It’s still early in Norway, the water is cold and the hatching  and other activity is sparse. Some places have begone to come alive, though, and here is what we have to report.

In many smaller lakes and some rivers the most keen fly fishermen er all ready into the midge fishing. Trying to imitate and lure a trout on one a midge pattern is truly challenging fishing. Tiny little flies, supere thin tippet, and perfect presentation is just some of the elements one needs to master in this tricky fishing. The rest of us? well we’ll just have to fish with spinners and worms, or wait for the Baetis Rohdani mayfly to start hatching, something that actually is tarting to happen som places.

This is a typical scene from the Rena river. The waiting game. When will the hatch start?

Having his first weekend in Rena river, Fishspot ambassador , fly fishing geek and Instagram general, Jon Erlend Sundes, can give us this report:

“Water level is fairly high right now and is still rising. With the south wind the water temperatur have dropped, but it is still possible to get in contact with both trout and grayling on either streamer or with nymph. The mayfly species Baetis Rhodani have started to hatch some places, but in very sparse numbers and not enough to pull the fish up. During the course of the weekend i was in contact with what might have been a pike, and one good size trout. I lost a grayling and had one small trout on a nymph. If the water settles and some north wind can blow out way, we might see a rise in both temperate and fish.”

Gudbrandsdalslågen river in Sel municipality, have had some activity in the for of midge, and also some Baetis Rhodani mayflys’, but as in Rena not enough to pull the fish up. South in zone 5 is where it as been most active, and in the fly fishing zone in Selsvollene, it has been mostly midge. The last few days with rainfall might change this and have the Baetis Rhodani mayflys switch on, however heavy rainfall can also lead to other outcomes. This river, and especially these zones, hav had an enormous improvement over the past two years, and are now among the best river stretches we have. If you are looking to get to know this river better, we recommend doing a guided trip in zone 5 or Selsvollene. Read more about this here.