The Laxa in Kjos is an intimate medium volume river in Iceland’s southwest, hardly an hour’s drive from downtown Reykjavík. Bugda, its tributary however is a small delicate river with lots of possibilities. Laxa í Kjos is one of Iceland’s top rivers and is frequently in the top ten listings. It is often referred to as Iceland’s university of salmon fishing due to the rivers remarkable variety. It has it all, from deep white frothing fosspools to long meandering flat pools with cut banks. Bugda is avery prolific and fertile tributary, entering only about a kilometer or so from the estuary. Bugda is small beside Laxa but never the less has a fine stock of salmon. Salmon access Laxa up to the scenic Thorufoss, some 24 kilometers from the bay Laxarvogur. It is fished with ten rods, eight of them rotating on four beats on Laxa, the other two fishing Bugda. There is ample room for all of them and yet the river still boasts a “free” section of some five kilometers consisting of pool after pool. They are in the middle of the valley and are commonly known as “The Meadows”. This stretch consists of slow running flat water absolutely full of salmon and sea trout.

Laxa has a very substantial run of good sized sea trout, most of them 3 to 6 pounds with a few even bigger, 8 to 10 pounders being caught most seasons. So one can add several hundred sea trout to the salmon total without downgrading the quality of the fishing. Foreign guests fishing Laxa in Kjos have commented on the uniqueness of top standard sea trout fishing in broad daylight, even in still sunny weather, as sea trout fishing on the continent and in the UK tends to be best by night in pitch darkness. Laxa features among other things two scenic canyons in the upper river. The upper one has now been closed to fishing for conservation reasons while the lower one remains a beautiful fishing area with chances for visual fishing at every bend. You are close to the salmon and well placed to see every move they make. Including of course how they react to your fly.

Laxa is a full time fly only river with a catch and release rule for every fish 70 cm or bigger. It has a small quota of grilse that anglers are allowed to kill pr day although total catch and release is recommended. All salmon caught in Bugda must be released. Laxa in Kjos is an especially good river for light tackle. The rivers are ideal for “light” line fishing, 4# to 8# weight rods, small flies, notably hitched tubes on floating lines and even dry flies have been known to get results here, especially in the meadow pools. Bugda in particular, with pools such as Foss, Móeyri, Bakkahylur and Einbuinn lends itself to extremely close quarters combat with light line and the most delicate presentation. Laxa, while also intimate and visual, frequently needs longer casting in pools such as in the meadows, Mirror Pool and Laxfoss to name a few. But don´t get us wrong. Be prepared for a different scenario as you might be in the group that gets the first or second heavy rain of the season. It may well pop up during mid season although the norm is late season. So be well advised to bring a small double handed rod (12ft 8wt is ideal) and a sink tip line as well.

While Laxa in Kjos s did not shatter any records in 2008 as so many other Icelandic rivers did during the superb season, the river did vastly improve on its totals from the last two seasons. The river was low for a substantial period of the prime season but that did not stop the salmon running. The seasons total turned out to be 1.530 salmon plus several hundred sea trout. Compared to 2007 that accounts for a great season as 2007 yielded 803 salmon plus the sea trout. Last year had a very similar pattern, although the final total was slightly lower, ending at 1.404 salmon plus over three hundred sea trout. The ten year average is 1.295 salmon so there can be no complaints.