Laxa a Asum Salmon Fishing August 2012
Laxa a Asum Salmon Fishing August 2012
I was lucky enough this August to visit Iceland and experienced the fantastic
Salmon Fishing available there
My brother and I used the local service Salmon Tails who I cant recomend
high enough
Our guide Arnar met us and we visited the thermal spa “the blue
lagoon” on the way to our hotel for a quick outdoor swim
First thing to do in Iceland is to have a thermal bath at the blue lagoon!
The Laxa A Asum is a 2 hour trip north of Reyjavik
The main church in Reykjavik has a lift to the top and a lift to get you there for the great views
Its a great place to visit with lots of good restaurants and bars and
interesting houses
Tha air is so clean
A no cycle area in Reykjavik old town
The trip North is in one of those huge fat tyred 4 by 4 vehicles so essential for
getting around when you are off the main road.
The lodge was quite amazing and was only built last year
Photo of the lodge taken in the first rain Iceland experienced for months!
The fishing was on a very small looking river, quite low for the time of year
Iceland has had a tough year with no rain from spring right through to August
The first afternoon there was used by getting us familiar with the local
methods on this famour river.
The riffle hitch using small plastic tubes of less than half an inch seem the
favoured method with a hole in the side of the tube making the hitch
Sorry about the focus on the tiny tube fly
The fly kites sideways in the current causing a V on the surface and the
salmon seem unable to rsist the movement slashing at the fly
If the fish does not become attached and “goes down,” the pool is fished
through again with a small light sunray shadow type fly
This very often results in a very satisfacory tightening of the line
Our guides Arnars Rod was a 4 weight 9 foot new hardy Sintrix for the
Salmon
I had brought a 10 foot 5 weight Sage and my brothers was a 10 foot 6
weight Sintrix
and I thought we had come too light!
Size 18 tubes and 4 weight rods meant that this was going to be different
The river had a fast thin flow with tiny little pools and runs
These were all to be fished with the best pool just below the Hut
The most famous pool is the Manafoss waterfall , google it for more
information but its an iconic fishing pool in Iceland
The beautiful falls create a great stopping place for the Salmon which seem
to be able to run very fast in inches of water
The method is to dangle a riffle hitched tube just beyond the foaming fast
water and watch for signs of fashing silver
The first afternoon was spent here seeing plenty of fish but landing none and
at the top pool on the river which serves as some sort of arrival point for the
fish in that it looks like a small lake with a wide pool. quite shallow with a
gentle flow and thick weed
Fluguhylur pool where all the salmon seem to rest
Here my brother caught the first fish of the trip , a nice 8lb fish with a hint of
colour on a Sunray after the fish had moved to the hitch.
Ten pound fish on in Flugylur pool later in the week
You cant mention :Laxa a Asum without mentioning the food cooked by one
of the best chefs in Iceland in his time off as he is a fishing maniac
The Salmon Tails Team
Just unbelievable
View from my bedroom at mignight
Day two saw the team take on the river in earnest
The first pool saw a lovely take as the riffle hitch came across the lower end
A nose came up and with a large slurp the fly was gone
Fish on
The fight was heavy and dour, this was no grilse or small salmon
It moved up stream in slow and determined manner hanging on as deep as it could in the crystal clear water
A huge tail came up , a quick headshake and it was gone……..
“big fish” said Arnar.
We worked our way downstream without further comment.
Every pool had a fish ot two willing to play but keeping them on was proving
impossible for both of us, great fun though provided you were not desperate
to catch which strangely I wasnt.
You could see it was going to happen eventually so just enjoy it!
Looking for salmon from the road bridge pool,
This pool is one of the first stopping places for fish after they come through
the sea pool
Arnar was always confident that if fish were seen here even if they did not
stay long those fish could be intercepted higher up and taken, even individual
fish
Where else in the world is there such confidence about taking fish!
The sea pool
A no show in terms of fish for us but a few weeks before a 15lb salmon and
a 20lb sea trout was taken here on in as many casts.
The estuary where in June and July Artic Char and Sea Trout are taken
These fish are even stronger than the salmon and very agressive,
Unfortunatly we were a bit late for them but I had one little suicidal sea trout
It was a great but frustrating day and we ended the day right up at the top
of the river after a play at Manfoss with some big fish which just waved
there fins at us yet again!
Here fish rolled and smashed into the fly fighting like tigers before self
releasing ( getting away) early!
We must have ended up with over 10 to 15 fish all doing the Houdini act but
what fun !
Sunset over home pool
Another night of great food and bed
I had a plan for Day 2 and that was to catch a fish
Early before breakfast I was done on home pool
Immeadiatly I was into a small fish on the hitch which hurled itself all over the
place before being landed
Unfortunatly it did not recover and became dinner, fantastic it was as well.
The pool is very small but after all the splashing I immeadiatly fished it again
with a shadow and had another bigger heavier fish
Time for breakfast
One benefit of fishing here was the ability to test a new reel from the fly-
fishing-company, the QC, which Italiafishing Uk has taken on for next year
A lovely bit of kit at a silly price.The shops in Iceland will hopefully take
them on as a result of the test , lovely drag, a quick change spool and a
nice click when the fish takes
A major benefit is how light it is when compared to the Tibor reel we were
using on the 6 weight.
This enabled my brother to keep on fishing even with a dodgy shoulder.
The fishing continued with Salmon coming thick and fast between large trout
which gave good impressions of being heavy salmon
This fish took 40m of line before being stopped by the heavy Tibor reel
I am trying to come back for the trout and char , further up the river next year
The greatest sucess was had at the top pool
Fish to 15lb were taken on surface lures when the wind blew
These fish crashed the fly many times before taking and reminded me of
muddler fishing in the Uk
A another huge fish was lost at these heavy falls where 20lb seagaur fluoro
was no match against an instant smash take.
Prehaps should have used the new Excellent Fluorocarbon from Toray I am
now beginning to bring in to the UK
The fish then took off up the falls
Fresh Fish , normally in the 5lb class continued to be taken,one memorable
one being taken in inches of water as it ran the top of a pool after refusing
my brother hitched fly
It liked my fast stripped sunray however as I was watching from the top as
I couldnt resist the cast as the fish came through
They run really fast
This 4 weight rod and reel combination accounted for a 99cm fish at the
end of the season
The last morning before the flight back was only a couple of hours but in that
time 3 more fish were taken
A 3 hour trip to the airport and a chat to anglers on the bigger more well
known rivers comfirmed we has been on the right river with some anglers
not even seeing a fish .We had experinced the trip of a lifetime and are a
lucky pair of anglers
Table at a Reyjavik Coffe house
Great Recycling
To
To fish Laxa a Asum in 2014 a unique opportunity has come for early July 2014
A 3.5 day slot is available at a great value price of £2100 excluding flights
Thjis includes all food and lodging except what ever you want to so in Rejkavik before or after
To enquire please email me at sales@italiafishing.co.uk
