Fish&Fly contributor Vegard Heggem, owner of the Aunan beat on the Orkla in Norway, just sent us this video of Tarquin Millington Drake of Frontiers International releasing a very nice salmon of 30lb or so he caught this morning.
Last week Tarquin was fishing on the Alta where Mollie Fitzgerald, owner of Frontiers, caught salmon of 22lb, 35lb and 54lb in one night. We are not surprised Tarquin fled south!
Tarquin told us his story, "I was fishing the “Cross Pool” (Korshølen) working down the run before it drops into the main bucket of the pool. What looked like a good fish swirled behind my fly with its back out of the water. I cast again and changed fly three times to try and get it to come back. No joy. I continued down the pool with my original fly, a Mikkili blue (black fly with blue tinsel), and began popping the fly in behind a large rock sticking out of the water. A few yards below where I had raised the fish, as the fly swung out of the wave breaking off the rock, I noticed a big dark shape and big white mouth – it looked like a trevally riding the waves following a fly. In my mind I had decided that it was a fish and I should cast again, in short, I had moved another fish. But, three or four more yards into the swing of the same cast a fish took. It felt solid but so do fish of 18 or 22lbs. The fish stayed in the fast water for some time before running fast down into the gut of the pool where it decided that it was in the best and most secure place to be and there was no need to go elsewhere. A tug of war followed for about another half hour. During the course of the battle I kept getting glimpses of the fish and could see it was bigger than a 10 kg fish but I did not want to over-excite the guide or myself – it may just look big in clear sunny water I told myself.
Finally, when I was sure, I told Eric the guide that it was big but he did not seem to understand what I was saying until it came very close at his first attempt at tailing it. He then decided the net might be a better option. His first attempt with the net failed because he could not get the fish in it and as commented, ‘I think we need a bigger net!” - As is often the case with over-sized fish, he ended up almost putting the fish in the net because that is the only way to get it in. But, it is useful for controlling a big fish.
We took some photos and let him go and we swam away very happy having only been hooked in the upper lip. A wonderful and memorable fish. On seeing the fish, its size and colour, all the activity came in to perspective. The first rise was the same fish and it had obviously dropped back after looking at the fly the first time. The dark shape and the big mouth was also the same fish beginning its pursuit of the fly from the break off the rock. The picture of Eric snake rolling shows the rock in the back ground. The fish took between Eric and the big rock, under the break. Aunan beat is like a swashbuckling Norwegian salmon fishing with a touch of Icelandic technicality. Just marvellous!"
Vegard is very committed to catch & release and, although not compulsory at Aunan, his conservation message and attitude is spreading quickly especially amongst the younger generation in Norway.
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