Blanda is one of Iceland’s longest and most powerful rivers and is known for her powerful and big salmon, it’s divided into 4 beats and has one major tributary, Svartá.
Beat 1 is a relatively short beat that holds 4 rods, 2 on each bank. The beat opens in early July and leads the charts throughout June and sometimes July as well in salmons caught per rod. In recent years Blanda has gone from strength to strength, especially beat 1, in 2013 2611 salmon were caught and in 2011 they were 2032 on Blanda river – far most of that were caught on beat number 1. It should be kept in mind that beat 1 is usually only fished for about 60 days. Needless to say beat 1 is the most productive beat of the river.

Number of salmons caught per year in river Blanda:
2007: 1117 – 2008: 986 – 2009: 2413 – 2010: 2777
2011: 2032 – 2012: 832 – 2013: 2611 – 2014: 1931 

 2015: 4829!

Blanda is an early season river, opening on June 5th every year and with the absolute prime being from late June until late July. For those looking for a serious fight with serious salmon, June is the right time. The salmon are fewer in June – but they are nearly all multi-winter fish, it’s only in late June that the grilse start arriving. As stated before, Blanda is a large volume river, no drought  problems here, but this also means hard currents that a hooked salmon will use to its advantage. Every summer we hear stories from anglers that hooked a monster salmon, but never really stood a chance of landing it. Fortunately, we also hear from those who manage to get them on the bank as well.

Other rivers near Blanda include Svartá, Laxá in Asum and Hallá – all within an hour’s drive (some of them just minutes away). An ideal combination would be with Svartá also known for big salmon. Blanda is an ideal destination for those who are looking for serious salmon fishing, both in regards to the size of each salmon and in regards to the quantity of salmon caught.