Opening day - Despite the lousy and cold weather, Tage from Tynset and me had to try the river. After some searching we found large schools of grayling, and they had an appetite for our nymphs: in about 2,5 hours of fishing we landed and released ca 20 grayling, average size 37 cm. But the largest ones fell for my streamers.

The water-level is stabilizing now, and wading is possible at many places. The water is clear but still very cold, only 5 degrees Celsius. No rising fish, no insect activity. Use streamer or nymph. If you go into the river, be careful, the cold water makes it a bit dangerous. 

In the late afternoon I tried a streamer just in front of the campsite. In 2006 I had two big trout there, and now there was another one: 60 cm and 2,2 kg. He jumped fully out of the water 4 times and gave a nice fight. After a photo session I released this beautiful trout again.

Last Sunday afternoon Ivar and me fished for some hours with streamers. No trout this time, but we had quite a few nice grayling. Ivar landed and released one that measured 47 cm. In the stretch we fished fish were rising for big stoneflies, but we left our dry flies at home.

Today was the first day with nice weather since almost two weeks. Despite  the rising water-level there were grayling active and feeding. Mostly for nymphs, but I saw a few rising also. I presented them Rhodani and Ignita patterns - the grayling loved them, and I had some nice dry fly fishing.

The water temperature is rising now - 2 degrees up in two days -  and insect life in the river is kicked into action. Yesterday afternoon grayling was rising for small dark stoneflies (size 16 - 18) at places where the water warms up fast: slow flowing shallow parts of the river or just downstream of them.

Today fly fishing is only just possible. This morning the water level is 588,46 and that is almost too much. A group of 5 Dutch fly fisherman had some fun yesterday in the Labyrinth, they fished with a kind of caddis emerger called "Softy" (size 16 - 18) and had a nice time with grayling up to 45 cm. One of the guys,  a experienced Glomma fisherman called Walter (interviewed in the fisherman pages) tells about his pattern : “ The Softy is without doubt my favourite dry fly for Glomma.  So called by a friend of mine. It's basically a pupa emerger with a very low profile. The fish trust the silhouette and take this fly with great confidence, while higher floating flies are rejected ”. In the evening I noticed small dark sedges on the wing, the first ones this year.

Still the weather is very fine, the temperature in the afternoon is in the twenties. The water temperature has increased also, this afternoon it reached 12 degrees Celsius. The level is falling a bit, and it seems that most of the snow in the mountains has melted now. Take a look at this new page about water level, snow condition and rain fall for more information how to predict the water level in Glomma.

The Dutch guys had a nice day with Czech nymphing and some dry fly fishing, biggest grayling today was 48 cm. I had the biggest trout - 47 cm, she took my nymph and gave a memorable fight at my #3 rod. Another trout measured 41 cm, taking fast runs and jumping like crazy - I had a great time - and I took about 15 grayling between 32 and 42 cm. Of course I released them all. At the place I fished, one of my favourites in the FF zone, I saw not a single fish rise. I started fishing with streamers for trout, but only a few large grayling were interested. After a while I changed to nymph and fished my way upstream again. The whole session took about two hours.

Yesterday I observed a small hatch of Baetis Niger (Iron blue dun) and a few Baetis Rhodani, in a slow section of the river.

The river has come up again, and the water is a bit coloured today - not very good conditions for fly fishing right now ! 
The last days only a few fish in Glomma where rising for dry flies, and we haven't seen any insects hatching. The group fly fisherman from Holland had nice nymph fishing, and a few trout on streamers. Today two guys fish the Hodalen Lakes, at some special places I showed them - tomorrow I will report about their results.

Glomma has fallen a bit and the water is more clear then yesterday. The guys that went to Hodalen Lakes had great pike fishing, several nice fish on streamers, biggest one 90+ cm (and than there was the one that got away, Walter thinks is must have been quite a bit larger......) I fished a few hours in the evening, hoping for trout, using a small streamer. Well, I landed two small ones and several nice grayling between 35 and 40 cm.

Yesterday I fished with Jan and Walter from Holland. No rising fish, so we used nymph and streamer. We had a few fish, and I took some pictures. Later on we tried another beat in the FF zone, and Walter landed and released a big grayling (48 cm) using a dry fly (Softy). In the early evening there was nice dry fly fishing just downstream the campsite.

More and more fish are rising now. The warm weather is over, temperature is normal again for the time of the year. There are some reports about a few hatching upwinged flies, probably Marginata, and several species of sedge flies. Streamer fishing is still interesting, I tried the stretch just downstream of Telstad cabin yesterday for a few hours, and had several trout up to 42 cm and grayling up to 43 cm. Torbjorn from Sweden released a beautiful 48 cm grayling from the FF zone, she took a dry fly.

The water temperature has dropped to 10 degrees Celsius, and in day time there are more and more fish rising. There are caddis on the water, very small ones size (18-22), and bigger ones, size 12. When the sun shines there are several species of  upwinged flies hatching : most important one seems Beatis Rhodani.

The fly fishing is good now in Glomma. There are many insects hatching : Beatis Rhodani, Beatis Niger, Ephemerella Aurivillii, and several species of stoneflies and caddis. I get enthusiastic report from satisfied fisherman - Leif, Jonas and Peter from Lindeberg, Sweden had beautiful dry fly fishing at the Labyrinth with grayling up to 45 cm, Bertil from Falkoping, Sweden landed and released a big one measuring 52 cm, and Ralf and Gunnar from Hamburg, Germany landed two grayling of about 50 cm. With my fishing buddy Michael from Deventer, Holland I fished a nice tributary of Glomma called Tunna. We only had a few smaller fish, but the scenery was great.

This sedge sat on my table, so I took some pics. If you visit Kvennan Fly Fishing this summer, bring your digicam and a USB cable. Make some nice catch and release pictures, if the pics are good enough in quality I will place them at this page. The lucky fly fisherman with the largest grayling, photographed and released unharmed, will fish for free next year.

An important species of may fly is the Baetis group. These are mostly very small (but beautiful) insects that hatch during the complete fishing season in Glomma. So if you like dry fly fishing, make sure you have some patterns in your fly box ! Small, size 16 - 20. See pictures to the right. Great pike fly fishing can be had in the Hodalen Lakes. Bram from Holland had a few on a yellow streamer, biggest one measured 108 cm (using his #5 rod....). Mario and his friends from The Hague, Holland, staying in Telstad cabin also fished these lakes for pike with similar results.

Water level in Glomma is fine, and quite stable below 588,50 m for two weeks now. The fishing is good, and every day there are stories about nice fly fishing. Jan from Apeldoorn, Holland, had a 49 cm grayling on a nymph, Johan from Goteborg landed and released one just as big on a Rackelkanen. Kjell and Oyvind from Oslo had one grayling of about 50 cm. Teijo and Soren from Sweden reported 18 grayling between 40 and 45 cm, 23 grayling between 45 and 50 cm, and one measuring 52 cm, in just 4 days (dry fly) fishing. Great results from the fly fishing zone.

Yesterday was a dark and rainy day. The water level came up a bit, and circumstances like these are ideal for trout fishing. I tried a stretch in the lower part of the FF zone. There was nice dry fly fishing using Baetis patterns, when the rain came I switched to streamer fishing, and had 5 trout, two small, one 42 cm, one 48 and the biggest one was 55 cm and 1,6 kg. Needless to say they where all released. Jac, member of the Dutch section of the Grayling Society reported a 53 cm grayling, on a Klinkhamer.

We had a few days with beautiful and warm weather last week. The water temperature has come up to 15 degrees. If there is no wind you can see clouds of sedge swarming, they mate in the air, in night time they lay eggs in the river. Night fishing can be very good, many fish rise for green caddis pupa. But the timing is crucial, at 24.00 o'clock the river may seem dead, at 01.30 action can be furious. The next night it may be completely different.

Fishing in day time is more predictable : in the afternoon there will be hatches of Baetis flies,  and there will be smaller hatches of Ephemerella Ignita and Aurivillii. Need some tying inspiration ? Have a look at http://www.eikre-fly.no/en/patterns/dognfluer .

Don't forget to bring ant imitations, they will work time after time. Colours : black, black and red, yellow (!) .

What might be very important is to take with you quite thin tippet. Many guys only have 14/100 or 16/100 tippet, and I think this is not fine enough. Many of the larger grayling in the river are getting a bit educated, and fishing a super pupa or red tag on a thick tippet will not always do the trick !

It will also be a good idea to fish the less obvious places in the river. This means walking a bit further and working a bit harder. Or book a guide.

Fly fishing has been good the last few days. Pawel and Lukasz from Polen reported 283 fish in a week fishing, 96 between 35 and 45 cm.

Water level is perfect right now, and the temperature of the water also. The fishing is not easy though, presentation and imitation are very important for good results. Yesterday I fished all day, switching between streamer, nymph and dry fly all the time, with average results - grayling up to 40 cm. The biggest fish I saw refused my BWO parachute twice, making a large swirl under my fly, and that was the last I've seen of her.

There was another beautiful trout for me, last week. This one measured 57 cm and weighted 1,8 kg, on a nymph. I was fishing for larger grayling using my #3 rod and 12/100 tippet. It took me about 15 minutes to net the trout, and I was just lucky I guess I landed this fish, with such light tackle. The water level is more or less stable these days. Long term weather forecast says there is nice and warm weather coming, so the level will fall next week, and the water temperature will rise. Fish the fast stretches, use small nymphs or ant patterns. You can also try (quite big) black mosquito patterns, and, as always, Baetis patterns.

As predicted, the water level is falling fast now. This is not a bad thing, it makes finding fish easier. In the middle of the day there are many fish rising for small may flies. Ant patterns are also successful, as are Super Pupa size 12.

The two nice pictures to the right were send to me by Felix, Hakan and Douglas from Sweden. They write:

" Hello! Here come some pictures from our fishing week. We had very good fishing our last 3 days, in the fly fishing zone. Many fish over 40cm and my biggest grayling was a fish at 49cm on a dry fly. And a trout at 47cm.  A big thanks from 3 Swedish guys, we all caught grayling over 44cm, and all fish were released. "

Well Felix, it looks like you have a nice chance to win the free license for next year ! At the end of the fishing season I will publish the winner here, in the Fishing reports 2008. Thanks for the pics, and see you again next summer!

The beautiful and warm weather is ending now. Tomorrow will be the last day with temperature in the twenties, and some rain is predicted. The water level will come up (but only a bit) and the temperature of the water will drop. The fishing has been good the last week. Hans from Holland showed us some tiny dries, see pic below, size 24. The grayling have an apatite for these small flies (imitating, of course, Baetis). Another Dutch fly fisherman reported a 55 cm grayling. Best places to fish now are the fast riffles.

The last week the water level has not been very stable, it comes up and it falls again. This is not good for the fly fishing, that is, when the level rises the fishing can be totally lousy. And the next day when the level drops again the fishing can be wild. As a general rule : when the level rises, go for trout, use streamers. As it falls, go for grayling, and use small dark flies : size 16 and smaller. Use thin tippet ! If you want to follow the water level day by day, look at http://www.glb.no/  (vannstander). Every day the information is updated at about 08.45 hours.

The may fly species to the right is hatching every day in small numbers. To me it looks like a Heptageniidae sulphurea or dalecarlica. (if you don't agree : please let me know, I find it quite hard to determine all these species of upwinged flies).

The two guys fishing are Maris and Raitis from Riga, Latvia. They hired me to guide them, and at the same time learn them fly fishing... They have been fishing all their lives, but fly fishing was new for them. They both had their first grayling within an hour, and at the end of the day they were totally infected with the virus called fly fishing 😉

The pictures below show Stefan from Germany fishing in the FF zone. Stefan is a rod builder, and his fly rods are things of beauty. But more important, casting with them is a joy.

I guided him in nymph and streamer fishing Glomma style, and we had a nice time with not so big grayling and a few larger ones. Also present is Jerry from Holland. He reported a lot of fish on nymph and on dries. He is also using small mayfly patterns. On the picture to the right he shows a 45 cm grayling. In the night huge caddis are swarming. If you want to try a fly like this, fish it in the dark. These are big flies ! Use a size 8 hook.

So, there hasn't been changing a lot, in day time use small nymphs, all colours as long as they are black, or use tiny dry flies : size 18 - 20 Baetis type, long and thin tippet. Your casting has to be spot on, and the presentation must be perfect.

Some Swedish guys staying at Aakerøien Camping today reported to me a grayling of 48 cm, and lots of smaller fish. I've seen one of them fish - he used a small red tag, fished classical wet fly style, down and across. He had quite a few fish. I fished upstream, nymph, and also had a lot. Not very big, but it was fun. The weather is not so nice, weather reports are fine, but it is cold, cloudy and sometimes windy. The water level remains more or less stable, and the water temperature is slowly decreasing. There are not so many fish rising, but if you fish at the right spot it doesn't seem to matter terribly much which fly you use, chances are you will have good fishing. Anders from Sweden reported last week a 51 cm grayling. You can read the whole story in fishing stories.

To the right two pictures of my favorite streamers for Glomma: Glomma shadow and Glomma dog. I designed the Glomma dog as a imitation of a sculpin to be fished with a floating line. The lead head makes them dive down deep, and both trout and grayling just loves them ! The Glomma dog seems to be better in the first half of the season, Glomma shadow is better in the second part. These streamers are about 8 to 10 cm in length, no need to use smaller streamers when the fish like them big, you know, size matters.

There were several reports this week of grayling measuring between 45 and 50 cm, most of them on dries. Like this time last year fisherman tell me they have seen big (huge) jumping trout, possibly trout hunting for small fish in the surface. The fishing can be very good, but timing is important. Baetis is still hatching, but depending on the weather, it can take place during mid morning or early afternoon. There is not much going on in the evening. Nymphing can be done the whole day, of course.

The pics to the right show Jacco - I guided him and showed how Glomma  nymphing can be done. He had a nice time with plenty of grayling, biggest fish was 46 cm.

Not much has changed since the last fishing report. Baetis hatches every day around noon. Fisherman tell me they have good fishing with dry flies, catching quite a lot of grayling between 40 and 48 cm, and a few just over 50 cm. Ted and Fred from Holland both had a beautiful trout on a dry fly, between 45 and 50 cm.

So this is happening every afternoon - hatching Baetis flies. I tried to shoot some pics of it - this is the best shot. Needless to say the fishing is still very good, Per and Thomas from Sweden had a nice time fishing dry fly only, Per had his second best Glomma grayling ever, a beautiful 52 cm specimen. The water-level is low and it is not so difficult to find feeding fish, most of them measuring between 35 and 40 cm.

The fishing season is nearing it's end, and the beautiful autumn colors are covered with snow. In the middle of the day Baetis still hatches, and if you know where to look, rising grayling can be spotted. Berry from Holland was our last guest this season, and he had good fly fishing on dries and nymphs, catching grayling up to 45 cm.

The winner of the big grayling C&R - photo competition is Felix ! (see below). Free fishing for him next summer. Have a look at www.fly-only.dk , there is a really nice video made by Nic and Mikkel, when they were fishing the Fly Fishing zone this summer. Thanks a lot, guys!

Thanks for your visit, have a nice winter, and see you next year!