Osen, Norway
A beautiful, tranquil setting for fantastic fishing.
The West Coast Gaula is located near Forde, three hour’s drive north of Bergen on the West coast of Norway. Forde airport is 15 minutes’ drive. The main fjords of Nordfjord and Sognafjord with their glaciers, waterfalls and dramatic scenery are both within an hour’s drive.
The Olsen family have owned the river since 1935 and a long lease has just terminated allowing the family to develop the fishing which has been under used for some years.
The Osen fishing is 4 kms long, and apart from two pools at the mouth of the river it consists of double bank fishing. This amount of double bank fishing is rare, if not impossible, to find in Norway. The lower two pools on the river lie below the main waterfall, this fall has Norway’s first salmon ladder, built in 1870. Generally the fish remain below the fall until late June when the rising water temperature gives them access to the entire river. At the top of the beat is a further waterfall with an excellent pool, Rekvik, below it. Inbetween the two waterfalls there are some 3 kms of fishing with 12 named pools.
The average catch for the beat over the past six years has been around 200 fish, with the river very lightly fished in July and August. About 70% of the fish caught are salmon between 8lbs and 20lbs with grilse making up the rest of the catch.
Accommodation
The main house was built in 1820 as a rectory; it is a listed building and has been wonderfully preserved with a mixture of Norwegian fittings and furnishings and some period English furniture dating from the time the house was owned by an Irish family in the 1850’s. The house is full of history and has a warm family and fishing feel to it. Beautifully painted large salmon are recorded on the floor of the main hall – it is a very special house.
The ground floor accommodation consists of a large hall, sitting room, dining room and a wonderful old kitchen which is used for some meals. There is ample room for storing tackle and fishing kit and there is an electric dryer for damp clothes. The house has seven bedrooms of which four are twin bedded. There is a shower room and lavatory upstairs and another shower and loo downstairs.
