Windy Viglsjøen

March 2026, and another long-awaited five-day ice fishing trip is here—Louka and me again. This year, we decided to try another location instead of heading to Femundsmarka as usual. I somehow suggested Viglsjøen, a lake in the Tydal area, about 50 km north of Røros, that should offer good trout and Arctic char fishing. There is also the option of doing a loop around the Guevtele mountain, visiting lakes along the Swedish border.

I bought a Paris pulk and built a hauling system for it, got new skis and boots, and upgraded my ice fishing rods. While preparing, I realized I had actually visited Viglsjøen before—in September 2018 with Emilio—and left empty-handed after two days. I also remembered the area being very exposed, with no trees and plenty of wind.

The weather forecast for next5 days wasn’t particularly promising—windy, with unstable temperatures hovering around zero—but we decided to give it a shot. I picked up Louka at the airport, and we drove to Stugudal area, sleeping in the car along Road 705. On Saturday morning, we packed our pulks and set off. We had 15 km ahead of us. 

The first couple of kilometres across Syndre Langsvola—just perfect conditions.

Ahead of us lies Lake Langen. The plan is to ski down and cross it from north to south—about 5 km.

It looked simple—just a few hundred metres down through the birch forest. In reality, it took us an hour, several crashes, and I even lost my sunglasses along the way. A combination of deep snow, a steeper slope, poorly packed pulks, and my not-so-stiff hauling system made this section quite a challenge.

Finally, we crossed Langen lake (of course with a strong headwind) and headed up into the mountains, following tracks left by other fishermen. This section was really nice, skiing along the river canyon with beautiful views all around.

This place felt like the gateway to paradise as we approached Vigltjønnan.

And finally, we reached the lake—but still had 2 km to go in strong wind before reaching the spot where we planned to pitch the tent.

Suddenly, the wind dropped. We set up camp and went fishing nearby—we still had about two hours before sundown. By the way, the 15 km route had taken us five hours... we were not very efficient...

First hole, first fish—a beautiful Arctic char. What a start! As it turned out, it was also the last char we caught (apart from a few very small ones).

The next day, after a surprisingly cold night, we woke up early and skied to another part of the lake to fish and have breakfast.

We fished all day, moving between several spots, but had no success. Louka hit a rock with the drill, and we lost a big fish when it broke the line under the lure. After a day of beautiful weather, the wind began to rise again in the evening.

The night was very windy. Luckily, Louka managed to secure the tent using extra ropes and his pulk. It was cold, wet, and windy, and the forecast didn’t look any better. We decided it would be best to move on and try somewhere else.

So we packed everything and started heading back… but as we skied across the lake, it somehow didn’t feel right to leave. Luckily, we found a nearby spot sheltered from the wind, only few minutes from the lake. We decided to build a snow wall as a windbreak and set up camp there.

Over the next two days, we moved between different spots on the lake, building snow walls and mostly relying on passive fishing. The video below shows me promoting the fishing here—arguably the best speech of my life…

Our last day had arrived (we decided to leave a day earlyier because of the forecast) and we headed out for one more round of fishing.

We built another snow wall, drilled 5 holes, and settled in to wait.

We caught one nice trout, and together with the one from the previous day, it turned into a great soup—a perfect meal on the ice.

After lunch, we began considering a change of fishing spot, so I went to check the holes one more time. In one of them—a big trout! After a few tense minutes, I managed to pull it out. A beautiful male fish, over 60 cm—the perfect final fish of the trip.

On the way back - instead of skiing across Langen again, we skied over Langsvole "ridge" and it was good decision

Louka, Langen lake and Viglfjella in the back

Our route (blue line is the way there, purple line the way back) and camps

and this is how we looked after 4 days on the ice and wind

Cold weekend near Femund

It had been a few weeks since my last ice-fishing trip, and I was starting to feel the desire to catch some arctic char. I’d also bought two new rods and some ice-fishing flies from Isfiskebua, so I was eager to try them out. Where to go? Why not Volsjøen. The plan was to sleep outside, but the weather forecast made me book my favourite apartment in Elgå instead (thank you Jon Arve). And it turned out to be colder than expected. Luckily there was no wind and the sun was shining, but −30°C on Sunday was simply too cold. Even so, I fished all three days, didn’t meet a single person, and managed to catch a few fish.

Cold morning at Volsjøen (minus 25), after fog went away

Warmer with the sun

The biggest catch

Great track all the way up to the lake

Looking forward to hot shower

being out from early morning till the evening...

Next morning was clearer and slightly warmer, but still below minus 20

Fish were active only between 9 and 10 in the morning, during both days...

On my way to Oslo, I stopped to fish at Rørsjøen. It was minus 30 when I was sking to the lake...

Demanding 4 hours of fishing (a layer of water on the ice under the snow) resulted only in one escaped solid fish...

Last days of 2025 around Tynset

It has become a family tradition for us to spend the last days of the year in the Tynset region. This year we stayed in two places - first, a couple of days in a cosy old cabin near Kvebergstjønna, and then in an amazing little house in Fådal, just 5 km from Savalen lake. 

The area around Kvebergstjønna offers great views and some nice cross country skiing routes. It was a big contrast to snowless Oslo. 

Kvebergstjønna is supposed to have good trout and arctic char populations, but on the day I tried icefishing there, nothing was biting. Still, it was a good opportunity to test my new (half home-made) pulk and to grill in the local gapahuk. 

It was time to move to Savalen. My first ice-fishing day there did not start very smoothly. I stepped right into a pool of water on the ice near the shore. I didn’t notice it because it was still dark, and there were tracks there. It was only about 50 cm deep, but I ended up lying in the water and had to drive back to change into dry clothes. As a result, I started fishing an hour later and also had to pay the toll twice. But there was a positive side to the day as well: I met Gaute on the ice, a nice man who runs an online ice-fishing shop called Isfiskebue. He gave me some good advice on when and where to fish—and he also gave me three nice fish. So I ended up with five fish for dinner and drove home after two hours. 

The key to fishing at Savalen is to start early (very early) and find the right spot and depth. A combination of a char lure, a red blinking light, and a fly with maggots usually works well. I fished four mornings and caught some nice fish every day. Such early start is actually good for a family holiday, because you can leave the ice at around 10:30–11:00 and still have time to go skiing or sledging. 

These are the places where I fished. At the southernmost spot, the fish were very active from 07:00 and stopped biting after 09:00. The northern spots were deeper (8–10 m), and the fish started biting later—around 09:00—and stayed active until about 10:00. 

Nacreous (pearly) clouds (perlemorskyer), or polar stratospheric clouds, are clouds that form in the stratosphere during winter at altitudes of 25,000–30,000 metres.

Before a lot of snow arrived, we went on a little expedition to explore the ice, using a spark (kick sled), our favourite local way to get around.

Locals really use them in Tynset, too.