The long wait is growing short
Taking it to the extreams on Tungufljot. Photo by Orri Magnússon.
We are only just over a month away from the official start of the new season. We will then have several sea trout rivers opening up plus some lakes and rivers with stationary trout stocks. Most of the fishing though doesn't start until May.
It's reasonable that we start contemplating what to expect in April. April rates as very early spring in Iceland being so far north that constitutes for some very unpredictable weather and general conditions, ranging from high velocity deep winter weather to placid serene days that indeed give everyone a lift and a wiff of spring. When the conditions are bad, we at least have long days and ever shortening nights.
Most of the April fisheries are in the southern part of Iceland. The average spring climate is usually slightly more inviting in the south than in the north. One angler opening the Litlaa, up north, on the first day of April several years ago took refuge under a snow drift from the the high northern wind and matching blizzard. As he attempted to blow some life back into his seemingly dead fingers, a redwing, just arrived “home” from more temperate climates, was blown across him. The poor little bird took refuge close the the angler. It stuck its bill under its wing, studied him for moment with its deep, sad black eye and then simply died.
Not the ideal conditions, but things tend to change fast in Iceland. Photo by Orri Magnússon.
Typical early April scenes are of rivers littered with floating ice and anglers fishing slow and very deep with sinking leaders and huge weighed flies. They are after “kelt” sea trout. Most of the fishing is fly only and strictly catch and release, making it all more nightmarish on the fingers. The fish are for the most part in very good shape all things considered, they have after all dwelt in the river the whole of winter, having spawned last fall. Many are huge, fish that would have weighed 10 to over 20 pounds in their prime. But while they have seen better days as applies to their condition, they are still proud, strong and resolute.
Further downstream thigns are looking better and they are into a sea trout! Photo by Orri Magnússon.
April is more often cold than warm in Iceland, yet the floating ice quickly disappears and the river then tend to be hit with flooding as the rain and low pressure systems ravage the inland snow fields. We suspect that this spring could be curious from a fishing point of view as there has been very little snow in the southern part of Iceland this winter and traditionally the snow that lasts as a feeder for rivers into the summer, is the snow that falls before the new year. More snow has fallen in the north, however very few of the April fisheries are up there anyway, the most notable one being the Litlaa, and it is a unique river as it is fed with, among other things, warm springs.
Resiliance is the name of the game and this is not a bad fish!. Photo by Orri Magnússon.
So there will probably be minimal flooding along with the spring rains. How long the sea trout stay in the rivers before leaving for the salt is entirely down to tempertures and water levels. If we have a warm spring, a few rain fed floods tend to make them “smolt” and push out in the latter part of April. During colder springs, many sea trout stay well into May. So to predict is not a very sesible thing to do as we are talking of Icelandic weather. But we are allowed to dream about a productive season start, there are not many things better, following a long dark winter, than to pull out a fly rod on an acceptable spring day and feel the strong pull of the first fish of the season.
And having said all this, several of our outfitters have a variety of spring trout fishing involving both sea run and stationary brown trout and char. It is a unique experience and a thrilling time of year to visit Iceland. Exactly when the first threds of winter are being stripped away, the days are getting longer, the ice breaking up and the migrant birds flocking back home, often despite the winter conditions hanging on. Truly a volatile time of contrasts and extreams.
