Hnausi on Vatnsdalsa: Where the really big ones are caught!
The 30 plus pounder in 2006. Photo by Björn K.Rúnarsson.
Several Icelandic rivers have bigger salmon than others. One of these elite rivers is the Vatnsdalsa. One of its main pools is a very famous one indeed, the Hnausastrengur, locally often called simply “Hnausi”. Every season is the same, it is full of fish and usually the biggest salmon are caught there.
Hnausi is the bottom pool on the main salmon beats of Vatnsdalsa. It is long and doesn’t look like much at first glance. It is one of the many cut bank pools on Icelandic rivers, however you are not fishing from the gravel bank, as quite substantial wading is needed to cover the length of Hnausi.
Years ago, a Vatnsdalsa guide by the name of Árni Guðbjörnsson described the pool to us. Looking back, and comparing it with Hnausi today, it is safe to say that nothing has changed so let’s have a look at Árni’s describtion:
“Hnausi is fast flowing at the top and there are potholes under the run that sometimes hold fish that are thinking of moving further upstream. The main stretch however starts where the river hits the east bank in a sharp bend. You could say that the party starts directly where the current starts to slow down.
Björn Rúnarsson with his giant in 2005
While salmon can be hooked along the length of the east bank, the best spots are off two piles of rocks clearly visible on the east bank. Due to the depth, you need to wade back to the west bank after fishing down to the upper pile and wade back out to fish the lower pile and further downstream.”
Nothing has changed. A few years ago the river hinted at changing its flow into Hnausi but the outfitter and the landowners combined to thwart the river. Hnausi had been affected but was soon back to normal after the intervention.
It is a place for big fish and several of 20 pounds and more are caught there every season. Iceland’s only 30 plus pounder for years was caught there in 2006. A huge cock fish that was probably 32-34 pounds. The outfitter, Pétur Pétursson, caught Icelands biggest there several years ago, an estimated 26-27 pounder.
A big one from Hnausi. The lower rockpile in full view to the right.
Three years ago, another Vatnsdalsa guide, Björn K.Rúnarsson caught and released what was probably Icelands biggest salmon that year, a massive hen fish of 105 centimeters, but according to its thickness (see middle photo), weighed probably close to 26-27 pounds. He recalled the fight: “The fish ran so hard that the reel simply started to vibrate and shake violently. There were several people around and we could hardly believe our eyes when we had beached the fish. It was awesome." Last season, one of our major contributing photographers, Einar Falur, hooked a monster that broke off, a fish the guides had spotted and been monitoring and estimated at 30 pounds at least. So if it’s big salmon you want when coming to fly fish in Iceland, Vatnsdalsa and Hnausi are locations you would wish to have intact in your planning.
