This year the season opens June 1th. The reason for this: we want to protect grayling that is still spawning, or only just done with it. The snow has almost disappeared already, and it seams that one can expect good fly fishing quite early in the season. 

There are more new possibilities this year for us fly fishermen: take a look at www.fishspot.no , you will find several fly only zones situated around Kvennan Fly Fishing. Not all the information is translated into English yet, in the next weeks this will change. To give an overview : Lake Drengen, part of the Hodalen lakes will be fly only (a big part of the lake) , river Hola, river Grimsa (tributary of river Folla), river Unsetåa, and of course river Tunna and river Vangrøfta - or Skrukka as the Norwegians like to call it. All these fishing locations have special and strict fishing rules, which are necessary to protect the fish stocks.

About river Glomma : this year we introduce a new fishing rule - it is not allowed anymore to kill trout in the Eidsfossen and Fly Fishing zones. Trout stocks are having a hard time the last years, it seems that global warming has something to do with it. In the last 20 years the average water temperature in summer has increased with 2 degrees, and trout have problems with it.

Opening day at Glomma - yesterday - I fished the Eidsfossen zone. The river was a bit high and the current strong. I found some rising grayling, they were feeding on size 12 grey stoneflies. In total I hooked and released about a dozen, ranging between 32 and 38 cm. Nothing special but nice enough for this early season, and good to polish my dry fly technique, it has become a bit rusty after a long winter nymph and streamer fishing.

Thanks to heavy rain showers Glomma water level came up strong yesterday. Today fly fishing is not really possible, tomorrow will be difficult I guess, maybe from friday on it will be better. All depends on the amount of rain in the next days, of course. Follow the weather forecast on http://www.yr.no/sted/Norge/Hedmark/Tolga/Storkvennan/.

Water level in Glomma is still high, the river is very nervous at the moment. Grayling don't like fast changes in the level, so fishing is not at all simple, but still possible at a few places. I heard some fly fishermen tell about Baetis Rhodani hatches, and there are quite a few stoneflies and sedges active. At the Hodalen lakes the Vulgata hatch has started.

Water level in Glomma is falling again, and fishing conditions are quite good. I observed hatches of several insect species as Baetis Rhodani and caddis in different sizes and colours. The temperature in the water is about perfect, and especially in the fast water many grayling are rising. The water is clear. Depending on the amount of rain in the next week, fly fishing conditions might be as good as they can be in this time of year.

Yesterday I fished a nice stretch in the fly fishing zone. There was a strong wind from the North, so fishing was not easy, but there were a few fish rising anyway and I had good fishing using my green sedge emerger. A couple of grayling were interested in nymphs, not a single fish wanted my streamers. Stoneflies are still working, and I saw incidental hatches of size 12 mayflies. Couldn't make out which species, every time I saw one on the water, the grayling were faster then me 😉 The picture shows Jinchang, I guided him last week in difficult conditions with high water. Anyway, he had good fishing, when in the South Glomma is unfishable, over here it's often much better, it takes less time for the water level to fall.

Today it rained a lot at Tolga, for tonight and tomorrow they say it will be the same. More rain. Let's see how Glomma will react. In the mean time fishing can be very good, if one chooses the right fly and knows how to present it.

The water level has gone down to 587,73 (meters above sea level) and the water temperature today is 13 degrees Celsius. Fishing results are mixed, sometimes the fishing is very difficult, some guys reported amazing fishing with several fish over 50 cm on tiny CDC flies. Yesterday I tried a few stretches and I had the same experience: use very small dries, the slow water sections are difficult, because there are so many tiny insects, it's almost impossible to match the hatch. Try the fast water.

This 14 minutes video shows feeding behaviour of grayling, somewhere in a small creek nearby. The grayling are feeding all the time, they take nymphs and sometimes they rise for a bug on the surface. Have a close look at these feeding patterns, there might be a few lessons there. Observe how they take nymphs, are you sure your nymph technique is good enough to registrate  also the very small takes ? If not, consider booking me as a guide, I can show you how I think nymphing for Norwegian grayling should be done effectively.

Fly fishing conditions are quite good at the moment. The water level is normal for the time of the year, it's not too windy, at times there can be good hatches of small Baetis mayflies. Nymphing can be interesting, use small black nymphs. if you want to fish dries, also try terrestrial patterns like ants, wasps, daddy long legs.

A French film crew has fished the fly fishing zone to make a movie about Kvennan Fly Fishing. They had interesting results on dry flies. This grayling was about 50 cm.

The river has come up again, but not as much as more to the south. The weather is unstable, the wind has come back, to be short: a bit difficult conditions for fly fishing.

What are the grayling in Glomma eating right now ? This video shows some food items. And a bit of fly fishing. Nothing fancy, no big fish, just nice fishing.

Water level in Glomma is changing all the time. This is not good for dry fly fishing. There are not many insects hatching, but fishing can be good anyway. Fishermen report good streamer fishing with fish up to 45 cm, both trout and grayling, dry fly fishermen have nice results with Daddy Long Legs, ants, wasps, micro caddis, tiny Baetis nymphs, emerger patterns.

The last three days I guided three gentlemen from Germany. We had a good time and although the fishing was difficult, they were quite pleased with the results.

Now Glomma has fallen to the normal water level for summer time. There are no changes in the fishing, the same flies and techniques work well.

This week's video shows a portrait of a Dutch fly fishing nestor : Kees P. fishing the FF zone.

Strong wind from the north has made fly fishing difficult during the last days. Still there are not many insects hatching, so try the terrestrials, nymphs and streamers. Black is a good colour for this time in the season. Some Swedish fly fisherman reported very good results, they fished size 16 black ant imitations. Largest grayling was 49 cm.

The pic shows a mayfly spinner that can be found now in the evenings close to fast flowing water. It's quite large: including tail about 4 cm.

Yesterday I fished the Eidsfossen zone, I wanted to try nymphing some fast water. I had good results using Rhyacophila patterns (green inch worm). Fish were standing in the top of the runs, decent sized grayling up to 45 cm.

If you prefer dry fly fishing, try Baetis patterns, olive seems to be the best colour. Some French guys reported good dry fly fishing in the lower parts of the fly fishing zone with small may fly imitations.

Yesterday I guided Mats from Sweden in the FF zone, in just 4 hours fishing we had about 20 grayling between us, up to 44 cm, most of them on dry flies (midge patterns).

Nothing special, just nice fly fishing.

The last days it has been warm in the Glomma valley, and almost every day there were thunder storms, resulting in a higher water level. Glomma over here is fishable and clear most of the time, but there are not many insects hatching. The very unstable weather is not helping much I guess. Still it is possible to have decent fly fishing: use nymphs, as Rhyacophila.

The pic shows Philippe, I guided him this week, we had nice but difficult fishing and a couple of decent grayling.

No fishing this time, but fly tying. I'll show you two flies that work well, "zebra" (good midge imitation) from my FF buddy Jan, and my own rhyacophila pattern. Both patterns have proven themselves over the years. The water level in Glomma came up all the time last week, right now the river is very, very difficult. Brown and high water. Fish Hodalen lakes or read a book, tie some flies, drink a scotch.

Water level is falling each day, fly fishing conditions are okay again. The water is clear and most places can be reached. Today I fished a part of the FF zone. There were only a few fish rising, and nymphing was difficult also, I only had a few fish. All the fish I have seen rising came to have a look at the "zebra" dry fly (see last movie) but refused to take it at the last moment. There are tiny Baetis may flies active, size 20 - 24 and I guess the grayling are feeding on spents of these mini may flies. Interesting but (very) difficult fly fishing.

There was no one to film this week, so I filmed myself. Not easy to be cameraman and actor at the same time, but that's how it is. I'll show you a bit of nymph fishing, in the second part I have a few very nice grayling in a small stream. Fishing can be good, if you try to think - or better, fish - out of the box. Improvise, search, explore, try new places, try several techniques. Just try!

Rain storms in the North of the Glomma valley have brought up the water level in Glomma to 589,73 (meters above sea level). This is almost 2,5 meters more then normal ...

Needless to say that the fly fishing is impossible right now, and I don't have a clue when the level will improve again - these are exceptional circumstances. To give you an idea about how much rain has fallen : today runoff in Glomma at Tolga is 345 m3/s. Normal would be 35 m3/s. In the upper regions of river Gaula it was even worse, at Eggafoss the runoff increased from 10 m3/s to 830 m3/s in only 8 hours time !

Slowly the water level in Glomma is falling. The water is clear, and fly fishing is possible at some places. Ted and Fred from Holland had good nymphing close to the isles at the campsite. Rob and Esther, members of the Dutch division of the Grayling Society reported nice fishing from the fly fishing zone, with fish up to 43 cm on dries and nymphs.

Fishing conditions are fair at the moment. Not great, not every place in the FF zone can be fished because of a little high water level, but good fly fishing can be had.

After the flood of last week the grayling have developed quite an appetite, and the few fishermen that are in the river now reported nice results, between 15 and 30 grayling per day, on dries, nymphs ad streamers. The dry flies still have to be small, midge and Baetis patterns will do just fine. The pic to the right (by Fred from Holland) shows a nice fish from the fast water.

Yesterday the fishing in Glomma was quite good. A group of 7 fly fishermen from Holland had nice fishing using dries, nymphs and streamers, with grayling up to about 45 cm. The water level is still a bit high, but several good places can be fished for rising grayling. The video shows Ted T. from Holland, fishing a nice stretch in the FF zone. Notice the high water marks in the trees!

The water level has come down to 587,70 today and that's just fine for this time of year. We have had a week with beautiful days, sun, little wind, and the fishing was nice - in the fast water. The slow water is more difficult with (very) picky fish. Some guys from my home town in Holland had good fishing with grayling up to 45 cm every day, using all kind of dries and nymphs, one of the guys (Rene) reported a 50 cm grayling on a size 16 Klinkhamer. 

More to the South Glomma is rising fast again, at the Tolga - Tynset stretch the level is only a bit up (587,73). If the long term weather forecast is correct  I don't think Glomma over here will rise much. The last days nymphing has been really effective, dry fly fishing is more difficult. 

Today water level is 587,95. Glomma is fishable over here, at most places. Rising grayling can be found in slower flowing water, often in the tail of a pool. Flies that work: Griffith Gnat, small stonefly patterns, small Baetis patterns, Zebra of course, and several small nymph patterns. Long term weather forecast predicts rain for next week (what's new ?) but let's hope the weather guys are wrong, as they were so many times this summer.
The picture shows Matthias from Germany, fishing a nice pool in the FF zone. We fished together yesterday - it was a nice day, lot of sun, no wind. Rather nice conditions for dry fly!

Again we had a week with a few beautiful sunny days, and at last the grayling are rising. One can expect to have good fly fishing, if small Baetis patterns, needle flies, etc. are used.

One of the last reports of this year. Dry fly fishing is quite good at the moment, really small Baetis patterns, needle flies, Griffith gnat, zebra, they all work well. Rising grayling can be observed at many places, but you have to look very well because the rises are really small indeed.

The last report of this year.

Water level in Glomma is fine now, and so is the fishing. Use small dry flies, try all kind of water-types, don't only concentrate on the slow and deep water ... Coming weekend we should have a few beautiful Indian summer days, if you have the chance I suggest to try a little fly fishing - it just might be pretty good!

Okay guys, that's all, thanks for your visit(s), have a good winter and see you next summer!

Tight Lines, Hein