Our group went on another successful flyfishing adventure to the Husavik area of Iceland. After last year’s blizzard, we elected to try June this year, it was only a small improvement. They don’t call it Iceland for nothing. The days were in the 40’s and 50’s, but no snow this year.

This trip was close to the summer solstice, with the sun setting about 11:30 PM and rising at 2:00 AM, it never got completely dark.

Most of our fishing was done on three rivers:

• Myrarkvisl – Good numbers of larger brown trout were caught by all anglers predominantly using nymphs.
• Laxa – A larger, but still shallow river that required a good amount of wading. In early mornings, there was a small hatch of caddis but it did interest the large browns. When the day starts with a 18″ and 19″ brown trout on a dry fly – it’s going to be a good day. The trout also took nymphs and streamers readily.
• Reykjadalsa – The guides warned us that the trout moved through the river in response to even small changes in water flows. We found this to be true when fishing 300 yds. of river without a bite only to find a pool where several good fish were waiting for our presentations.

The Iceland brown trout receive very little fishing pressure and are not wary as their North American counterparts. Most of our rigs were set up with 3X tippet and larger than normal flies. In the cold climate, the trout grow slowly. The 17″-22″ trout that were the standard catch are typically 8-12 years old.

Atlantic Salmon season begins July 1 each year. There were a few early run fish during our stay. One angler hooked one while trout fishing. The fish was 15-20 lbs. and greatly over matched the 5WT trout rod being used. After a 15-minute valiant battle, the salmon dragged the leader over some volcanic rock and parted the line.

The salmon have a much greater tourist appeal than do the trout. The runs are carefully monitored by the guides and lodges. All salmon must be released. Our guides Gilvy and Valdi told us of one river they guide where 300 mature salmon were counted entering the river. They recorded 600 fish caught. The average fish was caught twice. (some were never caught, others caught many times).

We fished a variety of flies on the trip. Nymphs and worm imitations caught the most fish. One of our group was very proficient at Euro Nymphing. This is an extremely effective technique if done correctly, and routinely caught double the number of trout as the traditional method. 

Lodge meals were excellent featuring lamb, fish and pork.

The cost of the trip was $4600 for 5 nights and 4 days (8 half-day sessions), plus travel, alcohol and tips. The trip was booked through International Angler with the outfitter Iceland Fishing Guide.

There are many YouTube videos on fishing in Iceland, one entitled “Gilbert the Guide” featured Gilbert Jonsson, our guide in a previous year.

Tight loops and tight lines,

Al