Hofsá River Salmon Fishing

The Hofsá River gives fly fishers a closer connection to their quarry than other European salmon fisheries. Instead of using long two-handed rods and sinking lines, fly fishers on the Hofsá try for trophy Atlantic salmon using tackle that’s considerably lighter.

Hofsá River anglers get up close and personal with the salmon they’re after, fishing with smaller flies and using floating line to execute traditional swing presentations in current. The migrating salmon in the Hofsá River are strong fish that have been at sea for a couple of years before returning to the river — they’re on the move, hungry, and ready to attack a well-placed offering.

The Hofsá River, located in Northeast Iceland, is 53 mi long and, in addition to being a highly productive salmon fishery, it also offers anglers the chance to catch Arctic Char and Sea Trout. Like most prime fishing water in Scandinavia, the Hofsá River is privately managed. A conservation-minded group carefully controls anglers’ access to this pristine fishery, offering licenses, guide services, accommodations, and a strict set of rules for anglers to follow. The fishing season runs from June 24th to September 22nd and the average catch is well over 1000 salmon per season.

What flies to use

The river features numerous gravel-bed pools where migrating salmon stop to rest. Anglers typically use a 7- or 8-weight single-handed rod that’s between 9 and 10 feet long. Smaller flies are most productive, in the size 18 to 10 range, and popular patterns include the Autumn Hooker, Erna, Haugur, Colburn Special, and Sunray Shadow tubes. Fishing a Riffling Hitch, a specialized set-up that helps a salmon fly skim across the surface, takes extra skill but is also highly productive on the Hofsá. To catch fish in deeper pools, anglers commonly use a large streamer pattern, often tied as a tube fly.

Fly fishing the Hofsá River in early summer can be a fly fisher’s dream come true, as fantastic specimens of healthy, migrating Atlantic salmon run up the river. The fish show up in numbers, and that keeps anglers busy! When a fish is removed from a prime resting pool, an hour later, that pool is sure to hold another beautiful salmon.