There are many lakes named Hólmavatn in Iceland. In Eiríkur’s angling handbook for West Iceland, I count nine of them, with Hólmavatn on Hólmavatnsheiði being the tenth. My wife and I headed there this past Sunday.
Hólmavatn is one of three lakes on the heath north of the farm Sólheimar—the last farm in Laxárdalur before you drive up onto Laxárdalsheiði. The other two lakes are named Reiðgötuvatn and Gullhamarsvatn. We settled for Hólmavatn this time, though the others are also intriguing as they hold both brown trout and Arctic char. Hólmavatn is a fine lake, situated at 205 meters above sea level. It covers 0.80 square kilometers and is relatively shallow.
We first visited the lake last year, and to be honest, it didn’t give us much of a welcome. The water was clay-brown and a northern wind battered us, so we headed home freezing cold with very little catch. Knowing that Icelandic nature has many faces, we didn’t hesitate to visit the lake again this year. Last year, the Sólheimar lakes were included in the Fishing Card, but unfortunately, that is no longer the case. We began by seeking permission from the owners to fish. It turned out the ownership had changed, but we tracked down the new owner, who kindly allowed us to spend an evening by the lake.
Once again, the lake greeted us with a murky, clay-brown color as a stiff breeze whipped the water. This time it blew from the southwest. We weren’t entirely sure about the conditions, but a southwest wind is at least slightly better than a northerly one, as it’s warmer. We first tried the eastern bank, thinking it looked promising where clearer water seemed to meet the silt. However, fishing from that bank proved difficult due to the headwind and the swell. We moved to the northern bank. At first, things were slow, so I decided to stroll along the western bank with my fly rod and fish my way back. I told my wife I’d spend about an hour on this walk. It took a bit longer because I started noticing fish and managed to land three.
I would have kept going and likely hooked more, but hunger eventually drove me back. By then, my wife had also landed several. She was using bait while I was fly fishing. I must admit, she got the better of me this time and landed more fish. In the end, we landed fourteen brown trout and one Arctic char. The trout took both bait and flies; small nymphs seemed to tempt them more than streamers. Spoons didn’t do much, though the lone char was caught on one.
