The four seasons for fishing

Spring (March, April and May)

Is there anything like the first hints of spring? A day when the sun warms you while you hear birds chirping while the colors of the surrounding nature change from gray to a clear green. The sun warms the water in the fjord and the trout that has visited the streams to spawn return to the fjord once again. 

Depending on the winter’s harshness or whether spring arrives early in Mariager, the number of migrating trout can vary. But one thing is certain, the fjord will once again be a hotbed of “fish” activity.

The emergence of bristle worms (polychaete) between March and April provides trout with an ample food supply. If you visit the fjord in this period, you will experience a unique fishing opportunity, where practically every fishing line cast into the water results in a catch. Just use anything that resembles a bristle worm as bait!

In May Garfish begin their migration to Mariager Fjord, and they appear in such vast numbers that makes it difficult for
angler’s to catch anything else. Garfish will take pretty much any bait!

Summer (June, July and August)

If the summer is warm, fishing can be difficult in the fjord especially during the months of July and August. Not only because of algae, seaweed, and other vegetation but also because the water becomes so hot, that the trout swim for deeper waters, where the water is cooler. This means you might have to change your fishing tactics a bit in order to catch trout. To begin with, you’ll want to avoid fishing during the hottest part of the day (which is usually between 11 am and 3 pm in many places). You’ll have your best luck during the early morning or dusk hours (when water temps are cooler and trout are out feeding on or near the water’s surface).

Take a stroll along the coastline of Mariager Fjord on a quiet summer evening and you’ll hear the trout smacking the surface in the shallows in their feeding frenzies. The summer months also offers plenty of opportunities to catch well-nourished mullet.

Autumn (September, October and November)

The trout use the spring and the summer months to become very well-nourished in order survive their spawning migration. As the water cools trout approach the shallows to eat all day.

Autumn therefore offers good fishing and the Cardio-factor of the fish could not be better. The largest fish, the spawning migration, has already drawn up the streams during the spring and summer.

The fjord actually bustles with beautiful fish that are still feeding on the bountiful “pantry”, that is Mariager fjord. It is highly likely that you will come across large schools of “skips” or “grønlændere” and a couple of hours of autumn fishing could yield a two digit number of trout.

Winter (December, January, February)

In winter, the mature trout migrates into streams to spawn, but you might still be lucky to come across shiny juvenile trout in the fjord. These could be ”skips” or “grønlændere” referred to on page 8. “Grønlændere” are small, juvenile fish that have only lived a couple of years and are often smaller than the average trout. ”Skips” are trout that have chosen not to spawn in a given year. Maybe a kind of reserve if something should go wrong with the spawning fish in the cold water in the springs.

Trout may not hibernate like bears, but it sure can seem that way if you’ve ever gone fishing in cold waters. Trout are cold blooded and slow down everything they do in winter months. Fishing in the winter months should be concentrated to the innermost part of the fjord. You have to calmly survey the water, methodically cover the area, and put the fly right in front of their nose. You may find that a trout will hit your fly on the first cast, but there will be others where it will take more than 6 or 7 casts to get any reaction. Tease the fish repeatedly and they might snap back out of annoyance over time.

As water temperature decreases in winter, trout draw into areas where the water salinity is lower i.e. underwater springs and areas where streams flow into the fjord. These spots are well represented in Mariager Fjord.