Lögberg-Heimskringla - 31.10.1986, Síða 5

_________________________________________________________ALDARAFMÆLISÁR, FÖSTUDAGUR 31. OCKTOBÉR 1986-5
Breaking the Ice Barrier
By Solveig K. Jónsdóttir
Photos Páll Stefánsson
In the pale winter sunshine a hand-
ful of men can be seen out on the
frozen surface of the lake. Sitting
huddled on wooden boxes, they seem
from a distance to be motionless ex-
cept for the occasional movement of
the short rods in their hands. Each
sits by a hole in the ice, and what
they are doing is fishing for trout, the
boxes they are sitting on serving also
to hold their catches.
Lake Mývatn, in the north of the
country, is Iceland's main trout
fishing lake. Trout are netted there in
large quantities in the summer, and
fish weighing up to 20 pounds have
been caught there on occasion. The
first settlers in the area must have
been quick to discover the quality of
the trout and to devise a means of
catching them all year round, and the
supply of fi'sh, togethr with the plen-
tiful birds' eggs to be collected in the
area, is undoubtedly one of the
reasons that the Mývatn région has
always been well-populated, which is
an exception for a place at such an
altitude (280m) in Iceland. The
fishing tipped the scales during the
worst seasorts, guaranteeing survival
when the staple meat and dairy pro-
ducts began to run short. Winter
fishing on the lake increased greatly
in volume and importance in the late
18th century, a time when worsen-
ing climate and devastating volcanic
eruptions caused widespread famine,
and continued to be a welcome ex-
tra for the local farmers well on into
this century.
Mývatn is the fourth largest lake in
the country, with an area of 36.5
square kilometres. Its shoreline is cut
by innumerable creeks, and there are
more than 40 islands in the lake. The
water is not deep: 4.5m at the most,
and the bottom is covered by a layer
of diatomaceous earth 5-10m thick.
Rich and varied vegetation no doubt the beautiful landscape and
flourishes around the lake in a land- the thoughts it evokes help to pass
scape which clearly shows the nrarks the time for the winter fishermen as
of vqljcpnic forces. There are lava they wait patiently for the fish to bite.
Drills like this one have replaced traditional methods of making holes
dangers, but in former times the
sheer necessity of finding food dur-
ing the winter overruled such con-
siderations. It also had great social
value in the age before cars and
telephones, providing an opportuni-
ty for farmers to meet and exchange
news after months of isolation dur-
ing the winter. They sometimes in-
dulged in games and sports such as
glíima, traditional Icelandic
wrestling.
Even though the circumstances
have changed and most of today's
fishermen think. of what they are
doing as a sport only, they still look
forward, as their predecessors did, to
the satisfaction of sitting in a more
comfortable environment arid find-
ing the fish before them on a plate.
Courtesy of Iceland Review
in the ice.
The lake trout make an excellent meal in winter no less than during
the main summer fishing season. With the approach of spring, it is
safer to go out in a boat rather than to trust to the support of the
receding ice.
a shallow pit for worms to breed in
during the summer. They were kept
fat with regular supplies of food, and
by the autumn they had penetrated
the surrounding soil where they
could be collected for bait.
Many other aspects of the fishing
have also changed with the passage
of time. Traditionally, the short rods
were hand-carved from.rams' horns,
but modern versions rnade of wood
or metal are now sold in sports shops.
Where the holes in the ice used to be
rnade with a special spiked imple-
ment, today's fisherman is more like-
ly to use a drill.
As the ice recedes with the ap-
proach of spring, fishing is also done
from boats anchored near the edge of
the ice sheet. As can be imagined,
this type of fishing is not without its
It's not the most comfortable waý
of spending time out on Lake
Mývatn in the winter waiting for
the fish to bite, but the scenery is
beautiful and the prospect of a
fine trout is always tempting.
fields, heaps of pumice thrown up by
eruptions, volcanic crates and
thousands of pseudo-craters formed
in an eruption about 2,000 years ago.
Near the eastern shore of the lake is
Dimmuborgir ("The Dark Castles"),
an area of weird lava shapes like a
playground full óf trolls turned to
stone. They are believed to have been
formed by the bursting of a lake of
half-solidified lava. Volcanic activity
is frequent in the Mývatn area, and
in the 1720's, eruptions destroyed
three farms and buried all the
buildings at Reykjahlíd, hear the lake
shore, with the exception of the
church. Mývatn is also world famous
as a bird sanctuary, and has one of
the greatest concentrations of breed-
ing duck species to be found
anywhere.
All these features make Mývatn
one of the main tourist destinations
in Iceland during the summer, and
When one strikes, it is pulled up with
slow and even movements so that
there is no chance of it getting away.
Although the days are past when fish
from the lake meant the difference
between life and death, the modern
fisherman still pursues his quarry
keenly, prizing the Mývatn trout for
their quality, for they are in a class
of their ,pwn. The trout also have
sophisticated tastes, and bite well
when shrimp are on the hook. In
former times worms were used, and
they were cultivated specially for
fishing the lake trout. Trout offal and
other waste matter was thrown into
Patience counts for more than
sophisticated equipment.