Tromso fishing tour: what you catch, and what it costs

Cod is the fish these fjords are built on. The Arctic cod run has fed this coast for a thousand years, the boats know where the fish hold at each state of tide, and on a normal trip several come over the rail within the first half hour. They are heavy, they fight, and they photograph well.

Around the cod you will meet coalfish, which take a lure hard and fast, and haddock, which are the better eating of the two. Wolffish appear now and then and are worth seeing. The one everybody hopes for is halibut: less frequent, capable of remarkable size, and the reason the guides keep a heavier rod within reach.

Cod fishing in Tromsø carries on right through the dark months. The fjords stay open, the fish stay deep and reachable, and a winter Tromso fishing trip has the additional advantage of being out on black water under a sky that is often doing something worth watching.

Both listings here provide everything: rods, lines, bait, and the insulated body suits that make three hours on a January deck a comfortable proposition rather than an endurance test. Experience is welcome and entirely optional; the guides bait the first hook for anyone who wants it.

$96, two hours. The lowest fare on this site, and a trip that goes straight to the point: out from the quay with local fishermen to the spots they have used for years, lines down, and back. Insulated suits and all the gear come with it. 431 reviews at 4.7 across a lot of departures makes it one of the best-evidenced ways to get onto these fjords for under a hundred dollars.

$174, three and a half hours. The most reviewed listing on this entire site: 743 reviews at 4.8. It is built as an arctic fishing tour by boat in Tromso for people who have never held a rod, with a skipper and a separate fishing guide, a kit-up at the operations base before departure, and deliberately more time on deck than on the transit. The soup from the catch is cooked on board and gets mentioned in the reviews as often as the fish.

The extra ninety minutes is where the difference sits. Two hours gives you the fjord and a handful of fish; three and a half gives the boat time to move if the first mark is quiet, and that is usually what decides how the day is remembered.

Both fishing listings here are run by people who fish these waters for a living rather than for an audience. That sounds like marketing until you are on board and the skipper changes his mind about the mark because of something in the way the tide is running, and twenty minutes later the rods start bending. The marks are not on any chart you can buy; they are held in the heads of a handful of crews.

The trip at $96 leans hardest into that. It is billed as going out with local fishermen to the spots they have always used, and the reviews across 431 ratings keep returning to the same point: the crew talk, and what they say about the fjord and the fish is the part guests remember.

$174 takes the other approach and staffs the boat with a skipper and a separate fishing guide, so somebody is free to walk the deck the whole time. For a family, a nervous first-timer or anyone who would rather be shown than left to it, that second pair of hands is what the extra fare buys, and 743 reviews at 4.8 suggest it lands.

Both boats have a heated cabin with seats, which is the detail that makes a three-hour trip in February workable. You fish until you are cold, you sit inside with a hot drink until you are warm, and you go back out. Nobody stands on the deck for three hours continuously, and no boat expects you to.

Both fishing boats leave from the quay in the middle of Tromsø, a short walk from Storgata and from most hotels in town. That is one of the quiet advantages of this city: it sits on an island, the harbour is the centre, and you walk to the boat rather than driving to it.

The operators supply the suit, the boots, the rod and the bait. Bring a warm hat, gloves you can work in, and something to hold a camera with. Seasickness is rare on these sheltered fjords, and anyone who would rather be certain can take a tablet an hour before departure.

Book a few weeks ahead. Both of these listings carry hundreds of reviews and they fill early in the aurora season, when the whole town is full. Free cancellation applies on the listings here, so an early booking costs you flexibility rather than money.

$96. Two hours, local fishermen, all gear, 431 reviews. The cheapest way onto these fjords.

$174. Three and a half hours, a skipper and a fishing guide, 743 reviews at 4.8 — the most reviewed trip on this site.

$265. If what you actually want is the king crab, this is our top pick: you haul the pots and the catch is served to you ashore.