The July 7–13 crew with our guides, at the Hidden Highlands in Iceland.
Life is short. Our time on this planet isn’t guaranteed. And somewhere out there is a country that looks like the moon, smells like sulfur, and holds brown trout the size of your leg — all inside one legendary body of water: Lake Þingvallavatn (Thingvallavatn).
Most people just drive through it with a camera. Not this crew.
Five MFCC members — Ted @teda123 and Angela Alexiades of Kingston, Mike McMahon @FinnMcCool of South Boston and Chatham, Peter Cahill @pjcahill99, and Brian Whicher @bjwhicher of Sandwich — just wrapped an Iceland fishing trip built entirely around one goal: real, hands-on fishing in Iceland.
MFCC member Ted Alexiades with Lake Þingvallavatn in the background.
Brown Trout Fishing on Lake Þingvallavatn: The Numbers
Let’s not sugarcoat it — Mother Nature showed up angry. We’re talking pounding rain, gusty wind, and temperatures that felt like a November nor’easter back home, not the middle of July. The guides, Lars Spring and Mads Christiansen, called it “epic bad weather” — and these guys have seen it all.
Member Vince Herndon @vaherndon hooked up! Iceland in July: bring a winter coat and a sense of humor!
And yet — everyone caught fish.
That’s the thing about Lake Þingvallavatn fishing — it doesn’t hand you anything, but it doesn’t shut you out either. This lake produces some of the biggest brown trout on Earth, and if you’ve spent any time researching Iceland brown trout fishing, you already know the reputation.
Jeff Roberts with beautiful brown caught during our June 26-July 2 MFCC Iceland trip.
Mike McMahon with a solid brown trout caught during our July 7-13 trip.
Brown trout and Arctic char were the stars of the week:
Biggest brown trout: ~30 inches, landed by Ted Alexiades and Mike McMahon
Biggest Arctic char: approaching the 30-inch class, courtesy of Mike McMahon
Most fish overall: Angela Alexiades, who out-fished everybody
The numbers don’t lie: Angela was the one to beat all week!
Lake Þingvallavatn brown trout don’t always come easy. We worked hard for these fish!
The guides provided us with silky smooth Shimano Ultegra 4000 and Shimano Stella 4000 spinning reels spooled up with 20 pound braid and a 15 pound leader. We used Westin 10’1" rods that were built for bombing lures from 1/2 to 1 and 1/2 ounces. With these high quality setups everyone was able to make super long casts with a variety of spoons from 16 grams to 25 grams.
Upon arrival we were all supplied with our own personal arsenal of proven spoons.
I also had some luck with browns by using 3 inch Monomoy Tackle paddletails from @CousinEddy
The retrieve was simple but took some getting used to. We were instructed to reel for a few seconds and then pause, allowing the spoon to wobble down through the water column - which is when the majority of the fish would bite.
Brown trout, Iceland-style — proof that patience pays off. Angler Ted Alexiades.
Mike McMahon with a nice Arctic char caught while wading a rocky reef on a blustery day with plenty of rain.
Lake Þingvallavatn’s Trophy Brown Trout: The One We Didn’t Land
On our last day of fishing Peter hooked into something big. Something Mads — who has guided this water for years — believes was a genuine trophy, likely in the 35+ inch class. The fish made a run, found an underwater volcanic rock ledge, and that was it. Braid, snapped clean.
The lake is full of volcanic reefs, which you can clearly see in this photo. These reefs are very sharp and braided line does not stand a chance.
Peter wasn’t alone. Angela Alexiades hooked a giant of her own earlier in the trip that got away too — and Lars, who has personally helped clients land over 150 brown trout already this season, said just by the way it fought that it was a true trophy fish.
Peter Cahill may have lost the brown trout of a lifetime on our last day of fishing, but he still managed to catch some beauties.
Nobody will ever know how big either of those fish really were. Which, if you’ve fished long enough, you know is exactly the story that keeps you coming back.
Fishing beneath this circa 1800’s church produced several quality brown trout and Arctic char.
Member Alan Gonyea with a colorful brown caught during the June 26-July 2 trip.
The Nap That Out-Fished All of Us
Here’s one of the many moments that could sum up this whole trip.
Ted decided he was tired. Went back to the car. Took a nap. The rest of us kept grinding the same spot for over half an hour — nothing. Ted strolls back down to the shore, still half-asleep, makes one cast, and hooks up immediately.
We’d been working that water for 30 minutes. He’d been asleep for 30. That’s fishing!
The June 26-July 2 MFCC crew with guide Lars Springs. Photo taken at Öxarárfoss: which is a 44 ft waterfall that cascades over the Almannagjá Gorge, which is the visible boundary of the tectonic plates.
Our Iceland Fishing Tour Guides: More Than Just Guides
What makes this trip different isn’t just the fish — it’s Lars and Mads. These guys aren’t just guides. They cooked every meal, did the dishes, drove us across the country, and showed us corners of Iceland most visitors never see.
Best meals of the trip didn’t come from a restaurant!
That’s what separates a real fishing trip in Iceland from a guided vacation that happens to include a rod. By day three, we weren’t clients. We were friends around a kitchen table trading (increasingly exaggerated) fish stories.
The meals were something I looked forward to each day. The guides provided a variety of options, including fine meat dishes, fish, and vegetarian options. They can even cater to special dietary requirements upon request.
What a Day on an Iceland Fishing Trip Actually Looks Like
Here’s what a typical day looked like:
6:00 AM — Wake up
7:00 AM — Breakfast
8:00 AM — Head out to fish
Early afternoon — Back for lunch
4:00 PM — Out again, fishing into the evening
Evening — Tapas, a cocktail, and stories from the day
Before midnight — Bed, ready to do it all again
The guides provided an assortment of wines, cocktails and beers. Pictured here is fresh brown trout ceviche.
Throw in the fact that the sun barely sets in July — we joked that the forecast finally promised “sun breaking through at 11pm” — and you get days that feel endless in the best possible way.
This Hidden Highlands waterfall was one of the most striking natural wonders we came across during the trip.
We visited Gullfoss (the Golden Falls), one of Iceland’s most iconic waterfalls, on our last day. Its conservation was spearheaded by Sigríður Tómasdóttir (1871–1957), who is widely recognized as Iceland’s first environmentalist.
That’s the rhythm of fishing in Iceland during the summer: long light, long days, and never quite enough hours to fit it all in.
Member Alan Zang @azang @zangini with a gorgeous Arctic char caught at a spot that is similar to the many rips we have here on Cape Cod.
Beyond the Fishing: Sightseeing on Our Iceland Fishing Tour
We devoted about a day and a half purely to sightseeing, and it might have been the highlight of the trip. The Hidden Highlands excursion took us to Strútur Crater, where we caught Arctic char out of a nearby lake with mountains framing the whole scene.
Drone shot of Strutur Crater. Rising from the dark lava fields like a perfectly sculpted, moss-draped monument, Stútur Crater offers a jaw-dropping, 360-degree vantage point where you can gaze upon the vibrant rhyolite mountains of the Icelandic highlands and the turquoise waters of Lake Frostastaðavatn. [1, 2]
Somewhere between Earth and the moon: the Hidden Highlands.
We saw waterfalls and rivers carved straight out of a postcard, walked across a lava field from the 2023 volcanic eruption, and made a pit stop the last day at the Blue Lagoon.
Proof Iceland is still being built, one eruption at a time.
Comparing Two Iceland Fishing Trips: June vs. July
This wasn’t a one-off MFCC trip. The June 26–July 2 group from My Fishing Cape Cod — the trip right before ours — experienced similar conditions and similar fishing. Solid, satisfying, but not quite the fireworks our guides Mads and Lars had hoped for.
Member Vince Herndon with a striking brown trout.
According to our guides, the season opener in mid-June produced noticeably bigger and more plentiful fish than what either MFCC group saw.
I’m happy to report that Lars and Mads have already offered MFCC those early-June dates for 2027 — because they want us to experience Iceland fishing as soon as the season opens, before the fish have even had a chance to see a lure.
My first Icelandic Brown Trout, caught on the 3 inch Monomoy Tackle Paddle Tail.
Member Brian Whicher with a colorful Arctic char.
Why I Feel You Should Consider Booking an Iceland Fishing Trip in 2027
Life is short. Our time on this planet isn’t guaranteed. Iceland is already a bucket list destination for many of us. But most people who go will spend a week touring it without doing any fishing.
You could do that. Or you could fish it. Wade into glacial water with new friends, eat like royalty, laugh about the one that got away, and come home with a story about how you caught fish surrounded by some of the most unique and impressive geological wonders on Planet Earth.
Peter Cahill caught several Arctic char while fishing among the vibrant rhyolite mountains of the Icelandic highlands and the turquoise waters of Lake Frostastaðavat.
There’s no better combination than Iceland + fishing. A well-timed Iceland fishing trip gives you both — the scenery everyone flies over for, and the Iceland brown trout fishing that most tourists never even know is on the table. And for 2027, we’re doing it at the exact moment the guides say the fishing is best.
Iceland doesn’t get dark in July. This photo was snapped at 10pm!
Final Cast
I keep coming back to that kitchen table. Five of us and our two guides, soaked to the bone most nights, laughing about the fish we lost as much as the ones we landed, while Lars plated up something that tasted like it came from a restaurant twice its price.
That’s the part of this trip that doesn’t fit neatly into a photo caption — the feeling of being far from home and somehow completely at home at the same time.
We flew to Iceland for brown trout and Arctic char. We came home with a lot more than that. We came home having stood on a lake most people will only ever see in a photo, having lost fish we’ll talk about for years, and having made friends — Lars, Mads, and each other — that this trip will keep bringing back together.
That’s the real reason to go. Not just the fish, though the fish are plenty good enough on their own. It’s the reminder that this planet has places like this waiting for you, and the only thing standing between you and a week like ours is deciding to go.
Tight lines!
Ryan
PS — Interested in fishing Iceland? Click here to get on the early bird list for 2027, including first access to the early-June season-opener dates Lars and Mads have set aside just for MFCC.
PPS — to see more photos and videos from our 2026 trips to Iceland, check out this shared Google Folder.
So glad that I made the trip. I am considering going back next year as I did not catch a single Artic char. Everyone in my group caught 2 or more char, a couple of very large ones that surprised even Lars and Mads! Of course I jinxed myself by planning on adding that species to my life list. LOL. Mads and Lars did everything they could to make that happen, it was just not to be. That’s fishing,I guess. Thanks for making this dream trip possible for me! Tight lines, Al
Sounds great Alan! I’ve been meaning to check in with you about the trip. So pumped you had a good time. For next year I think the fishing will be “easier” if you could say that, because the MFCC trips will happen right when the season opens in mid June. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks again for doing the trip! Such an epic place!
What a great trip! Wonderful to see all the photos and hear about all the catches, naps, food, and other parts of the adventure!
Thanks Gretchen! It really was all of that — the naps included. Glad you enjoyed reliving it through the photos. Hopefully we’ll get you out there for a trip of your own in 2027!
Hi Ryan
What a superb article and thanks for the kind words.
We will come up with potential dates for 2027 soon, but the first trip will be from 14/15 June.
A little feedback to the duration of the trip, departure and landing time would be great. It’s all things we can change so it’ll be good to know if we need to change something.
We will also present the “Bring your spouse” idea and see if it holds water. We believe it will be end August/early September. Any input would also be much appreciated.
Have a great day
Mads
Mads — thank you. So glad you liked it. Great to hear June 14/15 as the target for the first 2027 trip, I’ll start building around that. And yes — very curious how the “bring your spouse” idea lands. Late August/early September makes a lot of sense with the Northern Lights angle too. Talk soon!
Wow! What an amazing place; so different and other worldly from our own. The photography and drone shots showing the reefs with abyss like drop offs, Strutur crater and water falls are stunning. I can see many like myself wanting to experience and get to fish in such a cool and unique place. You’re getting better and better with your knack for using your drone and camera to show the coolest perspectives.
Thanks Kevin! That Hidden Highlands terrain really does feel like another planet — even having been there in person it’s hard to believe sometimes. Glad the drone shots came through. Would love to have you out there experiencing it firsthand one of these years!