The big girls of Breiddalsa
A big Breidda salmon. Photo by Heimir Óskarsson.
They‘r catching and spotting some seriously big salmon on Breiddalsa these days and a long line fisherman looking for haddock and cod out on the bay got in on the action as well. This coincides with the same time last season when huge salmon were caught on a daily basis on the river for a while.
A few days ago we started this tale of big fish by repporting on the tragic death of a 100 cm 24 pound hen fish that the outfitter himself, Throstur Ellidason, caught and went to pains to get into the hatchery only to fail in his attempts as the fragile salmon died in captivity. Only a day later Suddi, the resident river keeper, spotted a huge hen fish holding at the tail end of Bryggjuhylur on the tributary Tinna.
The first one, 100 cm and 24 pounds!
Suddi has experience in spades but couldn‘t coax the fish to take any fly. He told us that there was no question about it, this was at least as big a fish as Throstur had hooked and landed. At the same time reports filtered in at the Eyjar lodge in Breiðdalur, that a long line fisherman fishing for cod and haddock had to his own surprise pulled out a hen fish of over 20 pounds! And then more drama yesterday as an American angler, using a hitched tube, hooked yet another huge hen fish in Einarshylur, this one landed and released after being measured 101 cm and estimated 11 kilos, or 22 pounds. They are adamant that they showed great restraint in their estimation as the fish was overly fat and deep bodied. They (openly) secretly think that the fish was at least 12 kios or 24 pounds, the same as Throsturs salmon, which will in time grace the walls of the Eyjar-lodge. All four were hen fish which is more than a little unusual. Usually in Iceland four out of five salmon of this size are cock fish.
As said, last year, at about the same stage of the season, several huge salmon were landed day after day, some days more than one, and the biggest were weighed at 24 and 25 pounds. Now it remains to be seen what will happen over the following days.
