Straumfjardara River

About the River

Straumfjardara is a salmon river located on the Snaefellsnes peninsula in the West Iceland. With water supplied from two mountain lakes and smaller springs along its run, coming together in a riverbed of 12 km which is accessible for the salmon to run in to and spawn, as well as char and sea trout in the lower part of the river.

The season starts around 20th June, and finish 12th of September. High season is considered to be the time from 12th July to 12th August. The first 10 days are only three rods fishing the river.

The river has easy access with four wheeled car on the lower part, but the upper part is more on the feet. But there is never more than ca. 5 min walk from the vehicle or the lodge down to the nearest pool. Most of the pools do not need long casting skills so it is rarely comfortable to fish. And the salmon there like to show around although he can be tricky to catch on some occasion. So he jumps and leaps a lot. Letting the fisherman know that he is ready for the battle.

The average size of salmon in the river is 6pd. Most are grilse, but 12 -14 pd are common, for two years old salmon and they can go up to 18 – 20 pd on some occasion. The statistics of average number of catch, over the last 10 years are around 420 salmon every summer.
In Straumfjarðara river there are Arctic char and Sea trout of good size. All salmon bigger than 70 cm should be released and fishermen can take 3 salmon from the river each shift.

The river is divided in four beats, between four rods who have access to over 27 pools evenly located through out the river. From the top pool called the Sprayer ( Rjúkandi) a large waterfall, who do not allow the salmon to run further up, the river and all the way to the estuary, where the river enter in to brackish water leading to the ocean some further down.

The pools vary in size and character. Some are narrow and close and have to be fished with care, without spooking the salmon that might be lie in there. Others are slower, faster or wider. Some are located between small rock boulders or canyon, other are wide open and easy to mend the line and the rod for all kind of casting technique.