31. August 2006. Sela


We arrived at the lodge in Sela around 2pm. After getting our stuff in the lodge it was time for a beer and lay out the strategy...


We started in Leifstadarhylur and it was my turn. I started with the hitch and after few casts I raise a salmon but he did not take the fly. He came after the same fly 5 times but never took it. I tried different flies but with no luck. We then crossed the river and Joe hooks and lands a salmon after few minutes. That was the beginning of one hell of a afternoon...


We left Leifstadarhylur and went up to Rettarhylur. We wade a cross bellow the pool and I get in the water. I am hitching a micro Collie Dog. This pool is very easy to fish as you just have to wade out just to the left of where i am standing and cast the hitch in about 60 degree down the pool and have it hitch towards the X. After few casts I hook a salmon.


Nice 5.0kg male. Has been hit by something, you can see the scars towards the tail. Released.


After I landed my 5kg male we walked back up to the pool and it was Joe's turn. He did the same thing, used the micro hitch and after few casts he gets a hit but he did not take it. He casts again and bamm. We could see right away that this was a big salmon. Joe fights him for about 15 min in the pool it self but then the salmon decides to leave the pool and starts moving down the river. Joe follows calmly to begin with but then takes off to the far side of the river. There is a huge rock on the other site about 10feet from the shore and the salmon is moving towards that stone. Joe realizes that if he can not get the line high enough it's going to catch on that stone and he will loose the salmon. So he starts wading out after the salmon but I am standing on the bank reaching for my camera as this is going to get ugly...Where he had to cross was deep and very fast current (I would never ever ever had tried this). But Joe had studs and was going for it. (The video bellow explains the situation maybe better...).




After Joe get's across he is in better shape to land this salmon but he was still going to need some help. I start moving down the river to find a place to cross. When I think I have found the place I wade in but when I am about half way across I was up to my waist in water and in too much current. I see Joe struggling with the salmon but I was just about to float down the river. I am cursing and kicking and finally make it across. After about 40min after the fight had started Joe lands this beautiful 17,4 pound salmon that was released back into the pool.


We caught about half of the salmon this year on this type of fly. Micro hitches with hook no 16.


31. August 2006. After recovering from Joe's monster then I caught two more in Rettarhylur. One male 5,5kg and this female 5,0kg. All of them on hitch and all released.


The group fishing in Sela 2006. My self, Joe, Thorvaldur, Lalli, Jon, Ari, Denni and Hilmar.


1st of September 2006. We had section 3 this afternoon and where in Krokur. Krokur was full of fish and they where jumping all over the place. I had tried pretty much everything but no luck so Joe insisted I try the Sunray Shadow. It's a fly with very long hair and you strip it slowly across the river. Joe had been very successful with this fly in this trip but I had not yet tried it. I put it on and in the first cast a salmon come’s flying after it but did not take it. I cast again and this salmon comes flying out of the water about 2-3 feet into the air like he was just jumping, but he was not jumping he had taken the Sunray. Nice 6,0 kg female.


Sunray shadow. about 4" long! Very successful fly.


2nd September 2006. Jon told us at lunch that there was a lot of salmon in Dimmhylur and he had couple of strikes on his fly there so me and Joe go to check out this pool but whe had not fished it before (There are about 65 pools in Sela and we have maybe fished 30% of them). Anyhow, Joe wades across and starts hitching. After few casts he hooks this 8,0 Kg male that took him about 40min to land (by him self).


Dimmhylur, Collie dog micro hitch, hook no.16


3rd of September 2006. The last day of a fantastic trip. We had section no. 3 again and started in Hamarshylur. I hooked a salmon on the hitch but it came off after about 5 min.


After fishing in Hamarshylur we went down to Krokur. You can see on this photo how enormous this pool is. We caught 2 salmon there this morning, one each. Just before noon it was like it turned on. Fish was taking and jumping all over the place. I had one huge salmon come out of the water after the hitch and my guess it was well over 10kg. But he didn’t take. It was time to head back to the lodge and pack our stuff. It had been 8 days of fantastic fishing where we had caught 30 salmon on our rod, Joe 16 and my self 14.


Great group of guys in Sela 2006. From left; Lalli, Hilmar, Jon, Ari, my self, Joe, Thorvaldur and Denni.