Some of my favourite fishing stories come from Norway. When I worked in Frankfurt for Star Alliance my good friend Knut Lovstuhagen, a native Norwegian, gourmant and fisherman, arranged for an annual trip to various parts of Norway. We would always go deep sea fishing...the first trip was to Bodo with Knut...where we fished from the shores of the Salstrummen which features the strongest ocean current in the world as the tide rips through the fjord.

The second was in Stavanger where we stayed at an Inn at a great rate, thanks to the numerous connections Knut has in the country. Joining us there were Star Alliance colleagues Brian Cook, a fellow Canadian in every sense of the word, and Malcolm Porra, a fun-loving Aussie who is now with Boeing down under and John Madden a ;arger-than-life American and avid fisherman. It was fall if memory serves and a bit nippy as the survival suits and rosy faces can attest.

We set out on a rented fishing boat and jigged in the frigid north sea for hours using a series of big spoons and weight plugs. We hauled in a lot of strange looking fish to be honest. But the kitchen in the inn turned a few of them into an amazing meal.

The next year we went to Lofoten which was just amazing...joining Knut, Brian and I was Per Stendebakken who was a retired executive from SAS and a very nice gentleman. The weather, scenery and fishing were absolutely spectacular.

It was an amazing trip...Knut poached cod in butter for one nights meal...for another we purchased whale steaks (now before you get all environmental on me....pilot whales thrive off the coast of Norway and harvested to help manage the cod population) and grilled those up and ate seaside. You can see the picnic table in the shot below.

The next year, in 2004, the group dwindled further to Per, Knut and I. We went to Molde, off the west coast of Norway (since there is really only a west coast that is a bit redundant!) Here we fished in a small boat on the first evening we arrived and Per landed a 20 pound halibut, which to Norwegians is tantamount to striking gold..so prized is the flesh of this fine eating flatfish. The next day we chartered an amazing boat (below) and went out to see for cod and pollack. Ironically it is about the only time I have flirted with sea sickness...the seas were rough and I felt incredibly disoriented for a couple of hours. It wasn't pleasant but I managed to fend off the nausea.

As it turns out Norwegians frown on table consumption of pollack in some parts of the country...Molde being one of them. That shocked me as it is an excellent eating fish. They use it for crab bait among other things. On our way out we pulled up some crab traps that were teaming with the shelled critters...we ended up trading our caught pollack for a feast of these at the hotel that night.

We also caught some very big fish, including this ling cod.

Also, to give you an idea of how pretty Norway is...check out the photo below...this was the 'hotel' we stayed at on an island offshore.

All in all, Norway is probably my favourite fishing spot in the world (sorry Canada). And I miss those annual trips terribly, as I do my good friend Knut who I do keep in touch with but haven't seen in about 8 years. This fishing story is dedicated to him. If you ever get the chance to go fishing in this beautiful country...leap at the opportunity. You won't regret it!

Next up...Iceland!