Tight ­with ­Fishspot ­week ­32 ­– ­A ­family ­trip ­in ­Rondane

The summer has now ran its’ course, and vacation is over for the most of us. However, there are still excellent fishing opportunities to be had for those who have the time. […]

The summer has now ran its’ course, and vacation is over for the most of us. However, there are still excellent fishing opportunities to be had for those who have the time. Øystein Enghaug Solstad has consistently contributed good tips and trip experiences with us throughout the summer, and this past week he packed up his family and took them with on a fishing trip to the mountains with Sel Fjellstyre in fantastic surroundings.  

Text and Photos: Øystein Enghaug Solstad

Finally the time had come for a little family trip in the majestic Rondane area, which was the first national park in Norway established in 1962. Rondane is a fantastic area, and here you will find plenty of opportunities for hiking. This is the mountain area where we grew up, and we were excited to introduce our young ones to Rondane. For us it was important that the hikes weren’t too long since we had a little girl joining us, and of course we had to set up camp next to a good fishing lake. The destination for the trip was the Illmanndalen valley and the Fremre Illmantjønne lake. The trip started out when we parked the car at Spranget in Sel Kommune, and the view from here is nothing to complain about.

If you are up for it you can also loan bikes at Spranget. From here the trip went inwards much faster, and it takes roughly an hour to hike into Fremre Illmantjønne lake with a loaded up backpack. The terrain is very easy here. From Rondvassbu it takes roughly 15 minutes of easy walking to reach the lake.

The mood was relatively good once the tent was setup. We found a nice secluded camp spot at the outlet of Fremre Illmantjønne, and in the lake we could both see and hear that there were very nice fish rising.

The wind was calm that day, which meant for perfect fly fishing conditions. In this lake it is also ideal for fishing with lures and worms, and that evening we met a couple of kids from Stjørdal who caught some very nice fish on a lure.

It is a good idea to have a landing net here. There were many nice fish caught that afternoon and evening, so the net saw a good amount of action.

It was very exciting to catch so many fish, during the course of the day there were over 30 trout caught and one char.

Part of the next morning was used scouting for rising fish. It seems that we might have been up and going a bit earlier than the fish were, but eventually they woke up too and we started to see a lot of risers.

You simply must bring your fishing rod with you when coming to this area. This is an ideal fishing zone for both young and old. Fremre Illmantjønne is ideal for an overnight trip, but is also close enough for a day trip. If you happen to find yourself in are near Rondvassbu, we strongly recommend trying the fishing in Illmanndalen. There is also fishing gear available for rental in Rondvassbu.

 

To all parents planning a trip to the mountains: Take your kids fishing with you!

To the mountains, people, to the mountains!

ØES