Cozy Evening Cruise

THE MYSTERIOUS ÅRØY RIVER

Since the 1840s there has been sport fishing for salmon in the Årøy river. For long periods the fishing rights have been leased to wealthy and eccentric foreigners. This has meant that there is something mysterious about the fishing for salmon in this short, but rapid river.

The section of the river where salmon can be caught is only 1500 metres long. For 300 metres the river runs so rapidly that fishing is impossible. A water flow between 130 to 140 cubic metres per second is not unusual in the Årøy river which to a large extent is filled with melt water from the Jostedal Glacier.

The length of the upper, rapid stretch where fishing can take place is 900 metres. There fishing can take place from the riverbanks and from the legendary bridges out into the river. In the lower stretch of about 300 metres the river is influenced by the changing tides. There the river runs more smoothly, and it is possible to fish from land, by wading into the river or from boats.

In order to reach the spawning grounds, the Årøy salmon has developed into a short and sturdy size, just like the river itself. It spawns relatively early in the season.

In addition, the Årøy salmon is renowned for its size. The reason for this is that this salmon stock frequently remains three years longer in the ocean than other wild salmon stocks before returning to spawn. There are few, if any, of other Norwegian salmon rivers that can match the number of 30-plus kilos fished in the Årøy river.

The Årøy river is regulated. “Sognekraft” started up a new power station in 1983. The power station produces 90 MW, 337 GWh. After the regulation the power company must release 50 000 salmon fry every year. Today the annual release is 5000 lice-fed smolt every year.

Today fewer salmon are fished than what was the case earlier. The average weight has also been reduced, even if big salmon are still caught here. The normal annual catch today is between 800 and 1000 kilos. Between 80 and 90% of the catch is “catch and release”. This means, of course, that the salmon is released into the river.

90% of the salmon taken in the Årøy come from the hatchery at Årøy. Fry from this river has been released into other rivers – one of these is the river Jølstra in Førde.

It is the Munthe family who owns the fishing rights in the Årøy waterways ever since 1746. Today Nina and Knut Munthe Olsen are the tenth generation who run the farm and manage the river.

Up until 2012 the Årøy river was leased on long-term contracts. After that year the concept has been changed. The style in the Årøy river has become more casual than before. Today people have to lease on an all-inclusive contract; first-class accommodation, guiding and food with Knut Munthe Olsen as cook.

It costs about 70 000 kroner per day to lease the Årøy river and then everything is included. More people can of course fish on the same lease and thus share the expenses.

BIG SALMON

The record for fly-fishing is a salmon weighing 34.1 kilos that the Englishman Wilfred Kennedy took in 1895. Kennedy came from an aristocratic English family. He was kicked out of his family when he married an Indian circus artist.

Kennedy settled down at Bahus in Sogndal and died there. In Sogndal he is known for having started a match factory at Foss, on the site of the present Foss building of the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences.

It has been mentioned that the Russian Dennisof landed a salmon weighing 38 kilos with prawn as bait. It is not allowed to use prawn or shrimp as bait in Norwegian salmon rivers today.

WHO HAVE BEEN FISHING HERE?

Up until the First World War the British dominated the sport fishing in the Årøy river. They were aristocrats, officers and lords; in short the British upper class. The Englishman Wilfred Kennedy was the first to sign a long-term contract for leasing the river. Kennedy settled down in Sogndal.

In the early 1860s the first Norwegians came to fish in the Årøy river. These were mostly wealthy merchants and businessmen from Bergen who came here with their international contacts.

In 1921 a colourful exile-Russian came to the Årøy river. Nicolas Dennisof leased the river for more than 40 years. He was an engineer who led the work of building the Trans-Siberian Railway. He was also among the owners of the railway, and he became a rich man when he sold his part of the ownership. In addition, it was said that he managed the finances of the last Russian tsar Nikolai before the tsar was overthrown.

Many famous men and women visited Dennisof at Årøy, among these one of his lovers – the famous fashion icon Coco Chanel. In 1965 Dennisof was 95 years old but wanted to lease the river for another ten years. His request was turned down, which made him so irritated that he tore down the big English House that had been built in rococo style in 1906 by a British lord by the river.

When Nicolas Dennisof disappeared, a new epoch began. The first person to lease the rights was the pharmacist Erling-Moe Berntsen, followed by the extremely wealthy French financier Jaques Bernberg. The Frenchman was the last person to lease the Årøy river on a long-term contract. He came here in the mid-1950s and he fished in the river over a period of 56 years.

Numerous famous persons have been to Årøy to fish there in the past two centuries. Two Norwegian kings have been here. After he was crowned in 1906, king Haakon visited Årøy with the Prince of Wales, the future George V. In 2012, after turning 75, King Harald came to Årøy on a visit few people knew about. He caught two five-kilo salmon – and lost a few.