Spring Classics from sea and fjord: Dover sole, return of fjord shrimps and many more

Number 1, the mighty wolf fish!

The orc of the sea! Teeth practically falling out of its mouth like it's just lost a brawl in the forest with the other hooligan fish. The wolf fish turning up in spring is a sure sign we’re moving from winter to early spring, but here's the catch: the season is pretty short. You’ll find it from mid-March until about mid-May.

It’s during this stretch that wolf fish are even interested in meeting up with others of their kind. The rest of the year, they’re pretty much loners, cruising around reefs and wrecks—snacking on the occasional sea urchin or horse mussel.

Honestly, wolf fish is a massively underrated eating fish, and I blame the name. “Wolf fish” doesn’t exactly get your mouth watering, does it? It sounds sort of like a cute kitten curled up in the corner—and no one wants to eat that. There have been some wild attempts to rebrand it, like “chop fish”—because only a Dane would look at a fish and think, “You know what, let’s name it after a pork chop.”

Thankfully, we're smarter than that now. No one's scared off by a dodgy name anymore. We love the wolf fish for its amazing firm meat, its flavor kind of like mussels and crab, and for how beautifully it takes to cooking—especially the tougher methods. Throw it on the yakitori with some bold Japanese marinade, or go wild and do something totally different. You can get really creative with wolf fish—it’s up for anything.

Most Danish wolf fish are caught by trawl, but you'll also see some coming in from the skillful boats using Danish seine and gillnets on the west coast. Plus, we’re about to see plenty of high-quality wolf fish from Icelandic and Norwegian boats using gentle, sustainable methods.

So don’t hold back—get wolf fish on the menu these next two months!

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Number 2, fjord shrimps!!

Another true sign of spring is the fjord shrimp, and you can get your hands on them in April! BUT—just because you can find them, doesn't mean they're always there at the start of the season. If we get a nice bit of westerly or southerly wind, and the sun shines a few hours, suddenly there’ll be tons of shrimps. If the wind swings to the east or north—forget it, they’re nowhere to be found.

We get shrimp from all over: Limfjord, Lolland, Falster, Isefjord, Holbæk Fjord, Ærø, Korsør, and especially Kalvehave.

And listen, this isn’t just because we’ve got a soft spot for shrimp fishers. No, you really do need a huge network of fishers if you want shrimp on the menu all the time.

Fjord shrimps breed several times through the season, heading out to deeper water to spawn and hanging out in the shallows the rest of the time. Spawning happens at different times in different areas, which means you have to know who’s got them when your usual spot runs dry. They also need to molt a few times to grow—which happens in bursts at different times in different places. The biggest catches come when they head out to spawn, and again when they come back. But when they’re out spawning, or all molting at once, the catches drop to nothing.

Fjord shrimps are iconic in Danish food culture. They’re a marker of healthy fjords, with waving seagrass meadows and beautiful belts of bladderwrack teeming with life. The fishery is super gentle—tiny boats, ultra-low fuel use. In the right spots, shrimp are thriving. They like it a bit warmer, so we’re all crossing fingers that the cold winter hasn’t knocked them back too much. Here’s hoping, because we can’t wait to celebrate fjord shrimp all season.

And when does the fjord shrimp season end? Is it St John’s Eve, like with asparagus? NO! Asparagus ends then, but fjord shrimp go strong right up to October. Remember that!

And just a quick detour to Kalvehave: it's perched on the tip of South Zealand, facing this vast shallow stretch of water sheltered by Møn and tiny Nyord. People have fished shrimp here since… well, since people first learned to shout “boo!” And they still do. If you want to see what a healthy Danish fjord bottom looks like, take a boat out from Kalvehave, lean over the rail and watch—it's the best TV you’ll see. It really is beautiful.

But we’re not done yet.
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Number 3, the smooth flounder...

Yes, we’re talking about the smooth flounder next!

The smooth flounder gets going a bit earlier than the turbot and has a shorter season too. That’s why we recommend focusing on smooth flounder in April. You can find some nice turbot too, but it can be fun to feature both at different times through the summer. Right now, in April, the smooth flounders are absolutely stunning and Danish gillnetters are bringing in lots. Come May, especially late May, they’re full of roe, so that’s your cue to switch to turbot. So, remember: April is smooth flounder season!

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Number 4, dover sole!!

Yes, the Dover sole are on the move in April, especially at the start of the month. Things kicked off already at the end of March, and now is when we get that rush—a few intense weeks in both spring and again in autumn. We know, Dover sole is pricey—but what a fish! It's hard to find one this firm and meaty—maybe only eel or, actually, wolf fish come close. But the flavor, well, that's in a whole different league. Think lobster, think shellfish. If just the mention of a classic Sole Walewska—pairing Dover sole with lobster and truffle—doesn’t set you drooling, you might not be human.

Yes, it's expensive, and it can be tough to fit on every menu—but if you can and you want to, now’s the perfect time to put Dover sole in the spotlight!

And now, for a much more affordable April option

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Number 5: Ling!

And speaking of ling, let’s talk about that lovely Norwegian guy we mentioned at the top. There’s a Norwegian boat—fishing with traps for ling and cusk off southern Norway, even right in DANISH waters. BOOM.

This is big! Not only does this fantastic Norwegian (shout out to Daniel Fjellskår) catch insanely beautiful fish with his traps, but he’s showing that you CAN shift to a different way of fishing—if people want to, and if they get the right support.

We’ve often held up Norway as a fishing pioneer in these updates, and here it is again. Trap fishing for fish is still pretty new—developed, of course, in Norway.

The idea is simple: bait a trap, fish swim in, and can’t get out. You haul the traps up, and all the fish are alive and totally undamaged—no injuries from nets or trawls. Sounds easy, but these big traps take some learning. The reward, though, is huge.

You see, a ling caught by big trawler, kept sloshing in tanks for ages—even just a week—is just meh. But ling, caught in a trap, hauled up alive, swiftly processed, bled into ice water, and landed the next day—that’s an absolutely epic eating experience. The difference between the two is so massive, you can hardly believe they’re the same species. And you can see it, you can taste it, you can feel it.

So, you can imagine our delight when we heard about trap-caught ling from the norwegian fisher Daniel Fjeldskår, landing at Hanstholm Fish Auction. First, they said it would only happen this once—the boat had to go to the yard in Hanstholm anyway. But it wasn’t just once! Next time, our Hanstholm guy, the legendary Uffe Skinderrup, went down to chat with the skipper and take some photos of the boat, the traps, the amazing fish. The day after, we were shouting about this story from the rooftops—well, from social media anyway.

And… wow. That really lit a fire. Suddenly there was a backlash from outraged fishers and sea “experts” insisting this kind of fishing couldn’t possibly work here. No way it’s profitable! Ridiculous, subsidized hippie methods! Nothing should ever change! Everything must stay just as it’s always been! Politicians should just let people fish the old way forever! And we were just standing there like… wait, what?

Honestly, how do you think things are going? Haven’t you noticed the branch you’re sitting on is already halfway sawn through? If you want a future in fishing, you’re going to need some new recipes for that soup, my friend! And here you go, here's the new recipe!

Isn't it awesome that someone’s come up with a super-efficient, super-gentle way to catch top-quality fish? Right there in southern Norway, just across from Danish waters. You could even use the method in Denmark! If you can’t get behind that, maybe you just don’t want anything new.

Oh, and last time, Daniel landed about 5 tonnes of fish—and if that’s not enough for your business, maybe it’s your business model that needs a rethink…

We’re major fans, and we’re really excited that this Norwegian can show us that a well-caught ling is just as thrilling as a cod or any pricier fish—because of the way it’s been caught and handled! More of that, please! Who cares what the naysayers think?

So, our advice: go for as much ling as you can get this April, and maybe throw some stunning cusk in the mix too. We’ll be buying as many trap-caught ling as we can find—so get on board!

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