Icelands first salmon of 2012
Smári Þorvaldsson shows Icelands first salmon of 2012. Photo by Þorvaldur Egilsson.
The salmon season is not officially open, yet the first salmon from an Icelandic river in 2012 was hooked and landed last Friday morning, on May the 18th.
It fell into the lap of a local trout angler who was trying for Sogið‘s renouned big char. Fishing the Bíldsfell beat, which is an exellent salmon beat throughout the summer, the angler was using upstream nymphs when he saw a swirl further out. Thinking that it might be a sea trout, he swithced to a small Black Ghost streamer, cast at the swirl and the fly was promptly nailed. What ensued was a vigourus battle as the angler was using a weight 4 fly rod and an 8 pound leader. But in due course the fish tired and was brought to the bank where it was measured and released. It turned to be a fresh run sea liced salmon of 79 cm, probably and 8 to 9 pounder.
This is not the first time trout anglers have hooked up with salmon in May. The venue this time is the more surprising aspect, as the May-salmon are usually spotted and hooked in the Hvítá system in the west of Iceland
