Blessed with crystal clear water we were able to locate fish by sight. That said, Arctic Char studied at the Icelandic school of camouflage and with their green mottled backs blended well into any type of background. However, that striking white leading edge of their fins (above) is what betrayed them. Odd then to be wishing for sunny weather (great for fish spotting) when back home, cloudy days are more our thing… And where you located a fish then others were never far away. Of course, finding them is one thing, extracting them was a different story!
First of the trip, a broad shoulder hen fish that sidled over to inhale a #18 hare’s ear nymph (I think the flat cap helped…)
Thankfully, Alan Swann brought along his traveller's vice, allowing us to top up with the tiny nymphs these char preferred. It fell to us though to crank out several flies as dawn broke, which at this time of year up north is 4am…
