in Norway. A sea fishing holiday to Norway offers World class cod, halibut and coalfish amidst breathtaking scenery while the North of Norway is one of the best kept secrets for an outstanding sea fishing break. A blend of Gulf Stream and Arctic Ocean create one of the richest saltwater areas in the world. Krill and plankton form the basis of the food chain for herring and coalfish.
Huge cod, halibut, wolf fish and big coal fish are the common fish caught in these waters. The fishing is exceptional from May to September. It is possible to catch big cod and halibut in February to October but temperatures are much lower and often too extreme for most people.
In the peak summer months of June to September the shoals get bigger and bigger and are more evenly distributed. Cod in excess of 50 pounds are caught each season and halibut are common in the 20 to 80 pound range. Monster halibut in excess of 600 pounds are caught each year by local commercial fishermen. The rod and line record exceeds 400 pounds.
Salmon and sea trout abound in a number of fjords, feeding around freshwater inflows in May to August before they migrate into freshwater to spawn. Skippered packages, boat fishing holidays and cottages with self use boats (a basic degree of boat handling is required) is on offer by Norway Direct.
Sea fishing holidays to the Troms Region, Northern Norway
Without doubt the Troms Region of Norway offers the finest sea fishing imaginable, cod fishing in Norway offers cod up to 70 pounds (March 08), huge halibut, big coalfish, redfish and wolf fish. Catch them on pirks or big shads, the action here is as guaranteed as it gets.
Sea Fishing in the Troms region offers sheltered, scenic fjords all close to open water. The rich Gulf Stream hits the cold clean Arctic Sea and sucks in close to this region, bringing in a vast food supply and fish, big fish.
Choose self use boats or skippered fishing options. Stay in great accommodation with the best fishing right on your doorstep making Norway fishing one of the best experiences and fishing holidays you will ever encounter.
Halibut fishing in Norway
Fishing for halibut in Norway is one of the most challenging tasks a sport fisherman can face. The halibut can reach weights around 700lbs and even small specimens weighing will give you the fight of a lifetime.
Halibut fishing in Norway is legendary and in recent years the methods for catching them have evolved immensely. In 2008 incredible amounts of very large fish were caught. A single boat may catch several big fish during a single day’s fishing, something that seemed impossible just a few years back. This trend has been most pronounced in the waters North of Lofoten.
The Halibut used to be an accidental catch, appearing while fishing for other species but in recent years targeting this fish has become entirely possible. Strategies and tackle have improved resulting in more and more fish being caught. In the past, metal jigs together with classic tracers, like the red gill and different cod flies, were almost the only tackle used. The metal jigs attracted some few fish and still do but they are totally outfished by newer methods like the big soft, plastic shads or live/deadbait tackle. One of the greatest benefits with these being their selectivity, drawing only fish big enough to swallow them. Cod flies and red gills on the other hand attract almost constant attention from small coalfish and cod thus reducing effective fishing time.
Location, weather and timing
The halibut season peaks during Spring and Autumn. In the Summer the fish are more dispersed and therefore harder to find.
Halibut can be caught almost everywhere. It can be found in the harbour basin as well as out in the open sea. There are however some spots that are hotter than most. The best fishing is often found in depths between 26 to 165ft. Plateaus and slopes around reefs and rocky peeks are always worth investigating. Strangely enough one shouldn’t be discouraged even if there are almost no other fish present in the water. In some extreme cases the only strikes you get will be from halibut.
One of the most important ingredients for successful halibut fishing is the presence of a suitable amount of current. This helps you present your bait across a large area. When there is no current it is therefore very important to work actively using the throttle to manoeuvre the boat around as well as constantly casting and retrieving your bait.
During periods of slow current (boat drifting below 0.5knots) slow trolling can be very effective. Just drive the boat at 1.5-2knots while jigging and slowly winding the bait up and down through the water column.
Like all fish the halibut are sometimes very active just as they at times can be very fickle. One might catch a string of them in a small area in a very short time followed by hours or even days without a single bite. They all seem to be feeding at the same time making time as important a factor as location.
Fishing technique, tackle & gear
Forget about the classic metal pilks and instead turn to large rubber shads or baitfish. Using a 8-12” shad or a 2 pound coalfish practically eliminates strikes from smaller fish and effectively targets the halibut (you might of course catch the odd 40+ pound cod but that is usually not considered too much of a tragedy...)
Fishing Lures etc
Most of the time we recommend using shad jigs ranging from 8-12” (7-10.5oz) but, as working with these for an entire day can be very tiring, it is wise, current permitting, to switch to a lighter jig head. Just keep the large size shad while switching to a 3.5-7 ounce head. As an added bonus this gives the shad an even more realistic movement pattern.
Some days fishing the shad slowly and monotonously is most effective while other days the fish wants a faster, jerkier action. Compared to cod jigging though, halibut fishing as a rule requires a lighter touch and slower tempo.
The main thing is to always keep the bait moving through the water column. Traditional bottom bouncing is not the most effective way of fishing for halibut. Keep winding the bait up and down for the best effect. It is not unusual for the halibut to follow the bait all the way to boat without striking. It is a truly awesome sight when one of these huge flatties come gliding up to you. Sometimes they might even hang around the boat for a time and it is then possible to entice them to strike just feet below the surface. If this happens – prepare to be drenched and for you reel to start screaming… One of the most exciting things possible to experience might be when you’ve got a huge halibut just hanging in the water next to the boat and you are waiting for it to decide which bait to take; yours or one of your mates…
Another winning technique is spinning. Just cast your lure 70-100 feet out, letting it sink until it reaches the bottom. Retrieve it slowly or try jerking it from time to time. It is important to not stop working the shad until you’ve reached the surface or else you will miss some strikes. Half of the fish we catch strike way off the bottom.
As even the largest plastic jigs come fitted with only a solitary single hook we recommend retro-fitting them with an extra treble (see image). When doing so it is important not to place the extra hook to far back so as not to destroy the action of the shad. Adding this extra hook will mean losing a lot fewer fish. As a matter a fact the majority of the fish we catch are hooked up to this treble making it an essential part of the tackle. Either attach it using mono + crimps or utilize swivels and split rings to create a chain as a link between jig head and hook. Always use high quality hooks. We recommend WMC, Owner or the equivalent.
Fishing with deadbait
The staple diet of the halibut is herring or small coalfish (<3.5lbs) making these the ideal bait for angling. Always use the simplest tackle possible when using bait or it will result in will a lot of tangles. We have found that banana shaped sinkers are good for separating the main line from the trace but a simple chrome pipe tube filled with lead also works well.
A 1.2mm, 1 metre long flowing trace is used between the sinker and two trebles, size 6/0-8/0 depending on the size of the bait. The first hook is placed in the mouth of the baitfish and the second on the sideline close to the tail. Whether you are angling with baitfish or using a shad jig, it is imperative that you always use a heavy monofilament leader in front of you sinker/bait in order to protect your main line from abrasion from boat bottoms, teeth and the ocean floor. A 1.2 mm leader approximately 1 metre long is adequate.
Fish your baited tackle by dropping it down to the bottom followed by a slow, jigging retrieve. The strike is often very violent when using deadbait. If you fail to hook the fish on the first strike it is important to be patient, leaving the bait at the depth that produced the strike. If there is no immediate reaction, lower the bait a couple of metres and start retrieving again.
Rod, reels and fishing line
Even though the halibut grow to enormous sizes there is no need to use too heavy equipment. Heavy spinning or light jigging rods are fun to use for jigging plastics when the weather permits using lighter tackle. Light gear gives you better control and sense of what is happening below. We use spinning rods able to withstand weights of 3.5-7oz for the lighter jigging game and heavier, 30lbs rods for angling with deadbait. It’s a good idea to bring at least one set of each when coming to Norway.
Using high quality reels with good brakes is perhaps the most important aspect of fishing in Norway. For the lighter game, a spinning reel, with a line capacity of around 250m of 0.30mm braided line is enough. For the heavy jigging and angling a conventional reel taking around 300m of 0.30mm is used. When spooling your reel with fresh line it is important to put a lot of strain on the line so that the line doesn’t cut into the underlying layers when a large fish makes its first run.
Catch and release
the numbers of caught fish have risen in recent years we have begun to put a lot of them back to ensure the long-term survival of this fantastic sport fish. It gives you a nice feeling to watch one of these giants gently gliding back into its right element after release. Make sure you bring tape measures if you want to find out the weight of your catch by cross referencing it against a weight-to-length chart. These charts have been shown to give very accurate weight estimates.
Since it can be quite challenging to land one of these powerful fish without hurting them we have equipped all our boats with a tailer – simply a loop to place around the tail of the fish. This is used together with a small gaff (carefully employed) in order to keep the fish immobile on the surface for measurements or even to lift it into the boat for a photo session.
