South-West Iceland salmon river (distinct Hvítá section from Borgarfjörður). Strong runs and good fly water. Part of broader South-West Iceland salmon complex. Volcanic bedrock underlies this river. Iceland's salmon are managed conservatively under operator and national rules — quotas, size limits and catch-and-release are widely applied; check the river's rules before fishing.
This is the great glacial Hvita of Borgarfjordur at Kljafoss — the milky white river that drains the Langjokull ice and gathers nearly every salmon river of the district before reaching the sea. At Kljafoss the main stem forces over a basalt ledge in heavy, rock-flour-pale water, a falls that long marked a limit on the salmon's passage until laddering helped open the water above. Below the lava plateau the river runs broad and strong over a shifting bed of gravel and cobble, opaque with glacial silt, on a moderate lowland gradient. The famous clear fly water lies on the tributaries that pay in — the Nordura, the Grimsa, the Thvera — while the Hvita itself is big, powerful, silted water best read by its seams, tributary mouths and the holding water below the falls. Wading the main stem is bold work in poor visibility on uncertain gravel.
Wading: Poor visibility and shifting gravel below the falls
Summer-autumn runs, variable seasonal patterns by region
- River
- Volcanic
- Partly confined
- Large river