Norðurá is commonly named as “fegurst áa” in Icelandic that translates to: “the most beautiful river”.

In Iceland we have many hundred salmon rivers and all of them are beautiful in their own way. To be commonly accepted as the most beautiful river says something about the beauty and the diversity of Norðurá.

Not only is Norðurá beautiful but the fishing in the river is also plentiful. Norðurá has always been one of Iceland’s best rivers with an average catch of 1570 salmon. In 2015 2886 salmon were caught in the river.

Norðurá runs through the Borgarfjörður region and is only slightly over an hour’s drive from Reykjavik. The river is slightly over medium in size but generally very accessible and easy to fish. Early in the season double handed rods might come in handy but later in the summer a single handed rod is optimal.  Norðurá has some 150 recognized pools in an area that cover 65km. The river is fished with 14 rods with eight to twelve of them on the main beat depending on the time of the season. There is a separate beat on the river – Norðurá 2 which has three rods and a self-catering cottage.

Number of salmons caught per year in river Norðurá:

2007: 1456 – 2008: 3307 – 2009: 2408 – 2010: 2279

2011: 2134 – 2012: 953 – 2013: 3351 – 2014: 924  2015: 2886

2016:1342 – 2017:1719 – 2018: 1692