Finally back on the ice

November is becoming my favourite ice-fishing month. Fresh ice, not so much snow, active fish... that is indeed an attractive combination. Where to find a lake with solid ice and good population of artic char? Of course in Femundsmarka! Here are a few photos from my 3-days trip to Elgå and nearby lake Volsjøen. 

The road between Drevsjø and Elgå offers a reindeer safari 

I rented a very nice apartment at Elgåen søndre farm, just next to Femund lake. Hot shower is os good after being on the ice from 7:00 to 14:00. 

Evening view from the apartment over lake Femund, still unfrozen

I like to start fishing early, because arctic char typically bite before 9. It means waking up at 5, driving a few km to the parking and hiking up 50 minutes with headlight to reach my favourite spot and start fishing at 7:30, before the sun rises. 

For 3 days, I fished around this small rocky island, in max 3 meters deep water. 

Volsjøen is nicely located, with some views as well. 

Being alone on autumn ice requires some caution. Here I wear a floating dress, ice spikes and I have an extra set of dry clothing on the shore. Also, the first day, on my way to the fishing spot, I drilled several holes just to check the ice. When I was looking at the weather forecast during November, I was slightly sceptical, because there were not so many days with temperatures below 0, but luckily the ice was almost 10 cm thick, which is more than enough. However, after two days being alone on the lake I was glad to see 3 other fishermen on Saturday. 

Lack of snow also means that it was much easier to walk to the lake. 

And fishing? I brought home 7 nice røya and 1 trout, which is more than I hoped for. Fish were most active before 9 as I expected, but I got some before lunch time as well. I also learned some pretty good lessons: 1) one fish broke my main line - that could mean it was a really big fish (and it felt big), or my line was damaged, or I should have let the fish get more tired and not rushed, or a combination of all of these; 2) two fish released the leader under røyablink - I need to replace everything with more reliable fasteners and 3) placing the rods into rapidly freezing slush snow is not good idea, as it is not possible to release them after while and the handles will be damaged. 

Luki and Siki on Ultra-Heavy style expedition

Another summer = another week with my freind(s) exploring some nice wild area in Norway&Sweden. This time only Louka was able to come. We decided to use my inflatable  canoe Palava and explore a few lakes around Rogen (especially Litle Vonsjøen and Bredåsjön). Louka arrived without his bag that stayed in Prague... but we decided not to waste any time, drove back to Oslo, I provided him with some clothes and with only few hours delay we headed towards Sweden (Käringsjön). 

This is an overview of the whole trip (yellow triangles = our camps). In total we paddled 46 km, carried the canoe 9x (in total 20 km of carrying - we had to walk 3x each carrying) and hiked around about 15 km. All this in 8 days. We spent most time in Sweden. 

First day was extra long - we had to drive a few hours, did some shopping, paddled on Käringsjön and Hån lakes, carried the canoe and all our overweight stuff over swamp to Rogen, paddled across Rogen and found this lovely beach and our first camp. 

The water was calm during the first two days and all the rain showers stayed far away from us.

The aim for the second day was to reach our favourite Litle Vonsjøen lake. In winter we got some nice arctic char there and we wanted to test our luck in sommer as well. This picture is from Våndåhåarna,  a lake between Rogen and Little Vonsjøen. Here we got 2 big perch and Louka was diving into the clear water to get some spinners he saw on the bottom. 

Crossing from Våndåhåårna to Litle Vønsjøen was relatively OK. There is a path and it is about 700 m long. However, it goes through a boulder field and it was good idea to deflate our canoe and put it in the bag. Here we are already on the shore of Litle Vønsjøen, waiting under our tarp until the rain shower stops. 

No wind on Litle Vønsjøen while searching for a place to set a camp. 

We found one (not the best one, as the ground was not flat at all), set the camp and went fishing. 

On such water it is easy to spot the circles from hunting arctic char. And it is vital to know where they are if you want to catch some. We manged to chatch two nice ones, perfect dinner!

Next day we moved to a much better camp, continued fishing, explored the area around and tried to consume as much of our supplies as possible before the most challenging carrying. 

Going back to Sweden, from Litle Vønsjøen to Bredåsjön. 2 km distance, no path. It was not very easy and we spent 4 hours to carry all. Louka found chaga mushroom there, that we tested later. 

We were tired and the plan was to find a camp as soon as possible. After 2 km of paddling on Bredäsjön we reached an amazing bay with this fantastic campsite. 

It was really good place to stay and relax. We were starting to be tired, after doing 16 hours fishing/paddling/carrying shifts every day...

Here Louka is explaing that there are no fish in Bredåsjön. But a few minutes after I got a  monster grayling and Louka his personal best trout... just in front of our camp...

Time to move further... we crossed the lake and camped on its north-east shore, where the path back to Rogen starts. 

Bredåtjärnen - a small nice lake on the way to Rogen. We got 2 nice trout there. 

Bredån river is connecting Rogen and Bredåsjön. 

Back on Rogen. We grilled the trout in the shelter on Bredån entrance to Rogen, talked to a man who was staying there and continued further across Rogen.

The weather changed, wind and rain. We stayed the last two nights in a bay near Rogenstugan, fishing and hiking around. A big pike ate my spinner. This picture is from a nearby river. 

Walking up to a nearby lake

and checking a system of old hunting traps.

Last day - carrying the canoe from Rogen was suddenly easy.

Long drive to Oslo...

We fished a lot and ate fish almost every day. We got all the species we could (perch, grayling, pike, trout, arctic char). Louka got his biggest trout ever (55 cm), I got the similiar size grayling. We lost only one spinner, that was eaten by a big pike...  Fishing in late evening was the best, but nobody knows. 

Great trip as usuall... and time to plan another one:)

More pictures from Louka can be seen here.

Family holiday in Norway - Tuddal and Finnskogen

This year, we planned our two weeks summer holiday on last-minute-random principle, based on the weather forecast. As usually in Norway, the best weather was in May, but in July, there is a lot of rain. Originally we wanted to visit south-west of "iconic" Norway, but instead we ended up in Tuddal (west from Oslo) and in Finnskogen (east from Oslo). And it was great!

Tuddal area

Because of unstable weather, we did not camp, but rented a simple cabin next to lake Bonsvatn. It was perfect base for our daily trips in the area. 

Our cabin

First day we decided to reach Gaustatoppen, a mountain with "best" view in Norway. Belma hiked up, while I and Lukas used the service of this "underground tram", that was built inside the mountain in 1950s by NATO. Very cool and claustrophobic experience. The whole scheme is on the next picture. 

Gaustatoppen can be crowded, but it is worthy. The view is really good. 

In the evening I fished a little in Vindsjåen. The area around looks great for hiking. 

Next day was rainy, so we drove to Rjukan, a hydroelectric town located in very deep valley of river Måna. There is a great industrial museum Vemork, exhibiting the machine hall of once then biggest hydropower station and the heavy water cellar, the place of one of the WWII most renowned military operation. 

Part of the machine hall

...on the way to museum

Next day was sunny! We drove a few km through Vikdalen to Våtjønntoppen gapahup, Belma hiked to Ørnenuten, while I and Lukas were encountering the sheep and worked with the grill. 

The view from the gapahuk. Very nice place. 

In the evening I hiked to Langetjønn to fish. This is the view towards Våtjønn. 

Another day, another sunny day! We drove to Bondal. Belma hiked to Bonsnos and we explored the old farming village. 

Bondal

refreshment along the road

Last day, on our drive back to Oslo, we stopped in Rjukan again and spent 3 hours on Rjukanbanen, a historical railway from 1909. We travelled by the train from Rujan to Mæl station, next to lake Tinnsjø, where the train originally led to the majestic ferry Ammonia.

The train stopped at Mæl station

Mæl station

The ferry. Place for 18 train wagons and almost 200 people. 

Finnskogen

I have read about this area several times, but never visited. 120x40 km of forest and water along Swedish border, settled by finish people in 17th century. My colleague Oddrun was born there and provided me with some inside tips what to visit there. And as the weather forecast was relatively OK, we drove there... and were surprised a lot with the beauty and calmness of this area.

First two nights we spent in this cabin from 1875 (Langmovollen), near Nordre Fløgen lake (that surprised me with very solid perch and pike) . Those old cabins are nice, but hitting your head into something is relatively common while staying there...

Nearby Kynna river offers great family friendly paddling, so we spent half day exploring the northern parts. There is perfect network of camping places along the whole river. 

On the way to the next cabin we crossed some nice rivers. On the left is Ulvåa river close to its inlet to Flisa river. On the right is 180m long wooden bridge across Glomma river in Flisa. The water levels were high - that was great for paddling condition on Kynna river. 

Our next cabin was located in Gravberget. Amazing family cabin. 

Landscape reminded me my favorite Femunsdmarka

Last day of our trip we camped along Kynna river and explored the section south from Skårsjøen. 

Paddling was fantastic 

and camping along the river is nice and easy.

Last photo from the holiday, while eating pizza in Kongsvinger.