Start of icefishing season 2023/2024

Motivated by all the trips I am reading about on the facebook group Røye-fiske østlandet, I decided to hit the road already in November and drove for a weekend to Elgå. I did several adjustments to my fishing gear (smaller hooks, longer lines under the lures, installing a fly instead of hook, buying a floating suit), so I was very eager to test it all. And it was a good test! I cannot wait to be back again. Here are some pictures:

On Thursday night I arrived to Engeren lake, where I spent a short night in the car. That lake was not frozen. I felt asleep at 2, woke up at 6 and drove up to Søndre Røåstjønna. There was already a lot of snow, so reaching the lake took some effort. 

There is very nice gapahup, so it was very comfortable to change into the new suit. 

I have never been there before, so it was challenging to decide where to fish. I was getting just small fish, but after lunch i finally got one nice røya. 

Evening came fast (sun goes down a few minutes after 15:00)

so it was time to reach the car and drove to Elgå to Båtstø camping, where I stayed in a cabin for the next two nights. 

The plan for Saturday was clear - Volsjøen. It took me an hour to reach my favorite spot on this nice lake. 

I started to fish at 8 and røya were biting! After 5 minutes, I got a beautiful male char over 50 cm, after that 2 nice blank røya and I lost one big fish in the hole. And at 11 the fest was over. I was very lucky, as two other fishermen that were fishing nearby did not get a fish. It was very nice to practice my Norwegian with them and I hope they got some fish later (they were staying in a lavo next to the lake, so plenty of opportunities)

After the long and windy Saturday on Volsjøen I was tired and on Sunday I decided to take it easy and fish only in the morning near the road. I walked across Hammarsjøen to Storsjøen. I have never icefished there before, but it looked nice in the summer, so I wanted to try.  

It was cold (minus 18), but sunny no-wind morning. I tried a few holes around the island, no bite at all. So I visited a couple from Hamar who started to fish in the middle of lake. It was supposed to be a good spot, but no fish today. I left after an hour, drilled a few holes on Hammersjøen and at 13:00 I drove back to Oslo. 

And the last picture i took - ice is forming on this part of Femund lake. 

Warriors of the North on Sølensjøen

The third mini-expedition of Warriors of the North is successfully over. After canoeing on Rogen (2019) and hiking in the north of Femundsmarka national park (2022), we decided to return to the water. We explored Sølensjøen lake and its surroundings, using our muscles and two canoes rented from Femund Canoe Camp. 

Our team is well balanced, covering all the skills needed to survive and enjoy the nature

We spent five days in the nature, paddled 55 km and hiked 30 km. It was necessary to use trolleys to transport the canoes from the road to the lake (7 km on gravel road; went very well). 

Sølensjøen is a medium sized lake (14 km long, 3 km wide, max 58 meter deep) in Rendalen region with good population of grayling, sik, abbor and trout. 

Along the gravel road

First day the lake was not very calm

and big grayling were hunting in the waves. We got two amazing 55 cm males during our first stop. 

Fillets from 2 grayling...

Our first camp.

Second day we arrived to the northern end of the lake, where we stayed for two nights.

Obviously, we had fish for the dinner.

Fishing in the mount of the Sølna river was very good. We got many perch , one nice grayling and one big pike that escaped because we had too small net. 

Third day we paddled and hiked upstream the beautiful Sølna river

and got some nice fish for the dinner. 

Forth day the weather improved a lot and we headed south, along the west bank of Sølensjøen. We visited Fiskevollen, biggest and oldest fresh-water fishing village in Norway. 

There are big pike in the water....

It is time for a lunch break! According Louka's schedule, we had to eat every third hour.

This beach at Mefurua is an obvious place to stop.

But just for a while! We have continue further south, to catch IT!

Stollvika - here we spent our fourth night. Sandy beaches, observing an osprey catching a fish, getting some grayling for dinner - fantastic place!

Just a fire....

Next day, the water surface was like a mirror. 

We did a short trip up to Nordre Ørsjøen lake and got some trout there as well. 

In the afternoon we continued further to the south...

and found our last camp in Håbudammen, under the Sølen massive. Its highest peak has 1775 m and we were discussing hiking there, but decided not to. 

Last evening offered a spectacular sunset and the next day we drove back home, full of energy and already planning our next trip.

Family holiday in Femundsmarka

We spent two weeks in July in Engerdal-Femund area, where we wanted to introduce cpt. Lukas (almost two-years old) to camping, canoeing, hiking and cabin life. It went really well and we experienced a lot of wonderful moments. Selection of pictures below. 

First 4 nights we camped in Femund Canoe Camp, situated along Sorka creek. It is a car-free camp with campsites spread in the forest. Reindeer walk often around. 

Actually, reindeer walk everywhere there. There were some mosquitos as well, but nothing serious.

It is easy to paddle from the camp into Femund lake. Here is Sorka's mouth into the lake viewed from our inflatable canoe Palava . Another day we drove to a nearby lake system in Jyltingsmarka and explored lakes Glen and Halvorsjøen - it is an excellent family friendly water system. 

From the third day the weather has started to be rainy, so instead of canoeing we started "hiking". Here is our first destination - a little mountain Kvennvikhøgda (1075 m), hiked from Litvåvollen.

The top offers great views towards Femund lake and in clear weather it must be really wonderful there.

As the weather forecast was not very optimistic for the following days, we moved to a cabin at Valdalen gård. It is very nice deer farm with other animals as well (they even have peacocks there). Their deer burger meat is really good!

There are some nice forests around. In nearby creek Vala it is possible to catch nice trout (I missed really nice one in one of the pools)

As Valdalen gård is very close to Sweden, one day we made a trip to Swedish Fulufjällets national park.

One of its main attraction is this almost 100m tall Njupeskär waterfall. 

We spent the whole day walking around, visited the waterfall and enjoyed an amazing visitor center. I hope to come back for some ice-fishing this winter. 

Back in Norway, the weather was not so nice. This picture is from one of my evening fishing trips, this one to Fjellgutusjøen. 

There is also this lovely sandy beach on Fjellgutusjøen and we had a great trip there with Lukas. 

Last part of our trip (5 nights) we spent in Elgå, in a cabin in my favorite Båtstø camping, doing simple trips around. One day we took Femund II boat, went to Revling and walked back along the lake.  

A small creek in nearby forest

and an amazing beach near the camp.

One of my evening fishing trips went to Hammarsjøen and further to Storsjøen (here I missed some good trout...)

Another day we did a short hike to Brennhåmmåren mountain (947 m). We crossed this lovely stream 

and after a few hundred meters of steep hill we could enjoy 360 degrees view from the top.

Still on the top. 

Last day we walked along Femund lake towards mouth of Elgåa.

And I made my final evening fishing trip, this time to Volsjøen. It is always interesting to see the lake, that I know only from winter, during summer. 

Evening at Volsjøen. Clear water, storm is coming, I got some promising bites, but no fish on the land. 

This is the list of locations I tried to fish. I was not very successful in getting fish (one big bike, two big perch, a lot of small trout, several bigger trout lost), but it was great.