My thoughts drifted 28 years back in time as the family drove past Laxárvatn on Laxárdalsheiði this Thursday, July 16th. We were headed to Hólmavatn, located on the same moor, three kilometers north of the farm Sólheimar.
The reflection was sparked by the memory of a fishing trip to Laxárvatn with my late father-in-law; that trip turned out to be his last. His health did not allow for any further fishing adventures. In those years, our finances were modest, to say the least, and did not permit high-end vehicles. Our ride was some four-speed ‘Harlem edition’ of a BMW. Laxárdalur was brutal on the poor thing—both front shock absorbers gave out, and the car behaved as if it were sailing large waves on the way back to Brautarlækur.
This time, we were better equipped for the road, heading toward a lake we had never fished before. The track up to the lake is not considered passable for passenger cars, but our Kia handled it easily. Upon reaching the water, we saw immediately that Hólmavatn is a shallow lake. It was entirely silt-colored—the result of the strong northern wind that has been pestering us here in Mid-West Iceland for nearly half a month. The temperature was eight degrees [Celsius] when we arrived and had dropped to six degrees by the time we left the moor at ten o’clock that evening.”
These conditions can hardly be considered favorable for angling, yet we endured for five hours there on the moor in the wind and lack of luck. I fought the north wind the entire time with my fly rod as a weapon, but I didn't get a single strike. The first fly my daughter tied yielded nothing, no more than any other flies. Ordinarily, I would have used a heavier line in these conditions, but while checking my gear the day before, I saw that my Jaxon fly reel was broken. The screw that holds the spools on the reel is failing, and the spools fly off at the slightest movement. Now, the service at Veiðiportið will be put to the test. Do they carry spare parts for these reels?
