Straumar beat kicking in early
A beautiful day on the Straumar beat. Photo by gg.
The Straumar beat, the junction of Nordura and the glacial Hvita has started producing good catches far earlier than usual. Five were landed there this morning.
Usually Straumar does not start yielding more than the odd salmon until the last week of June. This year has been different though as every single Icelandic river appears to be having very, very early runs. Over the past few years, the starting dates on most of the rivers have been pushed back due to the lack of mws's, so most of the rivers have not been opened yet to fishing. Which seems strange these days, as there are plenty of salmon running the rivers!
But back to Straumar. Five salmon were caught there this morning (Monday) and most days since the 5th of June have seen some action. At the same time Nordura has seldom if ever had a better start for many years. Often we have seen salmon running early on the river, but the numbers this year are eye catching and the speed they are using to run upriver has been astonishing. One of the better pools over the last week has been a pool far above both of the main falls, close to Krókur, a pool that usually starts to hold fish in early July. That tells you the whole story in very few words.
