The first English anglers looking for good salmon fishing began travelling to Norway around 1830. It was these anglers who brought fly fishing to Norwegian rivers and where called "salmon lords" (Lakse Lordes) by the Norwegians, they belonged to the British upper classes, some were bona fide members of the nobility, some bore the title of "baron" while others were higher military officers.

Common to all of them was a certain level of adventure, exploration and wealth that freed them from the cares of making a living. At this time the British Empire was at the peak of its power and these Englishman know to each other as "brothers of the rod" crossed the North Sea to explore the undiscovered rivers of Norway and fish for bars of silver.
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At first these wonderful stories of travel and fishing in Norway were told over the winter in London's private members clubs, until Mr. Bilton on visiting the River Namsen in the summer of 1837 and 1839, the following winter wrote the book "Two summers in Norway" for his "brothers of the rod" where he described in detail his experience of fishing in Norway, the country and how you could arrive in Norway and the Namsen in the easiest way.

From this "the salmon lords" built houses and owned farms along the great rivers of Norway. They actually had most of the control over salmon fishing for about hundred years and after second world war they slowly disappeared as the world changed.

As a third generation Norwegian, born in England and an avid fly fishermen who first learnt  to fish with my father aged 8, on the Welsh rivers of the Usk and Wye and honed my skills over the years from the chalk streams of Dorset, to the Canadian rockies, clear waters of the Japanese Alpine foothills to the European Alps and after reading "Two Summers in Norway" was inspired to discover more. 

This is my continuing discovery of my Norwegian heritage, fishing in Norway and retracing the steps of those first "Salmon Lords”.