Now the salmon fishing season is well underway. It can be said that the fishing has so far been disappointing. Many rivers have been suffering from severe water shortages and recently there was news that fish were found dead in Laxá in Kjós. It hasn’t rained there for 52 days. “These are about 20 salmon and sea trout,” said Haraldur Eiríksson, the tenant of the river. Now there is a forecast of rain in the cards, which is indeed a desirable situation. Hopefully that prediction holds true!
There has been quite a bit of news about humpback salmon and lessees and other river managers have responded with net fishing to reduce numbers. This type of salmon has a shorter life cycle than Atlantic salmon and therefore loses its nutritional value more quickly. In this respect, it is not so popular with anglers, but some of them still smoke it.
Below are the latest statistics of the top salmon rivers:
Rivers: (2023) (week) (2022)
West-Rangá/Hólsa 1.781 362 (2.507)
East-Rangá 1.426 256 (2.074)
Þverá/Kjarrá 890 61 (1.151)
Selá in Vopnafirði 819 131 (751)
Miðfjarðará 791 111 (985)
Norðurá 752 33 (1.099)
Haffjarðará 723 81 (685)
Hofsá 727 104 (821)
Laxá at Ásum 476 — (611)
Langá in Mýrum 458 25 (697)
Laxá in Aðaldal 450 — (285)
Picture Arnar Már/a male humpback salmon caught in river Haukadalsá
A summary prepared from news from mbl.is and veidar.is