Spate · Mixed · Trøndelag

Orkla

Orkla venue image
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The second jewel of the Trøndelag salmon belt — shorter than the Gaula but equally productive and with a strong fly culture.

Prime · Atlantic Salmon
Black & Orange · tube medium
Primelive now
Prime conditions — go now
River high but settled. Heavy water — fish big and slow.
75% confidence
What moved it
  • Level1.32 mDropping in the last 6h
  • Water temp14.3°C
  • ClarityClearClearing
Today’s fly
BO
Black & Orangetube medium
A personal favourite on the Orkla.
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Level
Falling
1.32 m
Dropping in the last 6h
Water temp14.3°C
ClarityClear
Weather11°C
WindW 3 km/h
Pressure1022 hPa
Rain · recent6.2 mm
Rain · ahead0.7 mm

Live readings only. Trends shown where the gauge supports them.

Water temperature for atlantic salmon
Warm — slow
14.3°Cideal 10–14°C
0°14°28°
How to fish it · for atlantic salmon
When
Peak late June into early August. The Orkla fishes more wadeable water than the Alta or Gaula. Fish the dropping water 24 to 48 hours after rain.
Where
Wadeable beats from Vormstad through to the lower river. Heads, tails, and named lies — the Orkla rewards anglers who fish at short to medium range.
Method
Tubes and large doubles on intermediate or sink-tip in cold spring water; smaller flies on a floater through the main season; drop sizes in late summer warmth.
Kit
13 ft #8 double-hander is the daily default; 14 ft #9 in spate; 11 ft switch on smaller water. Floating, intermediate, fast-sink. 12 to 15 lb fluoro tippet.
Why this works
The river is in textbook shape. River dropping nicely into shape after a lift — textbook conditions. Clearing nicely — classic taking conditions. 14.3°C — in the ideal taking range for summer salmon. This is the window experienced salmon anglers wait for — if you can get to the river, go now.
Hatch timeline · todayQuiet day

Hatch predictions

Today's headline hatch shown — see all 8 active hatches hour by hour with Pro.

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Evidence
ModelledModerate confidence

Modelled from regional ecology — no survey or occurrence data for this water yet.

Through the year
0–3 scale · July highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Salmon runRun
1
2
1
March BrownHatch
2
3
2
GrannomHatch
2
2
Large StoneflyHatch
2
3
2
Yellow SallyHatch
2
3
2

Numbers are intensity 0 (none) to 3 (peak) — a guide, not a guarantee.

Ranked for today
Atlantic Salmon fly box
Beats · 4 · 3 reaches

The Orkla runs its own access and rule structure separate from neighbouring Gaula, so don't assume the two work the same way. Fishing here means stacking three layers: the national fishing fee (fiskeravgift), a salmon-management tax that grants no access on its own; the Orkla river card (Orklakort), the mandatory river-wide registration; and an actual vald, beat or lodge booking that gives you water to fish. Equipment disinfection is compulsory and catch reporting is required. As on every Norwegian salmon river, the state can issue short-notice in-season regulation changes if stock counts disappoint, so verify the current quota, season status and your beat booking route against the local Orkla association before travelling.

Lower Orkla — Orkanger to FannremSeason rods
The lower river from the Orkanger estuary up to Fannrem takes the fresh fish first — the earlier-season, larger-water beats.
Middle Orkla — Meldal classic fly water · 2 beatsDay rods
Middle Orkla — Meldal corridor, Grindal Salmon Lodge (formerly Aunan Lodge)
The 2 beats
Middle Orkla — Meldal corridorSeason rods
Valds, lodges and proprietors (via local associations)
The classic Meldal fly water — wadeable cobble-and-gravel runs that the Orkla is known for, fished at short to medium range. This is where the lodges and named beats concentrate; the river rewards wading and water-reading over distance casting. Access is by vald, beat card or lodge package (Aunan, Grindal and Sæter are among the known lodge waters — verify individually).
Fiskeravgift + Orklakort + beat/vald/lodge booking. Disinfection and catch reporting mandatory. Annual quota and protected-size rules apply; the state may change rules in-season.
Grindal Salmon Lodge (formerly Aunan Lodge)Guide / lodge
Grindal Salmon Lodge (grindalsalmonlodge.no) — booked direct or via agents
Premium Orkla lodge in the Meldal corridor between Storås and Meldal, about 55 km from the sea — known as Aunan Lodge until the property was renamed Grindal Salmon Lodge after the 2020 season (same water, new name). It controls about 5.5 km of largely double-bank fishing across 17 named pools, including the renowned holding pools Pollen and Igdhølen. Just 12 rods on the water, fished fly-only (spinning allowed by prior arrangement for a full 12-rod party).
Fiskeravgift + Orklakort registration required on top of the lodge booking. Equipment disinfection and catch reporting mandatory. 2026 Orkla quota/protected-size rules and the state's short-notice in-season regulation changes apply.
Upper Orkla — RennebuMembers
The upper river through Rennebu comes good later in the season once fish have run the lower and middle beats.
Permits & access
Permit required — see local rules.
  • Fiskeravgift plus local Orkla beat permit required
  • Equipment disinfection and catch reporting are mandatory, and the practical experience depends heavily on which beat or lodge water you draw.
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
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Driva
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Gallery · 1
  1. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

The second jewel of the Trøndelag salmon belt — shorter than the Gaula but equally productive and with a strong fly culture. Black & Orange is a personal favourite on the Orkla among experienced anglers. Multi-sea-winter salmon with excellent grilse runs. Mix of private and public beats. June–August season with mid-summer often strongest. Equipment disinfection mandatory. Atlantic salmon are managed under national and river-specific regulations — daily and seasonal quotas, size limits and mid-season evaluations apply, and catch-and-release is widely practised; check current rules before fishing.

Under the surface

The Orkla falls roughly 1,058 m over 179 km from Lake Orkelsjøen high in the Oppdal mountains to Orkdalsfjorden at Orkanger, giving an average gradient near 0.6% — similar slope to the Gaula but a very different river because the Orkla is heavily regulated. Five power-generation reservoirs built between 1978 and 1985 control the upper 39% of the catchment, suppressing winter-spring spates and buffering summer flow at a stable 60–70 m³/s while holding water temperatures down around 4–5 °C at the dam outflow and rarely above 15 °C in the main stem. The upper river is a partly-confined step-pool and pocket-water reach on Caledonian metasediment boulder and cobble; the roughly 88 km of anadromous salmon water above Orkanger settles into an unconfined pool-riffle reach on medium gravel and cobble with the flow-regulation signature of a stable, predictable bed — very different from the wild freestone Gaula next door.

Wading: Regulated flow pulses from hydroelectric releases

  • Mixed
  • Step pool
  • Pool riffle
Water quality (WFD)
  • Ecology: High
  • Chemical: Unknown
What this classification means

WFD ecological status Good → High corrected to EEA WISE 2022 (3rd RBMP) classification for waterbody NO121-600-R (was a stale earlier-cycle value). Source: EEA WISE SWB_SurfaceWaterBody (discodata.eea.europa.eu), verified 2026-06-18.

WFD classification · NO121-600-R

The full read · show the working · for atlantic salmon · confidence 75%
How the river scores — hydrology factors
Water heightHigh But Manageable+1.4
Recent riseClear Recent Rise+6.9
Falling after liftDropping Nicely Into Shape+4.0
Water temperatureCool To Moderate+2.5
Time in seasonSummer Peak Window+2.3
ClarityClearing+2.4
Hydrology base19.5
Rules that fired
Rise Plus Good Temp Bonus+0.75
High But Dropping Into Shape Bonus+0.75
Clearing After Spate Bonus+1
Will they take?Willingcaps the band

Fish should be willing to take — clearing, stained water, fresh fish moving on the lift.

Can you trust it?
Water temperaturelive gauge readinggauge
Level / flowon-river gaugeobserved
What would change the calculation
No prolonged stable spell before the current rise.
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
Seasons & zones
  • Salmon1 June → 31 August
  • TroutOpens June–September
Related guides
Atlantic Salmonsalmon tacticsEuro Nymphingsubsurface methods
Booking & contacts