Sea trout fishing ala Donald Duck
A small part of the junction beat. Photo by Gunnar Björnsson.
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.
The junction is a huge beat were several clear rivers meet a huge glacial mother. It involves endless wading and casting all over the place as the sea trout have a great tendency to move around according to the state of the water and the time of day.
This is a beat that allows spinning although most of the fishing is by fly fishermen. The farmer is an avid fly fisherman but usually takes his spinning gear along as the junction has a tendancy to become difficult to fish, especially during flooding due to volcanic runoffs and/or heavy rains. On this occasion the water levels were very high and although the coloring of the water might have been far better it was still not a disaster.
A huge sea trout. Photo by Valgarður Ragnarsson.
But finding the sea trout pods was proving to be a pain in the.... So the farmer rigged his spinning rod and tied on a big black Toby. He had a plan. He soon had his first fish, a nice 5 pounder. But instead of either killing the trout or unhooking and releasing it on the spot he instead hatched his plot. He indeed did release it. But not until he had „rigged“ the fish. In his vest pocket he kept a red colored plastic bubble, something his children used for still water worming. Attatched to it; three or four feet of monofilement and a small hook, which he attatched to the sea trout‘s adipose fin. The farmer well knew that the trout stay in groups in the junction and „his“ fish would seek out the others. Once joined with his kindred, the sea trout would feel safe again but the farmer would on the other hand know all day long were the fish were holding in the vast pools and canals of the junction by monitoring the plastic bubble.
For the rest of the day the farmer followed the sea trout pod all over the beat and once his fine day on the river was coming to an end, he took his spinning rod again and hurled the Toby toward the red plastic bubble. On the third cast he managed to hook it and pull in the rigged sea trout. Upon landing it for the second time that day, the farmer unhooked the adipose fin, patted the sea trout on the back and slipped it back into the river, blessed with his best wishes and many thanks for the days collaboration!
Our goose shooting friend listened open mouthed as the farmer told his tale. He finally asked how on earth he had gotten that idea: The farmer anwered: „This wasn‘t the first time i‘ve done it. I read about it in a Donald Duck comic book years ago!“
