Just got back from a week fishing for brown trout, sea trout and arctic char in Iceland. Stayed at a Heidarvatn fishing lodge which is 3 hours drive along the southern coast from Rekjavik and about a 10 minute walk from this...
Here's the gear room...
Heidarvatn is a large lake with waterfalls falling off the cliffs. The lodge controls the access.
It was a month too early for salmon so I fished a Wright and McGill 9' 6 weight and a Phillipson 9' 7 weight, floating lines and wet flies or streamers. We did best stripping flies over the dropoffs on the points created by inlet streams. This big brown took a size 10 Green Peter wet fly on a dropper...
The artic char were fond of a size 10 Alexandra on the tail...
And we caught sea trout to 5 pounds which fought the hardest of all. Was surprised at how many sea-trout were already in the lake. The bulk of the run comes in July and August along with the salmon.
Here's a thunder creek minnow before and after an morning encounter with several sea trout...
Easy to like this life. Breakfast at 9. Fish from 10 to 2. Lunch at 3 Fish from 4 to 8. Dinner at 9. We ate langoustine (small icelandic lobsters), lamb and char (grilled, baked, smoked or as a ceviche). I'd go to bed at midnight but the young turks would stay out fishing till 2am. It never really gets dark.
Many of the Lake's browns drop down the River Vatnsa. I took a 4 pound brown at 11pm on the last night on a size 10 Mallard and Claret wet fly in the pool outside the lodge. Here's our best brown from the river (not mine).
I caught more than my share of fish on thunder creek minnows and classic size 10 wet flies like the Alexandra, Dunkeld, Mallard and Claret, Green Peter and Connemara Black.
The other guys did well with wooly buggers or zonkers. The biggest fish of the trip came to a white marabou streamer which looked a lot like a Delia's Squid.
You also need to be ready for wind (gusts to 25 mph while we fished) and non-biting but annoying bugs which will fly in your eyes, up your nose and in your ears unless you have a head net.
Would like to go back some August and skate a riffle hitched fly on the river for salmon.
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