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The two Rangá's


58 slides

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A busy fish ladder - This ladder on the Ytri Rangá has several hundred salmon passing every 24 hours in the high season. Notice the solar cell powered counter on the top of the hill.
A busy fish ladder
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A large colored hen - Fish like these are usually put \
A large colored hen
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A place to jump - There are many little falls like this, which the fish have to go up in order to get further up the rivers. This is on Fiská.
A place to jump
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A rich pool - A deep pool above a fall like this will usually hold quite a few fish. This one did. Two rods had taken 20 fish during an afternoon and were landing number 21 when we checked in on them.
A rich pool
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A staircase to... - The fish ladder leading salmon to the upper parts of Ytri Rangá.
A staircase to...
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A very typical Icelandic salmon - They are not 20 lbs. beasts, but average around 6-8 lbs.
A very typical Icelandic salmon
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Angelica - This beautiful and nicely smelling plant is cursed by many anglers as the eternally line-eating herb.
Angelica
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As a boy again - I have rarely seen anybody as happy as River Keeper Jóhannes when he hooked and landed several salmon on \
As a boy again
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Catch and kill - There is a tradition of taking a lot of the salmon you catch in the Rangá\'s. It can be hard to stomach if you\'re an avid C&R angler, but the population is in no danger, and tolling like this is no threat.
Catch and kill
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Chewed up - The Sunray Shadow with a body and eyes was my most successful fly on the trip. It\'s salmon and not my bad tying that has caused the fly to appear as it does - truly!
Chewed up
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Cocoa milk - The Eystri Rangá after a good rain - not much visibility there... it\\\'s the one big drawback of this river.
Cocoa milk
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Drying room - A heated drying room makes sure the waders are dry and comfortable every morning
Drying room
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Eystri Rangá beat 4 - This was the worst beat we fished. Says it all, doesn\\\'t it?
Eystri Rangá beat 4
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Fight - Nils landing a salmon by beaching it.
Fight
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Fiská upstream - The small river Fiská runs into a beautiful canyon, where the salmon will find small pools to rest in.
Fiská upstream
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Freezer frenzy - Nils presenting the freezers for the fish caught and killed on West Rangá. Thy more than illusrate how productive the Rangá\'s are.
Freezer frenzy
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German Snælda - A very popular variation of an even more popular fly: the Snelda. This version is used for deep fishing in dirty water.
German Snælda
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Happy camper - I\\\'m very pleased with the situation, looking down on a beautiful stretch of the Fiská.
Happy camper
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Hay - During august the hay is harvested and packed in large platic packages like these.
Hay
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Hen cage - The river keepers endorse you to leave large hen fish in these cages. One is placed on each beat, and the fish are taken out daily and used for the breeding program.
Hen cage
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High skies - The changing sky makes a beautiful backdrop for almost any Icelandic scene.
High skies
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Hot tub - Behind these wooden fences you will find the hot tubs of the East Rangá lodge. The view is magnificent -- down over the river.
Hot tub
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Icelandic horses - These horses are roaming on vast, fenced areas all over this island and you meet them all the time.
Icelandic horses
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In deep - Some of the crossings were a lot deeper than usual due to heavy rain, and a 4WD was a nice thing to be driving.
In deep
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Kype - When the males have been in the river for a few days they start darkening and developing a kype and larger teeth.
Kype
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Leaning - Nils giving a hitched fish all he can to remove it from the remaining school in the pool. You can sometimes pick out several fish from a pool if you manage to fight and land the fish downstream from the rest.
Leaning
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Lodge gossip - Chatting outside the lodge on East Rangá
Lodge gossip
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Lunch break - A group of Icelandic anglers are leaving for lunch and change of pools.
Lunch break
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Martin and the salmon - A beat 6 fish from Eistry Rangá.
Martin and the salmon
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Mother and child - Not a bad way to grow up for a horse.
Mother and child
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Mug shot - A salmon portrait.
Mug shot
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Netted - River Keeper Johannes has helped me net a salmon, and taken over the camera while I release it.
Netted
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Nils casting - Nils is a very skilled master of the two hand rod.
Nils casting
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Nils with a small, fresh hen - A female fish ready to secure the coming generations.
Nils with a small, fresh hen
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Nils\' candy store - Nils and the camp manager on East Rangá checking out the fly boxes
Nils' candy store
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Our fate - Iceland as it often looks: long roads, wide horizon, clouds, rain.
Our fate
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Planning - Nils and Jóhannes studying the map of the Ytri Rangá
Planning
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Preparing at Holsá - Nils and Johannes rigging for the wide lower part of the two Rangá\'s
Preparing at Holsá
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Rain and mud - On the lower part of the Rangá\\\'s - the Holsá - you can see how the muddy Eystri meets the clean Ytri. The heavy clouds in the distance promise more mud to come.
Rain and mud
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Ready for Galtalaekur - At this point we were still slightly optimistic. It was windy, but didn\'t rain... yet!
Ready for Galtalaekur
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Ready to go - A salmon on the way back in its right element.
Ready to go
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Registering - All catches have to be registeres (bokad or booked as the locals say) after each day of fishing. Weight, length, sex, location anf catching method is put down along with information about tags.
Registering
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Rod holder with a view - Rods resting by the Eistry Rangá lodge.
Rod holder with a view
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Rod sharing - Most beats on the Rangá\\\'s are open for two rods, but you are allowed to share.
Rod sharing
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Rod-fest - There is plenty of gear to look at during lunch break by the lodge.
Rod-fest
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Room with a view - Open the bedroom door at the lodge and see this. Hard to complain, isn\'t it?
Room with a view
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Scouting - Looking at Galtalaekur from the car. Not a sign of fish.
Scouting
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Snelda-country - One of the most common salmon flies on Iceland. Far from elegant, but very effective.
Snelda-country
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Soft and colorful or stiff and black - Tube flies are the flies chosen by most salmon anglers on Iceland.
Soft and colorful or stiff and black
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Some like it big. - The Icelanders love large tyres on their trucks.
Some like it big.
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The book - The book for Eystri Rangá. Yours truly has 3-4 entries on this page alone... he says proudly!
The book
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The golden beat - Beat 6 on Eystri Rangá was the best producing beat until now this season. When we were to fish it it was muddy and not nearly as exciting as it usually is.
The golden beat
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The last flip of the tail - Nils is ready to run down and grab the stranded salmon - a common way of landing these fish.
The last flip of the tail
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The release - We released almost all our fish on Iceland. This is not very common. Keeping every single fish is more the order of the day.
The release
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Weighing in - The nightly ritual at the lodge: weighing in all fish killed during the day, registering them in the books. You can register without killing.
Weighing in
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You shall not pass! - Unless you use the salmon ladder, of course.
You shall not pass!
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Ytri Rangá - Most pools on the upper beats are varied with slow, fast, deep and shallow stretches, making it fairly easy to find the holding spots.
Ytri Rangá
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Ægisiðufoss - Say after me: \\\
Ægisiðufoss