Iceland is known over the world as the mecca for salmon fishing and is a place where many anglers dream of going fly fishing. I have often had questions about fishing in Iceland and have run into the misunderstanding that all fishing in Iceland is so pricey that it is not for everyone´s wallet.

Iceland is, for a good reason, the dream destination for fly fishing with endless rivers and possibilities for fishing with exclusive access in beautiful surroundings. In today´s world, it is precious to get time away from the stress and experience raw nature.

I have been organizing trips to Iceland with our family business for a long time, different kind of trips fishing and would like to share some of my thoughts and advise on fishing on a budget in Iceland.

Service

Iceland offers a huge variety of rivers around the country and the service of those rivers is most often full catering or self service. Full catering means most often it includes transportation and full meals and guiding during the fishing. Self catering most often includes a nice summer house/ fishing hut located nearby the river, which is a fantastic option when fishing on a budget, as you of course need a place to sleep and can then arrange your own meals during the fishing.

Divide the fun while fishing

Salmon fishing is, in general, more expensive than trout fishing in Iceland. However, once you are coming to Iceland many anglers come here for their interest in salmon fishing. For me, I would recommend it as one of those highlights and to get the best of both worlds, I recommend splitting your time between two rivers, one for trout and another for salmon. This way, you experience more than one river in Iceland, get to see and experience more at the same time as you keep the cost down. If you can, try to keep the rivers close to each other, that way you safe time and effort travelling long distance with higher costs. = don’t waste time not fishing

Hire a guide?

This is what I recommend to everyone, even the most experienced anglers. Think about hiring a guide, at least for a day. When you are travelling all the way to a new country, have good savings for the trip and do it properly, make sure not to waste time casting on empty water and get advice from your guide. Find out whether you might actually gain from having a full-time guide driving 4×4 instead of renting a car. For everything, I recommend waiting a bit longer, saving more and doing things properly, enjoying every minute. Guides have been on the rivers for years, they known each step and stone there, and can help and advise even the most experienced anglers where the Icelandic fish lie, what works best and how to get the most out of your trip.

Timing

Icelandic season starts in April and ends in October, with salmon fishing in June ending in end of September. Consider going before or after prime time as the fishing is usually the most expensive during prime time. You might not catch the same amount of fish as you would during prime time but you still have a good chance.

Sharing is caring even though fishing

In Iceland we have long daylights during the summer and the fishing hours are 12 hours per day. That is a long time and gives you a perfect chance of sharing a rod with a friend, that way you cut the cost quite a lot and who knows, watching your friend catch the big one might be almost as thrilling as catching it yourself. These 12 hours a day can also be quite a lot and a friend just makes everything much more fun.

Where?

As above, it might be wise to have 2 rivers located close to one another to safe time travelling and cost, fishing rivers close to Reykjavik is also a great way to keep the cost down.

Hope you may have found the information helpful and might come in handy visiting Iceland one day soon. If you are on your way to Iceland fishing I´d be happy to send you some of my suggestions for rivers suitable, feel free to send me a line via the contact form on the page. See you on the river

All my best,
Vala