Vatnsa, one of Icelands most remarkable rivers
Last seasons biggest salmon, a 103 centimeter hen fish, estimated 22-23 pounds. Photo from Eyþór Björgvinsson.
Vatnsa is a remarkable river. It is small of volume. Very scenic in a haunting way and unbelievably full of fish. It used to be a self sustaining river with sea trout and salmon. But enter Rudy Lamprecht, the Swiss fish farmer. He set up á large smolt releasing scheme and the salmon fishing on two rods has risen from a usual average of 70 to 140 per season to over 900 plus all the sea trout, some of them huge specimens.
It hasn’;t taken long. Several years ago, Rudy purchased several key properties and thus obtained the fishing rights. He then went on a crusade. He is not that keen an angler himself. What he wanted was to fill the river, and it’;s lake of origin, Heidarvatn, of fish, trout and salmon. Not that they actually needed filling as the lake is one of Iceland’;s more potent trout lakes and the river has long had its own self sustaining stocks of sea trout and salmon. But the Swiss fish farmer soon decided to allow limited angling again and the river has over the last two seasons established itself in the top three seats as the best river in Iceland according to the number of salmon per daily rod.
Small and delicate. This is Haukshola, one of the best pools on the middle part of the river. Photo by Terje Broman Larsen.
The editor of Anglingiceland.is has fished the river over the last two seasons. On fishing it during early September, we were allowed one day but only arrived during the midday break and had to leave back to Reykjavik no later than at seven o’;clock. That allowed us four hours of fishing. However, following three hours we were quite happy call it a day in order to make the two hour drive back in some sort of daylight. By then two of us, sharing a rod, had landed seven salmon, two sea trout (one of an estimated 9 to 10 pounds) plus four stationary brown trout, one of which was close to 3,5 pounds. The fish ran late in 2007 and the first runs were only just in. Despite it being September, all of the fish were with sea lice, which is in fact rather rare for Vatnsa due to the fact that it empties into a glacial river that the salmon are notoriously slow in negotiating. We were fishing the small rocky river with weight 5 and 6 rods, using floating lines and the tactic we used was to skate the flies fast over the lower part of the short, yet well formed pools. It provided us with explosive strikes that sent water spraying into the air. Very thrilling fly fishing indeed. These fish were all very big grilse.
A Vatnsa grilse waits patiently for someone to unhook it and put it back in. Photo by gg.
Then, back again last autumn, we had a single day again, but this time two half days with a night in the lodge. We rather unluckily were hit by heavy rain and high winds that made fishing very difficult. The river ran high as the first half day wore on and into the night. It was still high the morning after but the fishing had to be done in howling winds. At least it had stopped raining. This time we fished for four hours, two hours on each shift. This was during mid September and the fish had been as late this time. Despite the few hours of fishing and the severe conditions, we still managed six salmon and two big sea trout. This time sinking leaders with weighed tubes was the best formula.
Our exertions were rather timid in contrast with many other Vatnsa anglers on both occasions. Last year there were several days that actually produced dozens of salmon to both daily rods. Also, last year there were several very big salmon. Our biggest was a 84 cm hen fish, estimated at 12-13 pounds, but the fishing log had three of over twenty pounds and sea trout in the 17 pound vicinity.
This fellow is in trouble as his salmon has ducked in under the cliff. Photo by Terje Broman Larsen.
So obviously this river is something to have a look at. As said, it is very scenic in a haunting sort of way. It is hard to describe really. The middle section has a rolling grassy canyon of weirdly eroded tuff. Some of the queer looking tuff cliffs are actually sticking out of the middle of some of the pools and at one point the river actually disappears under one of them and emerges on the other side. Salmon hold under it and it is not considered desirable to hook a fish there and allow it to appear on the other side of the rock. You will quite simply break such fish off. But no matter, there are plenty of other more straight forward pools although the one that runs under the cliff is one to remember.
The river is also short, only 2-3 kilometers, so you can walk the length of it during a single six hour shift. The scenery and the quality of the pools is beyond belief. The only problem is, there are so many pools full of fish, that you will never be able to give them all the attention that you would wish to do. So it is perhaps best to take in half of the river on your first shift and the rest of it on the next one.
One thing of note. If you do find yourself fishing the Vatnsa next autumn and you come upon a grown fulmar chick cowering behind a stone, having lost its flight abilities due to the excess body fat, stay clear, as it will otherwise dose you with a gush of a fowl smelling oil product it somehow produces internally and is a VERY good defensive tool for dangerous moments.
