Lake Selvatn 13. July 2023

A hook in the chin

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Not terribly far from our cabin in the countryside is a lake where my wife has a lifelong fishing license. This is because she worked, nearly forty years ago on the farm the lake belongs to. The farm is called Hreðavatn just like another lake the farm stands by. When she worked there, fishing nets were sometimes laid in the lake and it caught both brown trout and arctic char. The lake we were planning to give the honor of being the first lake we fish in this summer is Selvatn which is another lake that belongs to the farm. The fishing nets were never laid in Selvatn. Why we wondered? Was it because there is no fish in the lake? Hopefully, that wasn´t the reason.

The weather had been extremely good during the week. We were eager to cast for fish in this nice weather but insulating the storage shed we built the summer before last summer was our priority. When we finally decided to go fishing the wind had turned. Instead of warm southern winds the wind now blew from the north. Despite our lifelong fishing license and how close we are to Selvatn, we have never fished in it before. So we have no idea of the possibilities.

We started at the southwest part of the lake and planned to fish from the southwest bank of the lake, the south bank, and the southeast bank. The banks are steep down to the waterfront to the west and east and the lake is shallow only about a meter from the shore. Then the abyss takes over. Behind is a dense birch forest so it was hard to cast the fly except from the south bank. My wife cast a spinner from the west bank and immediately a nice arctic char took it. It was about two-pound fish but it escaped. I cast a fly a few times until the rod got tangled in the trees and the top broke. Yes,, my Sage rod broke. From experience I know I won´t get my rod out of repair until the fishing season is over. I do have a spare rod to use in windy conditions and a lighter Sage rod for line five, so this is not a problem. It just sucks because casting the fly with the spare rod is boring.

There was nothing for me to do but stroll back to the car and fetch the casting rod. Then I tried fishing the southeast corner of the lake. An arctic char took the spinner and I struggled with it for a while. When it was time to land the char in the net suddenly the char was free. The spinner flew out of the lake and into my chin where it was stuck. Instead of losing the hook from the char I had to get the hook out of my chin. We continued fishing for a short period for a while after this before we headed home.

This is where we fished in the lake. The west bank is the far bank. In the middle of the picture, you can see a glimpse of the mountain Vikrafell. Beyond that is Lake Vikravatn which would be fun to try fishing in.

The lake to the northeast. On the left, you can see the mountain Hraunsnefsöxl. It would be fun to try to fish in this part of the lake sometime but it is more difficult to get to the waterfront.