The Iceland summer has held on to its form of being cold and damp, with July reported to be 1C colder than the long term average for the month. The regular rains have meant that the rivers have been nicely topped up throughout the season, yet the cold temperatures have meant that some sessions and days have been tougher than normal with fish unwilling to move far to intercept a fly.
With the runs beginning to slow up and the continued cool weather conditions on Laxa I Kjos we are seeing the catches slow up as the fish begin to take up residence in the pools all along the river. We have had temperatures below 0C for two nights in a row. Plenty of fish in the river, but we are still waiting for the right conditions. Heavy rain in the forecast for Wednesday might change things for the better. That said, the last week has still recorded 50 salmon to 16 lbs along with 4 sea trout to 14 lbs.
The salmon total on Laxa I Kjos now stands at 600, and the sea trout total is now 62. Top flies continue to be hitch tubes, Red Frances, Black Frances, Sunray Shadow, and the Valbeinn. The top pools have been, Kvislafoss, Bollastadabreida, Laxfoss South, Helgufljot, and Fossbreida.
Nordurá has also seen the fishing slow down, which is traditionally the case at this point in the season. The bigger resident salmon are beginning to switch on to the fly again now with both a 96 cm (20 lbs) cock salmon taken on a size 12 Blue charm from Glitstaðastrengir followed by a 85 cm (14 lbs) hen salmon from Hafthorsstadahylur.
The river total now stands at 1,037 salmon for the season. The top producing pools have been Eyrin, Bryggjur, Breiðan, Stokkhylsbrot and Myrkhylur and best fly patterns Sunray Shadow, Red Francis and Collie dog.
The Midfjardara catches have been up and down each day, largely dictated by the weather conditions, one day only seeing 7 salmon yet most others being around 20 fish per day. Their total now stands at 951 fish for the season. The majority of the fish have been between 5 and 12 lbs but three fish landed were 18 lbs including one taking a well presented hitch tube. Top flies have been micro hitched tubes, Collie Dog, black sunray, Haugur and Sunray Shadow. The top pools have been Brekkulækjarstrengur 1, TT, Kambsfoss, Grjothylur and Túnhylur – Vesturá.
We do still have a few last minute options in Iceland for this season, for more details on fishing in Iceland please do not hesitate to contact Peter McLeod or Alex Jardine or call our office on +44(0)1980 847389.