Icelandic Fishing Adventures

Visit Icelandic Fishing Adventures

You have just taken the first step on a fishing adventure that will blow your mind! The rich and well-protected waters that surround Iceland offer some of the best cod fishing in the North Atlantic. However, it’s not only cod you can catch, many other species swim in our waters and all offer you the chance to set a new personal best.

Tackle and tactics vary depending on the species you want to target. Our favoured set-up for shore fishing is a reasonably powerful rod suited to fishing heavy ground, combined with a 7000-sized reel loaded with 30lb to 40lb mono. This will tackle the majority of the fishing you’re likely to encounter. Distance casting isn’t necessary, either, because most of the fish are caught between 30 and 100 yards. It’s worth bringing along a reel set up for distance casting, though, because the spurdogs and rays are sometimes a little further out.

Lure fishing works very well here, and both cod and coalfish into double figures readily take a variety of artificial lures, including flies. If you want some fun with lures, bring along an uptiding rod and a fixed-spool reel filled with 80lb braid. This may sound over the top, but if one of our big coalies nails you then you might wish you had something even more powerful! Saltwater fly fishing is a total blast and it’s possible to hook into some huge fish but, remember, anything much over 3lb is a real handful on fly gear.

There is no need for complicated rigs. The best all-round rig is a pulley Pennell kitted out with an Impact Shield and strong 4/0 to 6/0 hooks. Two-hook rigs are useful additions to your armoury but make sure the hooks are strong because you never know what will take your baits. Three-hook rigs are definite ‘no-nos’, otherwise you could easily be pulling in 10lb plus of fish every cast. This may sound great but, believe us, it soon wears you out when they are all pulling in different directions.

Boat fishing is best handled with tackle between 30lb and 50lb class. The water is deep and the tide run can be strong at times. Braided line offers a distinct advantage over mono for general fishing, although big halibut or skate are better dealt with using monofilament line.

Our species list is quite impressive and even though we have huge stocks of fish we do try, whenever possible, to practise catch and release. We don’t have any problems with you taking fish home should you want to and can offer a full service to fillet, pack then freeze your catch so it gets home in the best possible condition.

Double-figure cod and coalfish are available from both boat and shore. Large haddock and whiting are numerous, and huge ling and torsk are often taken from the boats with the possibility of double-figure specimens from the shore. Big wolffish are regularly caught from the boat and, believe it or not, also from the shore. Dabs are everywhere; we did an experiment in the harbour using a two-hook rig and it took less than 15 seconds to get a double shot. We also have specimen-size lemon sole and plaice but perhaps the flatfish of most interest is the halibut. With more than 20 metres of water within casting distance of the shore, this fish is no longer exclusive to the boat angler. Starry rays, although not common, are caught often enough to be target fish and common skate also swim in Icelandic waters. Huge packs of spurdogs are available at certain venues and can be targeted if that’s what you want to catch. Redfish are caught from deep-water boat marks, but they can also turn up from the shore occasionally. Last but not least we have big angler fish. Normally thought of as exclusive to the boat angler, these can, with a little patience, also be caught from the shore.