The Annual Fishing Trip
The annual fishing trip went pretty well. We go every year to the same place because of the costs of renting the huts and buying permission to fish are so low. This year, I won the trophy for longest fish. Atli Víðar’s biggest brown trout was probably heavier than my longest fish and was quite a respectable catch but he doesn’t think that he should get the award for biggest fish considering that he’s maker and presenter of the award.
A few notes before I begin my fishing stories. First, I want to say that Dagmar’s little prank on Kata was naughty. She should be ashamed of herself and apologize to her daughter. Second, I saw my first white tailed eagle. It was quite a large and beautiful bird. There was a pair of skuas chasing it when I saw it and then it flew off in the direction of some mountains. Third, the weather was not so bad, although there were only a few times when the wind stopped.
I thoroughly enjoyed the trip, as always. I love going out there where the only sounds are those of nature and the people with whom I travel. I feel lucky to have found a family into which I fit relatively well. My sisters- and brothers-in-law are fun to be with and their differences add spice to the conversations that flow throughout the day. I haven’t seen some of the relatives much in the last two years because they live on he other side of the country and I haven’t been there for quite some time. It was especially glad to see Pétur and Kristjana’s baby Olga Snærós. She’s very cute and obviously has a lot of personality.
However, most of my time up there on the northern tip was spent walking around by myself and casting out into crystal clear water in the hopes of finding brown trout. Many were found. I went with Atli, Benna, and Atli Dagur on Thursday night from Akureyri up to Hraun and then straight out to the water. We fished just about all night. In the morning, there were four fish on my stringer (two of which will be eaten tonight) and Atli had managed to haul in three or four as well. He fishes with worms and therefore catches a lot more char than I do with my spoon. I think that Atli Dagur’s lack of patience stands in the way of his ability to catch fish. But he’s still young. Anyway, then se went up and slept for a few hours. After that I went out again to try to catch some more. I caught two small (roughly a pound each) brown trout in a pond where two years ago I caught a 6 pounder. In that trip, Atli pulled in a nice 4 pounder. Then it was back to the hut for some grub and a bit of shut-eye. Then the rest of the army pulled in. In all, we are 20 and when all are together in the hut, it’s pretty crowded. Anyway, we talked for a little while then two sisters and their families went over to the other hut to sleep he night away. I went out for a little more fishing and caught a few small ones before going to bed. Saturday morning there was a short trip out to fish in the morning and then a birthday party for my son where favorite gifts were the toy light sabers that the two boys got. After the party, I went out to try out the rubber raft Pétur brought. I drifted across the pond and caught nothing. Then I decided to try the pond on top of the mountain. I fished pretty well there last year. I think the very few people bother to go up there because it’s a long walk from all directions. So, that means that the fish are free to grow as big as they can for as long as they want. This time, the first of two arctic char that I caught up there was the longest fish caught by anyone on the trip. I actually didn’t measure its length but it was just under 4 pounds and was pretty skinny. I would say that it was about 22” long. It put up a pretty good fight considering that it was a char-they don’t put up much of a fight.
The last night of the trip, we decided to hitch a ride with the son of the guy who owns the land up to a lake where we fished well last year. On the way up he pointed out several ponds along the way where he said there were fish. For some reason, one of them seemed to me to be most likely to hold large fish and I decided that I’d walk back so that I could hit it on the way the next morning. As it turns out, fishing was terrible in the pond to which we went. I began the walk back to the cabin at about 5:00 and within an hour I was standing at the shore of the pond I had decided to fish. It seems that walking to the pond would take as long as hitching a ride. Anyway, this pond was deep, but very small. It suddenly didn’t hold much promise for me and I wasn’t really paying attention as I walked along the bank. All of a sudden a large brown trout shot out from under the bank ahead of me and raced off into the weeds. I stopped and started casting. There were so many weeds that I had to hold the spoon on the surface to keep it above the undergrowth. I was casting as I was continuing my walk around the pond. When a second huge brown trout shot out from under the bank, I started really concentrating my casting on spots that looked likely. After a couple of casts along he shore ahead of me, I sent the spinner out toward the opposite bank. As soon as I started retrieving it I saw a churning in the water that looked like there was a scuba diver down there. A wake a few inches high raced up behind my spinner and then the strongest hit I remember feeling confirmed what my eyes were telling me: I had found the fish I’ve been looking for since that fateful day on Lake Champlain when Melody’s idea of “hit it on the head with the paddle” cost me the biggest fish I’d ever fished. Anyway, back to Iceland...I fought this fish for about 15-20 minutes and it was finally getting tired enough that I was getting it closer to shore. I was up to my knees in the very cold water so that I’d be more likely to get the net under at least part of its body. But it had one trick left. It dove straight down into the clay at the bottom and wrapped itself around a rock. Every time I’ve seen a fish do this, the spinner has gotten tripped up on the stone or log or weeds or whatever and the fish gets away. This was no exception. Now, I know that you are thinking that this is just a typical fish that got away story, but I promise, this one is completely true. That fish had a tail about 8” wide and was at least 10 pounds. I believe that I was just out-matched with my light tackle. I think I did everything as well as anyone could have with what I had with me. But the fish beat me in this instance. I stood in awe for a long time after the line snapped. That fish was so impressive I was close to being glad that I had not killed it. It was magnificent, for lack of a better word. But, I vowed to myself that I would not fish another body of water up there until I landed that fish. That will be a great day and there will be a picture of it posted here...look for it next July.
A few notes before I begin my fishing stories. First, I want to say that Dagmar’s little prank on Kata was naughty. She should be ashamed of herself and apologize to her daughter. Second, I saw my first white tailed eagle. It was quite a large and beautiful bird. There was a pair of skuas chasing it when I saw it and then it flew off in the direction of some mountains. Third, the weather was not so bad, although there were only a few times when the wind stopped.
I thoroughly enjoyed the trip, as always. I love going out there where the only sounds are those of nature and the people with whom I travel. I feel lucky to have found a family into which I fit relatively well. My sisters- and brothers-in-law are fun to be with and their differences add spice to the conversations that flow throughout the day. I haven’t seen some of the relatives much in the last two years because they live on he other side of the country and I haven’t been there for quite some time. It was especially glad to see Pétur and Kristjana’s baby Olga Snærós. She’s very cute and obviously has a lot of personality.
However, most of my time up there on the northern tip was spent walking around by myself and casting out into crystal clear water in the hopes of finding brown trout. Many were found. I went with Atli, Benna, and Atli Dagur on Thursday night from Akureyri up to Hraun and then straight out to the water. We fished just about all night. In the morning, there were four fish on my stringer (two of which will be eaten tonight) and Atli had managed to haul in three or four as well. He fishes with worms and therefore catches a lot more char than I do with my spoon. I think that Atli Dagur’s lack of patience stands in the way of his ability to catch fish. But he’s still young. Anyway, then se went up and slept for a few hours. After that I went out again to try to catch some more. I caught two small (roughly a pound each) brown trout in a pond where two years ago I caught a 6 pounder. In that trip, Atli pulled in a nice 4 pounder. Then it was back to the hut for some grub and a bit of shut-eye. Then the rest of the army pulled in. In all, we are 20 and when all are together in the hut, it’s pretty crowded. Anyway, we talked for a little while then two sisters and their families went over to the other hut to sleep he night away. I went out for a little more fishing and caught a few small ones before going to bed. Saturday morning there was a short trip out to fish in the morning and then a birthday party for my son where favorite gifts were the toy light sabers that the two boys got. After the party, I went out to try out the rubber raft Pétur brought. I drifted across the pond and caught nothing. Then I decided to try the pond on top of the mountain. I fished pretty well there last year. I think the very few people bother to go up there because it’s a long walk from all directions. So, that means that the fish are free to grow as big as they can for as long as they want. This time, the first of two arctic char that I caught up there was the longest fish caught by anyone on the trip. I actually didn’t measure its length but it was just under 4 pounds and was pretty skinny. I would say that it was about 22” long. It put up a pretty good fight considering that it was a char-they don’t put up much of a fight.
The last night of the trip, we decided to hitch a ride with the son of the guy who owns the land up to a lake where we fished well last year. On the way up he pointed out several ponds along the way where he said there were fish. For some reason, one of them seemed to me to be most likely to hold large fish and I decided that I’d walk back so that I could hit it on the way the next morning. As it turns out, fishing was terrible in the pond to which we went. I began the walk back to the cabin at about 5:00 and within an hour I was standing at the shore of the pond I had decided to fish. It seems that walking to the pond would take as long as hitching a ride. Anyway, this pond was deep, but very small. It suddenly didn’t hold much promise for me and I wasn’t really paying attention as I walked along the bank. All of a sudden a large brown trout shot out from under the bank ahead of me and raced off into the weeds. I stopped and started casting. There were so many weeds that I had to hold the spoon on the surface to keep it above the undergrowth. I was casting as I was continuing my walk around the pond. When a second huge brown trout shot out from under the bank, I started really concentrating my casting on spots that looked likely. After a couple of casts along he shore ahead of me, I sent the spinner out toward the opposite bank. As soon as I started retrieving it I saw a churning in the water that looked like there was a scuba diver down there. A wake a few inches high raced up behind my spinner and then the strongest hit I remember feeling confirmed what my eyes were telling me: I had found the fish I’ve been looking for since that fateful day on Lake Champlain when Melody’s idea of “hit it on the head with the paddle” cost me the biggest fish I’d ever fished. Anyway, back to Iceland...I fought this fish for about 15-20 minutes and it was finally getting tired enough that I was getting it closer to shore. I was up to my knees in the very cold water so that I’d be more likely to get the net under at least part of its body. But it had one trick left. It dove straight down into the clay at the bottom and wrapped itself around a rock. Every time I’ve seen a fish do this, the spinner has gotten tripped up on the stone or log or weeds or whatever and the fish gets away. This was no exception. Now, I know that you are thinking that this is just a typical fish that got away story, but I promise, this one is completely true. That fish had a tail about 8” wide and was at least 10 pounds. I believe that I was just out-matched with my light tackle. I think I did everything as well as anyone could have with what I had with me. But the fish beat me in this instance. I stood in awe for a long time after the line snapped. That fish was so impressive I was close to being glad that I had not killed it. It was magnificent, for lack of a better word. But, I vowed to myself that I would not fish another body of water up there until I landed that fish. That will be a great day and there will be a picture of it posted here...look for it next July.
posted by Our Hero, at 11:30 PM
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