Fancy some real off of the beaten track fishing? Ray Kuramoto tells us about a trip he made to the Faroe Islands
First, a geography lesson. The Faroe Islands lie 285 kilometers north of the Shetland Islands on the cusp of the North Atlantic Ocean and the Norwegian Sea. Although a protectorate of Denmark, the Faroes are an independent country but lie closer to Scotland, Iceland, Ireland and Norway than they do to Denmark.
Its capital, Torshavn, is one of the world´s smallest with a population of only 20,000 people. The country’s entire population is around 48,000 people.
18 islands make up the rugged, treeless chain which is interconnected by a network of tunnels, ferries and helicopters (which must be reserved in very good time).
The warm Gulf Stream encircles the Faroes, which means that the ocean temperature is constant between 6 and 12 degrees, ideal conditions for commercial fishing, which is the country´s main source of income, along with tourism and woolen products. Sheep outnumber people, and thrive on the lush grass which blankets the islands.
The Faroes are little known as a sport fishing destination. This is probably due to their popularity as a cultural, scenic, and bird watching destination. But fresh water is so abundant that it is free of charge to the islands´ inhabitants. Brown trout thrive in the lakes and rivers that carve into the scarred landscape.
No fishing license is required for brown trout and sea trout and access to water is freely available, even though land is private and fenced. Salmon run from the beginning of August when a day ticket is required in a small number of lakes and rivers. Salmon fishing is otherwise free.
Sea trout are plentiful in the coastal waters. Their journey to spawn is not a long one as the rivers are numerous and short. The furthest point inland on any of the islands is only a few kilometers from the sea.
This fish was taken on the island of Sandoy from a river less than a hundred yards long that connects the sea at Sandsvagur to Sandsvatn, the third largest lake in the Faroes. The river rises and falls with the tides and the sea trout congregate where it empties into the sea. They move back and forth between the ocean and lake, as evidenced by this silver fish. It was taken on a size 16 pheasant tail emerger, an unlikely sea trout fly.
We also caught flatfish and salmon, which are difficult to distinguish from their sea trout cousins.
Catch and release is generally not practiced for sea trout except for the smallest of fish, which are put back not out of compassion, but because they are not worth the effort to clean. The average size catch during our stay was 40cm. Trout caught in lakes are a different matter and must be released if under 35cm. The Faroese are accustomed to living off the land and don´t see the point of using time and effort to fish for sport but respect the law nonetheless.
During our stay, we were fortunate enough to stay with a local family, who gave us a genuine Faroe Island welcome. We ate homegrown vegetables, dried meats including cod, lamb, and whale, food which would have seen inhabitants through long winters in earlier times. We also ate whale blubber which, when eaten with dried whale meat and washed down with a cold Faroe Islands Får (Sheep) Beer, tasted surprisingly good.
The Practical Stuff
The weather can vary wildly during the course of a day, so come prepared for cold, wind, rain, hail and sunshine.
I used a stiff 9 foot, six weight rod with an intermediate WF line with 10lb. tippet for the coastal fishing. Size 6-8 shrimp and fry patterns worked best in the salt. I switched over to a floating line for the lakes and streams, where lighter gear is more appropriate. However, the wind will most likely be the determining factor in gear selection.
Our trip was hosted by NorthCatch (check out the NorthCatch page on Facebook) . Our guide, Kasper Jægersgaard, has a passion for the Faroe Islands (his wife is from the Faroes), and has accumulated thousands of hours fishing for sea trout and brown trout. I normally hire a guide when fishing an unfamiliar location and generally find it money well spent and Kasper was no exception. Although guides are few and far between in the island chain, I would strongly recommend hiring one as the fishing can be difficult in the absence of local knowledge.
We traveled at the beginning of June, so the long days and Kasper´s enthusiasm meant that we rarely concluded our fishing before 10:00PM.