I suppose one can’t always count on luck being on one's side. It certainly wasn't with me during the Carpentry Club’s trip to the 'Unnamed Lakes.' The trout seemed far more interested in biting anyone's line but mine on this journey. We had set a goal of catching 92 fish; if we reached that mark, the Carpentry Club would have landed a total of one thousand fish over the course of its 22 fishing trips. Based on our catch in previous years, this was a perfectly realistic goal. Our record for a single trip to these lakes is 122 trout.
Arnarvatn was my assigned lake for the first shift, while my partners headed to Harðarvatn and Vallavatn. I parked the car in the usual spot above the lake. I felt quite relaxed; the weather was good, and a sense of calm hung over everything. I sat down by the western bay and recorded a short video. Then, I tied on a fly and began casting. When nothing happened, I set out the ‘lazy rods’ (bait rods), but not a single fish showed interest in the bait. I continued fishing along the bank to the east with my fly rod. I finally got a strike in the next bay and landed an Arctic char weighing nearly three pounds. That was the extent of my catch for the first shift. My partner in Vallavatn fared much better, landing twenty fish—a mix of char and trout. The partner at Harðarvatn caught three, if I remember correctly.
The following morning I had Vallavatn and was quite optimistic. For some reason, I had very little luck. I caught two one-pound chars on the bait but nothing else. I suspect I didn’t manage to cast far enough into the deep hole where the fish usually lie. I strolled over with my fly rod to ‘Lake Two,’ which has now been named Kelavatn. There, I hooked a two-pound trout on a black Nobbler and landed it. I had another strike later but couldn’t set the hook. Since nothing was happening in Vallavatn, I decided to retrieve my bait rods and set them up in Lake Two. A four-pound trout took one of them, so technically, I was satisfied with the shift. My partner in Harðarvatn could not say the same; it was stone dead there. Meanwhile, the partner in Arnarvatn landed one char and one trout.
For the second shift, I decided to try Harðarvatn. I should have skipped it; the bait was never touched, and I didn’t see a sign of life on the fly, despite fishing the entire southern bank from west to east. Meanwhile, one of my partners caught seven decent trout in Vallavatn, while the other had little luck in Arnarvatn. Above Kelavatn, there is a tiny pond where fish are sometimes caught, and to the east of that is another pond I had never even considered casting into. The partner who had caught the twenty fish in Vallavatn decided to try it and, very unexpectedly, landed two or three nice trout. Naturally, the pond was promptly named Óvæntavatn (Unexpected Lake).
By the final shift, the weather was postcard-perfect. Two of us went to Vallavatn while the third headed to Arnarvatn. Everyone caught something during this last shift, though no one landed many. The one who had found luck in Óvæntavatn decided to give it another go, and lo and behold—he hooked a five-pound trout! By the time we headed home, the Carpentry Club had landed 48 trout in total. I caught seven, Hörður caught 13, and Valli caught 28. Among them were one 5-pounder, one 4-pounder, and seven 3-pounders, with the rest being smaller. Our group’s Excel expert then dove into the records and, believe it or not, found a calculation error. The Carpentry Club has actually landed 1,019 fish in its history!
One might think I’d be very bitter after this trip, but that couldn't be further from the truth. My wife was actually delighted that I didn't catch more—though I still caught plenty for several meals. The whole fishing season is still ahead of us, and there will surely be more fish. For me, spending time with good friends in beautiful nature, topped off with a few fish, is more than enough.