Some sea trout never learn
This is a similar sea trout to the one the story is about. Photo by gg.
A friend of ours told us recently one of the most outrageous tall tales we have ever heard. We know that is it a true tale, there is a real live witness. This happened on a beat connected to one of our listed rivers, the Steinsmyrarvotn, the beats name being Grenlaekur 2. Brace yourselves for a ridculous tale....
Our friend was fishing the Grenlaekur 2 beat. It is below a well known beat, „Flodid“ which is a lake-like part of the famous river Grenlaekur. Grenlaekur 2 is often fishless as the fish run fast up and down it and you have to be there at the right time and place.
It is a long beat and for the most part, difficult to read. But at at least one point, there is a very nice looking pool to be fished from the bottom point of an island that breaks up the river. Our friend waded out and found this point and started to fish. He was using a number 8 Black Ghost and pretty soon he was into a fish. There was nothing out of the ordinary going on, and in a few minutes he landed an aprox 4 pound sea trout.
He intended to release the fish and looked for the fly. It was nestled in the left side of the trouts jaw, but as he jerked it out, he couldn‘t help but notice an identical fly in the other side of the sea trout‘s mouth. Surprised, he started to pull it free, only to relalise that from the fly there was a line which led into the river!
While the trout thrased around on the bank, our friend pulled in an entire fly line and along with it a fly rod and reel, to which the sea trout was fastened!
Now here was a dilemna!
Our friend managed to remember the floundering trout before it died and put it back, having unhooked two identical Black Ghosts from either sides of its jaws. He then inspected the rod and reel. The rod turned out to be signed to a „Ingolfur bakari“ or Ingolfur the baker. Our friend did not know „Ingolfur the baker“ personally but he had heard of him. Ingolfur being a prominent fly fisherman in the area.
So our friend took steps to find Ingolfur the baker and it turned out to be easy. Upon welcoming his rod and reel back, he told our friend his own story.
Ingolfur had waded out into the same isle two days earlier and cast his Black Ghost into the same pool. It was an easy going pool, a pool that even allowed one to let the fly swim while one rumaged through the back pack for some coffee. Ingolfur allowed the fly to swim and placed the rod on the bank while he looked for his cup of coffee. Once he had found it and poured, he turned to the rod....but lo and behold, the rod had disapeared. Ingolfur looked everywhere. It was gone. Disapeared. He grasped the idea that a trout had pulled it into the river but there was of course no evidence. So he was at a loss. Until our friend arrived that is....after that there was plenty of evidence. And a seriously tale tale had been born. A true one .
