In early December last year I had the fortune of being invited to spear big coalfish with a couple of my buddies that live further south.
The coalfish or saithe (Pollachius virens) is a very common, and usually small, species which are a very common prey for the most commonly speared fishes in Norway, such as cod or pollack. The coalfish congregate in giant schools all along the coast from early spring until late fall and prefer areas with lots of current. The predators are usually lurking just below the school, waiting for their chance to grab dinner. However, as the year draws to an end and the majority of the fish are leaving the Norwegian fjords for deeper and warmer waters off shore, some fish stay behind. Among those are schools of large coalfish, which have outgrown their congeners but still maintain their schooling behaviour. These fish are very sought after by anglers and spearos for their fighting capabilities and tasty flesh. They are also the only somewhat pelagic species that can be commonly found in Norwegian waters and is the closest thing to blue water hunting you can do in the Norwegian fjords.
In early December the water still has some of its summer warmth left while the air temp often drops below 0. The boat ride to the spot was therefore a bit cold, but the water still nice and warm at 9 degrees. As I jumped in and started my decent into the green (commonly known as the blue), dark shapes appeared everywhere and suddenly I was level with the school. What an amazing sight! Hundreds of coalfish, swimming about in their normal schooling way, were circling me as I met them eye to eye. The only difference from the norm was that these fish were not the bait; they were 10 times the normal size. All the fish in the school were somewhere between 5 and 15 kg and I was half expecting a 100 kg cod to come up from the abyss to grab dinner. Needless to say, we had a blast and got some really nice fish, my biggest being about 12.5 kg and the biggest between the three of us went about a kg more (~30 lbs).
My buddy even got some video of the action:
Spearfishing Storsei. - YouTube
All in all a very good trip that (almost) has me looking forward to the Norwegian winter again!
The coalfish or saithe (Pollachius virens) is a very common, and usually small, species which are a very common prey for the most commonly speared fishes in Norway, such as cod or pollack. The coalfish congregate in giant schools all along the coast from early spring until late fall and prefer areas with lots of current. The predators are usually lurking just below the school, waiting for their chance to grab dinner. However, as the year draws to an end and the majority of the fish are leaving the Norwegian fjords for deeper and warmer waters off shore, some fish stay behind. Among those are schools of large coalfish, which have outgrown their congeners but still maintain their schooling behaviour. These fish are very sought after by anglers and spearos for their fighting capabilities and tasty flesh. They are also the only somewhat pelagic species that can be commonly found in Norwegian waters and is the closest thing to blue water hunting you can do in the Norwegian fjords.
In early December the water still has some of its summer warmth left while the air temp often drops below 0. The boat ride to the spot was therefore a bit cold, but the water still nice and warm at 9 degrees. As I jumped in and started my decent into the green (commonly known as the blue), dark shapes appeared everywhere and suddenly I was level with the school. What an amazing sight! Hundreds of coalfish, swimming about in their normal schooling way, were circling me as I met them eye to eye. The only difference from the norm was that these fish were not the bait; they were 10 times the normal size. All the fish in the school were somewhere between 5 and 15 kg and I was half expecting a 100 kg cod to come up from the abyss to grab dinner. Needless to say, we had a blast and got some really nice fish, my biggest being about 12.5 kg and the biggest between the three of us went about a kg more (~30 lbs).
My buddy even got some video of the action:
Spearfishing Storsei. - YouTube
All in all a very good trip that (almost) has me looking forward to the Norwegian winter again!
