Best Time to Fish in Norway: Cod Season, Halibut & Time of Day

Guided sea-fishing trips run year-round in Tromsø and Lofoten, but the best season depends on what you want to catch. Skrei cod migrate to the northern Norwegian coast from January to April, halibut fishing reopens on April 21, and summer brings milder weather and long days under the midnight sun.

Fishing through the year

Guided sea fishing runs all year in Tromsø and Lofoten, and winter is not an off-season here: from January to April the skrei season is one of the main reasons anglers come at all. A Svolvær family business sells its fishing trip all year, and the Tromsø sea safari had a departure on every day of its calendar into December when we last read it. Its own calendar below shows the dates you can book.

Seasons still differ by operator. One Svolvær skipper fishes from mid-February to the end of October, a Tromsø operator on Kvaløya from April to October, and a Skrova operator runs cod trips from February to April only. So the choice is largest in summer and smallest in the darkest weeks, from late November to mid-January.

The large Tromsø fjord cruise is the one to watch in winter. It sails all year, but its listing provides fishing gear only from February to October, so from November to January it is a sightseeing cruise. If you are booking in those months, check that fishing is included for your date.

What you can fish for, month by month

The guided trips fish the same way all year: a skipper takes the boat to known fishing spots, the crew supplies rods, bait and usually a flotation or thermal suit, and beginners get shown how to drop a line. Through the year, the species on the end of the line change.

January to April is the skrei season. Skrei are Northeast Arctic cod that spend most of their lives in the Barents Sea and come to the coast to spawn. Lofoten and Vesterålen are the most important spawning grounds, and the Institute of Marine Research puts most of the spawning there between February and April. They are big fish, and the reason Lofoten fills with commercial boats in March. They are also variable: in 2023 the Institute reported the fewest skrei at Lofoten in 22 years. Book the season, not the fish. If skrei is specifically what you want, go to Lofoten between February and April. Tromsø’s winter trips catch cod too, but no guided trip can promise that a given fish is skrei.

In Northern Norway, halibut is closed from December 20 to April 20. North of 62°N, which covers Tromsø and Lofoten, the Directorate of Fisheries forbids halibut fishing in those months; south of 62°N it is protected all year. Every halibut over two meters must be released at any time. Two Lofoten operators name halibut as a possible catch, which is the right way to think about it on a day trip: a bonus from April 21 onward, never the plan.

Late April to September is the easier season. Cod, haddock and coalfish are still there, the air is warmer, and from about May 20 to July 22 the sun does not set at Tromsø. Visit Norway gives May to September as the high season for sea fishing in Northern Norway. One Svolvær operator also names mackerel among its summer catches; if mackerel is what you are after, the mackerel fishing guide covers where and when. Salmon and sea trout are a river fishery with their own permits, covered in the salmon and sea trout guide.

October brings the rain and the dark back. It is Tromsø’s wettest month, at 127 mm across the month, and several seasonal operators stop at the end of it. From mid-September the nights are dark enough for the northern lights again, which can turn an afternoon trip into an aurora trip if the sky is clear and the lights are active, but that is luck, not a schedule.

November to January is the dark season. Fewer trips run in the darkest weeks, the air sits around or below freezing, and at Tromsø the sun does not rise from about November 27 to January 15. There is still a blue twilight around midday, bright enough to see the fjord and to fish by.

Air temperatures are long-run monthly averages for Tromsø. Daylight is sunrise to sunset in the middle of each month; “No sunrise” means the sun stays below the horizon, not that it is dark all day.

Check your own date

A small boat is stopped by wind and waves, and no monthly average tells you what your own day will do. The checker reads the Norwegian Meteorological Institute’s wind, wave and weather forecasts for your date where they reach it, works out the daylight, and shows which species can legally be targeted on that date.

Which trip suits your season

Five of the trips on this site are fishing trips, and they suit different parts of the year. (The Sommarøy day trip is a coach tour with a salmon picnic, not a fishing trip.)

• Winter, or any month, from Tromsø

  The Tromsø sea safari is the trip to look at from November to March: it had departures on every day of its calendar into December when we read it. It goes out on an aluminum boat with a skipper and a fishing guide, you wear a flotation suit over your own layers, and there is no cabin to retreat to, so dress warmly.

  Tromsø: Fishing Sea Safari, about 3.5 hours, rated 4.8 by more than 750 reviewers, from $249.

  See dates for the Tromsø sea safari

• Skrei season in Lofoten

  For the skrei, go to Lofoten between February and April. This Svolvær family business sells its trip all year on a traditional fishing boat, supplies rain gear and a life vest, and helps you clean and pack your catch. Bring warm, windproof layers.

  From Svolvaer: Lofoten Fishing Boat Cruise, about 4 hours, rated 4.7 by more than 800 reviewers, from $112.

  See Lofoten dates

• Summer, and a first trip with family

  The Tromsø fjord cruise is a larger, warm boat carrying up to about 50 guests, with fish soup, hot drinks and thermal suits. It is the more comfortable choice for children or first-timers, and fishing is included from February to October.

  Tromsø: Arctic Fjord Cruise & Fishing Experience, about 4 to 5 hours, rated 4.7 by more than 5,100 reviewers, from $125.

  See summer dates for the fjord cruise

Prices, ratings and review counts are the operators’ GetYourGuide figures as read on September 11, 2026, and move over time.

Wind and waves on the day

On any fishing trip here, wind and sea state are the usual reason a departure is moved or cancelled, in summer as well as winter. The skipper makes the call on the day. Three of the operators we checked say they offer a new date or a full refund when they cancel for weather, and none publishes a fixed wind or wave limit, so treat the numbers in the date checker as a description of the sea, not as a cut-off.

Neither Tromsø nor Svolvær has a published monthly wind average, so this page does not rank the months by wind. In the most recent twelve months of station records (September 2025 to August 2026), days with gale-force gusts were much more common from October to March than from June to August at both stations. That is one year, not a long-run average, so treat it as a pattern to expect rather than a promise about any month.

Shelter varies by boat. The Tromsø fjord cruise is described as a warm boat; the smaller boats offer less shelter, and most trips supply a flotation or thermal suit. If you are prone to seasickness, take something before you go on a day with a moderate sea.

If you can, schedule the trip for the first days of your stay. If the operator postpones it for weather, you may still have time for another date, although a later departure may already be full.

Daylight and the best time of day

On a guided trip the operator sets the departure times, usually in the morning or around midday, and none of the operators we checked says fish bite better at a particular hour. Light is the bigger factor.

From about November 27 to January 15, the sun does not rise at Tromsø. That is not darkness all day: around midday there are a few hours of blue twilight, enough to see the fjord walls and to fish. A trip around midday gets the most of it, while an afternoon departure in December is a trip in the dark. Svolvær, about 160 km further south, gets a shorter version of the same thing.

From about May 20 to July 22, the sun does not set at Tromsø, and from about May 26 to July 18 at Svolvær. Some operators run evening and midnight trips in these weeks, and a midnight departure is lit like an afternoon one. Daylight does not limit your departure time then, although wind and waves still can.

In between, pick the departure that suits the rest of your day. In December and January, if you want the northern lights as a bonus, an afternoon or evening trip in the dark is the one that could show them, but only if the sky is clear and the aurora is active.

How busy Tromsø and Lofoten are

Statistics Norway counts overnight stays by county and month. Averaged over 2023, 2024 and 2025, the two counties behave very differently.

In Troms, winter is a busy season because of the northern lights: December runs at about 166,000 stays, busier than September at about 141,000. April and May were the two lowest months in each of the three years, at about 96,000 and 99,000 on average. Nordland peaks sharply in summer, with July at about 534,000, around six times January.

These are stays across a whole county. They do not count day visitors or cruise passengers, and they say nothing about how full a particular boat will be, which depends on the trip’s own group size, from 5 or 6 guests on the smallest Svolvær boats to about 50 on the Tromsø cruise.

What you can take home

Sea fishing in Norway needs no license. The rules that do apply are easy to miss:

• Export quota: 15 kg, twice per calendar year, for anglers aged 12 or older who fish through a registered fishing business. From January 1, 2027 it falls to 10 kg, twice per calendar year. Trophy fish do not come on top of it, and each person needs their own export document from the business. Ask your operator whether they are registered before you count on taking fish home.
• Halibut: north of 62°N, including Tromsø and Lofoten, no fishing from December 20 to April 20; south of 62°N it is protected all year. The minimum size is 84 cm, and every halibut over two meters goes back, whoever catches it.
• Handheld tackle only, no selling your catch, and stay more than 100 meters from any fish farm.
• Salmon, trout and char are freshwater species under separate permits and are outside the export rules.

The fishing rules guide has the fuller version.

Sources and methodology