Hítará, Grjóta, and Tálmi, July 12 and 13, 2009
I was thinking about my father when the salmon took.
Originally written on July 14th 2009.
“I was thinking about my father and the fact that he died on our wedding day, and then the salmon took.” My wife told me this while holding a beautiful small salmon that she landed from the Húshylur pool in Grjótá. It was not surprising that this thought slipped into her mind while fishing, as my father-in-law was very keen on all kinds of hunting and fishing, practicing it considerably while he was a farmer in Norðurárdalur. There, he shot many a rock ptarmigan and fox, and caught both salmon and trout. In his later years, when his body and circumstances no longer allowed for outdoor activity and hard work, he followed our fishing trips with interest and took delight in discussing fishing and telling stories of hunting and fishing from days gone by.
We had two fishing days in the uppermost area of Hítará and the side rivers Grjótá and Tálmi. The fishing was nothing to shout about, as we saw very few salmon. My wife caught the only one we caught, and our fishing companions caught two. All the salmon were around four pounds. The fishing environment up there is truly magnificent, so despite the little life in the rivers, it was well worth staying there in the beautiful weather for those two days.„Ég var að hugsa um pabba og það að hann dó á brúðkaupsdaginn okkar og þá tók laxinn.“ Þetta sagði eiginkonan mér og hélt á fallegum smálaxi sem hún náði upp úr húshylnum í Grjótá. Það var ekkert undarlegt að þessi hugsun hafi læðst að henni við þessa iðju því tengdapabbi var mjög áhugasamur um allar veiðar og stundaði þær töluvert á meðan hann var bóndi í Norðurárdalnum. Þar skaut hann marga rjúpuna og tófuna og veiddi bæði lax og silunga. Á efri árum þegar líkaminn og aðstæður leyfðu ekki útivist og hark lengur fylgdist hann af áhuga með veiðferðum okkar hjóna og hafði unun af því að ræða veiðina og segja sögur af veiði frá fyrri tíð.
