Gaula - The Golden River

The Golden River Gaula / Norway

Photo & Story: M. Wengler - pool 32

The famous Bridge pool

Every fly fisher with a bit of self respect must have heard the name Gaula mentioned, it means The Golden river and it’s located in Norway. This river is famous for it’s huge salmon, and the catch rapports speak for it self, Gaula never really disappoints, every year some amazing fish are caught in this fascinating and very beautiful river.

Even though the Norwegian salmon scene in general have been hit hard by a wide range of problems (parasites, bag nets, sea lice, over fishing and fish farming in general) Gaula seems to have it’s own way of dealing with these problems, and somehow Gaula manage to produce a serious amount of fabulous catches year after year. But a lot has been done to preserve and protect this river. 2005 was the first year after the historical buy-out of the bag nets (drift nets) in Trondheim fjord. The reduced net activity instantly brought good results since the total annual catch on the Gaula increased by almost 10 tons (to 37,5 tons) compared to the year before. When the official catch statistic for the 2010 season was released a couple of weeks ago by the Gaula Fishery Administration, it showed a total annual catch of impressing 40984 kg. /90370 lb. which is an excellent catch for an angling season only lasting 3 month. It also makes 2010 the 3rd best salmon season ever, since the registration of catches began more than 100 years ago.

When focusing on the river Gaula, there is one person who really stand out and live the “Gaula lifestyle� to the fullest - Mr. Manfred Raguse. Manfred was one of the cofounders of the NFC (the Norwegian Flyfisher Club) back in 1988 and you can without doubt say that Mr. Raguse is one of the key figures around the Gaula fly fishing scene.

Manfred came to Norway as a youngster for more than 40 years ago the Gaula was the first river he fished and he immediately fell in love with this fascinating river and some of the magnificent and seductive pools in the Storen area.

During the first years on the Gaula Manfred loved to fish a fly only section where he lived in a tent pitched in a little forest close to the river.

The fishing was run by the local fishing association and only two day tickets were sold to visitors. As the tickets were sold on a first come, first served basis one had to be at the front of the queue when the kiosk opened in the morning. For a number of years Manfred achieved this by sleeping in front of the kiosk after his nights of fishing. After a few years this rule was changed and the two nonresident cards were sold to the winners of a daily lottery.

“The fabulous Salmon brothers�

Tim and Bruce, two great guys from the UK, getting ready for a night session.

Manfred Raguse in front of the charming old NFC farm

“The first time I tried to get one of these tickets there were 42 other hopeful anglers – and I seem to never win in games like this. I went away in a bitter mood telling myself that the only answer was to have my own water. This was the basis for my leases, which a few years later became a reality”.

Manfred Raguse

Typical Norwegian back country

Manfred got his first lease at the Gaula in 1985 it was only a small piece of river but the beginning of a lifelong adventure. From there through 1988 Manfred expanded the operation by adding selective fly waters to the portfolio, which all ended up in the foundation of the NFC. Things has changed a lot since then and today the NFC arranges exclusive private fly fishing for a maximum of 26 to 30 rods on approximately 40 pools in Gaula, some of which exceed 350 yards in length. Which has resulted in salmon enthusiasts from over 22 countries around the globe come every year to fish the NFC beats.

Arne Henning Grønlien, the author of several sovereign Norwegian fishing books, shoot this photo of me one morning after 7- 8 hours night fishing, deeply concentrated and very tired.

Like any other serious fly fishing organisation the NFC encourage C & R on all the NFC beats and it makes the NCF the operation which releases more fish than anyone else in this river, and maybe in all of Norway. The total release quota in 2010 on the Gaula increased to 25 % which is very impressive compared to recent years release quota and is clearly indicating a change in the attitude of many fishermen. The release quota on the water of the Norwegian Fly fishers Club, considered the spearhead of catch & release in Norway, was 62,5%.The average weight of all salmon caught throughout the whole season on the Gaula was 5,25kg (11lb), including grilse. The average weight of the 10 largest salmon caught was 19,7kg / 43 1/2lb. This shows the Gaula is still a big fish river!

Besides managing the NCF clients, Manfred also find time working closely with the North Atlantic Salmon Fund (NASF) and Orri Vigfusson since its early days, plus other conservation project such as the German Salmon Conservation organisation “LMS”, which is working for the reintroduction of salmon into the historic German salmon rivers.

Manfred has always been a strong advocate of C & R not only on the NFC beats, but also in a variety of national media.

It was the British - but of course!! - who two centuries ago were the first to develop angling for salmon fishers in Norway. Back in 1820 it all began when a good portion of the “titled”, the Royal and the rest of the wealthy English upper class began their annual pilgrim adventures across the North Sea in pursuit of the “Norwegian silver”. The leading British tackle manufacturers soon began to develop equipment designed especially for the “demanding Norwegian angling” scene.

The British expeditions to Gaula seriously began around 1825. At that time a journey from England to this remote region of Norway, must have been a demanding experience of over 200 miles of horse drawn carriage. Even then salmon fishing was an addictive sport.

Stories of unbelievable catches back in the 1840‘s began to spread. Stories telling about a salmon paradise beyond everybody’s fantasy. On of the many stories were telling about how one of these salmon pilgrims caught 266 salmon in 26 days.

Salmon fishing became a major annual summer trend, and the local community began to benefit from leasing out fishing and properties all over the river region. Later in the 19th century the new railway made further access to the whole river region much easier and the annual “British invasion” peeked and continued until the beginning of the first World War, then it more or less stopped. It stayed like this until the second World War and in the aftermath of 1945’s, few anglers returned, which created an economically vacuum true out the local region. Today it’s still a high end angling river, but with the chance of catching one of the huge Gaula silver monsters, it will probably stay like that for generations to come.

The Eggafall blocks for any further progress upstream.

Here’s a couple of “Gaula beauties”

Daniel Goze shoot these two pictures of NFC founder Manfred Raguse with a couple of nice fish.

With it’s impressing 90 miles of length, Gaula drains over 1400 square miles of land, and migrating fish have to access more than 60 miles before they reach the Eggafall.

Gaulfossen separates the lower section, from the middle reaches and with half a mile of raging withe water, you suddenly understand why these fish are so strong. It’s an impressing sight even in low water conditions. And it is exactly the size of the Gaula salmon which for sure is one of the main attractions, but it is also a remarkably natural river without any hydro dams. Besides that the river was previously stocked but now probably only 5% of the Gaula salmon are descendants of a hatchery programme.

The future perspective for the “Golden River” will as so many other rivers world wide, be facing some serious challenges from a rapidly environmental changing world, but so far with the statistically given numbers it’s hard to ague against the fact, that Gaula is currently one of the best angling rivers in Europe, especially when taken in consideration that the season only lasts for 3 months. So if you ever get the chance of spending a week fishing in Gaula then don’t hesitate Go for it!!

NFC website

Thanks to Pool 32