Lake Þingvallavatn July 29th, 2015

Walking on water like Jesus did

Lilja in her new fishing jacket. It was bought on sale last autumn after the fishing season had ended and was intended as a Christmas gift. It was then tucked away in a cupboard and forgotten. Mid-summer, Guðrún suddenly recalled having bought a jacket for the girl, and after an extensive search, this fine jacket was finally found.

As wonderful as Þingvallavatn is, it isn’t always generous. That’s how I’ve felt about my season so far this summer. Still, it is always delightful to be by the lake. When I got home from work on Wednesday, I asked Lilja if she wanted to join me for an evening trip to the lake. She was up for it, full of energy after a quiet day. We decided to spend the evening at Nautatangi. Although I’ve visited the area twice this summer, I felt it wasn’t yet fully explored. The girl used a spinner, while I stuck to the fly as usual. The day will come when she is proficient in fly fishing, but we’re not quite there yet.

The number of anglers by the lake seems to have dwindled, though some were still trying their luck. We turned down toward the water on the track marked Nes – Nautatangi. We then walked down to a spot that, as far as I can tell, isn’t marked as a fishing site in the Þingvellir brochure. It’s a point halfway between Nautatangi and the area marked Hólmarnir. I noticed fish there the last time my wife and I visited, and it happened again now. There is definitely fish there.

Next, we walked west of Nautatangi. My wife and I landed two char there during our last trip, so Lilja and I had to try again. This spot isn’t marked as a fishing site in the brochure either, but it’s out from a small island shown on the right edge of the photo of this area in the booklet. It yielded nothing this time.

Finally, we walked out onto Nautatangi itself. There, you can wade quite far out and stand like ‘Jesus on the Sea of Galilee’ in days of old, casting in every direction. A very likely spot, I would think, and it seems to be marked in the aforementioned brochure. The spot gave nothing this time around, but I certainly intend to try it again.

Fishing off Nautatangi. It would be so helpful to find the wading staff I won one year in the Reykjavik Angling Club's (SVFR) raffle, but unfortunately, it got lost during a move. It would come in very handy because the bottom of Þingvallavatn can sometimes be difficult to wade. I’ll hopefully find the staff eventually.

By now, it was high time to head home. We were starting to get hungry, and there’s no joy in wandering the banks famished when the fish aren’t biting anyway. We had actually planned for a longer stay by the lake and intended to have dinner on the shore, but unfortunately, once we arrived at Þingvellir, we discovered that the food was in the backpack—which had been left behind on the kitchen floor at home.