We were back in Iceland in late August for our annual hosted trip to the Midfjardara system, undoubtedly one of the best salmon rivers in Iceland.
This is classic Icelandic salmon fishing, with a river of waterfalls, a canyon, crystal-clear water and small pools, fished with single-handed rods. It is always intimate, exciting fishing, but this year the forecast rains had failed to materialise and the water was lower than anyone could remember it.
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| Low water and stunning scenery on Midfjardara |
Clearly, this was going to mean the fishing would be at even closer quarters than usual, but the low, clear water meant we could spot fish easily in all the holding pools. Though there did not appear to be as many fish as we had seen the previous year, we could see large groups of fish in all our favourite pools - which was more than enough to get the hearts pounding.
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| Salmon clearly visible lying in the tail of the Blue Pool |
We kitted up with six- and seven-weight rods, long leaders and small flies. Nick Moody, back for the second year running, and Guy Titchmarsh, started us off in spectacular style with a seven-fish session from beat four, after finding the famed Tynhylur, or Bridge pool, crammed with salmon.
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| Nick Moody in action |
It wasn't long before the team were into fish. Ailsa Smith had a salmon on beat two within ten minutes of starting, while I watched from high on a rocky cliff face as Richard Williams latched into his first salmon on a single-hander on beat five the following morning (and enjoyed a precarious sliding descent to be at the water in time for the photographs!). Suffice it to say Richard was clearly impressed by the fighting abilities of these fish on the light rods.
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| Micro conehead Frances flies proved deadly |
The team were also quickly into the intricacies of Icelandic salmon fishing, with dead-drifting, upstream casts, short stripping, and micro flies adding new dimensions to the traditional salmon approaches. Particularly exciting was the visual nature of the fishing - not just in spotting fish but in watching the fish move to take tiny flies from on or near the surface, often from deep lies, or to slash at small collie dogs stripped across the top.
Among our 84 salmon landed for the week (any plenty more lost, notably by Nick as soon as Guy had tempted fate by mentioning that they hadn't lost any in the first session), were some truly memorable moments. Nico Stephens opened his account with a spectacular fight from an 84 cm fish while I watched his wife Avril leaning her whole body into the battle with one strong fish.
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| Avril Stephens gives no ground in a tight spot |
Richard and I watched stunned as an 80cm-plus hen rocketed from the depths to take his tiny size 16 fly twitched in the surface, just beating a far, far larger fish to the fly. The resulting battle was nerve-jangling as the fish went ballistic - maybe it's just as well the big one didn't get it, Richard!
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| Richard Williams watches every run of the fish in the clear water |
And then there was Paul Lalwan's continuing incredible run of form. After catching not one but two 26lb-plus sea trout on his first trip to Argentina, Paul insisted he would be happy just to catch a salmon. To no one's surprise, he continued in the same vein, landing a 96cm fish as his first ever salmon. He also entertained us on the final day by catching a fish immediately after going for a short, unplanned swim in just a few inches of water - truly irrepressible.
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| What a start - Paul Lalwan's first ever salmon |
Guy, fishing with the determined Jason as his guide, was a fly fishing assassin all week, even turning his attention to the char when beat one was slow, and landing them to over 5lb on small nymphs. As ever, Rabbi was a great host at Midfjardara and the food and the lodge was superb. Nick Moody has fished around the world in recent years and rated the food as the best he had ever had in any lodge, anywhere. At times the wind howled and at others the sun shone down brightly, showing off Midfjardara's mountains, glacier backdrop and canyons in their best light. To top it all, we even had a breathtaking show of the northern lights on a couple of clear evenings.
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| Ailsa takes in her first view of the canyon |
Rabbi has put together undoubtedly one of the best guide teams in Iceland (and there is tough competition), and Alejandro, Jason and Dolli worked their socks off for the team all week. Jim and I were acting as extra fish spotters and had a great (if a little chilly!) time watching the fish's reaction to the flies as we perched stock still on rock ledges directly above the water, trying to direct casts right onto the noses of individual fish.
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| Richard's 81cm hen - which was dwarfed by the rival that it beat to the fly |
In the low water conditions, it was inevitable that most of the fish were starting to colour up (just the way the Icelanders love them, in fact), but that did not effect their strength or the power of their runs in the slightest. And as the water was still very cold, the fish all powered back into the river, needing almost no recovery time. Next year, we'll hope for higher water and more running fish, but Midfjarda showed that even in less than ideal conditions, it can still deliver spectacular, visual salmon fishing.
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| Ailsa with a cracker from Middle Skyphylur |
We'll be back at Midfjardara in August 2013, and if you'd like to join the team or would like more information on Icelandic salmon fishing, contact
Jim Curry or
Bob Sherwood. We love the river so much, we're always happy to talk about it.
And in the meantime, enjoy the
slideshow of this years trip.
- Bob
