The Salmonids of Iceland - Pt II

Iceland is the land of fire and ice. It’s also a place of rare beauty and massive salmonids – and a few well-hidden surprises for the trout and salmon bum. Here’s a guide to the salmonids of Iceland and some of the best rivers and lakes to target them.

By RASMUS OVESEN Photography by RASMUS OVESEN AND MARTIN EJLER OLSEN

I might as well admit it straight away: I’m impartial. Completely and utterly impartial when it comes to Iceland. I’m head over heels in love with the place, and not even the moody weather, the howling winds, the (oftentimes) extreme cold and the remoteness of the place will ever persuade me to feel differently.

Iceland is a place of rare beauty – an isolated haven where craggy mountainous landscapes, iridescent turquoise glaciers, and cascading watersheds are relieved by spewing geysers, majestic waterfalls and fluorescent green meadows sitting on top of rich lava soil.

Everything is so vivid and sharply defined up there, and, as a result, it’s a place where your thoughts somehow gain in clarity and scope; a place where you suddenly find yourself confronted with who you essentially are.

Had Iceland been fishless, I would probably still have had a big crush on it. But, as fate will have it, Iceland isn’t fishless – far from it. It is teeming with fish, and not only that. Aside from sticklebacks – which are basically fish food, only trout, char and salmon swim in its waters, and besides being native and wild they are as strikingly beautiful as the country they inhabit.

Salmon

Atlantic Salmon (Salmo Salar) are abundant throughout all of Iceland, and even in the capital of Reykjavik you can catch migratory salmon. The salmon in Iceland are not known for their size, but for their numbers and quality.

Each year several fish pushing 1 meter are caught, but it’s rare to catch fish over 110cm – and in terms of weight, it means that you’re probably better off heading to Norway, Sweden or Russia, if you’re looking for salmon in the 15-20 kilo range.

If, however, you love to fly fish for salmon using single-handed rods – or light double-handers, and you’re into sight-fishing with small flies or hitch fishing, then Iceland is just the thing for you.

The season starts typically starts in June and lasts until mid-September, and although all salmon fishing is ultimately weather and river flow dependent, the Icelandic salmon rivers usually fish well throughout the season.

These days, salmon fishing in Iceland is marred by the fact that most salmon rivers are run by lodges and guiding agencies that have pushed prices dramatically up.

There are, however, still a number of rivers left, where you can fish for salmon without having to spend several hundred Euros per rod per day. For more info about river access, prices and availability, you should check the following resources:

www.gofishing.iswww.fishinginiceland.comwww.icelandfishingguide.comwww.fishpartner.comwww.lax-a.net

Among the most well-known and established salmon rivers in Iceland are East and West Rangá, Laxá in Adaldal, Vatnsdalsá, Kjarra, Midfjardara, Nordura, Leirvogsa, Tinnudalsá, Breidalsá, Jökla, Sela, Hafralonsa, Hofsa, Haukadalsa, Sog in Asgardur, Tungufljot, Vididalsá and Stora Laxa. The latter two are among my favourite salmon rivers.

The Vididalsá Like many of Iceland’s other spectacular salmon rivers, the Vididalsá River is located in the northwestern corner of the island, between Blöndós and Laugarbakki. The river drains a fertile agricultural expanse comprising some 1,130 km2 of land, and together with the tributary, Fitjá, it offers 50 kilometres of pristine water with more than 100 enticing pools carved into a mesmerizingly beautiful and at times dramatic lush-green valley.

Vididalsá offers a total of eight rods and four different beats, and the average landing rate over the past five years has been around 1000 salmon. For the last couple of years that average has increased considerably, however.

The season at Vididalsá stretches from June 24th until September 15th – both days inclusive. The first couple of weeks sees the river invaded by massive amounts of medium-sized chromers, and from the middle of July and onwards until the end of August – in what is generally considered to be the high season – fully grown salmon enter the river in great numbers. The majority of the fish in the river weigh between 4 and 8 kilos, but every year several 10 kilo+ fish are landed – and throughout the river’s rich fly fishing history, a number of fish in excess of 15 kilos have been landed.

The majority of Vididalsá’s pools are quite easy and unproblematic to access, fish and wade. They are typically fished with medium-range casts towards the opposite bank, and the gear that’s usually in use is either light double-handed or single-handed fly rods in weights ranging from #6-8 in combination with floating fly lines and small hitch tube flies such as Sunray Shadow, Collie Dog, Francis and Snaelda.

The Vididalsá River is home to its own fly fishing lodge with full-catering services and atmospheric rooms and facilities. The lodge will host up to 24 fly fishing guests per day in comfortable double rooms with private showers, and once the dinner is ready in the evening, something truly extraordinary awaits the guests. The dinners at the lodge are a chapter of their own. They consist of local ingredients, produce and cooking techniques, and accompanied by a glass of classy wine they mark the perfect ending to a good day’s worth of fishing.

For additional information: http://www.vididalsa.is johann@vididalsa.is

The Stora Laxa

The Stora Laxa River in the Southern corner of Iceland is administered by the Icelandic salmon fisherman, Arni Baldursson, and the company Lax-A (www.lax-a.net). Lax-A disposes over 40 kilometers of the Stora Laxa River, which is a tributary to the massive glacier river Ölfusá. A total of ten rods are available on the four beats: 4 on Beat I and II, which are rented out together, 2 on Beat II and 4 on Beat IV. Depending on the beat and the season, a rod costs between 250 – 700 Euros per day and it includes accommodation in one of the big, comfortable and well-equipped self-service cabins that belong to each beat. Each cabin sleeps up to 12 guests, and they are right on the river bank, which means that they work very well as a starting point for the fishing.

Stora Laxa is a medium-sized and extremely clear river, that is well suited for light single handed and double handed fly fishing. It is among the 10 most productive salmon rivers in Iceland, and in the 2013 season an impressive 1776 salmon were landed – which is in the vicinity of 2,5 salmon per rod/day.

In the main season, which stretches from August to the end of September, daily catches of up 10-15 salmon aren’t unusual. At this time of year, there are massive amounts of fish in the river, and if your fishing coincides with some downpours and rising water levels, the fishing oftentimes explodes completely.

Getting to Iceland

Iceland is extremely well-connected to the rest of the world, and from the airport in Keflavik tons of great fisheries are within close range. Icelandair offers service to and from Iceland through Icelandair’s hub at Keflavik International Airport serving 20 destinations in North America and more than 25 destinations in Scandinavia, the U.K., and Continental Europe.

Icelandair has been in operation since 1937 and celebrates its 80th anniversary this year. As an aviation pioneer, Icelandair continues to grow by adding new aircraft to its modern fleet, more destinations and popular amenities including more than 600 hours personal in-flight entertainment and gate-to-gate Wi-Fi access.

Icelandair also allows passengers to take an Icelandair Stopover for up to seven nights at no additional airfare on their journey between Europe and North America.

For more information about Icelandair Stopover and destinations please visit:

www.icelandair.com

Logistics

Getting around in Iceland is pretty straightforward, but in certain places you’ll need a 4WD to access some of the more secluded rivers and lakes. There are many rental car suppliers in Iceland – and one of them is Go Iceland: www.goiceland.com

Fishing Licenses

There is no national fishing license in Iceland, but as a foreigner one must buy local licenses for local rivers and lakes. A lot of fisheries are run by lodges and guiding agencies, but there’s actually an impressive array of water held by an organisation called Veidikortid. They administer 34 different fisheries across Iceland and a year-license is a mere 6900ISK, which is less than 60 Euros.

For a full overview of the fisheries that the Veidikortid license provide you with access to, please visit: http://veidikortid.is/is/

Lodging

When salmon fishing, it is common that each salmon beat comes with either a full-service lodge or a self-catering lodge. This also holds true for a lot of the trout and char fishing, but it generally isn’t the standard – and so, here it is more common to arrange lodging on your own.

When fishing lake Thingvallavatn, we stayed at the Ljosafosskoli Hostel, which is only a 10-minute drive from some of the lake’s best beats. http://ljosafossskoli.is (pictured above)

Generally, there are surprisingly many hotels, hostels and camp sites scattered across Iceland (Yup, the general tourist influx has given birth to a great deal of infrastructure).

To find a hotel, check the following link: http://www.inspiredbyiceland.com/plan-your-trip/accommodation/