Ingólfur Ásgeirsson, one of the outfitters at Starir, who manage among other rivers Þverá/Kjarrá/Brennan and Víðidalsá, told us that despite the conditions trouble the mws‘s were coming back in force. “The runs are strong as they have been over the last few years. In is doubtlessly due to C&R (catch and release) becoming so widespread in Icelandic rivers in recent years. Even where anglers are allowed to take some fish home, they must be grilse, all salmon over 70 cm are to be put back,” Ingólfur said.
And the big one‘s are well fed, silvery fat torpedoes. Most of them range from 78 to 85 centimeters. They are not put on scales anymore due to them being released, but these are 4 to 7 kilo fish. The bigger ones so far are up to 94 centimetres and quite a few have been 90 to 93 cm. The twenty pounders start at 100 centimetres and so far, none have been landed. But they been spotted and a few lost.
So now we wait for rain and also, we wait to see how the grilse runs turn out. They play an important part in defining the success or lack of it as the season rolls on.
