Gájlejávrátja

Character of the water

Gájlejávrátja lies in the cold north — a northern humic brown forest lake. The tea-stained, humic water hides the bottom within an arm's length. In summer a thermocline settles around 9 m and splits the lake into two worlds.

The surroundings

The lake lies half-remote, a fair way from the nearest road, tucked into woodland.

A small but surprisingly deep pocket (22 m) with steep drops straight down from shore — the bottom falls away fast.

Permits & rules

Fishing permit required — Gájlejávrátja FVOF. Day permit ~140 kr · annual permit ~700 kr.

• Pike: keep at most one over 75 cm per day.
• Handheld tackle only. Respect the protected zones at the inlets and outlets.

Fishing Gájlejávrátja

The species list of Gájlejávrátja runs to 4. The predators — perch, pike and burbot — hunt where the baitfish gather, and on a water this size you soon learn where it holds its fish.

Every session at Gájlejávrátja is fished in whatever conditions hold right then — the same pressure, wind and light as over the real water. What bites today isn't what bit the day before, and those who return learn the water for real.

General rules of thumb for this kind of water

• Brown, humic water dampens the light — fishing can be good even in the middle of the day.
• Stratified, oxygen-poor lakes push the fish up above the thermocline in summer.