"Hraunhafnarvatn is a decent lake, 3.4 square kilometers in size with a maximum depth of 3–4 meters."
For several years, the teachers’ union had a summer house for rent in Raufarhöfn. Every year, I told my wife that this was the perfect opportunity to spend a week in an area we had never visited. I never quite managed to spark enough interest for us to actually rent the house. This summer, however, we were invited to visit my wife’s brother in the Þingeyjarsveit region and decided to accept. We stayed with him and his wife for about three days in glorious weather. The weather in the north this summer has actually been extraordinary—three continuous weeks of sunshine, with the forecast predicting at least another week of clear skies. Since we were nearby, I managed to convince the lady that we should take a trip to Melrakkaslétta. This time she agreed, and we stayed for two nights at the Hreiðrið guesthouse in Raufarhöfn.
Melrakkaslétta is home to numerous lakes, many of which are undoubtedly fine fishing spots. Just north of Raufarhöfn, there are three lakes where the Fishing Card (Veiðikortið) grants access. Naturally, we took the opportunity to try our luck at one of them on Saturday evening. We chose Hraunhafnarvatn, the largest of the three; the others are Æðarvatn and Arnarvatn. In the sweltering heat, we walked along the lake toward the mouth where the Hraunhafnará river flows into it. It was a sweaty trek. When we thought we were almost there, we settled down and began fishing. I walked around a bend in the bank, thinking the river mouth was just on the other side. It turned out I had to walk a bit further to reach it. There, I cast a fly called Alma Rún, and after only a few casts, I landed a one-pound brown trout. I understand the trout in this lake can grow quite large, up to six pounds, and the Arctic char ranges from half a pound up to three pounds.
"The fly actually looks quite good there; there's probably no reason to remove it."
"We continued fishing with little success. We managed to land two Arctic char, weighing half a pound each. We headed home at sunset."
"Sunset at one of the northernmost points of the country."