What a difference a record catch can make
A 2008 mws-salmon from Grimsa flops around as it is beached. Photo by Einar Falur.
What a difference a record catch can make! It has been well documented that Iceland had an all time record last season and some statistics we dug up from one of our listed rivers, the Grimsa, illustrate perfectly how a record run and catch transforms everything...
We have to compare with the season of 2007 which had an ok/modest outcome of 1.113 landed salmon and grilse from the combined rivers of Grimsa and the tributary Tungua. The record of last year stands though at a staggering 2.225. There are two major productive locations on the river. It obviously has many very good pools but two locations actually have three consecutive pools which are consistently excellent. The lower is the three pools directly below the falls by the lodge that delay the runs and the upper area is the three pools directly below the inflow of the tributary which is a massively important spawning ground.
The Laxfoss pool, 228 last season, 81 in 2007. Far left you can see the start of Thingnesstrengir. Photo by gg.
Looking at the lower location in 2007, the Laxfoss produced 81 salmon, the Thingnesstrengir 57 and finally the Lambaklettsfljot 17(which was as a matter of fact very disapointing). This stands at the total of 155 landed salmon. In 2008 however things hotted up considerably when the massive record breaking runs came in. Laxfoss turned in 228, Thingnesstrengir 147 and Lambaklettsfljot 31 for a total of 406!
A 2008 grilse, one of 309, is hauled in on the Oddsstadaflhot, the junction pool where Tungua joins the Grimsa. Photo by gg.
Looking at the upper location of Oddsstadafljot, which is at the top, Efstihylur in the middle and Tjarnarbrekkufljot at the bottum, the top pool in 2007 turned in 76 salmon, the middle pool 63 and the third pool 21 for a total of 160 salmon. Enter 2008 and what a transformation! Oddsstadafljot with 309, Efstihylur 228 and Tjarnarbrekka 100 for a grand total of 637, three salmon short of a fourfold catch compared to 2007!
We were actually fishing the rivers late in the autumn when the hordes were moving up into Tungua. It was a joy to watch and experience. The water was high and there were fish jumping every falls in sight. We were fishing for the hatchery programm and caught almost twenty salmon in a mere three hours.
What we are to expect for the coming season we cannot know for sure but the fisheries experts tell us that it will be at least an average plus season. In Icelandic that translates as: There will more than enough salmon for everybody to get in on the fun! But the record may not be bettered....
