For people who love outdoor activities, May is perhaps the busiest month of all. The skiing in the mountains is on its best, excellent sea fishing, kayaking and the list just goes on and on. But for a group of people that spends most of their spare time in water, May is scheduled to be the best time for grayling fly-fishing. And where is this? At 69 degrees north of course.
A member from the Jack Wolfskin team gives us his account of his recent outdoor activities in Northern Norway during the Spring.
“As the saying goes: if you don’t like the weather in Northern Norway, just wait fifteen minutes! So when I pack my foldable canoe there’s a bit of concern in the back of my head.
“Will there be ice? Should I bring my winter or summer sleeping bag?” and “Do I need gloves?”
Since I already had my down jacket in the back of my car from a skiing trip a couple of days ago, the bags are packed so that I am prepared for all conditions. And as I drive towards this “Mystery River X” I can see remains of one of the coldest winters in many years. Large pieces of ice in almost every river tells me that it will not be effortless to paddle the 10 kilometres I’ve planned, but as the thermometer rises from 4 to 17 degrees, my hope rises with it. The first real day of spring, and I am about to enter one of the pristine wilderness in this part of the country!
I drift silently downstream. The only sound is the dripping from my paddle and the gentle current on the keel. I see all sorts of ducks, a pair of romantic swans and countless amounts of herons. But most importantly I can hear grayling rising to insects in the surface. I grab my fly rod and do a short cast to where I know there will be fish. Of course there is. After a short fight I can lift up my first fish of the season. Not a grayling, but a beautiful trout just under a kilo.
The sun doesn’t set this beautiful spring night, so I lay by the fire until there is no spark left. Just staring into the glowing red sun, and it’s almost like I can hear the surroundings coming to life after a long and harsh winter. This reminds me that this is just the beginning. The beginning of the most beautiful time in the Arctic. And for those of you who wonder...I did get the grayling too! “