59lb Cod From Our Sandbakken Lodge In Norway - Words & Pictures Tony Gussin

A few days ago we were scrolling through some old emails, when we came across a picture of a huge Cod, the Cod was landed from our Sandbakken resort and weighed in at 59lb, possibly the largest Cod we've heard caught from out Sandbakken resort... the picture and information had not been seen by any of the staff before so we decided to investigate... the picture belonged to a customer called Tony Gussin, who been to Sandbakken the previous year and who's friend had landed the monster. A phone call or two later and Tony sent us this lovely report and some more pictures, it also worked out that Tony was on his way to Sandbakken once again on the 3rd of August! Take it away Tony...

Myself and two friends from our fishing club in Barnstaple, North Devon, are anxious to return to Sandbakken in Northern Norway on Wednesday, August 3 after a great trip two years ago with Angling Direct Holidays. Steve baker and myself have been before, and we prevailed upon a third mate to come and see what all the fuss was about.

Nostalgic perusing of photos also uncovered a picture of a stonking 59lb cod which my friend Steve caught about five minutes from the fish camp and although we don't expect anything quite so large, it certainly proved Norway's potential to us.

Until two years ago we knew nothing about norway, but booked the holiday as it had long been an ambition. We travelled in July that time and could not fault the service or smoothness of everything, from traveling through to the fish camp itself. The three and a half hour drive from Tromso was a bit of a drag, I admit, but the new way of transferring via Oslo to a second flight should improve things considerably.

On arrival we were given a very helpful introduction to the boat by Kristian, who met us at the airport and then after a couple of hours sleep and a quick shopping trip, were ready to go.

I must admit we struggled for the first couple of days, as it took a little while to find the marks and get a sense of the lie of the land, or seabed. But we soon learned where the reefs and shallows were and had little trouble bagging up on good sized haddock (a first for me) and codling to around 10lbs.

(As Kristian explained) the summer fishing had been slow to start that year as the water had not warmed up following a cold winter and the bait fish had not moved into the fjords when they usually did. It meant the monster coalies were not around, but we still caught plenty of fish. As the week went on the boat temperature sensor leapt from 11 to 14 degrees in a few days. Steve's cod was caught towards the end of the trip and my best, a fish of around 18lb, on the last night. Both looked like they had come straight in from the sea in the previous day or two.

But in all we ticked all our target species apart from halibut - cod, coalfish, wolfish and red fish - and now armed with more knowledge of the area and marks we hope to bag one this time!

We tended to do two trips a day, with a "daytime" session until teatime and then out at 9/10pm until the early hours to target the fish during "night time" when they seemed to feed much more readily and the baitfish were on the move.

I have heard some horror stories form other Norway trips elsewhere, poor accommodation, or people who try and book it all separately and end up paying through the nose and i can honestly say the Angling Direct option still looks the best value for money to me.

Last time we spent about £35 each on food, around £70 each on fuel and a few quid on barbecue charcoal (there's a nice outdoor barbecue area) and top up bits of tackle. Hardly "mega bucks." We also found it wasn't necessary to travel dozens of miles every day if we didn't want to, as there were plenty of good marks a short steam from the fish camp.

And with stunning views, a boat 30 seconds away and the freedom to fish whenever we liked, 24 hours a day, who could ask for more?

Roll on Wednesday!