Lone fisherman
Nordura trolley
River Nordura, Iceland
I think I said on the opening page of this website that I am not really a salmon angler. Not at all, but I was persuaded to try my hand at salmon fishing in Iceland. Now it didn't take a lot of persuading, as anything fishy is good news as far as I'm concerned. I also already knew a few things about Iceland. One – it is horribly expensive and two – you can sight fish for salmon. The first piece of information was most worrying. I mean you can laugh about the cost of a pint of beer, but when a week's salmon fishing costs as much as a car, that's enough to leave you stone cold sober after your £10 pint. Recently Iceland has had a particularly tough time of it, economically. The upshot is that there is a window of opportunity for mere mortals like myself to fish the Icelandic rivers.
The Nordura is a most spectacular river, as it runs for a large part of its length through the canyon it has cut into the lava. The river is clear for most of the time and for someone used to salmon in British rivers, it is blessed with obscene numbers of silvery migrants. This really is fun fishing for salmon. There are fresh fish entering the river on most tides, and these are keen takers. You can see the fish in their lies, and with the aid of your guide, you have the excitement of knowing when the fly covers the fish, the fish responds; and in some situations you can see the fish take the fly and turn back to its lie. Added to the conventional down and across fishing, there is the thrill of fishing sunray shadows and riffle-hitched flies in the surface for a salmon in small pools and pots. All together too much fun.
Lone fisherman
Nordura trolley