The Trout Walk

The Trout Walk

Last Saturday the annual “Trout Walk” took place, where biologist Jóhannes Sturlaugsson leads guests on a walk-up Öxará river viewing the thousands of brown trout that come to the river for spawning. Sturlaugsson also presents some of his research into the life cycle and behavior of Lake Thingavallavatn’s famous “ice-age” trout. The small and gin-clear river of Öxará is the trout’s main spawning grounds and this time of year the river is packed with brownies up 15-35 pounds in size!

The star of the show this year was a 17-year-old buck that was first tagged in 2010, then 70 cm (27 in) in length. In the 8 years since being first tagged, the tag it carries has provided information on the migration patterns, feeding grounds, depth, and water temperature of its habitat that is invaluable to both fishermen, researchers and to the protection of the species as a whole.

Seeing so many big browns in such a confined space as Öxará river is quite the spectacle and many of the bucks have very noticeable scarring from fighting over territory and hens.

We would like to encourage everyone to show support to the research being done by Sturlaugsson and his research company Laxfiskar for the incredible work they do. On the website Laxfiskar.is. you can find an array of information and research on both the Thingvallvatn ice-age trout as well as other Icelandic fish species.

We for one can’t wait for next season to begin so we can start catching these monsters again. The season opens on April 15th.

Take a look at Fish Partners private beats at lake Þingvallvatn where we catch these beasts:

Kárastaðir

Villingavatnsárós beat 3A

Villingavatnsárós beat 3B

Villingavatn beat 3D(The lake)

Kaldárhöfði beat 4

Popular Fishing

A Hidden Gem in the Highlands – The river Kaldakvísl is truly a hidden gem. Fished only by a select few, Kaldakvísl has now been made exclusively available only to the customers of Fish Partner. Words are unequal to the task of describing the landscape’s beauty. Diversity and contrasts are the river’s main characteristics.
One of the best brown trout beats in the world – Villingavatnsárós (means the mouth of river Villingavatnsá) is one of the greatest brown trout beats in the world. The beat offers the opportunity to catch the giant ice age brown trout on small nymphs and dry flies. Streamers can also be strong. The beat is only fished with two rods and all brown trout shall be released. It is fly-fishing only.
A Hidden Gem in the Highlands – The river Kaldakvísl is truly a hidden gem. Fished only by a select few, Kaldakvísl has now been made exclusively available only to the customers of Fish Partner. Words are unequal to the task of describing the landscape’s beauty. Diversity and contrasts are the river’s main characteristics.
One of the best brown trout beats in the world – Villingavatnsárós (means the mouth of river Villingavatnsá) is one of the greatest brown trout beats in the world. The beat offers the opportunity to catch the giant ice age brown trout on small nymphs and dry flies. Streamers can also be strong. The beat is only fished with two rods and all brown trout shall be released. It is fly-fishing only.
Tungufljót river in Skaftafell is one of the best known Sea trout rivers in Iceland and is most famous for the high average weight of fish caught, every year multiple Sea-Run Brown trout in the 20lbs range are caught with the average weight of the fish being between 5-10 pounds.

Accessability

  • Easy – Very little hiking required, easy for every one.
  • Modrate – Some hiking required.
  • Hard – Strenuous hiking require, good physical conditions required.
  • Mixed – Some easy access areas and others that require hiking.