Ice Fishing in Iceland: Lakes, Season, Permits and Tours

The Bookable Akureyri Tour

One ice fishing trip can be booked online: the Akureyri ice fishing tour run by The Traveling Viking. It costs $157, lasts 3.5 hours and drives about 30 minutes from Akureyri to frozen Ljósavatn. The guide drills the holes by hand. Rods, the fishing licence and hot cocoa are included, meals are not. Pickup in Akureyri is part of the deal and the group is small.

Because the permit, gear and transport are all in the price, a tour is the simplest route for a visitor. Veiðiheimar names Icelandic Adventures and The Traveling Viking as the two Akureyri operators providing all services, with Iceland Fishing Guide also running trips. If the lakes are not frozen during your dates, a whale watching and sea angling tour from Hauganes sails on sheltered Eyjafjörður with flotation overalls and an angling stop, an option near Akureyri outside the ice weeks.

Comparing Operators and Prices

The table compares the Akureyri operators and one booking site on where they fish, how long the trip lasts and what they charge. Prices come from the operator pages. Iceland Fishing Guide notes that its price varies by group size.

Which Months Are Best

Operators give the frozen-lake window as December to the end of March (The Traveling Viking), December until March or April (Iceland Fishing Guide and Icelandic Adventures) and November to March (Guide to Iceland). Visit North Iceland says February to the end of April is the time for ice fishing, and Cars Iceland also recommends February to April, saying the ice may not be thick enough at other times. Cars Iceland adds that November to January is best avoided on southern lakes.

A practical reading: December to March is when tours actually run on proven northern lakes, while February and March bring more daylight and, per the tourism board, a longer tail into April. Ice varies by lake and by year, so confirm with the operator before booking. On Langavatn and Kringluvatn one December trip measured 30 to 40 cm of solid ice after mild weather, but one mild week proves nothing about the next one.

Do Southern Lakes Freeze Too

Lakes near Reykjavik do get ice fishing when conditions allow, but no operator publishes a season window for the south and west. Veiðiheimar lists eight southern and western lakes where ice fishing is permitted once conditions are optimal, including Hafravatn, Leirvogsvatn and Meðalfellsvatn. For the Reykjavik area the guidance is to check the ice and the forecast rather than trust a fixed calendar.

Most visitors who want a guided day end up in Akureyri, since that is where the operators are.

Lake List With Permit Status

The table compares the main ice-fishing lakes by region, permit and access rules, drawing on each lake's page. North of the country holds the most water: Vesturhópsvatn, Hnausatjörn, Selvatn, Hrísatjörn, Ljósavatn, Vestmannsvatn, Kringluvatn, Langavatn in Reykjahverfi and Krókavatn at Fellsheiði, which needs guidance. In the south and west the list includes Fellsendavatn, Eastern-Gíslholtsvatn, Vífílsstaðavatn, Hafravatn, Leirvogsvatn, Meðalfellsvatn, Arnarvatnsheiði (south part, needs guidance) and Hlíðarvatn in Hnappadalur.

One warning: Vífílsstaðavatn appears on the ice list, but its own lake page shows a 1 April to 15 September season, so check before going.

What About Mývatn

Mývatn has a long winter fishing tradition. The Environment Agency's brochure records trout angling with hook and line in winter and net fishing in summer and autumn, and an older account describes anglers sitting on wooden boxes by holes in the late 18th century famine years, using short rods once carved from rams' horns. What no source confirms is whether a visitor can ice fish Mývatn today or on what permit.

The brochure mentions buying a licence to fly-fish, nothing more. Treat Mývatn as history, not a plan, and point your trip at Langavatn, Ljósavatn or Kringluvatn instead. Away from the lakes, ice fishing competitions are held occasionally in different parts of the country, with trout the most common catch.

Why The Fishing Card Does Not Cover The Ice

The Fishing Card covers 36 areas across four regions and the 2026 eCard costs $81 (9,900 ISK). Neither the card site nor travel guides claim the card covers winter or ice fishing. The card's own opening table shows only three lakes open all year: Gíslholtsvatn, Hlíðarvatn í Hnappadal and Urriðavatn við Egilsstaði, with Blautulón from ice melt to 31 December.

Familiar card waters close early, Elliðavatn runs 24 April to 15 September, Meðalfellsvatn 19 April to 20 September, Vífílsstaðavatn 1 April to 15 September, and Ljósavatn 20 May to 30 September on the card's page, which conflicts with Veiðiheimar listing Ljósavatn as open all year. The three all-year lakes look right for winter, but confirm with the card seller before you buy, since the card itself gives no winter guarantee. Our Iceland fishing licence guide explains the summer system in detail.

DIY Options and Their Prices

For do-it-yourself ice fishing you have three realistic routes. Near Reykjavik, Hafravatn is free and open all year with brown trout and Arctic char, flies, worms and spinners allowed and no quota. Leirvogsvatn is also free, with permission from the Mosfell priest, though reaching it needs an SUV. In the north, Langavatn and Kringluvatn take a 5,000 ISK day permit through Iceland Fishing Guide, 1 January to 30 September on their lake pages, with up to 9 rods on Langavatn and fishing hours 6:00 to 24:00.

Bringing your own tackle from abroad changes the paperwork. Tackle used overseas must be disinfected on arrival at the airport before use in Icelandic freshwater, and you need the certificate. New unused gear is exempt, and on a guided trip that supplies the rods the question does not arise. If you would rather fish open water, trout fishing in Iceland covers the summer lake season, or browse Iceland fishing tours for bookable days.

Species and Catches

The targets are Arctic char and brown trout. Langavatn holds small Arctic char and large brown trout, and 15 to 20 char a day are often caught there. Kringluvatn has been thinned out: it was once crowded with small char and now holds fewer, larger fish, plus big brown trout.

If you are planning the open-water season for the same species, our trout fishing in Iceland guide covers the famous brown trout lakes, and the site's fishing calendar maps which fish peak when.

Bait and Technique

A hole is drilled or sawn in the ice, a baited line is lowered and you wait. On Langavatn and Kringluvatn one trip used shrimp and pink PowerBait. Brown trout strike hard, Arctic char take gently, so watch the line.

The operator claims that fishing shallow enough to watch the bait raised hook-ups by as much as 50 percent. Look for drop-offs, large rocks and vegetation. Lake rules on the winter lake pages allow flies, worms and spinners with no quota on Hafravatn, Leirvogsvatn, Langavatn and Vestmannsvatn.

Bring a hot flask, because you will be sitting still in the cold for long stretches.

Thickness Figures To Work With

The Canadian Red Cross minimums are 15 cm for walking, skating or skiing in small groups, 20 cm for larger groups and 25 cm for snowmobiles or ATVs, with a warning to avoid ice that has frozen, thawed and frozen again. The Swedish Life Saving Society guideline is that no ice is safe, but at least 10 cm of core ice is a good minimum, and it advises carrying an ice-prod, ice-spikes, a rescue line, dry clothes and a waterproof phone case, and never going out without a partner who can do a safe rescue.

ICE-SAR, Safetravel and the Met Office publish no Icelandic thickness figure, and Veiðiheimar simply says to ensure conditions are optimal. So go with a guide or ask the landowner, and treat these foreign numbers as general guidance, not local law. On colour: blue or black ice is strongest, white snow ice is weaker because of air bubbles, roughly half as strong per the Red Cross, and grey ice is unsafe. Thickness also varies across a lake.

The January Thaw Problem

Mid-winter thaws are real. Akureyri's daily mean in one recent January ranged from -9.2 C at the start of the month to +5.4 C with rain three weeks later. Ice that held a group a week earlier can be rotten after a day like that.

This is the strongest argument for a guided trip: the operator sees the lake regularly and drills its own test holes. A December trip report found 30 to 40 cm of solid ice alongside above-freezing temperatures, which shows mild air and thick ice can coexist, but also that you cannot judge ice from the forecast alone.

Temperatures and Daylight

In Akureyri in one recent January the mean temperature was -1.2 C, with a mean daily maximum of 0.9 C, a mean daily minimum of -3.5 C and gusts reaching 20.4 m/s. Daylight estimates differ a little: about 4.9 hours in January and 8.4 hours in February on one source, another puts January between 3.4 and 6.6 hours. Expect short days, plan the trip around them and check the daily forecast on en.vedur.is before you go.

One December trip reported almost no wind and above-freezing temperatures with an orange first light, which is pleasant but no proof the ice below is sound.

The Clothing List

The operators agree on layers. The winter dress code calls for a thermal or wool base layer and long johns, a wool jumper, a thick waterproof windproof coat with a hood, hat, gloves, a scarf or gaiter, wool socks, waterproof trousers, hiking shoes and spikes for the shoes, described as a must. Another tour lists waterproof clothing over thermal layers, winter boots, headwear, gloves and a packed lunch, since food is not included.

Insulation matters more than on a summer trip because you sit still.

Roads, Distances and Emergencies

Ljósavatn lies about 28 km from Akureyri, a 30-minute drive on the bookable tour. Langavatn is 66 km from Akureyri and 26 km from Húsavík, and operators drive about an hour to reach it. Kringluvatn is reached by road 87 between Húsavík and Mývatn and then a trail that is 4x4 only and very demanding in winter, and the Langavatn tracks are SUVs only. Winter driving rules to keep: lights on around the clock, clear snow from the roof, and remember that a 4x4 does not remove skidding risk. Check road conditions on umferdin.is and the forecast on en.vedur.is each morning before setting out.

If anything goes wrong, the emergency number is 112, and the traffic service is 1777. Safetravel carries general winter safety guidance. Tours with Akureyri pickup remove the driving question entirely, which is another reason they suit first-time winter visitors.