Hella Good Fishing

22/09/2025

Paul has long awaited our trip to Norway due to it’s fishing opportunities. He’s always been a keen sea angler and loves nothing more than a day of peaceful fishing. I love cooking and eating fish, so this works well for both of us. It also means that Paul has something to occupy his time while I am working.

While we were in Tromsø campsite we had researched fishing spots on the next part of our journey. One recommended area was Hella which was in easy reach of the city. Fishing at Tromsø itself was not recommended. As someone put it, you don’t want to catch those ‘Sewer Cod’.

Hella

High tides at Hella were mid afternoon so we had plenty of time for a lazy morning. After a hot shower and bacon butties we checked out of the canpsite, returning the key cards that provided access to the facilities. We made our way under the water again, crossing the island of Tromsøya and using a bridge to get to the next door island of Kvaløya. A drive down the coast road became gradually less suburban and eventually we reached the free car park which would give us access to the recreational area of Hella.

Straum in Norwegian translates literally as stream, when it’s used geographically it’s usually referring to a tidal current. Straumhella is the strong tidal current that is created by the sea being forced through the narrow channel between the coast and a neighbouring island. These tidal currents bring the small fish which then attract the bigger fish for the anglers to target.

We arrived and parked in the corner of the large car park. The weather was a bit grey but not too wet. A little drizzle started up every now and again but never turned into proper rain. We walked down to the coast to check out the fishing spots. The flat and rocky shore was an ideal platform and a few people were already fishing including a dad and his toddler daughter who was wrapped up in waterproofs and wearing a buoyancy aid.

Spotting fish in the crystal clear water

Paul spent the rest of the day fishing. It was a Sunday so plenty of people turned up with rods for some Sunday afternoon fishing. As I wasn’t working I wandered around the area exploring, the damp air made the mossy rocks a little slippery in places so I mostly stuck to the tracks and paths. I found a number of older style wooden buildings along one of the tracks which looked as though they might have been holiday rentals. There was a cafe which was closed, and a public toilet which was open.

During the drier spells I went down to people read my kindle while Paul fished he caught a lot of smaller fish which were returned and eventually caught a nice sized cod (hopefully not a sewer cod on a day trip). That was dinner sorted for a couple of days.

Tirpitz Memorial

We stayed the night in the quiet car park, moving on early the next morning. We retraced our steps north for a while and stopped off on the way to see the Tirpitz memorial. The Tirpitz was Germany’s largest battleship in WWII, sister to the Bismark. The ship had spent a lot of time in Altafjord before moving to Tromsø, but we’d missed out on a visit to the Tirpitz museum when we were up in that area.

The Tirpitz was eventually sunk by the British in Operation Catechism with a massive loss of life when those on board were trapped as the ship capsized. The ship remained in place after the war until it was eventually scrapped – a process which took 11 years.

At the memorial on the coast there is a view over the location of the ship. At low tide you can see some of the pier that was built to help dismantle the ship as well small parts of the remaining hull. In the landscape nearby are the craters from the bombing raid.

At the time I’m sure that this was a massive boost to the allied war effort but looking at the memorial now all we could think about was the massive loss of life and the despair of the troops trapped on the ship as they realised that the rescue effort wouldn’t reach them.

The Best Supermarket in Norway?

Following our thought provoking stop at the memorial we made our way a little further north and stopped at Eide Handel. This is a supermarket/farm shop that has won Norway’s Best Supermarket. It was just past 11am and as we ventured inside the staff were still setting everything up. The magnificent fish counter was being stocked up (the first time we’d seen a good selection of fresh fish, which seemed odd in such a fish centric country) and the smell of coffee wafted from the cafe.

Eide Handel – the Darts Farm of Tromso?

This was a very nice supermarket, with wooden shelving, warm lighting and attentive staff. There was a much wider array of products than we’d seen in most supermarkets so far, including lots of local goods.

We didn’t buy much here but we did enjoy looking around and seeing local produce alongside the more packaged goods. A little cheese went in our basket, some local lamb and some frozen reindeer meat. We didn’t buy any fish though as Paul was keeping us stocked up.