Why would an Icelandic streamer be named Livestock chomper?
The original black Dýrbítur and the pink variety. Both with the rubber legs that are only optional for fly tiers. The fly works well with or without them. Photo by Heimir óskarsson.
„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?
The fly came to a fore quite a few years ago as the author, Siggi Páls, a well known local fly fisherman was facing a blank afternoon while fishing on a westland river. He had tied this particular fly but as of yet it had no name. The black and silver variety is the original and he tried it and caught a few salmon. Still it remained nameless.
A few years later, Siggi and some friends, where fishing for sea trout on the Litlaa, one of our listed rivers. It is in the Icelandic northeast and by far the countries best sea trout river in that region. Still, Siggi and his friends were not doing to well and several tall tales gained weight during the storytelling in the lodge. One of them covered a huge sea trout that had enetered the river and no one had managed to hook and land.
A beautiful Litlaa brown trout. Photo by Axel Eyfjörð.
At the height of the storytelling, someone said that he had heard that the monster trout had attacked a lamb that had attempted to wade the river on a shallow bar close to the monsters holding spot. The trout was dubbed Dýrbítur on the spot.
A few years on, the black and silvery streamer still had no name but had scored well for Siggi and a handfull of his friends, especially for brown trout during late season. It had also scored well for sea char and even for salmon, as it is well documented that almost any fly will get you a salmon. One day a friend of Siggi was going to Litlaa to fish for sea trout and asked him for some flies. Siggi assembled a likely group and put them in a box, and his friend picked them up before heading north. As they met, Siggi threw in a few tall tales, one of them about the „Dýrbítur“. One of the flies in the box was the unnamed black and silver streamer.
The day after, Siggi tried to call his friends mobile to check how things had gone. There was no reply. Late in the evening Siggi‘s phone called and his friend was on the line. „We got him!“ he said, sounding very flustered. „You got him? Who?,“ Siggi replied. „Him, we got the Dýrbítur!“, his friend stormed.
What had happened was, that Siggi‘s friend had caugth a 23 pound sea trout. Although Litlaa is famous for its big trout, this one still stands a the rivers record sea trout. And the fly had finally aquired a name: Dýrbítur.
Since, Dýrbítur is well established as an excellent fly in Iceland. Other color varieties have been added, among them brown, green, pink and purple. And it has even been tried with success with rubber legs. It is a great fly and fun to have as an option.
