The Gaula season 2024 has started with unusual low water levels. The heat in May was very intense and long lasting and the snow in the higher mountains is already gone. Our fishermen arrived basically in “mid-Summer” conditions. We fished mostly lighter rods 13 or 14ft instead the typical early season 15ft rods. Also the lines we chose were way lighter than usual. Overall it has been a slow start in most rivers in Norway, which is certainly a bit worrying but we have seen in the past that sometimes fish are coming later, but with the conditions we had, we expected much better fishing than it was. Nonetheless our fishermen tried hard and the rewards were some fantastic salmon which could be landed on our waters.
The season opener was a great fish from Norwegian angler Ken Tore Tallakstad, measuring 105cm, followed by an impressive 108cm salmon caught and released by danish angler Kim Jørgensen.
Kim Jørgensen managed to land this beautiful salmon on Beat B2 above Gaulfossen.
Also our long time regular Irish guest Damian Torsney managed to land 2 good fish during the opening week.
Damian with on of his salmon.
During the week we got a good rise of water due to some heavy rain falls. The water temperature dropped from 16 C° down to 8 C°. The biggest salmon of the week was caught and released by Ken Tore Tallakstad, again it was Beat B2.
113cm female salmon from Ken Tore – of course the fish was released.
There have been caught some other good fish by Carsten Sparr, again from Kim Jørgensen, NFC’s Daniel Stephan and our guide Peter Berik managed to get the first salmon from our new Beat G1 (right bank).
Also very interesting that some of the Pools have changed after last years huge flood in August. In the lower River Beat E1 and Beat E1a improved a lot – both Beats fish very nicely and will be “safe” Beats for the entire season in most water levels. Beat B1 is fishing a bit worse, some gravel moved, while it seems that B2 is getting back to its old character and improves year by year.
Latest reports say that more medium fish are on their way to the Gaula and a few have been already caught in the lower river.
The river management increased the bag limit for 2023 , which we think has been the wrong decision if one considers the general decline of wild salmon and after the slow season 2022. Anyway, we will keep trying to spread the word for releasing any fish, and especially for the big female salmon which are so important for the future of the river.
We received quite big flood last night with almost 700 cubic at Gaulfossen. The water is dropping now and the fishing should be very exiting during the coming days, fingers crossed! We will keep you updated!
Sincerely,
your team of the
Norwegian Flyfishers Club
