THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

in the boat again. The others still went leaving me kicking my heels at the hotel. In the end I decided to
go for a walk down to the harbour where I spotted some of the biggest grey mullet I have ever seen.
Immediately I nipped back, got my rod plus a fresh loaf on the way through, then enjoyed some of the
best mullet fishing I've ever experienced in my entire life, which I've covered in more detail in Part 1
under the thick lipped grey mullet heading.
I also had a speckled bass on the bread. Well, they only said don't boat fish. No mention was made of
fishing from the shore.
So impressed was I with the mullet fishing that while I was over in Spain in 2010, I decided to drive all
the way down there for another session, only to find the entire marina closed off by a skirting of plush
shops, cafés and the like, killing any chance of any repeat fishing between the boats stone dead.
ICELAND
I'm hearing good things coming out of Iceland in recent times, particularly for huge coalfish and good
sized cod out from Sudavik in the north, which to an extent is at odds with the mediocre to disappointing
experiences I have had over there.
I've fished from a number of venues all around the country
on two separate occasions, though in fairness, both visits
were at a time when the tourist authorities were still working
on developing their angling assets, rather than more recently
when much of that development work has now taken place.
The first of these was an invite to spend a weekend fishing
out of Akranes on the northern peninsula just across the bay
from Reykjavik. I was picked up at the airport by the
husband of the lady in charge of tourism at Akranes.
He turned out to be a golf course designer and constructor
who told me they had around thirty golf courses dotted
around the country serving a population of around 240,000
people who pretty much all lived around the coast as the
interior was too harsh.
That's just over one course for every eight thousand people.
Golf must be popular there then. More popular than rod and
line fishing, which like everything else in Iceland was ultra
expensive.
Economies normally work on the basis of cost balancing,
Haddock, Akranes
with expensive items being offset by cheaper ones. It may
not be the same items in every country, but the concept of
the balancing effect should be the same. Least ways, that's how it's supposed to work. But not so far as
I can see in any of the Scandinavian countries, all of which are staggeringly expensive. No surprise then
that when the Icelanders do put their hands in their pockets for a day out, if they can afford to, it's party
time.
The whole coastal area was alive with fish. Cod were coming up as fast as you drop a string of lures or
a pirk in front of them. Loads of haddock too, and as many norway haddock or redfish as you could
ever want.
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