Leginfisher
Well-known member
Just got back from 10 days fishing at Sudavik in the NW fjords. First time in Iceland, making a change from Norway, which I'm visiting later in August, with back up flights booked with Norwegian if SAS pilots are still on strike or they've gone bust! Journey from Heathrow was OK, although joining the queue for security starting outside the terminal after dropping bags taking about 90 mins. Still had plenty of time for a full English and a couple of beers before the flight. On landing the coach was there and after other anglers from Germany, France etc had landed we were on our way after about 45 mins. I have to say the coach journey was painful taking about 8 hours although we did have a supermarket stop, piss stop, drivers 45 min break stop and finally a sunrise stop, even though it was cloudy and no one knew why we had stopped in the middle of nowhere!
Unloaded gear from the coach and in the apartment which was basic but spacious with all we needed, except for a kettle and a can opener. The former was provided on request and I became quite skilled over the 10 days at opening cans with the very sharp knifes that they had. Don't tell H & S please! All fingers thankfully remain attached to my hand. Couldn't find a can opener in the supermarket, mental note made to take ring pull cans next time!
The briefing was at 9 am next day going through the boats, fishing zone, safety etc (much better then Norway - AIS on boats) and how to bleed the fish, which go into large boxes with ice and are unloaded next day when fuelling up at 8.30 am. There were minimum sizes for different species and it is illegal to put any over the limit back, apart from Halibut. The camp has a quota and the anglers catch goes against this. You can fillet and keep what fish you want and freeze it and bring it back, which we did. Looking forward to Haddock, wolffish and cod fillets over the coming months.
As for the fish, well I suspect on day 1 in our boat of 4 we had as many cod as most of the charter boats on the south coast have had this year to date. OK, maybe a slight exaggeration but there is a hell of a lot of cod there. Over the trip we had them to 31lb with a dozen or so over 20lb but the average was around 7-8lb. All in great condition. Pirks, savage gear sandeels, namix eels, big storm shads, cut baits, hokkais etc were all catching. We also had some coalies to 30lb when tied off to the guides buoy, fixed near to a wreck. We all grumble about foreign fishing boats in UK waters, well, this was a wreck of a British Trawler that sunk in a gale due to the weight of sea water freezing and not being cleared quickly enough. Having now seen the amount of fish there, Iceland have certainly benefited from the 200 mile exclusion zone that I believe they secured in the 1970s.
We also had a couple of great sessions on the Wolffish using bait, going to 16lb and a number of Haddock but only a few between 5 - 8lb. Whiting to about 2.5lb and a couple of Halibut to about 12lb were also caught. A few decent Dabs were also had just out side the harbour in a short spell at the end of one day when the wind had picked up. Cod to 5lb were also caught when dab fishing.
All in all a good trip although the fish box unloading and fuelling at 8.30 am was a bit restrictive especially when wind made it rough in the day and then usually calm at night meant you couldn't stay out overnight till about 6 am and get in and crash out till noon as the boxes needed unloading. With c.10 -12 boats that could take a while depending on your place in the queue.
The scenery was quite impressive and there were lots of humpback whales although mostly at distance with just one close up sighting. Temps ranged from 7 -16 so not too bad although it is there Summer time! The coach journey home was much quicker with just one short stop, much better!
I'll attach a few pics shortly. I know some will think its looks like a bit of a slaughter but I'd stress all of the fish that made their way into the fish boxes either came home with us or was processed by the camp. Who knows, that next bit of cod you are having from the chippy may have been caught by me ?
Unloaded gear from the coach and in the apartment which was basic but spacious with all we needed, except for a kettle and a can opener. The former was provided on request and I became quite skilled over the 10 days at opening cans with the very sharp knifes that they had. Don't tell H & S please! All fingers thankfully remain attached to my hand. Couldn't find a can opener in the supermarket, mental note made to take ring pull cans next time!
The briefing was at 9 am next day going through the boats, fishing zone, safety etc (much better then Norway - AIS on boats) and how to bleed the fish, which go into large boxes with ice and are unloaded next day when fuelling up at 8.30 am. There were minimum sizes for different species and it is illegal to put any over the limit back, apart from Halibut. The camp has a quota and the anglers catch goes against this. You can fillet and keep what fish you want and freeze it and bring it back, which we did. Looking forward to Haddock, wolffish and cod fillets over the coming months.
As for the fish, well I suspect on day 1 in our boat of 4 we had as many cod as most of the charter boats on the south coast have had this year to date. OK, maybe a slight exaggeration but there is a hell of a lot of cod there. Over the trip we had them to 31lb with a dozen or so over 20lb but the average was around 7-8lb. All in great condition. Pirks, savage gear sandeels, namix eels, big storm shads, cut baits, hokkais etc were all catching. We also had some coalies to 30lb when tied off to the guides buoy, fixed near to a wreck. We all grumble about foreign fishing boats in UK waters, well, this was a wreck of a British Trawler that sunk in a gale due to the weight of sea water freezing and not being cleared quickly enough. Having now seen the amount of fish there, Iceland have certainly benefited from the 200 mile exclusion zone that I believe they secured in the 1970s.
We also had a couple of great sessions on the Wolffish using bait, going to 16lb and a number of Haddock but only a few between 5 - 8lb. Whiting to about 2.5lb and a couple of Halibut to about 12lb were also caught. A few decent Dabs were also had just out side the harbour in a short spell at the end of one day when the wind had picked up. Cod to 5lb were also caught when dab fishing.
All in all a good trip although the fish box unloading and fuelling at 8.30 am was a bit restrictive especially when wind made it rough in the day and then usually calm at night meant you couldn't stay out overnight till about 6 am and get in and crash out till noon as the boxes needed unloading. With c.10 -12 boats that could take a while depending on your place in the queue.
The scenery was quite impressive and there were lots of humpback whales although mostly at distance with just one close up sighting. Temps ranged from 7 -16 so not too bad although it is there Summer time! The coach journey home was much quicker with just one short stop, much better!
I'll attach a few pics shortly. I know some will think its looks like a bit of a slaughter but I'd stress all of the fish that made their way into the fish boxes either came home with us or was processed by the camp. Who knows, that next bit of cod you are having from the chippy may have been caught by me ?
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