Norway: Gone fishing in Farsund

The last time I was visiting AC in Norway, she suggested that we go out to fish for mackerel. It sounded exciting, and the weather was nice, so after breakfast, we set off on our fishing trip.

I don’t have much experience when it comes to fishing, but AC often goes out with the boat in the fjord, which is right outside their house.

At first, things were a bit slow, so we sailed around in the boat trying to figure out where the mackerels were hiding, and suddenly, we got a bite! Mackerels swim in schools, so once you catch one, there are often more on the way, and once we figured out where the mackerels were, they were practically lining up to be caught. We ended up catching 45(!) before we headed home.

There are lots of delicious things one can catch in the fjord outside Farsund, but when we were on our fishing trip, the mission was mackerels, which are used to feed lobsters. The lobsters are caught in October and November and are then fed frozen mackerel so they can grow big and delicious. In Denmark, we eat a lot of mackerel, so I thought it was a shame if the lobsters were getting all of it. Maybe the humans could also have a mackerel or two for dinner?

AC isn’t a big fan of mackerel, but she said she would cook some for me (and she would have salmon). My dinner that night was thus pan-fried mackerel, potatoes, and rømme, which is a kind of Norwegian sour cream. The pan-fried mackerel had crispy skin and tasted fantastic, and completely different from any other mackerel I’ve ever had. So fresh, not fishy at all, and caught by me!