- Upper Beats
Haukadalsa - upper beats
Beautiful surroundings. Photo by Róbert Farestweit
The upper Haukadalsa beat is cut off from the lower beat by the rather large lake Haukadalsvatn. The lower river is a well known salmon river in its own right. The upper river does have salmon, but sea char are the main attraction.
Haukadalsa is one of the Dalir rivers and they have great reputations in Iceland. The upper Haukadalsa is obviously well inland and a large slice of it flows through desolate canyons and wilderness. When closing in on the lake the valley widens and there are some farms at that point.
One of the canyon pools. Photo by Róbert Farestweit.
This is a very charming river and it is easy to get a feeling of total freedom. While the river winds along over several kilometers and there is obviously the chance to hook a fish almost anywhere, there are nevertheless some places better than others. The canyon pools on the top beat are best for salmon and quite some char go all the way up there as well. Then the bottom pools before the river enters the lake, and the outflow into the lake are the pick of the bunch and anglers quite often witness some dramatic congregating of huge schools of char, as they pull together and fin their way into the inflow and either hold there for a while, taking wildly all the while, or drop back eventually and disperse.
This fishery has a good solid self catering lodge for three daily rods. Access along the river and to the pools is generally very good.
