Kickoff next Friday!
Five to seven June 5th 2008. Photos by Heimir Óskarsson.
The salmon season starts next Friday morning as two of Iceland‘s main rivers will be opened for fishing. They are Nordura in the west, and Blanda in the north. Salmon have been spotted in several rivers already so things are looking really good.
The opening of Nordura is a very ceremonious affair with the entire „board of directors“ from the Angling Club of Reykjavík starting off undir the noses of the entire local press, complete from both TV stations to newspapers to websites like this one.
Seven fiveteen June 5th 2008, the chairman wades back in, the salmon having ignored the fly.
At seven o‘clock sharp, the chairman, this year Guðmundur Stefán Maríasson, wades into the river at the favorite pool Brotið, and slings out his brass tube. Salmon have been known to grab the fly on the first cast but they are just as likely to ignore the fly alltogether. Brotið needs a good water level, so the chairmen have in some years watched in envy as other board members are pulling them out on the opposite bank where the pool Eyrin is stationed and is less suspect to water levels! It is a stressy hour for the chairman who feels obligated to hook and land a salmon for the media. The sooner he does it the better for all.
Things started off better in 2007 and the chairman had landed this beauty inside half an hour!
Last year the directors landed six salmon in the first two and a half days, one of the poorer openings in recent years. That however had little bearing on the season as a whole, as a record catch exceeding three thousand salmon was recorded.
Yesterday three fresh grisle were spotted in Ellidaar, in the middle of Reykjavík. Earlier salmon had been spotted in Laxa i Kjos, Nordura and Blanda. It‘s fair to say that anglers up here are getting more than mildly excited!
