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:
