Namsentunet lodge
Saturday, August 20th: Grong, Norway
We’re (unintentionally) preparing ourselves to go back to the eastern time zone, so staying up late and waking up late. Matt woke up and ate the majority of our new Freia chocolate bar with popcorn and crunchy corn bits sprinkled throughout. We finally rolled ourselves out of bed around 11:30 AM, packed up the AirB&B and made our way to Namsentunet.
We arrived early, but they welcomed us with coffee and cookies and showed us to our room. The lodge is nicely set up and feels cozy with fishing memorabilia hung up on all of the walls.
Our room was set up with two twin beds that we pushed together and a loft with a pull out couch. We unpacked our things and started to see others arrive. It was a welcomed sign since the day before it looked like a ghost town and we were starting to get nervous that the fishing season was coming to a quick close.
We met one of the local guides, Hans, to go over the river, beats, fishing technique, etc. He pointed out the holding pools and areas we’ll likely fish over the next few days. We were surprised when he recommended single handed rods, intermediate line, no sink tips and smaller tube flies. But the guides know best!
Hans offered to show us some of the key sections of the river. We followed him on his motorbike and he showed us Olehus and Fiskumfoss, which seem like very promising sections of the river.
We parted ways and went back to the lodge for an early dinner. They served us a pre fixed menu: Arctic char with a yummy cream sauce that resembled tartar sauce, homemade dill pickles, boiled potatoes and carrots. It was to die for. Then we had dessert: panna cotta with a raspberry coulis. Also to die for.
We hit the river with our suboptimal gear (single handed 8 and 7 weight with floating line and sink tips) and fished at Olehus. We tried a few fly patterns, took off the sink tips, primarily casted overhand and three spoons from the baitcaster. No luck. I side stepped and wasn’t paying attention to my footing - fell in and tried to catch myself with my right arm, soaking my fleece and letting a decent dump of water into my waders. Fishing was over for the evening.
Accommodations: Namsentunet Lodge
