Having boat fished the Western Fjords of Iceland a couple of years back and done well with cod to 38lbs, it was obvious the Iceland shore fishing potential was massive as these waters have minimal commercial fishing pressure and fish stocks remain almost untouched.

I’d also talked at length with Steve Mason of Icelandic Fishing Adventures about the shore fishing potential. Steve, a Geordie and professional fish filleter plus highly experienced angler, has been working up in the north of Iceland periodically since the early 1990’s and is in a unique position being the only frequent shore angler in the region. The locals tend to fish with light spinning rods and small jigs for just the odd table fish off the piers, that’s it as far as shore angling goes so shore fishing potential is truly unknown.

As a result of all this chat a trip was arranged and a four man team comprising Steve, WSF member John McInnes from Stirling, Francis Jones of Abertillery, and myself would meet up in Reykjavik and head north to experience the fishing for ourselves.

HEADING NORTH
It was early morning in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik and the banter battle field was drawn out when John saw a poster in the breakfast room showing numerous varieties of sheep and described it as a “Welsh beauty pageant”, just a gentle dig at Fran and I as we’re both from Wales, but a belter of a joke to get the laughs underway, something we maintained until we split up at the airport on the way home.

We piled a ridiculous amount of gear into Steve’s estate car and headed north for the four hour drive to Dalvik, our prime destination. The journey is easy with little traffic on the road and a superb series of service stations that provide good quality hot and cold meals and drinks including the famous Icelandic hot dogs. The scenery is also stunning, and though you can fly from Reykjavik to Akurery and then take a short drive to Dalvik, you should take the full drive at least once just to sample the unique Icelandic scenery.

THE FISHING
Steve’s long association with this district has seen him build up a series of great marks, these mainly being the commercial piers that are literally everywhere up here. That said, working boats are not that numerous and most of the piers have little if any boat activity to disturb your fishing. He also has rock marks and beaches to fish from, but frankly the piers offer easy access and top notch fishing right by the side of the car.

[caption id="attachment_14502" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] One of the many commercial piers around Dalvik[/caption]



We’d fished a pier in Haugenes just east of Dalvik the first night and done well with cod to 6lbs, coalies to 5lbs, dabs to close on 2lbs and scorpion fish in big numbers. However the next afternoon/evening session would be from the main pier in Dalvik after a morning session elsewhere.

We started fishing about 4pm aiming to fish through until about 9pm, then get something to eat before some much needed sleep time.

We each set up only one rod, a powerful 5/6oz beachcaster, and I fished this with a Penn 525 Mag2 loaded with 25lb line and a 60lb shock leader. I put a clip link on the leader so I could double pat and hung up a three-hook flapper armed with size 1/0 Kamasan B940 Aberdeen’s, also a pennel Pulley rig using twin 4/0 Mustad Viking hooks.

Steve had brought freshly dug blow lug which are huge, fresh sand clam and some massive mussels, plus two huge slabs of the highly effective Bluey fish bait with the high oil content.

All four of us cast pretty much together and as Francis put his rod in the rod rest it bounced as a fish took the bait. This was a dab and cod double, John had a double shot of codling, Steve had a dab and cod and I had two dabs all on our first casts. This set the scene for the rest of the session.

[caption id="attachment_14510" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Francis Jones with a cod triple header[/caption]

As we found our feet and got into fishing more smoothly the baits were not on the bottom more than 30 seconds before the rod tip told you a fish was on. It was triple shots of dabs, triple shots of cod and a mix of the two for the first hour. I also caught my first Arctic starry ray on a big chunk of bluey.

[caption id="attachment_14503" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Mike Thrussell with his Arctic Starry Ray[/caption]

The sun was high in the sky and it was very warm, some 22C, and the sea almost flat calm, but suddenly we were aware that a better stamp of cod had arrived. John was out on the left and he asked for the drop net which gobbled up a cracking fat bodied pig of a cod weighed at 7lbs. Francis had two fish, a 5lber and a 6lber, then Steve put another 6lber in the net.

While all this was going on I’d also picked up a couple of decent cod, but decided to switch to a really big bait and went for a whole bluey body with just the tail and head cut off presented on the Pennel rig. I was hoping the size of the bait would pick out a much bigger fish and keep the smaller fish at bay longer.

This ploy worked as the rod tip stayed quiet for over a minute before something tried to shake the bait, but I figured this was a smaller fish, or several of them fighting over it.

I was fishing a slightly slack line deliberately but watching the bow in the line for lift bites. I saw the lift bite, but then the line fell very slack as a fish swam back towards me. Picking up the rod and winding in fast until I felt the weight of the fish, I set the hook and felt the rod tip pull hard over. It took on a deeper set than previously and I knew this fish had some better weight.

The fish hugged the seabed, then turned to the left and dragged a few feet of line off the reel. Then I felt the typical “nod nod” of a cod, and a head shake as it tried to lose the hook. As it came nearer and the angle of the line became more vertical the real weight of the fish came apparent and I eased off the drag a touch just in case the hook hold was light. Gently I pumped the fish up and when it appeared near the surface it looked a good double. Steve got the cod into the drop net and lifted it on to the pier and it was a real fat lump, well fed and fully healthy. John weighed the fish for me at 11lbs bar for a sniff of an ounce.

[caption id="attachment_14504" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Mike Thrussell with an 11lb Dalvik Cod[/caption]

I went back out on the big baits and got another cod about 8lbs, but couldn’t match the double.

The dabs we were landing were also monsters. We only weighed the odd one but most were well in excess of 1lb and commonly 1½lbs, with a good few pushing 2lbs. These are not the dabs we are used to seeing in the UK. These are fat behind the head, thick bodied, fully finned, rarely have sores on them and are often almost black on the back or dark grey. Absolute monsters!

The fishing now was literally back breaking. It was a constant theme of cast, react to a bite, wind in the fish, unhook and release them, re-bait and re-cast. I was running round with the camera shooting as much as I could and trying to keep pace with the weights of the fish as they were being fired at me when a fish warranted weighing.
The fishing maintained this rhythm for over four hours and we sat down and worked out that we were landing around 40lbs of fish an hour each. Between four of us for four and half hours fishing time that equates to landing in excess of 650lbs of fish between us. A staggering amount and in no way an exaggeration, more likely an under estimate of the true total!

[caption id="attachment_14505" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] John McInnes with another Dalvik Cod![/caption]

I’ve since found out two anglers kept count of the number of fish they caught over a weeks fishing in this area accompanied by Steve and took over 1000 cod and landed in excess of 1.2 tonnes of fish. Having experienced the numbers of fish within casting range I’ve no doubt this is accurate as well!

We came off the pier sore with severe back ache, aching limbs, shredded hands and rumbling tummies, but highly elated at what we’d just experienced. Francis is an ex Welsh international and he said to me straight off, “Never seen fishing anything like that before” and that’s the best way to some it up. Neither have I off the shore!

[caption id="attachment_14506" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Francis Jones is in on the action, lovely cod, lovely hoody too ;-)[/caption]

MIKE’S CONCLUSION
Without doubt this is an exceptional venue and area. Having fished it hard, and even with Steve’s vast local knowledge, I still feel only the surface has been scratched on the real potential of these waters.

As more and more anglers visit this region and the season is extended, then much bigger cod will be caught as their migrations are learnt and understood. There are monster plaice in these waters too, that again once targeted will be caught in consistent numbers and I’d expect double figure fish to be confirmed.

I also think some of the deeper marks could produce common skate off the shore as well as halibut, and I did catch one small halibut off another pier to prove their tide line hugging habit. It’s only a matter of time before some lucky angler hits a big flattie with teeth!

There are also big coalfish, we had them to over 8lbs, wolffish to close on 20lbs, torsk, huge whiting and who knows what else in these waters.

Having a guide of Steve’s calibre with you also means you maximise your fishing time. He knows the marks, when and where to fish, the rigs, the baits and other local information that put together guarantees you make the very most of each session and maximises your catches. You can also fish any time you want and for how long you want. We found two sessions a day perfect as its hard graft landing fish all day. Alternatively you can fish through the night and sleep by day, but this far north you only get twilight from June to early September.

The other big advantage is that once you leave the airport Steve is waiting for you and you’ve nothing else to worry about, just the fishing. He handles all the internal travel side of things, the accommodation bookings etc.

[caption id="attachment_14507" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Mike Thrussell and WSF Member John McInnes with two fine cod[/caption]

EATING OUT & ACCOMMODATION
Eating out is not as expensive as some people seem to think. We were eating in a small restaurant some nights, typically fish and chips, minute steak and chips etc, and prices were about £8 to £12 each. We had a truly huge pizza each one night in a Pizza parlour and my bill came to £11 with a beer.

If you want to drink beers etc, then buy them from the local supermarket and it’s only a little more expensive than the UK. If you buy cans in a hotel, then it will be a lot more expensive, much as it is here.

The accommodation we stayed in was a hotel in Dalvik with simple but clean rooms and showers. There was a really good and varied breakfast in the morning and I’d recommend trying the local pancakes which are outstanding.

[caption id="attachment_14508" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] The Guide, Stevie Mason also managed to grab a few fish during the session[/caption]

CONTACTS, INFORMATION & TRAVEL DETAILS
Anglers World Holidays are the main booking agent for Icelandic Fishing Adventures and you can contact at 46 Knifesmithgate, Chesterfield, Derbyshire S40 1RQ. Tel: 01246 220080, or e-mail enquiries@anglers-world.co.uk and via their website www.anglersworld.tv

If you need specific fishing information on the fishing and the venues, then you can also contact Steve Mason direct via e-mail at steve@dreamfishing.is or by telephone on 00 354 6180694. Their website also gives some good info and can be accessed at www.dreamfish.is

Icelandic Fishing Adventures also do salmon, trout and char fishing packages or you could integrate a day or two on these in to your sea fishing holiday. For info on salmon, trout and char contact Siggi via e-mail at siggi@dreamfish.is and by phone on 00 354 6958843.

You can fly direct with Iceland Air or Iceland Express to Reykjavik from Manchester, London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Stansted, Glasgow etc. All flight details are available by accessing www.icelandair.is or www.icelandexpress.com