Steinsdalselva. Well worth a fish!

Finding new or available river some days can be a nightmare. Despite the advantages of my job the constant search for new rivers that are not crowded with fishermen is difficult. Seventy nine-kilo meters west from the historic West Coast capital Bergen is such a river. Located on the doorstep to Hardangerfjord, Steinsdalselva( River) if famed as one of Hordalands best tourist attractions. It is here you can walk under a huge waterfall but that’s not all.

Glenn with his the first salmon this year.

This is a perfect river after heavy rains.

The lake at the bottom end has plenty of great brown trout and sea-trout.

Six kilo's of pure joy.

I have driven past this river on my way to somewhere else all too often. So when the opportunity arose to fish opening day I couldn’t resist. Of course turning up to a river with out some background information would be a foolhardy act so within our Norwegian River guide I found plenty of information that left my mouth watering. For example the average sea-trout weight is an impressive 1.9-kilo and salmon have averaged 4 kilo since 1998. So a sleepless Saturday night had me thinking about our chances of catching a real West Coast salmon.

While Glenn and I drove the familiar road all our conversations were based on our chances of landing the “big one” This lead me to a funny story. Back in the 70’s one lucky fisherman caught a large salmon. This tipped the scales at 14.3 kilos. He did the correct thing and sent in a scale sample and what would you know it was a sea-trout. This in turn became one of the largest sea-trout caught in Scandinavia. My point with this little tale was that even today fish from 3-5 kilos are regularly caught.

The river.

Steindalselva is spit into several pools each of these is so different from the other. I will detail each of them:

Movtnet (lake). This is the small lake that forms the out flow for the river. If the river is low you bet is to rent a boat and trawl. We had great success with silver and orange rapalas. We manage to land cod, salmon, sea-trout and one good brownie. The best time to attempt this is in the early hours of the morning. Boat rental and day cards are available at Mo camping (Mo Camping, 5600 Norheimsund Tlf: 56551727).

Fjærabygda (zone2). This is the pool that runs into the lake. The best conditions to fish this pool are after a good rain. Three hundred meters from the mouth of the river is one of the best pools on the river. “Sand pool” is deep and can produce great fish with the use of worm or small spinner. Don’t forget that the remaining stretch is fantastic for all fly enthusiasts.

Mo (zone 3). Mo clearly stands out as one of the best fly zones on the river. With an assortment of different underwater contours this is a real treat for single-handed fly rods. Two flies that stand out are “thunder and lightning” and “black streaking caddis’s”

Skeie (zone 4). It was here Glen caught the salmon that is featured in this article. Down stream from the old bridge are a couple holding currents. We spotted both salmon and sea-trout. This first stretch lends itself perfect for the worm fisherman. Down from the first run you’ll be crazy if you don’t test your fly knowledge.

Steine (zone 5). This pool has a mixture of contours but finding fish hiding behind rocks is not that difficult? The sea-trout here are tough to land but worth a shot.

Neteland/byrkjeland (zone 6). You are now in the upper reaches of the river so the best idea is to fish this zone latter in the season. Personal experience has proven later half of the season the fish tend to be more aggressive so I recommend trying a bright coloured fly when the water level is high.

Contacts
Steinsdalen and Norheimsund grunneigarlag, Stig J. Trefall, 5600 Norheimsund
Tlf: 56551490
Mo Sport, 5600 Norheimsund Tlf: 56551580
Mo Camping, 5600 Norheimsund Tlf: 56551727

http://www.fishbooking.com/fiskeinfo.asp?VassID=722