The water level in Glomma has sunken enough to have good fly fishing again. Many places - not all - can be reached and the grayling are hungry. Last night it was about minus 5 and winter is coming. And the grayling know it. Yesterday I guided two guys from Holland. At a few places they landed a good bunch of grayling, on nymphs. A size 14 Black & Silver worked just fine. Later in the afternoon there were a few fish rising, and Ruben landed a nice one on his first self-tied dry fly : a size 12 Dynamite Harry 🙂   

Actual water level                            : 588.02
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 587.41
Water in Glomma is                         : clear
Water temperature                           : 9 °C
Air temperature min - max              : -4 - 12 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  1 m/s , South

A rain storm hit river Glomma last night, and the river is high & dirty. Time for Hodalen Lakes again .... At this moment of writing, 10:00 o'clock, the river is still rising. It will take at least 24 hours for the water to be (almost) clear again, and I guess about 48 hours before there will be a few places fishable. What a pity, the fishing was just getting better. Last weekend we had very nice and warm days with lot's of sun and, most important, almost no wind. I fished Sunday a few hours behind the Isles at the campsite, and landed about 10 grayling - half of them good sized. Most on nymphs, and than some on streamers. I observed two guys euronymphing, and one of them landed fish after fish .... 

Actual water level                            : 588.61 (10:00)
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 587.42
Water in Glomma is                         : brown
Water temperature                           : 11 °C
Air temperature min - max              : 6 - 9 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  1 m/s , changing

The end of the season is approaching fast, most trees are in full autumn color now, and we have a few very nice and warm days at KFF. There is also hardly any wind, so very good fly fishing conditions. The weather forecast has been very unreliable in the last weeks, so lets forget about the forecast. Just go fishing. Yesterday I saw rising fish at many places, and several fly fishers talked about difficult, but nice fishing. I haven't seen the small Baetis mayflies yet, maybe next week ...

Markus from Germany was here last week and he send me this report & pictures :
"Hello Hein, in this cloud there are some photos I shot this week on Glomma. Maybe you can use one for the homepage. Today, in these not easy conditions, I caught finally 28 Grayling from 15 up to 45cm.Best fish I was able to catch this week was about 52cm. Again the week on Kvennan Fly Fishing was not easy but beautiful with some nice Grayling on dry and nymph. Hope to see you and the Glomma again next year. Tight Lines, Markus from Bavaria"

Actual water level                            : 587.84
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 587.45
Water in Glomma is                         : clear
Water temperature                           : 14 °C
Air temperature min - max              : 11 - 22 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  2 m/s , South

Two days ago the river came up a lot after heavy rain showers. Glomma is about one meter higher now than she should be, needless to say the fishing is difficult now. This weekend I would say you should try the Hodalen Lakes. Just go to the fly fishing zone of Drengen, you can wade there and there is plenty of room for your back cast. Beautiful scenery and plenty of fish.

For next week the conditions look much better. The weather forecast is good, mostly dry days with not much wind and a bit of sun. Sounds great - let's hope this forecast is more reliable than last week's ...

This week started with nice weather on Monday, not much wind and good catches for some of our guests. On the pictures Eddie and Wil from France, showing a very good trout and a pike from the fly fishing zone. Eddie told me he landed plenty of grayling, and this trout, on small nymphs - sight fishing. See the fish, present your fly, if the fish moves set the hook. Not really easy fishing, I guess as always the rule is 20 % of the fly fishers catch 80 % of the fish ...... 

Actual water level                            : 588.42
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 587.45
Water in Glomma is                         : almost clear
Water temperature                           : 12 °C
Air temperature min - max              : 4 - 12 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  2 m/s , North

The weather is still very unstable with pouring rain from time to time. This is now going on for the last month, and at this moment the water level is a bit high. Mind you, the river is very fishable, and there are rising fish at some places every day now. It also can be very windy, and as I said before, wind is the fly fisher's biggest enemy at river Glomma. I found an interesting report about arctic grayling, it says on page 5 : "Wind or rain storms that roil the surface waters or increase turbidity can disturb surface feeding by grayling (Reed 1964; Bishop 1967). "  You can find the report here.
I guess the best tactic in windy conditions is to find places where you have shelter from the wind (use the KFF map) if you want to fish dry flies. Otherwise, fish nymphs or streamers.

On the photo's today a fly fisher from France. I met him in the river last Thursday, he was casting small dries to rising grayling. I saw him land two good fish in about half an hour, and I was able to get some shots using my long tele lens.

Actual water level                            : 587.92
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 587.51
Water in Glomma is                         : clear
Water temperature                           : 14 °C
Air temperature min - max              : 6 - 16 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  4 m/s , South West

Autumn is just around the corner, here in the North of the Glomma valley, and the trees already are starting to change color. Many days there is a lot of wind, but the water level is about normal for this time in summer. The nights are getting colder, and the water temperature in the river is falling. I guess the fly fishing conditions will improve now and there will be more insects on the water. There should be hatches of small Baetis mayflies, there will be needle flies and small caddis around.

Jerry fished at KFF last week. He is a fly rod builder and works at the oldest fly fishing shop in Holland. He has been at Kvennan Fly Fishing many times, he knows the river well, and he send me reports about his fishing.  

Jerry reported difficult fishing, or maybe difficult is not the right word. There were days with plenty of grayling, some measuring 45+ cm. Every day of his week at KFF there were periods with rising fish and good catches, but mostly these periods were quite short - maybe an hour or so. The rest of the day, Jerry said, he was struggling to find some fish that would take his dry flies. Best flies were super puppa yellow/brown size 14-16, and a #16 yellow klink worked almost all the time. There are about two insects that could be imitated with this yellow klinkhamer : a yellow Sally stonefly (I haven't seen any of them lately) or a Sulphur mayfly (have seen none of them either). So why our Ladies of the Stream have a taste for them really beats me ....

Actual water level                            : 587.62
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 587.53
Water in Glomma is                         : clear
Water temperature                           : 12 °C
Air temperature min - max              : 5 - 15 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  4 m/s , South West

I met Anders and Victor from Sweden, father and son. This is the first time Victor is here, Anders has been many times at KFF but not in the last 10 years. So now he came back, and brought his sun to introduce him to fly fishing for grayling. With success, Anders showed me a picture on his phone with Victor holding a 45 cm grayling .. his first. How nice !

Walter from Holland, a long time KFF fly fisher and a nymph expert, reports good nymphing in the upper stretches of the fly fishing zone, with grayling up to 45 cm. Plenty of fish he said, maybe on average a bit shorter then last years. Just like my observation.

Jaco from Holland, also an experienced Glomma fly fisher, reported good nymph fishing on Sunday afternoon with many takes on a Black and Silver nymph. He landed 6 good sized grayling in two hours fishing, and he observed some rising fish. The dry fly fishing is improving a bit, but it can be windy now and than, so choose your fish spot carefully.  

Actual water level                            : 587.68
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 587.56
Water in Glomma is                         : clear
Water temperature                           : 15 °C
Air temperature min - max              : 7 - 17 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  2 m/s , East

These days are a bit windy, making good dry fly presentation difficult. Find places with some shelter from the wind by using the fishing map. Download it here and put it on your phone. 

The water level is falling slowly, and by now the level is about normal for this time of the year. The weather forecast speaks of rain, so the level will come up a bit I guess. No problems there, but if there should be local downpours such as happened last weekend, the river can be very dirty and unfishable. That can last for 6 hours up to 24 hours. If this happens, go to the Hodalen Lakes. 

Yesterday I tried some flies I tied recently, only to find out the fishing was very difficult. There were a few smaller sized grayling making inspection rises to my #14 F-fly (rejected) and that was about it. In the end I managed to land two below average sized grayling on nymphs. I guess fish fry imitations will work right now, I will try but first I have to tie a few ... They are not standard in my flybox. Not yet.

Actual water level                            : 587.62
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 587.51
Water in Glomma is                         : clear
Water temperature                           : 15 °C
Air temperature min - max              : 14 - 19 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  4 m/s , South

Actual water level                            : 587.94 (at 10:30)
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 587.52
Water in Glomma is                         : clear
Water temperature                           : 12 °C
Air temperature min - max              :  5 - 17 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  2 m/s , North

The water level is falling, and the weather is improving a bit. All in all reasonable fly fishing conditions, and from time to time there are some minor Baetis hatches. Small caddis are around and one the water, laying eggs, and a #14-16 imitation will bring fish in the net. Otherwise try ants, black klinks, daddy long legs, etc. 

Yesterday I guided Niels and Kenneth from Denmark, we had some fun with average sized grayling on nymphs and also a few on dry flies. And there were a few taking our streamers - that sculpin imitation I talked about is working just fine in the fast riffles, fished with a sinktip line. Biggest fish was about 45 cm. In an hour of fishing.

If you are interested : on the page https://kvennan.com/more_info/ you will find some links to important information & reports. One of them, NINA report 802 writes about the amount of bait fish in the upper regions of Glomma. Especially sculpins - they are the must abundant fish species in the fast riffles. On page 11 - 13 there is some info about sculpins, or steinsmett in norwegian, a staggering number of 50 fish per 100 m2 is mentioned .... Now, if a big grayling gets hungry because there are no hatches, what do you think they will do ? Wait for the next hatch, or maybe put there nose in the riffles in search for a nice, fat, juicy sculpin .....
I think I know the answer ....  🙂

Actual water level                            : 587.73
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 587.48
Water in Glomma is                         : clear
Water temperature                           : 14 °C
Air temperature min - max              :  5 - 21 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  2 m/s , South

I was wrong, the river came up more than I expected. At least right now the water is about clear again, and with this level several good places at KFF can be fished. The water level will fall again during the next days, and fly fishing conditions will improve.

Actual water level                            : 588.14 (12:00 o'clock)
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 587.49
Water in Glomma is                         : almost clear
Water temperature                           : 13 °C
Air temperature min - max              :  9 - 15 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  2 m/s , North East

This morning the water in river Glomma @ KFF is brown. I guess tomorrow this time it will be almost clear again. The level is not yet at it's highest point, that will probably be around 588.00 . No use in fly fishing the river today, and there will not be any river fishing around, all of them will be high and/or dirty. Except one : river Hola just might be fishable, because this river is draining  such a small area, and because it flows from the Hodalen Lakes: these lakes are always clear.

Of course today the Hodalen Lakes themselves will also provide good fly fishing, as they always do ...

Actual water level                            : 587.92 (10:00 o'clock)
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 587.53
Water in Glomma is                         : dirty
Water temperature                           : 14 °C
Air temperature min - max              : 10 - 14 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  1 m/s , North

Today a lot of rain will fall - so they say. Let's wait and see how bad it will be, you never know in this mountain area. 
There are not many rising fish now, but an ant pattern will quite often be taken. Use a black and red pattern, maybe something like this fly : https://kvennan.com/fly-tying-videos/glomma_parachute_ant/

Last week Hakan and Agnetha fished at KFF. Here is the report they send me :

"Hello Hein ! A little report and some photo's from this week’s fishing ! My first trip to Kvennan was 2006. Since then I have returned about 12-15 times. Not sure .... 🙂 This time my wife, Agnetha, joined me for her first visit to Kvennan. But not the last !!
As a novice fly fisher she quickly adapted and it didn’t take long before the first grayling was in her net ! Yesterday she tried a nymph and caught this week’s biggest grayling with 47 cm ! I myself caught a wonderful looking trout just a couple minutes later. On a dry fly, ant imitation. Over all, quite difficult fishing with very picky grayling. You only got one chance !!
Although, very impressed with the size on the graylings we caught. 40+ cm with many around 45 cm.
We wish you Tight Lines - Hakan and Agnetha, Sweden "

Actual water level                            : 587.65 (10:00 o'clock)
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 587.55
Water in Glomma is                         : clear
Water temperature                           : 15 °C
Air temperature min - max              : 10 - 14 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  1 m/s , West

The last days it rained quite a bit, like all over Europe, and now the water in river Glomma is rising again. In these kind of conditions grayling is not feeding in the surface. Yesterday I fished a few hours with streamers and a 10 feet sink tip #5 line, and landed about 10 grayling and one trout, most of them measuring about 40 cm. I also missed about 10 bites. I think quite interesting, active and effective fly fishing !

It looks a bit like salmon fishing: cast down and across, wiggle you rod, make the streamer come alive, let it swing and wait for the pull ... One step downstream and repeat. Best pattern was a 7 cm sculpin imitation, but a 10 cm black wooly bugger also worked, and so did a 10 cm minnow imitation made with grizzle feathers.

The other day I met Ansgar from Germany, and he told me a similar story of grayling and trout on streamers, he also mentioned sculpin imitations. These sculpins, or bullheads as some guys call them, live under the stones in fast riffles in Glomma. Every now and then one get’s washed out and becomes food for the hungry trout and grayling.

So that would be my advice for these days:
Fish the riffles with streamer patterns, if possible with a sink tip line. Big fun ! Don’t forget to bring a wading staff and put studs under your shoes because these stones in the riffles can be very, very slippery ….

Actual water level                            : 587.76
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 587.55
Water in Glomma is                         : almost clear
Water temperature                           : 14 °C
Air temperature min - max              : 8 - 15 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  2 m/s , North West

The water level in Glomma came up to about 587,93 and is now falling again. The next days more rain is forecasted, I guess the water level will stabilize and maybe come up a bit again. From time to time there are some insect hatches, mostly small Baetis mayflies, and there are caddis active - sizes 14-16.

I read somewhere that fly fishing is 90% about timing, and this is very true in river Glomma. Some Swedish fly fishers told me about last night's fishing with intense hatches for about one hour - after that one hour where nothing happened, to be followed by one more hour with plenty of action. After that it was all over.

There is some algae in the river, and some of it is washed downstream only to hook up on your fly, even if you are using dries. This can be annoying.

Actual water level                            : 587.82
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 587.56
Water in Glomma is                         : clear
Water temperature                           : 14 °C
Air temperature min - max              : 10 - 23 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  2 m/s , east

After windy days last week we now have rainy days at river Glomma. So the water level is coming up, and I guess we can use a bit more water in the river. The forecast says there will be more rain this week so the river will rise a bit more. The fishing is not very good at the moment, there are insects on the water, mostly caddis, dark, size 14, and small small Baetis mayflies. Casting dry flies to good looking places will bring fish, but it can be difficult these days to find big grayling. I noticed there are a lot of small grayling around. Best advice now would be to fish the deep fast riffles with large CDC caddis patterns ... 

Actual water level                            : 587.74 (11:00 o'clock)
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 587.60
Water in Glomma is                         : almost clear
Water temperature                           : 12 °C
Air temperature min - max              : 6 - 12 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  2 m/s , all directions

The water level in River Glomma at Kvennan Fly Fishing is stable, and a bit low for the time of the season. The weather is rather unstable, with chilly temperatures in the night and mornings. That's a good thing, I think, for the fly fishing. The water cools down in the night and during the day, in the afternoons, it warms up again. this often triggers hatches. The last days I observed some hatches of small mayflies of the Baetis family. Let me suggest imitations on size 20 hooks, a green body might help.
Several fly fishers talked about size 12 superpuppa's in different colors,  so that's also a pattern to try now.

Last week I guided Hadrien and Philippe from Belgium on a rainy morning at KFF. The fishing was not as good as it can be, but the guys had some fish and also a few nice ones. All on dry flies, CDC caddis patterns worked best.

A few days earlier Anders and Ivar from Sweden booked me to fish a day at Kvennan Fly Fishing. It was a sunny and warm day, with plenty of grayling, all on dries, CDC caddis patterns again, this time a bit of dragging the fly worked like a charm, as Anders showed me. There is always something to learn, also for me 🙂

Anders told me about two trout he hooked the day before, biggest one about 45 cm. The first one took his fly on his third cast, he used a green CDC pattern. 

Actual water level                            : 587.45
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 587.70
Water in Glomma is                         : clear
Water temperature                           : 13 °C
Air temperature min - max              : 9 - 17 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  2 m/s , South 

Summer has come to the upper parts of river Glomma, we are having warm days now with blue skies. Maybe not the best conditions for flyfishing, but a bit of sunshine is always good for the soul.

Last week I was out at the river with my camera, when I met Martin form the Netherlands. Check out the video !

Actual water level                            : 587.47
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 587.80
Water in Glomma is                         : clear
Water temperature                           : 16 °C
Air temperature min - max              : 17 - 25 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  3 m/s , South West

A few days ago I met Jan S. from the Czech Republic at the river, a well known name in the European fly fishing world. He has a fly fishing shop and is fly fishing and casting guide and instructor. Jan told me about incredible fishing for grayling with lots and lots of fish. These were the words he actually used: "incredible" and "unbelievable". He landed them all on dry flies. Jan told me about his favorite CDC fly of the day: it’s basically a red tag, size 16 I guess, dark brown, no hackle. His largest fish of the day were two grayling of about 45 cm.

Right now we have had fly fishers from 14 European countries, in only three weeks time. Kvennan Fly Fishing is well known, and has a reputation I guess 🙂 . But strange that our Swedish fly fishing friends seem to have forgotten about us !

Actual water level                            : 587.54
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 587.91
Water in Glomma is                         : clear
Water temperature                           : 13 °C
Air temperature min - max              : 10 - 24 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  2 m/s , South West

Right now the water level in Glomma at KFF is pretty stable, wading is easy with this level, and fly fishing conditions are quite good. From time to time there are hatches of all kind of insects, and then rising fish can be found on many places.

This video I made last week shows Glomma at KFF, with lots of bugs on the water and in the air and rising grayling in the river.
Cold and miserable weather helps, but don't expect too many insects when it's nice and warm ...

Marc from France told me about a 52 cm grayling he landed on his first day fishing this year on a #14 caddis imitation. Andreas from Switzerland reported great fishing at a few fisheries close to KFF, he fished several places I showed him during guiding, and landed grayling up to 54 cm - a new personal best for him. Great ! 🙂

The three photo's below show some of these beautiful grayling Andreas landed in his week of fly fishing - photo's by Andreas.

Actual water level                            : 587.69
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 588.00
Water in Glomma is                         : clear
Water temperature                           : 12 °C
Air temperature min - max              : 8 - 15 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  5 m/s , South West

The last days fly fishing was quite interesting at KFF. Lots and lots of different bugs on the water, rising fish all over the place, you should think fishing was easy. Nope - fishing was most days difficult: the fish can be really picky, and would take only exactly the right fly, presented in the right way. Of course the grayling were willing to help you choose that right fly by making inspection rises and refusing most of your offerings ... Flies that worked for me : orange may fly imitations size 12-14 , Baetis Rhodani imitations, zebra midge emerger # 14, CDC caddis patterns #12-14.  

The weather forecast for the next days is pretty good : it might be a bit windy from time to time, bat that's rather normal in June. I would say fly fishing conditions are pretty good right now.

Actual water level                            : 587.78
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 588.08
Water in Glomma is                         : clear
Water temperature                           : 11 °C
Air temperature min - max              : 10 - 18 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  2 m/s , South

The first week of the season was quite good with nice weather, rising fish and not so much wind. I found in the fishing reports a guy from Sweden who reported 5 grayling 40-45 cm, 5 grayling 45-50 cm and two just over 50 cm. On one single day.
Another fly fisher from Germany reported very good fishing, he also claimed two fish over 50 cm, but he also talked about very picky fish that were not willing to take his fly. Anyway, impressive results for so early in the season, I guess if you just hit the right conditions, like this first week, early season brings the biggest fish. Right now, the water level in Glomma has come up quite a lot because of yesterday's heavy rain, and the river is not completely clear now. I think the water will be clear again in 24 hours, and the next days the level will fall. How fast it falls depends on the amount of rain.

Sunday I guided Andreas from Switzerland. I showed him on the maps the best spots for this time of the year, and took him to one of my favorite spots. There were not so many fish rising in the morning, later on the fishing picked up a bit and Andreas landed a few nice grayling and a nice little trout on dry flies. There was hardly any wind this day, but plenty of rain. One might think great conditions for dry fly fishing, but the fish decided otherwise. At the end of the session he tried a streamer and landed a nice grayling on it almost immediately... 

Edwin from Holland reported plenty of rising fish in the afternoon, a bit upstream of were I guided Andreas. 

On Saturday I guided Søren and Marcus from Denmark. Lot's of wind from the South made fishing difficult, even though there were enough rising fish around. The guys landed a few fish using caddis imitations.     

Actual water level                            : 588.30
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 588.11
Water in Glomma is                         : a bit dirty
Water temperature                           : 10 °C
Air temperature min - max              : 5 - 10 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  2 m/s , North / North West

There will be a few more summer days this week, before the weather will change to a bit more normal situation for this time of the year. It has been warm the last three weeks, all the snow has melted and the river is low compared with other years.

On opening day - Saturday - I met these two guys from Sweden. Peter hooked and landed a modest grayling, Nils told me about a 50 - 52 cm grayling he just released at this spot - he told me to stay low because he saw some more big ones. Sure, I understand that ! 

At my cabin on the riverbank a lot of caddis in different sizes are scattering around, I also saw large and small stoneflies, flying ants and daddy long legs. Everything is weeks earlier this year. The gulls and swallows are having a ball with all these fat bugs, and I am sure - so are the grayling.

Actual water level                            : 587.70
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 588.16
Water in Glomma is                         : clear
Water temperature                           : 15 °C
Air temperature min - max              : 10 - 21 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  4 m/s , North East

Only one week to go before the fly fishing season opens at Kvennan Fly Fishing. Things are looking quite promising: especially the water level is very good for this time of the season, and I guess the level will drop to normal summer level in a short time. 
The last days there were rising fish, mostly in slow flowing river stretches with some shade from the hot sun. Insects to imitate in the first weeks of the season are midges, needle flies and stoneflies. 

Actual water level                            : 588.00
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : 588.41
Water in Glomma is                         : clear
Water temperature                           : 13 °C
Air temperature min - max              : 14 - 20 °C
Wind speed and direction               :  3 m/s , South

The first report of this year. Welcome back guys ! It seems that a lot of snow already melted, as the webcam photo's below show us. You can find webcams around Kvennan Fly Fishing here .

Actual water level                            : 587.52
Average water level 2005 - 2022   : ...
Water in Glomma is                         : ...
Water temperature                           : 2,1 °C
Air temperature min - max              : 1 - 10 °C
Wind speed and direction               : ...