In Laxa-river in Adaldal on the North coast of Iceland are two beats called Laxardalur and Myvatnssveit. These two areas combined have over 20 miles of fishing and are divided into 15 beats, each accommodating between one and three rods. Each year numerous fish between 5 – 7 lbs are caught, with the occasional 8 – 9 lbs fish making an appearance. The river has also produced three fish of over 12 lbs – staggering for wild brown trout.

The lower beat, Laxardalur, is wide and shallow and is a little like bone-fishing for trout, perfect for dry fly fishing. This part of the river is very accessible and easy to wade, with it’s black lava sand bottom. With it’s wide pools and easy wading you can spend a whole session scanning the water and looking for rising fish to really get the full experience of hooking a big one.

The upper section of Myvatnssveit is wonderfully braided with fast runs, pockets and crystal clear water. Pools, for the most part, are grass banked, wide, and with a relatively even bottom. There are the intermittent lava shelves that drop away, hidden from someone reading the surface, in turn creating some excellent lies. As these fish live in fast and powerful water they are extremely strong, and hooking one will test your tackle and skill.

Fishing these beats is easy with streamers, but upstream dry fly and nymph tactics are considerably more effective. Although there is none of our normal variety of biting mosquitoes in Iceland, they do have a number of other chironomids that the trout feed on readily. The brown trout in the Laxa-river in Laxardal and Myvatnssveit have only a few short months of the Icelandic summer to feed as much as possible, so they really feed hard below and on the surface film. Laxardalur fishes 10 rods and Myvatnssveit 14 rods.