Trout, Salmon and Char: The Salmonids of Iceland - Pt II

Iceland is the land of fire and ice. It’s also a place of rare beauty and massive salmonids – and a few well-hidden surprises for the trout and salmon bum. Here’s a guide to the salmonids of Iceland and some of the best rivers and lakes to target them.

By RASMUS OVESEN Photography by RASMUS OVESEN and MARTIN EJLER OLSEN

CONTINUED FROM LAST ISSUE…

Brown Trout – and sea-run brown trout Brown

Trout (Salmo Trutta) are the most abundant species of fish in Iceland, and they inhabit most rivers and lakes across the island. Their migrating cousins, the sea-run brown trout, are present in most rivers, and – especially in rivers, where there are few salmon – the sea-run brown trout prosper. And while few people recognize Iceland for its searun brown trout fishing, there are a handful of rivers that will outcompete many of the famous Patagonian rivers both when it comes to the numbers and size of the fish.

The sea-run brown trout in Iceland typically start running in March and April – and as a result, one can encounter both post-spawn and prespawn fish in the rivers, when the season opens on April 1st.

The numbers intensify through July and August – especially when heavy precipitation coincides with high tides. September is – by many – considered the prime time, but fishing can last well into October, when more and more coloured fish are encountered. (The season closes on October 10th).

For more information about these rivers, please check out:

http://www.icelandangling.com/index.php

https://anglers.is

http://www.fishpal.com/Norse/Iceland/Huseyjarkvisl/?dom=Pal

When it comes to resident brown trout, they are scattered all over – and a lot of times, a big water fall will mark the section between a sea-run brown trout or salmon river, and a brown trout river.

Since the season is fairly short and hectic – and the Winters are long and bitterly cold, Icelandic brown trout keep themselves busy throughout the Spring, Summer and Fallmonths feeding on anything from small midges, scuds and caddis to sticklebacks and even char-, salmonand trout fry.

Their omnivorous and opportunistic demeanour shouldn’t be mistaken, however. Because although some of the fish might seem gullible, they’ll sometimes be super-finicky, selective and shy. So always be prepared to switch from streamers or nymphs to dries and emergers, and be sure to keep a selection of #20-26 midgeblack fly- and chronomid imitations close to your heart along with a few spare spools of 5 – 6.5X tippet material. You’ll be amazed to see the size of trout that will gulp down even the most minute flies.

Breaking the 2kg-mark is realistic in most well-established Icelandic trout rivers, and in rivers such as the Svarta i Skagafirdi, Kaldakvisl, Varmá, Minnivallalaekur, Litlaá, Brunná, Lonsa, Tungufljot, and Vatnsá there’s even the possibility of cracking the 3kg-mark. However, if you’re looking for the real giants, you should focus your efforts on some of the big lakes in Iceland. You probably already know about Lake Thingvallavatn, home to Iceage brown trout of mind-boggling proportions, but there are other big-fish lakes too – for instance Heidarvatn, Vilingavatn, Apavatn, Laugarvatn, Grænavatn, Hraunvotn, Skorradalsvatn, Fellsendavatn, Thorisvatn, Myvatn, Arnarvatn, Ljoasavatn, and Langavatn.

Most of the above-mentioned lakes are accessible by 4WD cars, which means that they get fished by the locals with varying frequency. There are even more lakes that require a good hike, and these lakes, oftentimes, offer great fishing.

Most of the lakes freeze over during winter, and especially the high-altitude lakes will remain iced over until late Spring – sometimes the ice won’t clear until late May, so don’t plan a trip before then…

Stillwater tactics apply to the lakes, and– unless there are fish actively rising, it pays off to fish actively and cover a lot of water using attractor patterns such as Wolly Buggers and Stickleback-imitations in combination with dropper nymphs. Also, be sure to bring sinking lines for the lakes that have steep dropoffs. A lot of times, the really big fish will be prowling along these well-defined structures.

The fishing in Lake

Thingvallavatn is legendary by now –and the fishing can be quite diverse. On calm days, for instance, you can experience some incredibly exciting sight fishing with nymphs and dry flies. In the mouths of some of the tributaries you can fish like in a river using cross current presentation, line mends, and strike-indicators.

And when the wind is howling – which is does annoyingly often in Iceland – you can blind fish with streamers. It’s a rather arduous type of fishing, where you systematically search the shoreline for schools of fish with small, rapidly retrieved stickleback- and arctic char imitations – but it can produce some real monsters.

Access to the lake can be a little bit tricky since most of the shoreline is privately owned and there’s a significant lack of public roads. There is public access to the lake in the northern end – in the Thingvellir National Park. Fishing licenses for the national park can be bought via the national fishing license provider Veidikortid. (www.veidikotid.is), and especially during spring and early summer, the fishing can be good.

The lake’s best fishing is without a doubt found on two beats managed by ION Fishing. Þorsteinsvík and Ölfusvatnsárós are the breakneck names of these two beats, and here you can experience what is probably the best brown trout fishing in the world.

Because of stable water temperatures and closeness to deep water, the fishing is superb here - right from the season opening on the 20th of April until the season closing on September 15th. In total, four rods are available per day on a ‘fly only’ and catch and release basis, and licenses can be bought through: (www.ionfishing.is).

The brown trout in Lake Thingvallavatn are known to be extremely powerful, and if you’re fishing with light tippets and small nymphs or dry flies, you will need plenty of backing.

The gear that is typically used in Lake Thingvallavatn is fairly stout - and with good reason! First of all, the weather is usually quite windy. Secondly, there’s quite a good chance of running into fish of frightening proportions, and thirdly the Thingvallavatn brown trout fight as if they were on a cocktail of steroids and speed. When streamer fishing, a 9,6’ #8 fly rod with a floating- or intermediate fly line and a 4-5-meter-long 0,35mm fluorocarbon leader is suitable. The flies, that are most frequently used, are typically quite bulky, eye-catching weighted streamers in different sizes: from #4 – 2/0. The local favourites are streamers such as Black Ghost Zonker, Super Tinsel, White Nobbler and Black Brahan – and they are all flies that can imitate the sticklebacks and arctic char in the lake.

When it comes to the incredible dry fly- and nymph fishing on the lake’s ION Beats, a delicate and subtle presentation is often crucial. As a result, the gear usually consists of a fairly compliant 9’ 5/6-weight rod, a fly reel with a minimum of 300 meters of backing, a floating WF fly line, a 5-6-meter-long leader with a 0.16- 0.22mm tippet and small #12-18 nymphs and dry flies. It goes without saying that hooking into giant brown trout with such delicate gear involves some serious challenges. Oftentimes it simply results in spooled fly reels, straightened hooks, torn leaders, and broken hearts. The occasional lost fish, however, is a price a lot of fly fishermen are willing to pay to be able to sight cast to wild brown trout ranging from 5-10 kilos. Where else in the world is that even possible?

The brown trout in Lake Thingvallavatn are known to be extremely powerful, and if you’re fishing with light tippets and small nymphs or dry flies, you will need plenty of backing. Stories of people getting spooled are certainly not uncommon, so the locals generally tend to use micro-spun backing and large arbour reels that will hold at least 300 meters of life-saving backing.

Arctic Char (Salvelinus Alpinus)

In addition to the salmon- and brown trout, Iceland boasts spectacular arctic char fishing possibilities – both in river systems and in lakes. Char is the most geographically widespread salmonid species in Iceland, and all across the country you’ll find populations of both sea-run and residential char, but not only that.

There are several sub-species of char in Iceland – populations of char that have been isolated in certain watersheds and areas for ages, char that have ended up evolving into highly biotope-specialized strains with their own unique physical traits and behaviour.

In Lake Thingvallavatn alone, there are four distinct sub-species of char – something that reflects the variety of habitats in the lakes and makes this place unique in the world.

All four strains of char originate from the same species of char (bleikja in Icelandic), and they have developed into four highly adapted sub-species in less than 10.000 years. The four different sub-species of arctic char in Lake Thingvallavatn are divided into two different groups each having their own specialized habitat.

The first group – the pelagic one - forages in the open water masses, where they constantly need to be on the move as there’s little shelter, and the sources of food are constantly redistributed. One of these pelagic char species is piscivorous – the sílableikja – and it mainly feeds on smaller char and sticklebacks. It grows up to 40- 50cm in length.

The other pelagic sub-species – the murta – is planktivorous, and it rarely exceeds 25cm in length. Both of these char species are very streamlined, relatively light in colouration, and they have long lower jaws.

The second group of char in Thingvallavatn consist of a snail-eating char and a dwarf-char, both of which thrive along the craggy bottom structures of the lake, where there is plenty of shelter from predators. The snail-eating char grows up to about 55cm in length, and it is recognized by its sturdy frame, dark colourations and pronounced overbite. The dwarfchar also has a pronounced overbite but, and - living up to its name, it rarely exceeds 13cm in length. It can be found close to shore, in the Flosagjá Fault, and – surprisingly – in secluded cracks and rifts that may - or may not – be connected to the lake via underground waterways.

Generally, Icelandic char don’t grow to sizes comparable with their fellow species in, for instance, Greenland and the Northwest Territories, but especially the sea-run char can grow to interesting sizes. There are a number of rivers to the north that produce char in the 3-4 kilo range, and every now and then the 5kg mark is broken. The national char record, however, goes to show that even bigger fish exist. The record is a smashing 10,5 kilos.

Some of the most well-known arctic char rivers include the Sog in Asgardur, River Holaa, Steinsmyrarvotn, River Brunna, and River Bruara. Here, the fish generally push upstream with the high tides, and the migratory runs will start to intensify from mid-June through August.

Most of the Iceland char fishing is very visual and it is done with small nymphs, midges, chronomids and dry flies at close range. However, when the bigger fish start to migrate from the ocean, streamers and gurglers can be used with great results. And these super-fit and feisty char will provide you with some serious action that will put your gear to the ultimate test.

The mystery trout In a well-hidden, secluded area of Iceland there’s a lake inhabited by a species of trout (or char?) that is phenotypically unique and adds to the diverse salmonid cartography of the place. Having fished there on two different occasions, I have sampled these trout, and when it comes to appearance they are unlike any other trout species I know of.

They live alongside regular brown trout and look like a cross between a brown trout and a char, and since the lake once was connected to the ocean – thousands of years ago, it might be that a char-brown trout hybrid species has evolved since then.

Physiologically, they look like brown trout, but in terms of coloration they resemble a char. They are bright yellow and orange with marbled patterns and they completely lack spots along the flanks. They only display discrete ink stain-like micro-spots on the gill plates, and when they go into spawning-mode, their colours get augmented and intensified, and they suddenly look more like koi carp than trout.

Hopefully next year, DNA-samples will reveal the true origins and distinctions of this unique mystery trout. Who knows, maybe a whole new trout species will then be added to the already impressive salmonid gallery of Iceland?

Getting to Iceland Iceland is extremely well-connected to the rest of the world, and from the airport in Keflavik tons of great fisheries are within close range. Icelandair offers service to and from Iceland through Icelandair’s hub at Keflavik International Airport serving 20 destinations in North America and more than 25 destinations in Scandinavia, the U.K., and Continental Europe.

Icelandair has been in operation since 1937 and celebrates its 80th anniversary this year. As an aviation pioneer, Icelandair continues to grow by adding new aircraft to its modern fleet, more destinations and popular amenities including more than 600 hours personal in-flight entertainment and gate-to-gate Wi-Fi access.

Icelandair also allows passengers to take an Icelandair Stopover for up to seven nights at no additional airfare on their journey between Europe and North America.

For more information about Icelandair Stopover and destinations please visit: www.icelandair.com

Logistics Getting around in Iceland is pretty straightforward, but in certain places you’ll need a 4WD to access some of the more secluded rivers and lakes. There are many rental car suppliers in Iceland – and one of them is Go Iceland: www.goiceland.com

Fishing Licenses There is no national fishing license in Iceland, but as a foreigner one must buy local licenses for local rivers and lakes. A lot of fisheries are run by lodges and guiding agencies, but there’s actually an impressive array of water held by an organisation called Veidikortid. They administer 34 different fisheries across Iceland and a year-license is a mere 6900ISK, which is less than 60 Euros.

For a full overview of the fisheries that the Veidikortid license provide you with access to, please visit: http://veidikortid.is/is/

Lodging When salmon fishing, it is common that each salmon beat comes with either a full-service lodge or a self-catering lodge. This also holds true for a lot of the trout and char fishing, but it generally isn’t the standard – and so, here it is more common to arrange lodging on your own. When fishing lake Thingvallavatn, we stayed at the Ljosafosskoli Hostel, which is only a 10-minute drive from some of the lake’s best beats. http://ljosafossskoli.is (pictured above)

Generally, there are surprisingly many hotels, hostels and camp sites scattered across Iceland (Yup, the general tourist influx has given birth to a great deal of infrastructure).

To find a hotel, check the following link: http://www.inspiredbyiceland.com/plan-your-trip/accommodation/