Fat Mackerel in Holm

01/10/2025

It was time for me to do a couple of days work so the hunt was on for another spot that would allow me to work and Paul to fish. We had a few pins on the map south of Stø so set off to explore them.

Holm

We stopped at a spot with limited mobile reception, then at another which appeared to be permanently shaded between trees and cliffs. A third option had a shingle beach and shallow water so Paul wasn’t so keen on his fishing options and the final option was a small parking space that we might have stayed in overnight but where we felt we’d be unwelcome if we hung around.

Holm wasn’t one of our pins because we’d read there was a long dirt track to navigate to the parking spot, but having exhausted our planned options we thought we’d give it a go. Fortunately the road was well maintained, and we rattled along steadily past a few holiday homes and farms to a small harbour on the northern tip of this promontory.

The parking up here was just some rough ground by the small harbour with a neat, clean, toilet block. The only option for payment was VIPPS and no-one turned up to collect any money from a lone grey van in autumn. An honesty box for cash would have been a good idea as payment is used to maintain the community owned harbour.

Parked at Holm harbour

Fat Mackerel

We arrived in the late afternoon and Paul ventured out to see what he could catch from the harbour. Rather unusually he caught a big fat mackerel, nothing like the sleek racing fish we catch in UK waters, this was round and heavy. Norway is known for these fat autumn mackerel, which use their 30% fat content to maintain them in the cold winter sea. Sadly they are being rather over fished by factory boats that scoop them up in their tens of thousands.

It was delicious eating. Mackerel is probably our favourite fish and this was even more tender and tasty than usual because of the high fat content. Fatty fish have a problem though, as the fat retains some of the nasties that pollute our oceans. This dose of Omega 3 was particularly welcome as Norwegian seas are some of the cleanest in the world so Norwegian mackerel have low levels of mercury and other heavy metals.

At some point after catching the second mackerel Paul broke his rod, but of course that was just another opportunity to tinker and by the end of the day the rod was fixed ready for the next fishing opportunity.

 Weather

Scudding heavy cloud bought rain showers, but in between we had some lovely blue skies reflecting in turquoise sea. The wind put me off swimming but I could imagine it being a great location for a swim. I watched the skies change as I worked and popped out for a breath of fresh air whenever I had the opportunity. In the jumble of large rocks next to us a small mustelid (maybe a mink?) also popped out every now and again to sample the air and hunt for small sea creatures between the rocks. A tractor dragged up a load of gravel to add to the mound next to the harbour and a car turned up, the occupant attending to his boat which needed a bit of bailing out after the showers. Otherwise this was a quiet spot.

In the evening we could see lights from the homes across the water and the farms nearby. They shone brightly in the otherwise dark skies. Despite the clouds the aurora made it’s presence felt as a pale glow between the clouds on both evenings.

This location was a perfect stop for us and when we left we were refreshed and ready for our next adventure.