26 kilograms and 133 centimeters (!). No, we are not talking about an average eight-year-old Norwegian, but a giant salmon.

– There was lactic acid in the arm, fisherman Kristoffer Suhr tells VG about the struggle to bring the fish ashore.

On Wednesday night, a beast of salmon swallowed its fly in the Alta River.

25 minutes later, it was a fact: the avid fisherman had caught his biggest salmon ever. In fact, 10 kilos more than the previous record catch.

– It was a dinosaur, said the Altaværing.

It is therefore not without reason that Altaelva is called the “Kingdom of the big salmon”.

The river is one of the most renowned salmon rivers in Norway (if not the world, if you ask the locals).

Every year participates several thousand at the local fishing license drawbut only 700 lucky people walk away with the golden ticket.

Big grip on long runs

Kristoffer Suhr is far from the only one with a big catch this year.

King Harald himself caught a 10-kilo salmon in the Alta River this summer on his annual fishing trip.

VG also wrote about finmarking Mats Henrik Anti, who hoisted a 21kg rake earlier this summer.

But a salmon bigger than Kristoffer Suhr’s, you’ll be fishing for a long time afterwards.

In fact, so long that it is probably the second largest fish ever caught in Altaelva, claims the fisherman himself.

The previous record in the river was 26.7 kilos. She was taken by Ulf-Arne Jungård Nilsen, 17, in 2008.

– Fishermen have a reputation for bragging about the size of their catch.

– I have photographic evidence, underlines Suhr.

– How do you actually celebrate such a big catch?

– So you go ashore and drink a whisky.

let it out

Kristoffer Suhr says the whole family is made up of fishing enthusiasts who fish a lot for food.

– We intended to take him in first, but then we decided to let him out again. It’s bad food when they get that big.

There was only a quick photo op on the fish, before it was allowed to swim further down the river.

– He was tall. A powerful experience, and one that probably won’t happen again, says Suhr.

Correction: VG hurt himself for writing that the salmon weighed 26.7 kilos. It weighed 26 kilos empty. 26.7 kilograms was the weight of the largest fish ever caught in the river. It’s not always easy being a southerner reporting on the “kingdom of the big salmon.”