Slightly below the fishing spots in the canyon, there are two pools, one above the other. There is often fish there, especially in the lower pool. I cast into the upper pool and get no response. My wife then casts into the lower pool while I sit up on the bank, fiddling with the camera settings. When I point the camera at the angler, she just looks into the lens with a desperate expression, tying a new hook onto the line. She insists that a salmon took the fly, cleared itself from the water, and snapped the line. The angler is alone in the experience of this ‘take.’ After unsuccessfully trying for the salmon in this pool, we decided to try two more pools and then head home. It was getting late, and ahead of us was a fairly long hike down the valley and a long night drive back to Brautarlækur.
These two pools are different from those further up the river—shallower and wider, with a slower current. Typical char pools, I would say, and indeed they were the domain of the Arctic char back when they were more numerous in the river. Today, the salmon seem to own it all. Over a decade ago, my wife and I strolled down to the lower pool with a fly rod and came home with nine char after just a short while. Such a catch is hardly possible in the river today.
We had essentially resigned ourselves to a fishless day by the time we reached the upper pool. I cast my bait below the pool, right down to the ‘break’ where the water flows out. As soon as I began to retrieve, I saw a wake form on the water—a salmon was on. Actually, I first thought it was a char, but a salmon it was. My wife was next, and soon she hooked a salmon as well. It was somewhat larger, so it had to be played for a bit before being landed. The Mrs. decided to back him onto the shore, but then she stepped into a mud-hole—there were plenty of those after the rains—and fell right on her backside into the muck. Despite the fall, the salmon was landed: a 6-pound hen (female). For the third time, a cast was made, and then a third salmon took. That one was only two and a half pounds; the other was four pounds. Not a great average weight, but we were satisfied. We skipped the last pool and headed home.