Hitara is a west coast river, flowing from north to south on the Saefellsnes peninsula. It ranks as one of the Icelands most beautiful rivers and that is saying a lot. It originates in the picturesque mountain lake Hiítarvatn which is one of Iceland’s better trout lakes. From the lake it flows through birch covered lava fields of haunting beauty. Up here we are on the secondary beat, Hitara 2 which is sold on its own as a three rod self catering fishery along with the tributaries Talmi and Grjota. Some of this area is treacherous, involving tough walking and roughing it up on 4x4’s on difficult tracks. Further down the river, below the junction of Hitara and the named tributaries, the main beat starts with some of the rivers more notable pools such as Langidrattur, Grettisstiklur, Kverk and Breidin. This is beautiful fly fishing water of the highest order and the river has strong runs of salmon.

The Hitara lodge is a curiosity in its own right. It is and elderly building perched on the cliffs overlooking several of the rivers top pools. You can actually check out each morning if there are any new fresh fish on Breidin and watch as they move for the hitched fly! The building was built by a former lease holder, Jóhannes á Borg, a well known Icelander who even toured the United States showing off the Icelandic brand of wrestling. Jóhannes aquired some stunning antique furniture and the biggest privately owned collection of stuffed birds in Iceland. The birds are all in the lodge as well as Jóhannes’s entire library. Among the bird species on display in the lodge are a couple of Sea eagles, a Snowy owl and the extinct Great Auk, put together by some 20 or so guillemots and auks! The lodge is with full service and the lower main beat is fished with six rods. The self catering beat further up on the other hand has a separate lodge and is fished with two to three rods.

The quality of the 2008 season on Hitara was phenomenal and a new record was recorded. The two beats combined gave the river a season total of 1.289 salmon, some 400 more than the previous record. The main beat contributed 748 salmon while the upper self catering beat stole the show with a total of 541 salmon, most of them while the beat was only fished with two daily rods. Experienced Hitara anglers have never seen anything like it. Last year was also outstanding, although far off the new record. The river produced a catch of 824 salmon which is way over the ten year average. Experts maintain that the river would have easily crossed over 1.000 fish last season had not long spells of draught reduced the waterlevel to an almost historic low.