I felt the farmhouse shaking from the wind and heard the rain spattering the window in my bedroom all night from here in the south of Iceland.  I’d roll over and laugh.  My nickname is “Monsoon Currier” throughout the world so what the heck.  Regardless of the menacing weather, Ingo and I headed to Strengur Angling Clubs new sea trout river, the Tungulaekur, after a stellar Helgason breakfast.

 

It wasn’t much nicer down on the banks of the Tungulaekur.  The wind was roaring and the rain fell sideways.  But lucky for us, Simms was there to the rescue.  Put on your G4 waders with some fleece and a rain jacket and suddenly it’s a nice day.

 

You do need to cast though.  And the wind was impressive.  With a heavy fly and common sense, if you position yourself correctly its always possible to cast.  I love the challenge and I think Ingo, being and Icelander, didn’t notice anything unusual about the day.

 

Honestly however, what likely made such a day fun was that it was another of the best trout fishing days of my life.  And Ingo agrees.  In the first pool we fished we each caught five nice sea run brown trout.

 

The fishing didn’t stop there.  Ingo and I took turns working pools and each pass we’d catch more fish.  One of the tricks to our success was a fly with extra flash in it.  I like the Kreelex.  With all the rain the river was slightly off color and flash flies help a ton.  No doubt the Tungulaekur is full of fish.

 

All the fish we caught were similar in size.  I only saw one under 20”, most were about 23”-24”, and about every fifth sea trout would break the 26” mark.  But there was one fish that blew our minds.

 

I hooked up to a solid chunk of weight.  It was so heavy that when I hooked it I thought perhaps there was another species in the river – like a flounder or halibut (we’re only a mile from the ocean).  The fish was substantial and there was no immediate run.  Most fish panic but this one didn’t.

 

I always rear back and wind with fish like this.  I pulled along the weight for about ten seconds.  Then all hell broke loose.  The fish ripped to the surface and jumped.  It was more of a half jump because of its immense size.  Then he took off downstream so strong he made the next pool and I had to chase.  Indeed this was a brown trout!

 

The big brown made a couple more leaps before I started to win line back.  A lot of times really big fish don’t fight as hard as the teenagers but this one was different.  He didn’t want to come in.

 

Eventually I put my 20lb SA flouro to work with the help of my 7-weight Winston Air.  I got the trout’s head up and hoisted him up on the bank.  It was a monster and Ingo got the camera blazing.

 

The surprise beast measured 85 cm which is 33.5”.  While all these sea runs have been in surprisingly excellent condition, this one was magnificent.  My guess is that when this trout returns to the river in September after a summer of feeding out to sea he will be well over 20lbs.  I may have to come back and look for him. . . .

 

Days like today are hard to explain in words.  Especially written words.  In the end, we landed more than 30 incredible sea run brown trout in the day!

 

This was not to be a burger night.  Instead we returned to the farmhouse and turned on the barbeque.  Ingo brought thick juicy steaks, salad and we carved up our own French fries.

 

To top it off, Ingo broke out a bottle of Italian wine from his collection.  Along with his fishing skills, Ingo is a wine connoisseur and he distributes wine throughout Iceland.  It was so damn good we knocked back two bottles along with those steaks!

 

We have the morning to fish on the Tungulaekur River then we make the trek back to Lake Thingvallavatn for my final three days.  Stay tuned!

 

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Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing