Definition of Groundhog Day – “a situation in which events that have happened before, happen again in what seems to be exactly the same way”

This is usually a pejorative term but when it comes to fishing the West Ranga, it is one of the highest compliments that can be received.

Following my hosted trip last year, I wrote that “Describing a salmon river as “reliable” is close to lunacy in normal circumstances but the West is not normal – it is a fabulous fishery and one that ticks all the boxes.”

Well guess what, it provided the goods again but if anything, in a slightly more extraordinary way.

246 gleaming bars of silver were landed by 18 rods over 4 days – numbers that simply cannot be replicated in any river, in the world, that is currently available to fish right now.

There are fish throughout the system, so that every pool is productive, a guide team who know exactly where to go, backed up by a fabulous lodge and sensational food leads to a simply brilliant trip and one that is a total pleasure to host.

The key to the success (amongst other things of course, such as a well-run smolt release programme) is that the river can take anything that is thrown at it.

Biblical rains, bright sunshine, upstream wind, fluctuations in temperature etc – all the things that normally mean an early lunch are just shrugged aside and the fish still keep taking flies.  It is this stability that all salmon fishers dream of, and this river provides that in spades.

Nothing in Iceland is “cheap” but the sheer productivity of the West Ranga, combined with a super-efficient team in the background, makes this one of the best value trips out there.

We will be running our first right of return exercise in a few weeks’ time but if you would like to register your interest for 2025, please do not hesitate to contact me on Charlie.white@roxtons.com