Teddy Pool

In Teddy Pool, you have a fair chance of keeping the fish in the pool. The pool is long and has relatively calm water, similar to White Stone. In Teddy, you also have the option to jump into a boat and follow the fish towards the sea. At the end of the platform in Teddy Pool, the water is very deep, and the forest starts to edge into the river.

You can’t follow the salmon any further. If you need to follow the fish in the boat, it requires the guide, the host, or one of your fishing companions to be nearby.

Things need to move quickly. When a big salmon decides to swim away towards the sea, few lines, leaders, or hooks can hold it back. White Stone Pool is “slightly” more accessible, with a few hundred meters to follow the salmon.

Downstream from the white stone, for which the pool is named, the river bends towards its own bank. Here, the river is relatively shallow, making it possible to fish from the top all the way out at low tide.

If you hook a big salmon in White Stone Pool, you have a fair chance of controlling it. Everything depends on the salmon, the time, the place, the tide, the equipment, and the angler’s experience in catching big salmon. The guide will do everything to help, but the salmon fight is always between the angler and the salmon.

Fishing Techniques & Strategy

A Sunray Shadow fly, fished at the top of the water in the white, oxygen-rich foam, can trigger a violent strike. The salmon simply get irritated by the fly. This is not just any fly, and the line is not just a floating line.

The trick is to fish with a large Sunray Shadow on a floating line, using a lightly sinking leader; otherwise, the fly skims over the water and doesn’t fish properly.

The fly should be kept just above the surface, ideally in one spot for a considerable time. Don’t think that anglers only catch salmon on Sunray Shadows fished on the surface.

The salmon in Aaroy are, fundamentally, like other salmon. They usually don’t care which fly is presented to them, as long as it is presented correctly to trigger their instinct.

Equipment and Gear

Modern fly rods in sizes 10’, 12’, 13’, and 14’ are ideal for fishing here, but it’s recommended to have a 10’ 10 single-handed rod and a 13’ 8-9 rod. This way, you are equipped to fish all the river’s pools effectively.

Anglers catch salmon with smaller and much lighter gear here every year; perhaps the dream of catching a giant salmon on a small, light single-handed rod is a common dream among all fly anglers. The salmon they hook often get away because they are simply too strong.

Local Knowledge

Local knowledge is invaluable in this situation. When an angler arrives at the river, it’s usually either their first time or at least a year since they last fished.

The guide is here all season and knows whether fresh salmon have arrived in the different pools or if it’s the same old one that has been there all season.

Fishing here should be convenient and comfortable. The price is set at a level that deters most anglers from attempting to book three days of salmon fishing with world-class accommodations and catering.

Big salmon require hard work. Big salmon are hard to control in this river. A big salmon hooked in Home Pool or White Stone Pool can be controlled to some extent, but many head back to the sea.

The history of the Big Salmon

The Aaroy salmon is special in many ways. Its body has evolved over time. It is short and thick, necessary for navigating the fierce waterfall in the middle of the river. Seeing the waterfall, it’s hard to believe the salmon can pass it. But they do, and they do so in large numbers every year, even the smaller salmon eventually make it upstream past the bridge. Its large tail helps it navigate and maintain balance through Aaroy’s most challenging parts.

Catching a big salmon upstream of the waterfall is the ultimate experience in Aaroy, a dream or nightmare of the famous Aaroy big salmon. Some anglers have hooked truly large salmon in the upper part of the river. Without seeing or experiencing the river firsthand, it’s hard to understand or even imagine the challenges here. A big salmon caught in this part of the river easily breaks leaders, knots, and sometimes even shooting heads.

A leader or shooting line is of little use in the strong currents here. When you hook a big salmon, it will do everything possible to get free. In its attempt, it will cross many obstacles such as large stones, strong currents throughout most of the river, and even man-made obstacles like the “sluice gates” placed in several parts of the river. Regardless, this is exactly what anglers come to Aaroy to experience.

The Lodge in Aaroy

The lodge is an experience in itself, also serving as a museum of Aaroy’s history. The lodge consists of four private rooms, one for each guest. There is a kitchen, a large divided living room with a sofa area and dining area. The walls are decorated with mounted salmon, historical flies, and other fishing gear.

There is a covered conservatory where guests can have their breakfast, lunch, or dinner. When summer shows its nice side, meals are served outside on the terrace or in the covered conservatory. Afternoon coffee is served either in the lodge or by the river, with full catering available.

Along the river, there are six covered benches where you can relax and enjoy nature while the river rushes by in front of you. The arranged fishing in this river is of the highest class. The covered benches are placed to provide full views of the closest pools, allowing you to plan your fishing strategy and fine-tune your gear.

If you wish to fish here, you can contact Knut Munthe Olsen for more information.