Vesturdalsa
Lovely little cut bank pool on lower Vesturdalsa. Photo Lárus Gunnsteinsson.
This is a small volume river in the north east fiord Vopnafjordur and is flanked by two of Iceland’s most famous rivers, Hofsa and Sela. Vesturdalsa is fished with 2 to 3 daily rods. The river was in decline a few years ago but has been managed under a strict catch and release system. For good or worse, the river has come back to being what it always was, an excellent easy going salmon river with the added bonus of large sea char runs.
The fishable water is divided into 3 salmon beats. A part of the river is held free for char fishing and the char are also in many of the salmon pools. From the top Foss the river flows through a canyon for about 10km where it tumbles over the second Foss. From the lower falls it runs through a lush grassy valley onto the flats half way through the second beat where the lodge is located. The third beat is made up of endless pools and cut banks that create excellent holding water.
The variety and space of this river is impressive and a fascination of its own to the visiting fly fisher. Being a small river, this productive gem provides visual and exciting sport.
There is a fish counter on the river showing that around 400 salmon enter the system each season and around 20% of these are mws fish. There have been plenty of big fish caught in recent years including a few that exceeded 20 pounds
