Ever wondered where the best cod fishing in the world is to be found? It has to be somewhere. Well I can tell you exactly where it is. You will find it in Norway some 200 or so miles north of the Arctic Circle in Lyngen Fjord, a long sheltered inlet that opens up into the Barrents Sea. Access to Lyngen's cold, rich, deep waters can be had from a number of angling locations dotted around the area. For the 5 days I was there we were based at Koppangen which is quite literally at the end of a narrow road running along the fjords western shore. It was mid May and still the winter snows were very much in evidence as were the big cod.

What makes this location such a big cod hot spot is a matter for speculation, though the fact that it is an important spawning area is probably the key factor in drawing in the bigger mature fish. Vast shoals of food fish such as herring, and freedom from pollution both have their contributions to make. The complete lack of intensive commercial fishing allied to the fact that Norway is not a member of the European Union and is therefore able to conserve its fish stocks along its entire 85,000 kilometers of coastline (yes, 85,000 Km - more coastline than the USA) for itself must also be factors. Mark my words, this area is going to grab lots of headlines and attention in the very near future, and deservedly so, as more becomes known about the fish it attracts, their seasonal patterns, and the main holding areas.

In UK waters, the chances of catching a 30 pound cod these days are not strong. Raise the barrier to 40 pounds and the possibility of success shrinks further from view. Set your heart on a 50 pounder and almost certainly you are going to need some serious disappointment counseling. Yet members of the party I was with aboard the same boat and using the same tactics had previously taken cod in all of those weight categories. At Lyngen angler's dream of cod in the 60 to 80 bracket, and every year, for some that dream becomes reality. A few weeks before my visit, a small commercial handliner working a string of plastic lures caught two cod well in excess of 100 pounds apiece. The current all tackle world record stands at 98¾ pounds from the USA back in 1969.

Despite its diminutive size (no shop or bar for over 10 miles), Koppangen has one of the best angling boats I have fished from in a very long time. 'Pendlar' used to be a hospital boat visiting isolated communities throughout the northern fjords. So you can imagine the space and comfort both above deck and below. Twelve anglers can fish along one size of this boat with ease. Between drifts, there is a heated room to sit in, constant hot coffee, a toilet with shower, a galley where skipper Odd Karlsen conjures up some amazing hot midday meals, and a dining area big enough to seat everyone when the grub is ready. Arctic Norway can be warm during the summer. But it can also be cold which makes the facilities aboard 'Pendlar' very welcome indeed at times.

Though cod were not the only fish we caught, we set off with a game plan of catching the biggest and the most cod we could possibly find. Back home, bass get a lot of press as the angler's fish, but I'll wager that opinion polls would show the cod as the most important species on the UK angling scene, particularly to boat anglers. If that is true, there will be no shortage of anglers lining up to make the short flight out from the UK. At Lyngen, 20 pounders were so numerous at times that they didn't warrant so much as a second glance, and there were enough 30 pounders about for everyone to be in with a shout. We finished up with more than a dozen in the thirties. But it was the 40 pound plus fish that everyone on board had realistically set their hearts on catching, and we had 5 over that weight, two of which topped 47 pounds. The one caught by Andy Kemp was so thin that it would easily have made 60 pounds had it been caught a few weeks earlier still laden with spawn.

The main technique for this arctic codding is pirking, though it is by no means the only approach. Water depth varied between a couple of hundred and 600 hundred feet. So it can take a long time for a pirk to get down. If there is a bit of wind or tide pushing the boat along, by the time you touch bottom, the angle in the line can be too much to get a good shot at working the lure in the feeding zone, so an assortment of lure body shapes in the 300 to 400 gm range is essential. Most of the time, the traditional three side Norwegian lures with their attractive fluttering action can get down fine. When they can't, fast drop patterns are cast down drift so that they hit bottom on as vertical a line as the boat drifts along to give more pirking time. This was done on a rotation basis from the stern giving everyone the opportunity of maximizing their chances.

Pirks unfortunately weigh heavy in your luggage at the airport check in. To counter this, losses are minimal, so you don't need dozens of the things (I didn't even loose one). To compensate for their obvious weight and avoid excess baggage charges, you need to cut down on other unnecessary tackle items. Essentially, all you need is one suitable rod and reel, and say one spare outfit between a few of you for just in case. Shimano travel rods were the dominant rods used on the trip. Besides their ability to fit inside a suitcase, the 20/30 versions have the perfect action for pirking with braid. A soft tip is essential if light hook holds are not to be ripped free. I personally prefer the cheaper Exage version as I find its butt more comfortable to use than the Beastmaster. Paired to these were a range of Penn, Daiwa and Shimano reels of around 4/0 size. Again Shimano dominated with the TLD20 and 25.

Pirks took the vast majority of the fish. But they did not take everything, including some of the better cod. John Wilson (no, not that one) brought along a pack of 6 inch 135gm Storm Wild Eye Giant Jigging Shads which he single mindedly used on a light outfit while everyone else was hammering out fish after fish on the pirks. His persistence was rewarded with cod to 32 pounds, plus a 10½ halibut which might not sound big, but is a magnificent fish to catch, and a handful even at that size. Mick Cox gave some of the more conventional shad patterns a good airing and also took some nice cod on them, while Dave Lewis also took halibut and cod on them. In fact, in the days prior to our arrival, shads had quite literally been 'murdering' the cod.

The biggest of our fish came early into the trip from a mark which I won't even attempt to spell, but which translates to Red Sound. Quite an easy mark to fish as there was very little tide and only 80 metres of water under the boat. This is the mark that had previously produced many of the biggest cod. And while it can fish its head off from first drop to last, during our visit it was patchy with fish coming in short bursts. It was here that Dave Devine took the biggest fish of the trip at 47.3 pounds. And it was en route to this spot that our skipper Odd suddenly stopped the boat short of the mark until another boat that was following us had passed. To make things look more authentic, we dropped our pirks down and pretended to fish. As soon as they touched bottom, Andy Kemp was into his 47 pound cod, while Dave Devine connected with then lost another very big fish.

One morning it was decided to fish some of the shallower reefs close to the mouth of the fjord. Big cod are taken from these marks, though not in the quantities found deep inside the fjord. On the other hand, fish would be potentially more numerous and the variety would also increase. This is probably similar to how the open ground and to some extent the wreck fishing along Britain's North Sea coast was 30 years ago. At times it was frantic. Cod and other species were about in big numbers. With weather conditions so good, it was decided to run out of the fjord to a reef off the island of Arnoy. Out in the open sea however the fishing was harder as a snowy squall suddenly appeared pushing the boat along quite quickly. Compared to inside, you really had to work for your fish. But eventually the breeze died and the fishing got easier. It was here that young Michael Sunley from Aberdeen caught a halibut on of all things a hokkai lure.

The best of the fishing was eventually found deep within Lyngen around 15 minutes from our base. It was decided to try a patch of ground around a big ‘bump’ on the bed of the fjord in 180 metres of waters on our way back in on the next to the last day. It was instant mass activity. Big cod were falling over themselves to eat the pirks. So understandably, the next morning we headed straight for the same spot to see if the action would resume, which it immediately did. Andy Mathews and Stewart Ford had fish of 45½ and 44 pounds on at the same time. Other 40 pound plus were also taken, along with a good number of 30’s, heaps of 20’s, and thankfully precious little else. This continued on until just after lunch before gradually tailing away. As self drive boats were also available as part of the Anglers World, Dave Devine, Dave Lewis and myself asked to be dropped back ashore and spend a few hours looking for other things. Dave Lewis knew a little bay where small halibut like to hang out, so we decided to give that a go, and I had one on the very first drift. Okay, so it was only flounder size, but a halibut none the less. Can’t say fairer than that.