Fish Report

Season Round Up:

For those of you who have fly fished in Iceland this summer season (or those who
keep an eye on Icelandic catch stats with a view to a future trip), it has been
an interesting summer to say the least! The past two seasons provided record catches
in Iceland and 2010 was predicted to be another excellent year. Despite volcanos
and anxiety over flight disruptions, the season went ahead smoothly and the runs
of fish have generally been excellent. Please see below a brief overview of the
2010 season on our key rivers and other river systems of interest.

South West Icelandic Rivers:
Starting at a sprint with large numbers of fish in nearly all rivers by the end
of June and fishing very well into the teens of July, we all predicted another record
breaking season. This was rudely interrupted in the south west with three weeks
of brutally hot and sunny weather, dropping many rivers to some of the lowest levels
in more than a decade.

Fishing became extremely tough with the smallest flies and micro hitches tricking
the odd salmon into taking convincingly. Some rivers were more fortunate than others
such as Grimsa which maintained a better flow and is very much still on track to
smash its record. In fact it passed its five year average rod catch sometime back
in July! Laxa in Kjos, whilst almost carpeted with salmon from Klingenberg to Skuggi
(beat 1 - beat 5), also proved tough and technical but enjoyed some taking salmon
and good numbers of large sea trout from 4 to 12lbs that still came to dry flies,
nymphs and techniques like the 'dead drift' size 18 black frances. In fact, over
the two toughest weeks, more than 10 fishers landed their 'Marialax' (or 'virgin'/first
salmon.) Kjos has also seen three salmon over 20lbs landed this season, great to
see these larger fish returning...and giving a shock to fishers expecting grilse
and summer salmon!Langa and Nordura proved very difficult and experienced teams of fishers enjoyed
good hospitality whilst doing battle on light lines and small flies, choosing the
coolest hours in a long fishing day to focus on the best pools.

North East Icelandic Rivers:
Whilst the South West enjoyed good numbers of salmon running but low hot water for
much of the season, many rivers in the North East (still in its prime dates as we
speak) are enjoying both good water and good runs of fish.
Hafralonsa started very well with some beautiful 2 sea winter salmon fighting hard
in heavy water on the lower river. With the ever improving lodge facilities and
track up the river; the rainy weather did little to dampen spirits as fishermen
headed out to fish this spectacular river. This is a river which is 'on the up',
a favourite of those who know Icelandic fishing intimately and the river offering
the chance of some very big Icelandic salmon and easy to take privately by a party
of five or six rods.

It will be no shock to those who know the three rod river Svalbardsa that it goes
from strength to strength with huge numbers of large fish entering this three rod
river. One team of rods landing nearly 70 fish in a lightly fished six days with
a large percentage sea liced in the 15-19lb range!

Sela has been interesting with large runs of fish heading very quickly through the
lower river and offering good sport in beats 4-8. The great work by the landowners
seeing the upper falls ladder open to salmon for the first time and offering even
more spawning water, ensuring that this spectacular river remians at the peak of
health.

The irresistable Hofsa, with possibly the most beautiful fly water in Iceland, started
quite slowly but has built in fish numbers during early August to date. Runs of
fresh fish are continuing to enter the river adding to the large perecentages of
MWS salmon. With Fly Fish Iceland clients fishing Hofsa through the prime late
July and early August weeks a few catches have stood out, not least a beautiful
fresh fish of 25lbs and several others over 90cm.

E-mail peter@flyfishiceland.com [mailto:peter@flyfishiceland.com]
or call him on +44 (0) 1367 850429 or +44 (0) 7900 194580 for information or to
book a rod.