Ellidaar: Downswing this year
Reykjavík mayor Hanna Birna is into the first salmon of the season last June. Photo by gg.
Ellidaar, Reykjaviks unique semi downtown salmon river suffered a setback this season following a very good season last year. Everytime the river takes a fall, fear sets in as the river is obviously vulnerable towards pollution and other man made dangers.
The season has ended on Ellidaar, it lasts until the end of August. The 4 to 6 rods fished 863 salmon which is only six salmon short of being 600 less than last year. Yet the river had its best start for years and the going was good deep into the summer. However, the runs simply switched off during mid-July and that, along with the falling water levels and hot weather, accounted for a slow end to the season. When the rain did arrive late in August, it was not enough to kickstart the fishing again.
As usual most of the catch was grilse but there were a few mws‘s thrown in. One of them caught late in the season measured 90 cm and was caught on a weight 5 fly rod. The angler fought the fish for 40 minutes before landing it and releasing again. It is a fish of rare proportions for Ellidaar. The same could be said of Korpa, the smaller Reykjavík-river. Yet as coincidences go, the very same morning an angler on Korpa hooked and landed a 90 cm salmon!
