Angling exploration part 3.

When reading through my last post I noticed that I use the term “we” a lot. Maybe it’s time for some introduction of the group. The one who does all the writing, me, is Stjani Ben. Then the rest of the group were Valdi, a 29 year old electrician, Geiri, a 25 year old medical student and fishing guide and then the anonymous American, a 23 year old student from sunny California.

Kirk and Valdi were sleeping in the cabin when me and Geiri arrived back. After having dinner and a few beers (coffee for me) we decided to explore the area a bit but do it on wheels. We were very early in the season and the roads could still be wet and we could get into loads of trouble if we wandered too far and got stuck in the mud. So we did not go very far and ended up fishing a lake that was easily accessible by car (I know, I know.. lazy F…ers).

It was very cold and fishing was bad so the bunks in the cabin sounded like a good idea, at least to me but the rest of the guys did some more exploring. They found some very good looking water but strangely enough, no fish. It was a mutual decision that we were too early in the season. The next morning we decided to try our luck closer to the sea and get down from the highlands. That afternoon and night we fished both lake Hopid and lake Laxarvatn and caught several brown trout sizes 1 – 1,5 pounds. The next morning we packed up our gear and drove back to Reykjavik.

What we gained from all this was the knowledge that June is still too early for this particular area of the highlands up there in the north and we decided to give it another try later in the season. This year will probably not be the year we do that since July and August is high season for salmon and we are very busy.

Angling exploration part 2.

Finally I am back from my camping trip and back in business. At the ending of my last post I made a huge conversion error while converting kilometers into miles and said I had hiked over 20 miles that afternoon. The fact is we hiked approx. 12 kilometers which makes about 7,5 miles. My bad.

Anyway… When we woke up the next “morning”, we woke up to the sweet song of a small bird and absolutely no other sound at all. The sun was shining and there was not even a breeze to speak of. Me and Kirk, the notsotiredanymore American walked down to the pool where the rest of the gang had caught their big fish the night before. Kirk decided to fish the pool above but I fished the pool in question. A few casts in and I hooked a fish. This one was fairly big but did not really give me the fight I was hoping for. When I released the fish I found the possible reason for it’s eagerness for surrender; the water was freezing!!

After a few more casts with no luck we kept going downstream. And we walked and fished every single bend, pool and good looking run we came across but found no fish. A good walk downstream and I remembered our perils from the night before and decided to head back to camp rather than go further. Kirk, who is in much better shape then me, decided to keep going. I admired his enthusiasm when I walked back and the walk seemed endless.

When I arrived back at the pool I decided to take a few more casts and soon I hooked a fish. This one was a bit smaller then the first one but had a lot more fight in him. Snapped some photos and released it back. Took some more casts and soon hooked another one. While fighting it I saw where the rest of the group pulled up to the cabin.Landed and realesed the biggest char I had caught up there in the highlands so far and headed back to the cabin.

The guys had not caught anything and we decided to eat and make new plans. For some the siesta after luch went on a bit longer so we split up again and me and my cousin went to explore the river the ran past our cabin. After a bit of walking we arrived at a very beautiful spot in the river and we both swore that if there was no fish there we’d turn to golf. Luckily we will still be fishing in  the future and all the golf balls in the world can feel safe knowing that fact.

I still had on my sink tip line from that deep pool from before so when I spotted a fish in the first pool I told my cousin to go for it. Soon he hooked and landed a decent char that really gave him a fight. I started wondering wether the big ones were too old and tired to really fight. We fished the other pools in the area and decided to check up on the guys before going further. When we arrived back at the cabin we found two snoring anglers in the bunk beds inside.

More to come….

Angling exploration part 1.

Accompanied by an American angler we set off to explore part of the

Due to some excellent packing skills we managed to bring everything

north-west highlands of Iceland, chasing rumors of 6-8 pound char. These fish are supposedly tucked away in the countless lakes and streams that make up a large part of the high plains landscape.

Through some string pulling and research I managed to book accommodation and fishing permits for all of us for four days. When we got up there we immediately saw the stream running by the cabin we were going to stay in. With much anticipation and one jet lagged American we decided to split up and fish in pairs to try to cover as much area as possible. After all this was an exploration trip.

Me and the “upfor24hours” American went fishing a lake, it’s outlet and the

The first lake we fished

main river the outlet flows into. Equipped with GPS and info on the best spot being where the outlet flows into the big river we started walking. My fellow angler picked up a few char on a dry fly in the outlet but they were small and not really the kind of fish we were pursuing. The creek however was very nice and both the weather and scenery were accommodating to us aliens.

The American fishing the outlet

When we arrived at the junction we were beat. Close to 10 miles hike in rough terrain with the speed to match the anticipation. We arrived at a beautiful pool and tried everything but the fish were not biting. My stomach hurting was not helping either. We decided to walk upstream and see if we would find those big char we were after. Then we walked and fished about another

Junction pool

6 miles of water without any luck.

We were tired and a little bit disappointed with the lack of fish but tried to keep our spirits high. At least we were out fishing were no one had fished in the last year at least. Now came decision time. According to the GPS we should take a short cut, leave the river and cut across the moor to find our truck again. Bad idea.

When the fog got thicker we had to rely on the GPS for direction and those

"Thank God for GPS"

hills seemed endless. After about 2 hours of hiking we finally saw the truck and were able to get back to the cabin. Note to self: bring water and something to eat.

Upon arrival at the cabin we got the good news. Our buddies had hooked some nice char in a pool close to the cabin. In that same pool they had hooked four big char, managed to land two of them but two broke their leaders during the fight.

If I had not hiked over 20 miles that night in rough terrain I probably would have had trouble sleeping. The next morning it was our turn to fish that river. To be continued….

Off to explore new fishing grounds

When this post is written it is exactly 6:48 in the morning in Iceland. Today Iceland Angling Travel sets off on an exploration of a part of the Icelandic central highlands. It is still a bit early for a voyage up to the highlands but we have certainly prepared and geared up for the worst.

We are following a lead about very big char and brown trout that reside in small creeks in the central highlands and so it is time to investigate. We are constantly looking for new adventures and new fishing grounds to cover and hopefully we will be able to offer our guests to take part in the adventure.

The truck is fully loaded, the camera has been charged and the fishing gear is clean and ready for action. We have been negotiating with the fishing rights owners to be able to offer exclusive angling adventure trips to this area we will now cover and now it is time to put the stories about 6-8 pound char to the test. If we like what we see, we will offer our guests to take part.

Forecast for the next four days is good although it looks like we will be cold up there. We have secured sleeping bag accommodation up there that is mainly used in the fall when it gets time to round up all the sheep that have been grazing in the highlands all summer long.

We will get back on sunday so hopefully we’ll have some fresh photos and fishing stories sunday night – monday morning.