My wife and I rented a cottage in Fnjóskadalur during the third week of July. As proud owners of the ‘Veiðikortið’ (The Fishing Card), we feel it’s our duty to make the most of that investment. Therefore, we cast a line—whether bait or fly—in every lake the card grants access to when we are in new territories. From the cottage where we stayed, it’s only a ten-minute drive to Ljósavatn. The day had been such that it was hard to believe we were in a country named after ice; for instance, we ate both lunch and dinner outside on the veranda in 18–20°C heat.
In the evening, we popped over to Ljósavatn. We checked in at the farm Kross and then began fishing. Ljósavatn is a large lake by Icelandic standards, covering 3.2 km2 with an average depth of 10 meters and a maximum depth of 35 meters. Since we didn’t know the lake at all, we tried to estimate where the fish were most likely to lie, and from there, it’s just a matter of searching. We tried our luck at three different spots around the lake. Throughout the session, midges swarmed us relentlessly, as it was dead calm. We used ‘Mygga’ repellent and head nets to defend ourselves and managed to avoid most bites. I got two bites and my wife none—a lucky escape considering how thick the swarm was.
There is clearly plenty of fish in Ljósavatn. They were rising all over the place, though they weren’t taking the fly aggressively. I managed to land one, and every now and then, there was a nibble at the fly. These were clearly small Arctic char. We understand there are larger char among them and that the lake even holds large brown trout, with a common size being 1–3 lbs. We have yet to verify that, as we only encountered small fish. My wife caught one one-pound char, and that concludes the tally for the trip.
