Northern Pike and asp on the fly in Norway

Robert with a nice fish.(photo Roy Vinje) A nice Asp on the fly. Gurglers are great for asp and pike. A big asp at 4.5 kilograms probably norwegian record on fly.

The best spot in Norway for northern pike on the fly is just outside Oslo. The best season is mid May. This area is also the best for "asp" in Norway. (Latin Aspius aspius, I cannot find an english name, in german it is rapfen).

23. mai 2006

Sist oppdatert: 23. mai 2006

My friends Robert Sørvik and Roy Vinje have reported big pike on the fly this season. Quite a few fish in the 10-14 kilogram range have been caught in the area. This is exciting fishing and it is done wading. I have only caught smaller pike this year (2-4 kg), but probably started a bit to late as no big fish has been reported the last few days (May 20th). The flies we usually use are big streamers and poppers. You will need a rod with a line weight heavy enough to transport  big air resistant flies.I use an 8 weight rod with a 9 weight floating line. The prefered colors of the flies are Chartreuse, chartreuse and white, red and white, white and blue gray and green with darker barrings like a perch. All the flies tied with a lot of flash. The Mushmouth has been my favorite this year.

Asp (Aspius aspius) is a great fish to catch on a fly rod. It is a fish in the carp family and it is a very agressive fish eater. It is looking a little bit like a tarpon. Fish in the 1-2 kilogram range are commen where we fish, but asp is very uncommen in Norway and we put all the asp we catch back. The season is from late May and the whole summer.

The best flies I have used for asp are the Gurgler and  the Crease Fly. We strip the flies in with a lot of noise and the takes can often be very agressive.