The Kalliojoki waterway in Kuhmo originates near the Finnish-Russian border and finally runs into Lake Lentua. Along its path are around a dozen lakes that are separated by short rapids sections. Kalliojoki River was the most important spawning ground for Lentua's brown trout before it was cleared for the purposes of log driving. The rapids of the waterway have since been restored to be more hospitable to salmonids. The restoration efforts were completed in 2011.
The Kalliojoki recreational fishing permit grants the right to fish in the rapids sections of the waterway. The waterway's total length is 40 km with 27 rapids. The most common catch in the area's rapids is grayling, but trout is also fairly prevalent. In addition to these, one might also chance upon a bright-sided brown trout.
Kalliojoki is a joint permit area formed from the river sections owned by Metsähallitus and the Lentua joint ownership associations (3, 5 and Viiksimo). The total length of the rapids is 4 km and most of them are easily accessible.
Prices:
All persons under 18 years of age receive a 50% discount on the permits and persons under 15 years of age are allowed to share the same fishing quota, with permission from their parent or legal guardian.
You can buy licences directly from the online store and pay using the
most common payment methods.
Metsähallitus' fishing licences may also be purchased by phone. The service is open on
weekdays from 9 AM to 4 PM.
As of 1 January 2020, mobile permits are no longer available. This is due to mobile network operator’s decision not to provide the current service anymore.
Kuhmo: Petola Visitor Centre
Kuhmo: Pääkkönen&Piirainen (hunting and fishing store)
Suomussalmi: TB Turjanhovi (service station)
| Day | 3 grayling or 1 trout |
Once you have finished fishing, you must submit a catch report at www.tuikki.fi. All caught and released fish must also be reported.
The best times to fish in the Kalliojoki River are early and late summer when the rapids are full of water and the surface waters are not too warm. If you mean to go after grayling specifically, then late summer/fall is the season for you.
You should seek out rapids with low fishing pressure. Most rapids in Kalliojoki are easily accessible and you can move from one section to another with relatively little effort. If you see that a rapids section is being heavily fished, move to somewhere else entirely.
Passive and cautious fish are extremely difficult to fool. When the fish are acting in this way, you would do well to switch your lures and flies to slightly smaller ones. This is especially effective when using flies to catch grayling.
The "final slide" of some rapids may surprise you. The Kalliojoki water system has several rapids that run directly into a lake. These final sections are every now and then visited by large trout from the open lake who like to feed on small fish, so lures and flies that mimic vendace, for example, can be really effective.
The waters of Kalliojoki are managed with fry stocking of trout and grayling.
The mean discharges of the Kalliojoki route are 3.6 m3/s in the upper reaches and 5.5 m3/s in the lower sections.