28th of August. Sela


Me and Joe had been fishing in Svalbardsa this morning and did not even take our waders off when driving over to Sela. We arrived at the lodge little over 3pm and the other two groups had already gone out but Lalli told us that we would have section 1 the first shift.


After gearing up we head down to Leifstadarhylur (right bellow the lodge), it was a beautiful sunny day (not ideal for salmon fishing...). Joe starts with the Hitch and after few casts he has hooked a salmon. Nice 5p male taken on Haugur Micro Hitch #18. Released.


Joe landed another one from Leifstadarhylur after I had gone across and fished the lower part from the other side. That was also around 5p male that was released as well.


After Joe taking those two out of Leifstadarhylur we moved up to Rettarhylur. We wade across and I start hitching down. The water level was much lower this year than the last two years so Rettarhylur did not hitch nearly as nice as it has done before. Never the less as I get down to the tail I hook and land my first Sela salmon this year.


Nice one from Rettarhylur.

After I had landed the one in Rettarhylur Joe tried the Sunray and got some action but no takers. We ran the Nazi through there in the end but still no takers. Just as I finished running the Nazi through there I turn around and do my "Act of Desperation"


...and for the third time today I hooked and landed a salmon on this technique.

This first day we ended back up in Leifstadarhylur just before 9pm and I went in with the hitch. Just when I was getting to the middle of the upper pool I see a fish do a slow motion head and tail sideways on the river very close to my fly...it took me couple of seconds to realize that this was a take. After about 20 min fight we had the salmon right next to our feet so we could see that this was at least 15p male. Just before landing the fly came out and he very slowly migrated back into the pool. It was a great finish of our first day.


29th. August 2007.
We had section two this morning and started in Vifilsfljot. We have really never fished this pool but decided to give it a try. Joe started with the hitch and midway down the pool he got one. Around 4p female. Released. That was the only thing we got from there this morning.


Video of Joe fighting that fish.


The next stop was Pottur. Couple of years ago then we saw a lot of salmon in this pool on our last day of fishing. This year we saw few "head and tails" and some were jumping. I caught one 5-6kg female this day on Snaelda but we lost the grip before we got the photo...


We moved from Pottur up to Gusti and Joe started with the hitch. We had never fished this pool before so we were not sure how to fish it. It is a great pool for the hitch, very long and even current. Joe hooked and landed a salmon when he was about 3m further down the pool. 2,5k male that was released. After Joe landed his salmon in Gusti then I took the hitch further down the pool and within few minutes I landed another one on the hitch, 2,5k male, released (no photos of these two salmon).


29th. August 2007 cont.
We moved up to Arnarhylur. We had fished this pool last year and seen one salmon there but the river last year was much higher and it was very difficult to fish this pool. So we decided to try it again. After running the hitch through there and get some action on it but no takes Joe moves in with the BT special Sunray.

We where now at the point where we fished every pool with the "system". Who ever had the right to the pool (go first in) went with the hitch, then the next one in would do the sunray and then in the end the Nazi would go in. If we were not successful with any of this then we moved to another pool.

Lower part of Arnarhylur.


After few casts with the Sunray then Joe get's a take of a lifetime. The salmon comes flying like a rocket out of the water and nails it. After Joe landing his salmon I take the Sunray and continue down the pool and at the tail I get a similar take. About 3k male, released.
We did fish Krokur as well this afternoon but without any luck. Joe had a rise to the hitch but had a "premature hitchalation"... There was fish jumping all over his line.


Salmon jumping all around Joe's line...


The group at the dining table that night. From left, Hilmar, Ari, Thorvaldur, Jon, Joe, Lalli, Denni and myself. Sigga would take good care of us like always.


30th. August 2007
We where back down to section 1 this morning and started in Leifstadarhylur. Ideal fishing weather but it was quite cold though. We started with the hitch but saw no reaction. Then Joe tried the Sunray but nothing. In the end I took out the Nazi and started fishing the lower part of the pool and in my third cast this 5-6k male took the bait. Joe takes the rod and takes few casts to the same spot and lands another one. I take the rod after Joe lands his and few casts and the third one out of this pool in about 30 minutes is reality. All were released.


We fished Rettarhylur after this but had no luck there. We then decided to try a new pool (Eyrarbreida) which is bellow rettarhylur. I tried it couple of times and then I hand the rod to Joe. He wades little bit further out and in his first cast he lands about 2k male. We headed home for lunch. After lunch we start in Pottur. We used the system but nothing happened until the Nazi went in. Joe landed this very nice 6k female. Released


After lunch we fished Dimmhylur and Joe took one there. I hooked one in the sweater in Langistrengur but I had to brake the line as the salmon took off like crazy downstream and there was no way of following it. We then moved up to pool no 66. Pool no 66 does not look like much from above but when you start fishing it then you realize it is fantastic hitch place. I landed one salmon there about 2,5k male that was released. After fishing no 66 we walked down to Gusti and finished up there. In my last cast I caught this 2k male that was released.


31st. August 2007
The last day of our Iceland fishing of this year. We had section 3 and decided to try out pool no 103 that had been pretty good. It looks like a very good pool but we saw no movement there.


We moved next down to Krokur but did not get anything there. We decided it would be good to finish up in Arnarhylur but Denni had caught a 15p male there last night. We fish that pool with our system but no luck. About 5 min past 12 just at the tail of the pool I finally hook and land this 2,5k male that was released. This was a good end to fantastic trip but me and Joe had caught 21 salmon in 3 days in Sela.


The group just before leaving the lodge on the 31st of August 2007. From left; Palmi, Lalli, Ari, Denni, Thorvaldur, Joe and Jon.