It feels great to be back again on the Gaula! The salmon season on the Gaula has started once again at midnight. We were please to welcome back a group of well known faces to the lodge as well a group of new fishermen from France. The Gaula river is as low as it has been for over 40 years and we started with the lowest conditions we have ever seen on an opening day with 72 m3 at Gaulfossen at midnight (during the day on May 31st it was down to 53m3!!), but with some much needed rain, in the form of a thunderstorm, the water rose all evening and brought with it a bit of water. Of course that did not help for the midnight session as the river turned dirty until later morning, but it cleared up quickly. At noon we were able to land our first salmon of the season on Beat BS1 by Thies Reimers. Thies fished, despite the lower water, a sinking line and a large fly.
Thies Reimers with NFC’s first salmon of the season from BS1 – approx. 7.5kg (17lbs) – congrats!
NFC team enjoying the first one!
Some of the other fishermen were in contact with fish, but unable to land anything, until the evening, when it was our italian friend Alessio Falorni, who comes every year to the season opening, this time he was lucky on day 1! He managed to land a good fish of 99cm and weighing about 9,5kg (21b).
Alessio is “back in business” and playing his first salmon of the season.
Alessio holding his super fresh fish for a quick photo shoot! Well done!
Releasing the first one is always good karma!
We have not heard from all our other fishermen how the evening session is shaping up, but we are positive that there might be more to report before the morning. The fish are spread out over the whole river due to the low water in May. That means all our Pools are fishing well. It is simply the best, to be able to fish all the way from the E-Beats up to Bogen Søndre and having the chance to hook salmon. The first two were caught above Gaulfossen this time, but we are sure the lower Beats will produce fish as well at any time. During the week we have been preparing the beats, and at the Lodge we have seen plenty of fish moving.
The conditions for this time of the year, with the warm and low water are new to us as well, so we are exited to see how things go, but for the moment we are just happy to be back and enjoy the excitement of a new season! The scenery here in the valley at the moment is gorgeous -everything is green, the river is in perfect shape – the salmon are here – nothing could be better right now than to be right here! We will keep you updated!
Sincerely,
Your team at the Norwegian Flyfishers Club
Lovely Bua Bridge Pool today – pretty sure there already fish in here!