We are seeing something very unexpected in Iceland these days. The spring was only moderate, yet the salmon rivers are filling up with fish at a very early date, many of them are not due to open until in three weeks or so. Global warming?  Or a record season coming up? We'll see.

One of Iceland's leading fisheries biologists, Guðni Guðbergsson, has told us that “fringe rivers” for salmon have been producing more catches recently, perhaps even at the disposal of other stocks in the rivers, notably sea trout stocks. There may be two main reasons for this.

Langa may be one of Iceland's very best salmon rivers but it is not known for it's multiple mws's, rather its superstrong grilse. But during seasons of heavy runs there will always be some big fish on the prowl and more often than not they provide someone with great memories. Here is one such tale…

Last summer British Colombian fly casting instructor April Vokey visited Iceland, first to run a girl school on Midfjardara, the next time generally to fish herself. She runs her own website, http://www.flygal.ca/ and she kindly allowed us to run her Iceland article on our website.

Icelanders have made some outstanding salmon flies over the years as is to to be expected considering the number of superb rivers and anglers in the country. We recently unveiled “Gjóla”, a fly that proved to be outstanding from the off.

In 2007, an article was released by fisheries biologist Þórólfur Antonsson reflecting on the work done on Hofsa by placing wild salmon above the unaccesable fosspool in order for them to spawn in the prolific moorland part of the river.

Late next month, female fly fishermen will have the pleasure of April Vokey‘s girls school on Midfjardara . April is a 26 year old Canadian woman who, despite her young age, has vast experience as a self educated fly fisherman and fisihing guide. She also has a bussiness venture, which can be seen on www.flygal.ca. We asked Vokey for an interview, and got it.

The results are in for Iceland‘s annual competition for the best and „fishiest“ new flies, this year sponsored by the Icelandic national association of angling clubs along with local angling shop Ellingsen. There were some seriously good looking flies this year...

We are almost ready for meltdown in the midst of our countdown for the salmon season, starting on June 5th. The trout fishing is keeping us occupied and here we have the newest true tall tale, one of monumental dramatic proportions.

We are actually in the midst of a countdown these days as the first Icelandic salmon rivers open up on June 5th. However, while waiting, we have been monitoring the trout fishing this spring and as the season wares on, more of it will come to the fore. Thinking back the other day got us thinking forward...

A friend of our told us recently one of the most outrageous tall tales we have ever heard. We know that is it a true tale, there is a real live witness. This happened on a beat connected to one of our listed rivers, the Steinsmýrarvotn, the beats name being Grenlaekur 2. Brace yourselves for a ridculous tale....

We recently ran a piece on the eccentricities of the Atlantic salmon, how it sometimes comes to prefer one fly and not another, for no apparent reason. There are more tales were that one came from, more than will ever be counted. But here are a few other outstanding tales of the eccentric salmon.

We were recently told one of the most absurd tall tales we have heard for a long time. A totally true one of course. A friend of ours was shooting geese in the south of Iceland last autumn and met this farmer who was just back from sea trout fishing on a known junction beat.

We are attempting to kill time until the new season starts by digging up some of the taller tales told on our riverbanks. Here‘s one we found in a book about Hrutafjardara and its tributary Sika, mostly written by Sverrir Hermannsson.

We are getting very excited in Iceland as the season seems to be just around the corner. With this depressing economic recession hanging over us, thank god for fly fishing for trout and salmon to offer some respite.So recently we have been browsins through our fly boxes. There we found a unique totally local trout fly that we wish to share with you.

One of our featured rivers is the small and delicate Tungua. It is a two rod tributary to the bigger and more famous Grimsa. Tungua though is prolific and has often been dubbed the mother of Grimsa due to its ultra fertile extra spawning grounds.

Only a few years back the editor of this web had one of his more memorable days while fly fishing for salmon. I was not fishing myself though but having my first and only taste of acting as a guide, helping out one of Iceland‘s best known tailors and (then) local fashion icons Saevar Karl. We were fishing in mid August on Haffjardara.

„Dýrbítur“ in Icelandic is a term used for foxes and stray dogs that attack livestock, mainly lambs and occasionally, even full grown sheep. Why would an Icelandic streamer fly be named „Dýrbítur“? And an even more difficult question: How best to translate the name into Englist? Livestock chomper?

One of our featured rivers is known for its quality Atlantic salmon fishing. But it has also emerged over the years as a massive sea trout river with the trout running alongside the salmon with the prime time hand in hand. This is the Laxa in Kjos, a mere hours drive from the capital of Reykjavik.