![\"River](\"https:\/\/btl.longlinemedia.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/finland0121.jpg\" "\\"River")
Here at 70 deg North, a summer day lasts two months. It is nearly ten in the evening, 18 deg C., outside, and the sun beams low from a cloudless blue sky, bathing the endless birch and pine-clad hills in a rich green and orange glow.\u00a0 Regularly the trees open up with tantalising glimpses of sparkling lakes and rushing rivers. Here and there the lakes merge into a vast waterway that disappears into the distance.<\/p>\n
This is the heartland of the Samek, the Lapps as they were formerly known; an enthralling race, rich in culture and tradition extending across northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.<\/p>\n
Although their nomadic existence has disappeared, reindeer herding still dominates life. Houses in this wilderness are thinly scattered.\u00a0 The virgin forests are home to the deer, elk, bears, wolves, white grouse and, in the rivers and lakes, a cornucopia of fish.\u00a0 And it is salmon that has drawn us to this remote location.\u00a0 Two days to tame the Teno, the most prolific Atlantic salmon river in Europe, they claim.<\/p>\n
Majestic the Teno is.\u00a0 Nearly 155 miles long, it forms the border between Norway and Finland for much of its journey as it flows north to Tanafjorden and the Arctic sea. In places it is maybe half-a-mile wide, peppered with islands and sweeping smoothly and steadily around large sandbanks. Elsewhere it funnels furiously through miles of granite boulder-strewn rapids to spew its millions of gallons of fresh water into the ocean.<\/p>\n
The annual salmon catch is prodigious – around 75 tons were taken last year by rod and line anglers like ourselves and the numerous weir-netting stations – elegant traditional wood and stone structures which the locals set to trap the unwary.<\/p>\n While this seems a vast quantity by UK standards and was slightly up on the previous year, it is well down on 2001 when an astonishing 245 tons were recorded. But while the quantities are impressive, it is the size of the fish which draws anglers from around the world.<\/p>\n Salmon here truly deserve their title – king of fish; 50 to 60lb leviathans are occasionally landed each year on fly rods, 40lbs is frequent, and 20lbs plus are common.\u00a0 It is a prospect to set the heart of any angling enthusiast racing, mine included, especially since my personal record stands at a 9lb minnow taken from the Tweed a few years ago.<\/p>\n We press on. At Utsjoki we catch our first view of the river as it flows serenely under the elegant suspension bridge linking Finland to Norway.\u00a0 Here it is already nearly 100 yards wide, the water slow, dark, deep and mesmerising.\u00a0 Later, as the road twists and winds its way north-east following the riverbank it is difficult to concentrate on driving; glimpses of shimmering water and small boats peek through the trees.\u00a0 The river widens and the scale of the valley is at the same time both thrilling and genuinely awe-inspiring.<\/p>\n In spring, this wilderness undergoes an amazing metamorphosis as the land shakes off its winter cloak.\u00a0 Snow melt generates intense torrents of ice and rock as the Teno disgorges into the sea; there are no lakes along its length to absorb the flood waters.<\/p>\n Now it is July\u00a0 and the spate is over: the huge river seems almost placid when suddenly it disappears from our view and the rolling hills close in.<\/p>\n My colleague Neil checks our map; the Alak\u00f6ng\u00e4s rapids – several miles of maelstrom as the river is concentrated into a narrow high-banked chasm.\u00a0 Here, the salmon, fresh from the sea will lie in eddys behind the huge rocks which sit just below the surface. Here we will fish tomorrow.<\/p>\n Then, just a suddenly, the river reappears and we are treated to yet another bewildering sight.\u00a0 As the Teno emerges from the rapids it fans out into shallower water.\u00a0 Dozens of anglers, shoulder to shoulder line the gravel beds which extend out into the centre of the river.\u00a0 Others are already up almost to their armpits, wading in the current.\u00a0 All are fly-fishing for that king of kings trophy.<\/p>\n It is 11.30 pm and the sun is still well above the horizon.\u00a0 These anglers will fish on through the endless daylight\u00a0 until their \u00a314 permit expires at 7 a.m. and they enter a ballot for one of just 35 permits the next day.\u00a0 The banks are lined with tents, caravans, motor homes.\u00a0 Some have come for just a few days; others will stay for the entire month of the special quota system on this one tiny stretch of the river.<\/p>\n I feel initially a little disappointed; I\u00a0 had expected greater solitude. But this river is renowned and draws fly-fishers and game anglers from all over Europe, and as we discover, the wilderness devours even this number of people easily.<\/p>\n At Nuorgam we are greeted with a warm welcome by Raimo Hekkanen who with his wife own and manage the Lomakeskus Holiday Resort. The self-catering accommodation and campsite have been run by the family for 35 years.\u00a0\u00a0 Our wooden chalet is clean, warm and dry.\u00a0 It smells comfortingly of pine, comes with its own private sauna and, helpfully, a large electric clothes drying cabinet.\u00a0 It seems such a commonsense appliance it is a wonder more are not available in Scotland, given our wet climate.<\/p>\n![\"Casting](\"https:\/\/btl.longlinemedia.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/7finland.jpg\" "\\"Fly-fishing")
![\"Negotiating](\"https:\/\/btl.longlinemedia.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/finland0011.jpg\" "\\"Alakongas")
![\"Teno](\"https:\/\/btl.longlinemedia.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/finland0021.jpg\" "\\"River")