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Flood and Dry Weather  --Vol.1--
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A raging torrent called Gaulfossen. Salmon cannot go up such high water but are forced to stay at the pool downstream.

In 1997

Our forth year of the River Gaula in Norway, was a hopeful year for Mary Anne and me. A letter we received in the end of the previous year made us very excited. I was jumping with joy from the New Year and could not wait for the opening season in June. The letter wrote that we succeeded in booking a beat in Gaulfossen!

We had made a tough fight for the previous two years in no-salmon river just after the opening season, while many fish were landed every day in Gaulfossen pool. When we came back to the hotel without fish, they used to say, “Hello, Mr. No Fish”. I longed for a fishing point downstream in case salmon could not pass Gaulfossen to go farther upstream.

In 1996 I booked several beats for safety but I could not fish any of these. Then I realized that my success would completely depend on booking Gaulfossen, the safest and supreme fishing point. But I heard that booking Gaulfossen was more difficult than catching a fish there and that it was not sure how many years I had to wait to book it. That is why I was so pleased to hear the news.
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The mountain had still a winter look. Snow remained exceptionally a lot for the second week in June.

Gaulfossen

As I mentioned before, the River Gaula has a raging torrent called Gaulfossen with a large pool, spreading down the rapids. When a large amount of cold water flows in the river, salmon cannot go up the raging torrent but stay at the pool downstream until the water falls. Salmon downstream still come up to Gaulfossen pool but cannot go farther upstream. That means the pool keeps more and more fish and provides an ideal situation for anglers.

As Gaulfossen pool has got a conical shape, there is very limited bank space from where anglers can cast the fly. So anglers are forced to drift the fly from the boat in most cases. I admit that standing in the water and casting the fly by our own hands make fly fishing more attractive sport. But I was still pleased to fish there because I expected that I could find short cut to what I usually need a lot of time to understand. Needless to say, I was also fascinated to fish Gaulfossen pool because it was the only fishing point and large salmon came up in that season.
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Usually Soknedal is just right size for yamame trout fishing but now we cannot see the bank.

On 7th June 1997 Mary Anne and I left Tokyo, full of happy expectations. We had a nice flight and arrived at Trondheim on time. Although we heard that a cold weather lasted this year, we did not feel chilly when we left the airport late at night.

Soon we drove across the River Nidelva. The scenery from the bridge gives me a rough guess about the water level of the River Gaula. On that night the River Nidelva was full of water. We felt relieved to see it in stealth. If the river had medium water and the water temperature was warm enough for salmon to go upstream, the salmon coming up to Gaulfossen would easily pass the raging torrent and go farther upstream. It might be a good situation but it meant that my lucky booking of Gaulfossen lost any advantage. My ideal condition this year was that a large amount of cold water flowed in the river and that Gaulfossen was closed to fish. That is why I was so pleased with rising water, which used to afflict me.
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The mountain surface was covered with water although it is usually dry in summer.

White Foam

Then the River Gaula appeared along the road. Its water level was as high as the River Nidelva and the bank was completely below the water. Gaufossen must be closed and fish cannot go farther upstream! We felt really happy to think about our fishing in Gaulfossen pool from the next day.
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Bua is the largest tributary of the River Gaula. The whole valley was covered with as large amount of water as the mainstream of Gaula.

Before we arrived at Storen we drove past the side of Gaulfossen. It was nearly 12 o’clock midnight but we went ahead to the river to see the river condition. After parking the car, we looked into the valley. It was full of water with a large amount of white foam, which made the valley even light in the dark. Feeling a bit uneasy, we walked down the waterside to see how many fish had been caught. Anglers never stop fishing Gaulfossen pool all day long even while there is no angler in the river. I would know about the fishing condition if I walked down to the waterside.

When I reached in front of the hut near the bank, there was no angler or boat about. The water flowed into the pool at top speed, completely different from usual gentle stream. Usual boat mooring place was completely below the water. What has happened? There is no use guessing in this way or that. Probably we will get some information at the hotel. Seized with an uneasy feeling we hurried to the hotel.
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High water at Bridge Pool. This is a standard water level in June, high water season. The pool has disappeared and turned into a channel. I cannot guess how many times the channel has as much water as the pool.

When we arrived at the hotel in the middle of the night, Jonas and several guides were waiting for us. They all were stiff and tense. Jonas explained to us;

Since the middle of May this year the river had kept rising considerably. On the opening day of June anglers barely managed to enjoy fishing but the water level was still high and there was no good catch. On 6th June, however, the cold weather suddenly came to an end and it became very hot. Then water dramatically rose and anglers could not take a boat today. He and his fellow guides think that the situation will not be changed tomorrow. Then they have been waiting for us.
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High water at Rognes Bridge in the previous year. Too much water made the scenery so different that I cannot believe two photos show the same place.

That was an unexpected happening. I had no word to say. Nevertheless, Gaulfossen is nothing but Gaulfossen. I knew that Gaulfossen enables us to fish even when fishing is impossible in the whole river. Therefore, I still had a hope.

I asked Jonas, “Is it possible to fish the day after tomorrow?”

He answered, “ Fishing could be possible in the weekend on condition that we have cold nights and no rain.”

His words struck us like a bolt from the blue. Jonas’ report of his observation was beyond our imagination. But I had no means to know more since we just arrived there in the middle of the night. We were just puzzled.
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The mainstream of the River Gaula. It swelled almost to the disaster level.

The Remaining Snow and Fresh Green Leaves

No fishing in Gaulfossen means that we can fish nowhere in the river. We did not need to get up early, unlike the previous years, but I still woke early. I wanted to see in my eyes how the river was and also how “abnormal” it was because Jonas described the river as “abnormal”.

It was a warm and nice morning outside. There were white clouds in the blue sky. Fresh green leaves and gentle sunlight were everywhere. There had not been a drop of rain for more than a week, much less heavy rain. Why was this flood caused? I remembered our experience two years before. When we reached here in 1995, there was a flood. Such large amount of water flowed in the river that Tilseth disappeared, where we enjoyed fishing in 1994. Nevertheless, anglers could still fish in the pool of Gaulfossen. Now it was true that I watched river rise considerably at the previous night. But was the water level much higher than 1995?
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There appeared a lot of giant falls in the small creek.

Imagining this way and that, we went to see the river. When we saw a tributary named Sokna I unexpectedly raised a cry. Then from the bridge of Froset we surveyed the junction where Sokna flowed into the mainstream. My cry was changed into a scream. It was strange scenery I had never seen. The water level was much higher than I could imagine. I had seen terrible high water of the River Gaula due to heavy rain many times but this was far beyond imagination. More mysterious was that the water was faintly transparent although there was several times as much water as muddy water in rain. Because there had been no rainfall, all the water flowing in the river was melting snow and ice from the mountain.

We drove upstream along the river for a while. Every time we came near to the spot commanding the river, we had to make a scream. When we arrived at Bridge Pool we were not shocked any more but just terrified. Bridge Pool was not a pool at all. All we could see was a giant channel from upstream to downstream. Not only the bank but also the whole slope of Bridge Pool was below the water.

-- To be continued --
2002/12/01  KEN SAWADA
Tranlated into English by Miyoko Ohtake