Iceland is one of the youngest landforms on the planet and, consequently, home to many of the world’s most active volcanoes. Our island originates from massive volcanic eruptions where the Eurasian and American tectonic plates meet. Volcanic eruptions are still taking place today, where the most significant eruptions have been under the glaciers in the east region, the home to magnificent sea trout that have been migrating the rivers since the ice age, some of them got landlocked in Lake Thingvallavatn, which is only 35 min drive from the capitol.Â
I started to fly fish in Lake Thingvallavatn 20 years ago. At the time, I was nymph fishing for Arctic Char, but after I caught a 10lb brown trout, I was passionate about chasing the big ones with my buddies.
Lake Thingvallavatn keeps the largest brownies in the world. These fish are seatrout that got landlocked in the lake after volcanic eruptions during the ice age period and have not fully developed as brown trout. Every spring, they go halfway on, putting on a silvery coat to prepare for the salt water, which gives them a unique color mixed with the beautiful black dots. My fishing buddies and I have caught big fish there over the years, many of them over 20 lbs.
Fish Partner
In 2013 we realized there was an opportunity for trout in Iceland, where we had the world’s largest trout swimming in one of the most transparent and beautiful lakes and countless other places like the highlands and sea base. Myself, Kristján and Ragnar founded the company Fish Partner around this fact and set about marketing trout fishing for foreign fly fishermen, especially trout anglers in the USA. In 2016 I moved on to other projects, and I have closely followed the rapid growth of Fish Partner, but today they are a leading travel agency with many of the best fishing areas in Iceland. They have been a leader in fish conservation and, in my opinion, imported knowledge and good culture from their customers. Kristján and Sindri are hard workers and know how to treat their customers with adventurous trips in top-notch streams, superior lodging, and excellent guides.
Later on, I did a lot of salmon fishing in the northern part of the country and had little interest in sea trout. I got them as a by-catch and was not impressed catching them in the 2-4 lbs range on my 13-foot double-handed rod.
River Eldvatn
When salmon fishing licenses started to increase in price, and the fishing decreased, I started looking for other opportunities. One of my good friends invited me to fish for sea trout on river Eldvatn on the east coast of Iceland. The experience was utterly new to me and exciting. I parked my double-hand rod and set up a nymph rig on my 9’6″ seven-weight rod. During this two-day trip, the heavens opened for me. The fish we caught were more extensive and more interesting than in the salmon rivers I had fished in the past. The group caught 30 fish in two days, half over 31 inches. I was lucky to land a 36.5-inch fish weighing 20 lbs, the year’s biggest fish at this river.
After this, I went all into the sea​ ​trout. Over the summer, I got away from the stress at my office and did a lot of guiding at Fish Partner and fly fishing in many of the best rivers in this spectacular glacial and volcanic region. It allows me to learn more about the waters, spend time with amazing people, and connect with the magnificent nature in Iceland.
After my guiding season summer of 2022, I went to Spain with my fiance to get some rest and recharge for a fishing trip in the most prominent sea trout river in Iceland, operated by Fish Partner, Tungufljót, a river that keeps some of the largest Sea trout you can catch in the world.Â
There is an old story about enormous sea trout that migrate into a Glacier river called Kúðafjót, which Tungufljót runs into. These fish run up to the powerful, murky stream from the coast and hide there for months. These glacier kings and queens are hard to get as they migrate to Tungufljót for spawning only 2-3 weeks before they close the season. One of my friends had seen those monsters cruising under the highway bridge about 2-3 weeks after the season. The bigger, the wiser many say.
Tungufljot River
Day One
We arrived at the lodge on a cold sunny afternoon. There was a lot of wind, but knowing how sea trout behave, it should be favorable to us. However, the sun is our worst enemy, as the fish tends to lay low and hide in the deep with less aggression to attack. We fished the whole afternoon without luck, but the conditions changed briefly when the sunset arrived.
All of a sudden, Bjartur and I got into double trouble. What a moment.
We crossed each other, fighting two biggies, and Kristjan, my macher, helpt me to land my fish, a whopping 36.5-inch Seatrout. Then we heard Bjartur shouting in the dark for help as he left his net by his car. We ran over to him in complete darkness. When we arrived, he screamed, “holy f***, it’s a whale on my six weight.” After an additional 10-15 min of fighting, we managed to net the fish. After netting, everyone was speechless to see the big old male, 38.5-inch fatty, and one of the legendary glacier monsters from Kúðafjót. We all lost our minds experiencing the most significant sea trout ever seen and admiring this native beauty.Â
Day Two
The day after, we woke up early and eager to fish. However, this day, we had stronger wind, below-freezing temperatures, not a cloud in the sky, and a sunrise that would eventually light up every pool in the river. This made us think, damn, it will be a challenge!
After opening two sheep gates and crossing the river, we arrived at one of the best spots, Búrhylur. To our utmost pleasure, a large bedrock on the other side gave us temporary shelter from the sun. At the shady part of the pool, we saw a few heads and tails on the surface and one 35-plus-inch fish jumping right in front of our feet.Â
Competing with time and excited to cast on these fish, we crossed the river again on foot. With its cliff behind us and strong wind blowing sideways down the river, this bank would have been challenging for casting with a single hand and a heavy nymph rig. Kristján made the first cast and led to “fish on.” Into the net came a beautiful 34-inch male. I looked into the sky and saw the sun starting to crawl beyond the tip of the cliff.Â
Now I had a 5-10 min window to cast. The wind was so strong that I tangled my rig severely during my first cast. Round two, the sun lightened up the lower part of the pool. With my frozen fingers, I finished tying a new rig and decided to put on Krókurinn, a traditional Icelandic trout pattern, on top of a Copper john. With Eurostyle casting, I managed to get the line out upstream but near the bank.Â
The drift looked nice, and I saw the line stop for a split second and made the strike. At first, I thought it was tangled in a large rock, only ten feet in front of me, then realized a slow and heavy movent that quickly accelerated, dragging the line out at the speed of light. “Holy mama, this is a big fish,” said Kristjan. I didn’t see anything; I focused on keeping the line tight and trying to steer the fish from the rock.Â
Suddenly, the fish started running up the river, which greatly relieved me. I didn’t have any chance to control him. He cruised slowly like a school bus and parked in the middle of the pool about 50 yards above me.Â
After about 15 minutes of hanging on to him, he hit reverse and ran like a torpedo downstream. He pulled out the line to the backing, and I ran after him to the end of the pool, where he parked again. Just below were intense rapids, and I prayed to my Norse god that he would stay still, and it worked! The moment finally came. The fish was exhausted, and I started reeling it in. Like a frontline soldier, Kristjan steered me into shallower water, netted the fish, and shouted, “what the hell he took the upper fly Krókinn?”
As we approached the net and realized the size of the fish, our heads went sideways.
This fish was way beyond anything we had seen. In semi-psychosis, four of us screamed and shouted: “What a F****** tank, this is insane!” We couldn’t believe our own eyes; the size and proportions, everything about this fish stunned us. This Glacier King is just something else.Â
Kristján had the tape measure, I pulled it out, but he pulled back, and I asked him, “what the F*** are you doing?” Kristján claimed, “you’re kidding. It’s stopping at a hundred centimeters. We can’t use this crap,” he said; fortunately, Bjartur brought us a tape measure of one and fifty.Â
We finished the measure at a whooping 107 cm. Speechless, I turned my head and saw the fly had already dropped out of his mouth into the net. I picked it up and noticed the barbless hook (Hanak heavy wire) was stretched out. I thought to myself, how could this even happen? Still today, It boggles my mind how I managed to land this fish with a 14lbs leader and a stretched-out hook in his mouth.Â
Catch & Release is good karma. This Majestic Glacier King was a gift from the gods, perhaps the almighty Njörður, the God of the sea, the wind, fishing, and wealth… who knows? Chasing enormous sea trout is something only some get to do in their lifetime. Still, I’ve been lucky to get access to many of the best sea trout rivers in Iceland with my fishing buddies. On the east coast, the fish are getting bigger every year thanks to conservation from new operators such as Fish Partner and anglers who respect the unique Ice aged sea trout migrating to the rivers to reproduce.
