Those who know me are only too aware of my views on salmon! In fact, it would be fair to say “I’d rather stick hot pins in my eyes than patrol the beats of any celebrated salmon river”. Gulp…talk about eat your words… An offer to spend a day on one of Iceland’s most famous salmon rivers proved too tempting. Two things swayed it, one, being able to wield a single handed fly rod and secondly, movie stars and wealthy folk frequently visited this valley. We’re talking about people like Cameron Diaz, Vinnie Jones and the King of Norway, if nothing else, it was reason enough to see what all the fuss was about?
Call me a “turn coat”, but I’ve got to say the fishing we experienced bordered on spectacular! Especially when you’re using a 6-weight outfit and a riffle hitch fly. This surface method is extremely visual when salmon rise to take the fly just like a midging trout. They really do and the knack is waiting long enough for them to turn down (painfully slow). Timed correctly the rod kicks into life when you tighten… Great fun and a nice alternative as we shifted between trout streams. In fairness, I let the boys go first, just so I could get the measure of it all!
Stjani’s huge net closes around another fish that his father Benni tempted using the rifle hitch
~Next up is Viking Stjani who manages to bag himself a clean fish~
A solid looking salmon for Mat McHugh of Fly Odyssey and damn good fun on trout tackle
With the boys having scored, I could have run, but had nowhere to hide! Thankfully, with clear water, Mat had slipped into NZ mode and was spotting from way up high. We stalked this fish below as you would a trout, he’s just about visible upstream of a large boulder
