• LEFT • Cloudberries, a delicious delight in high mountain plateaus, char or no char. SO LITTLE TIME, SO MUCH DESPERATION LIVING north of the Arctic Circle guarantees about eight months of winter, with no spring at all, but in-stead an abrupt and brutal transition to a short and intense summer that lasts for about three months. Then there’s a wet, cold autumn before winter is back. At an altitude of around 2,300-3,300 feet— which is the zone that attracts me the most—the ice may disappear late in June, if you are lucky. Early to mid-July is more realistic. So, when we talk about char fishing, we are talking about a tiny window with ice-free water, enough heat for insects to hatch and weather that is (maybe, hopefully) cooperative. You can choose the lowlands and trout, and the success rate is much higher. Catching a trout of 4 or 5 pounds in a mountain birch forest in Finnmark in July is within reach, even with marginal time at your disposal and poor conditions. With Arctic char, on the other hand, you’re often dealt the worst cards you can imagine. It doesn’t eat, rise or move in any nor-mal way. Compared to trout, the char simply does not behave logically—and that is if it shows up at all. You can almost guarantee it will choose not to rise when everything looks to be in place for it to do so. 058 NORWAY
The Flyfish Journal The Flyfish Journal 15.3: Page 58
