The two lakes between the river mouth and the main river were full of fish, and there were some great lake fishing sessions during the week. Most anglers are surprised about high strong a fighter the sea run Arctic char is. Hook one in the lake, and for some reason they fight even harder than in the river. Several long runs into the backing aren’t unusual when hooking a bigger fish.
The fresh chars that had already made it further up in the system mainly fell to big, orange foam flies skated across the river or, when they didn’t want to go on top, lightly dressed streamers.
Sometimes, you need to shout a little louder: Fresh char caught on a big, orange streamer.
During the first week, many fresh fish entered the river. Others made their way further up, to their next holding spots, typically moving in small schools of 10-15 fish. As the first group was replaced by the second, we were sure the fishing was going to explode the following week.
That wasn’t exactly the case. Sure, the second week also had its great moments on the river, and in the lakes. Those who fished hard ended up with an impressive tally of fish. Probably none more so than our French friend Pascal, who – though in his late seventies – had no problem covering a lot of water and landing between 10 and 20 good fish every day of the week. Maybe his previous visit to Erfalik gave him an edge?
Now, hang on a minute … that’s not a fly rod! And, it’s certainly not a char either! Greenland 2021
Nope, but a couple of nice cod caught from the jetty in front of the lodge makes great eating.
A couple of big fish one way past the 80 cm mark, were spotted from a high bank as they cruised by. The chars rarely eat flies while on the move, and these were no exception.
The third week of the season saw a return to colder temperatures, and even a light snowfall during the night. The temperature of the river was only around 7 degrees, and maybe that’s what kept the chars from chasing foam flies on the surface. Instead, small streamers like the Five Hair Fly outfished everything else.
Magnus, our chef for the week, knows Erfalik as well as anyone and landed somewhere between 100 and 150 fish during the hours where he wasn’t cooking up great food, Still, in general catch numbers were lower than usual for Erfalik. Even so, the week was a perfect example of slightly difficult Greenland-weeks still being great weeks. Several guests from this week have already written us, to let us know what a great time they had, and that they are already thinking about a returning to Greenland. They will be most welcome.
