About Norðurá

Norðurá Norðurá in Borgarfjörður is to many anglers the best salmon river in the country and the average seasonal catch for the past 10 seasons is just over 2000 salmon. She flows from lake Holtvörðuvatn, up on the moor Holtavörðuheiði. It has quite a few contributories, such as Hvassá, Hellisá, Sanddalsá, Búðardalsá and Bjarnadalsá to name a few. All the contributories are off limits to all fishing, except for the last spans of Bjarnadalsá and Sanddalsá.

The angling area reaches from the bridge at Fornihvammur down to the Norðurá/Hvítá confluence. The waterfalls in the river used to be a great hindrance to the salmon, especially Laxfoss, which is the lowest of the three main waterfalls. The others are Glanni and Króksfoss. In 1930 Laxfoss was fixed so that the salmon had an easier path up on to the valley, but no further than Glanni, the next waterfall. Attempts were made both in the early 1930’s and again in 1964. But it was not until 1985, when the fish stairs were made, that the salmon could easily reach the valley. It still had an hurdle in its path, Króksfoss, the last waterfall, but nature took care of that problem herself so now the salmon can run up the whole river.

The river has over 170 marked pools. Their diversity is vast, ranging from neat riffles, gullies and to large and powerful runs. She has three main waterfalls, as mentioned before, each a remarkable beauty in its own right. Of those, Laxfoss is probably the most famous, do in no small part, to Iceland’s most famous passenger ship that bore the same name.