The quality of Iceland’s shore cod fishing has been well documented now by the TSF team fishing in conjunction with Steve Mason and Pete Thain of Icelandic Fishing Adventures. The Icelandic government’s total commitment to conservation and aggressive self limitation of commercial fishing within their seas guarantees the cod fishing will remain arguably the best in the world.

But there is another side to Icelandic fishing. It offers the species hunter access from the shore to fish normally only found in extreme depths that even boat anglers only occasionally see. With species hunters becoming more international these days, I see Iceland becoming a popular destination to those after that coveted 100 species within northern Atlantic waters.

Look at the natural history of Iceland and its still active volcanic construction gives a clue as to why these fish are possible. Born from molten lava flow spewing up from the ocean floor, Iceland is like a giant mountain peak with steep sides. In other words, the deep water, some in excess of 3000ft, is just a few miles offshore keeping some of these deep water desirables within easy reach.

The other important factor is that there is little inshore commercial fishing, so all species get a chance to grow to good sizes and retain a high inshore populace.

Take the catfish, more commonly known as the wolf fish here in the UK. To catch a wolf fish in UK waters you need to board a boat and fish the deep water wrecks out in the upper North Sea off Whitby, or maybe try from Scrabster in the north of Scotland or from the Donegal ports over the deep water wrecks in the northwest of Ireland. Only very occasional wolf fish are caught from the Northeast coast and from the east coast of Scotland from the shore, and these are generally small fish. But in Iceland big wolf fish to close on 20lbs are caught off the rock ledges in just 30-feet of water. It’s not unusual to catch a dozen or more in the day either.

The big advantage in Iceland is that the wolf fish range across vastly different terrain being caught over broken ground, rough ground and even over mud and sand. Wolf fish marks are not specific, you will catch them everywhere in the Keflavik and Reykjavik areas. Plus they eat mussel, clams, worm and fish baits, they are not choosy, and they put up a powerful fight too!

There are also spotted catfish here too. These are a near relative of the wolf fish, and look much the same, but have a yellow brownish spotted body and they frequent deeper water than the wolf, but must come within range of the shore caster on the deeper rock marks.

With cod being the prime target here fishing big baits, smaller more unusual species are less likely to be caught. However, dropping down to a single size 1/0 hook on a clipped down rig and punching a really long cast out on to clean ground has produced a couple of rare Arctic starry rays for us. My lad picking one up that Steve felt was close to, or maybe even beat the Icelandic record.

Starry ray only grow to about 30-inches in length and favour depths over 125-feet, but the ones we’ve caught have been in water under 40-feet deep which is exceptional. Both the rays we caught would be classed as specimen sized fish, and I feel that these rays grow bigger here than most people realise. We weren’t targeting these fish, just got lucky, but a serious session or two deliberately aiming to catch these rays would produce some stunning results.

Have you ever caught a lemon sole here in the UK? Figure not, and neither have 99.9% of UK anglers. In Iceland though, if you drop down to size 2 hooks on either a three-hook or two-hook flapper, then you’re in with a real chance of bagging a lemon sole. On my very first attempt at targeting a lemon sole, I got one from a pier mark near Keflavik. A fish about a pound, but we’ve seen them to over 2lbs, and undoubtedly they grow here to well over 3lbs. Only Norway could rival Iceland in the opportunity to catch a lemon sole.

When you drop down on to smaller hooks you’ll start to catch huge numbers of dabs. But these are not the skinny little things you get off our home beaches, but prime fat flatties that average close to a pound. My lad and I both had dabs that went over 1lb 8ozs, and again we only had a short session targeting them with the right rigs. Dabs over 2lbs are definitely on the cards here. To pick up the bigger dabs, stick to fish baits and add a couple of small luminous green beads above the hook. This little dodge really made a difference in picking out the better fish more consistently.

When you’re catching the dabs, pay close attention to them. You’ve a very good chance of catching a rare long rough dab. These look like a dab, but are more reddish in colour and have a much larger mouth than the common dab. Put the two side by side and difference is obvious.

Steve Mason has been doing some research and found out from pleasure divers that huge angler fish, the genuine angler fish with the attracting rod on the end of their nose, frequent the marks off Keflavik. Nobody has tried to catch them yet, but Pete Thain has started to fish with live bait rigs to try and bag one of these monsters as well as double his chances of picking up a really big cod or ling. Commercial angler fish caught in Icelandic waters exceed 100lbs in weight, so it gives you an idea of just what might be achieved by a deep thinking shore angler.

To gauge what else might be available off the shore here, I got Steve to take me round the fish factory where they fillet the commercially caught fish. Looking in box after box, I noticed witch, another dab like flatfish that although mostly caught in depths exceeding 750-feet, on some of the deeper marks along the southwest corner of Iceland, it would not surprise me to hear that a shore angler had picked one up. That would be a real coup for any species collector.

Another box held a catch of deepwater redfish. These are commonly found along the upper continental shelf in depths from 300-feet to 1200-feet. Guess what, they get caught off the shore in Norway, and I’d put my money on redfish being resident on some of the deeper shore marks both north and south of Reykjavik. To target these, I think deep jigging with luminous Hokkai’s would quickly locate these fish and secure you a species that only a handful of shore anglers have on their CV.

Norway haddock were also there in the factory boxes. These are another red coloured deep water fish, and nothing like a haddock in shape as it happens. It is another proven resident of these marks, and I’d expect the same sink and draw tactic with Hokkai’s to pick them up, especially if you bait the hooks with a sliver of fish.

The Icelandic’s have a major long-line fishery for blue ling, a normally oceanic deep water fish but these come within casting range of the shore here and can be taken on fish baits. They are longer and slimmer in body shape than common ling and appear greeny brown out of the water. You’ll catch both normal ling and the blue type side by side here on the rougher ground marks.

Another rarity for shore anglers will be the blue whiting. They look a little like normal whiting, but the head is slightly more pointed, the lower jaw slightly longer than the top and there is no chin barbel. Their colouration is blue on the black shading to silvery white on the belly. In summer whiting can be caught here in staggering numbers, so check each fish as you land them bearing that blue back in mind to distinguish between the two types.

The big news will be a halibut off the shore. Small halibut get caught off the shore in Norway, and Steve Mason has already caught them in the north of Iceland off the shore. Again though, divers tell of seeing halibut in the shallow water just 30-feet deep off the marks around Keflavik. Looking at the halibut in the fish boxes they are likely to weigh between 2 and 7lbs, though I’m positive much bigger fish exist very close in within casting range on the right marks. Whilst looking at the fish in the boxes at the factory, we came across a halibut weighing 212lbs, which they tell us is not that big compared to some brought in.

The other unusual species already caught by shore anglers is the torsk, sometimes called tusk. In the UK these are again found over deep water wrecks in the North Sea, and off the Scottish and north-western Irish coast. Commonly found down to depths of 300-feet plus, Steve Mason has already had torsk to nearly 16lbs off the shore in just 40-feet of water. Anywhere else this would be most unusual, but in Iceland nobody bats an eye-lid!

Also watch for big haddock. The numbers of haddock are incredible during the summer months, and they can weigh close to 3lbs, with bigger ones always on the cards.

The plaice are another neglected species. I’ve caught several plaice off the shore marks here with minimal effort. Really targeting these fish I’m sure would produce some absolute monsters, possibly in to double figures. They have to be there as they are never ever fished for.

If you look at the species books and research flounder, you’ll see that their range is given as far north as northern Scandinavia and round to the Russian coast. Only in the past few years has it been discovered that flounder are resident in Icelandic waters around the capital Reykjavik, also the southwest corner and south coast. Steve Mason has already caught them in the Keflavik area to prove the point. It’s now felt that some of the big plaice that have been reported in this region may sometimes be very big flounder. This is another fishery that Icelandic Fishing Adventures will be looking at as 5lb plus flounder are a worthy target fish in anyone books.

Other species already identified and all growing to much bigger sizes than those found in the UK are spurdog which actually run the surf beaches on the south side of Iceland, also lumpsuckers, scorpion fish, thornback ray, shagreen ray, common skate, round skate, megrim, rat-fish and Norway pout.

I think the flounder story best illustrates the shore fishing in Iceland. Nobody really knows yet just what can be caught from the shore. All the fish I’ve listed are ones I’m pretty sure will be caught sooner rather than later by UK anglers escorted by Steve and Pete. It’s not a definitive list, just the ones I’m sure are there!

CONTACTS
Icelandic Tourist Board, Laekjargata 3, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland. Tel: 00 354 535 5500 Fax: 00 354 535 5501. E-mail: info@icetourist.is.

Also visit www.visiticeland.com . Click on the English language flag which routes you to a page with a menu covering everything you need to know from transportation, accommodation, food, entertainment, as well as other useful links.

Another good website is www.visitorsguide.is which is a major source of additional information.

FISHING CONTACTS
Steve Mason or Pete Thain, Reykjavik, Iceland. Tel: 00 354 895 7283.
Visit: Iceland Fishing Adventures