Geir Gåsland, an old friend, opens a long-overdue guide business in northern Norway…
“Geir is a native guy, born and living in Finnmark, Norways most northerly region. A mid forties man, passionate in hunting , fishing, outdoors life. Reliable, calm, attentive, listening to his guest. After sharing his company two times I have asked him for a period of ten days without any doubts“.
Dieter Lampe Germany – 30 year client of Frontiers Ltd
I have known Geir some 15 years, and he and I have an inextricable link. We are both honorary members of the same family, the Mikklesen family of Alta boatman fame. He somehow ended up growing up with the youngest son Vegard, also one of the great Alta boatmen.
My membership follows fishing with one or other of Per and Bjorn Mikklesen since 1991. For the past 20+ years it has been both but on occasion we have had celebrity appearances from Bjørnulf, the Dad, and even more recently Lars, son of Bjorn. Down the generations we have had visits from Maya (Per’s daughter) and Jørgen (Vegard’s son) who come and wait for us to hook grilse so they can wind them in!
Naturally, in the summer, Geir’s son Isak now spends a lot of time with the Mikklesen clan who live on the banks of the Alta river. Randi, the boys’ mother, is ultra-keen and the real power behind the family. When we are having tea and we cannot remember which year we caught a certain fish, Randi checks her diary and always has the answers! Needless to say, I am extremely fond of the whole family, they are truly wonderful people and have been very kind to me over thirty years. Geir, the Man-Mountain is no exception!
It was with great joy when I received a call from Geir to tell me that he was finally fulfilling his dream to become a guide on his home territory. He has worked in the sports/outdoor industry for his whole career, but it was always other people walking out the door to enjoy the wilderness of Finmark and not him and, over all those years, it had got to him. This year, he finally made the jump to start his own guiding business (he has a team under him) covering fishing, shooting and foraging.
His home is Finmark, he now lives in Alta but he has also lived in Hammerfest and Lakselv where his Mum still lives, he would say that his ‘home’ rivers are Alta, Stabburselva, Lakselv and Repparfjordelva. The first three are famous for their big fish, the last one, the Repparfjordelva, is one of Norway’s most productive rivers with grilse and salmon up to about 25lbs.
It is famous for its bomber fishing. Lakselv is better known than Stabburselva but the Stabburselva is prettier, has beautiful pools and equally big fish. While I was there for a few days this spring (27th to 29th June) three fish of over 120 cms went through the counter – those are all 40lb + fish! Geir’s fishing guiding extends to a great deal more, sea trout in the fjords, brown trout and grayling on the rivers and lakes, pike, arctic char in the mountain lakes and rivers.
I can hear all the cries of ‘can he get us on Alta and these other rivers?’. The answer is NO… but read on…
Alta, is a closed shop between the Alta Syndicates, and the local and international lottery but he can take you sea trout fishing on Alta in the first days of September, some of Norway’s biggest sea trout, and on a tributary of Alta if conditions and time of year are right. The other rivers all have purchasable licences, and he can help access those but achieving licences is actually, not where his value lies. His value is local knowledge, knowing where to go when, how to get there and having the equipment and knowledge to get you there quicker and easier than everyone else! Let me give you a couple of examples.
We decided to go to Beat 4 of the Stabburselva right deep in the stunning Stabbursdalen National Park. We drove to the car park, loaded gear and walked for about 15 minutes to one of Geir’s boats. There we rowed up the lake fishing for pike as we went. On arrival we fished for salmon on two Zone 3 pools (we also had a licence for Zone 3), we saw fish, but a thunderstorm was brewing, and the fish did not seem in the mood. We began the next 10-minute walk when the heaven’s opened but surprise, surprise, Geir had a tent just around the corner, so we sheltered there and
Geir set his anti-mosquito device off and soon there was not a mosquito to be seen. Then, we fished another Zone 3 pool and then got in the boat and rowed across the lake. Here we walked about 20 minutes to our destination pool. There was another fisher there but of course Geir had another boat, so we were able to fish both sides of this stunning tail. Had Geir not been the guide, this journey would have taken over four hours! Add to the fact that during this trip his ‘Man-Mountain’ act kicked in putting my backpack in his backpack to carry everything and of course when we are there, out comes a frying man, reindeer meat, cream, onions etc to make a reindeer stew onsite!
I did get a stunning 20lbs fish which took off down the rapids and had Geir not been there, I think I would have lost it. The rocks where I was wading were unbelievably slippery, but he was able to help me get away from the ‘ice-rink’ and together we chased the fish down the rapids!
A second example was heading off to catch some trout in a little river up in the hills near the top of the Lakselv river. We loaded on to Geir’s six-wheel Polaris ATV (he is an ambassador for Polaris in Norway) and drove for an hour into the Finmark wilderness where sure enough we caught wild brownies on dry fly aplenty! A third was a further trip we made with a friend by helicopter into an area north of Alta, it was possible to stay there but we flew in for the day and caught some enormous, near record grayling on a beautiful river.
We hooked trout but failed to land them! As we flew over, Geir pointed out various trout rivers that we could access via his ATV. We basically barely scratched the surface of what one can do and enjoy with Geir and his knowledge and access. Then of course there is the sea trout in the Alta and Lakselv fjords, and in the rivers later in the year along with the ptarmigan. Geir is a very keen dog man with two beautiful pointers, Airo and Aya.
How does it all work? Nothing is off the menu so Geir can advise on what there is to do at the time of year you wish to travel. Early season I would suggest a salmon fishing combo with Stabburselva and Repparfjordelva, maybe three days on each or two days on each and two days of trout, grayling or char. Geir can advise and even then, the plan is not set in stone if the weather has made the potential plan less positive.
Geir will generally pick guests up from Alta airport (2 hours London – Oslo and 2 hours Oslo – Alta – both by jet) and his day rate includes driving you around, guiding, use of his equipment etc. For accommodation there is a very broad choice from a range of hotels to Air B&Bs to self-catering cabins.
The choice is yours. Once a basic plan has been agreed Geir will quote for his time and your choice of accommodation and will estimate the likely costs of fishing licences which can only be purchased onsite. Geir speaks perfect English, and it is absolutely no problem for Frontiers to arrange for you to chat to Geir directly.
I know that this is not your typical book a fishing lodge at X price scenario but ‘times, they are a changing’ as they say, and in the absence of many fishing lodges in Finmark and the difficulty in getting on to river like Alta, Geir and his knowledge is a pretty good plan. If, and when you spend time with Geir, you will see that he lives and breathes this land, his depth of affection for where he lives and his desire to share what he loves with others is palpable. He truly is excellent company.
End…