Lars Chr. Bentsen - Ahrex Hooks

Closing the season

The Norwegian salmon season is coming to a close, so I’ll round things off in this blog, covering a few tips and tricks on how to fool the sometimes very difficult, late summer salmon. The river holds more salmon now. It’s usually a good mix between the now old salmon that entered the river early in the season and the late runners, which are usually the so-called grilse. Grilse are small, male atlantic salmon, still bright silver, but smaller. There are different opinions when a grilse can be called a salmon – some say over 5kg. I say three, because then I catch more salmon.

Predator and prey

Most predatory fish change behaviour over the season. They are found in different places and feed different times of the day. Why? They are predatory and follow the behaviour of their prey. So I suppose, in a sense, that you can say they have only one behaviour – they follow their prey. If you’re fishing for predatory fish, and I suspect most of us are, the key to catching them is often to understand what they’re feeding on and the prey behaves.

The colour of flies

There are plenty of subjects that flyfishers can discuss at length over the campfire at night. Some of them will likely even cause animated exchanges of words, in all friendliness. Rod actions, reels (from the need of a brake and upwards), lines, leaders, knots and at the business end, flies and not least the colour of them.

Busy Times

The last few months have been busy here at Ahrex. Spring and fall have always been our seasons for releasing new hooks. A few weeks ago we released the FW 538/539 May Fly Dry and we’ve of course been busy packaging and shipping them out and we’re pleased and thankful that they’ve been well received.

FRESH OR SALT?

Fishing trout in still water has a lot in common, whether it’s salt or fresh water. The trout live much in the same way: The feed and grow to maturity in the large still water and migrate to streams to spawn. Whether fresh or salt, the habitats also share some of the same types of prey – gammarus and baitfish/fry being two of the notable ones. In both fresh and salt water you can even be lucky enough to find trout feeding on terrestrials.

Old Wets

To me there are few flies that embody the whole essence of “a fly” as old, classic wet flies. There are plenty, hundreds, to choose from and I’ve featured some of them in previous posts. A few decades ago, most new fly tiers began with a Red Tag and once the basic techniques were in place, next on the agenda was learning to tie feather wings. Usually the subject was a March Brown wet. It’s simple (until you get to wings), catches well and challenges the fly tier. Hen pheasant wing slips aren’t hard for the experienced fly tier, but they’re not the easiest either.

Hook Anatomy

There are certain terms used in relation to describing a hook. We use the terms when we communicate with our production engineers and they are of course widely used in general descriptions of hooks. Read along and I’ll take you though the terms and how the relate to the anatomy of a hook.

NEW RELEASE – FW538/539 MAYFLY DRY

The elegant mayflies like drakes, danicas and vulgates deserve an elegant hook for the imitations. We have for a long time had a desire for a long-shanked yet light hook for the hatch of the largest species of mayflies that can fool the most skeptical trout or grayling, and we have launched it now – the FW538 / 539 Mayfly Dry.

Trailer Hooks

*Intruder au Natural by Niels Verner Pedersen.*

Not the ones you find on every self-respecting car owner in the rural areas, no – the ones used behind flies. A trailing hook – as in a hooks that hangs “behind” the fly, further back than the hook would be, had the fly been dressed on a wetfly- or streamer hook. That is sometimes an advantage.

The Ahrex Social Media

Social media are a necessity, but we really don’t see them or treat them only like that. We fully acknowledge them as effective marketing tools, but for us they are also way to interact with our customers and followers. We of course use them to post news, but we also try to give back inspiration to all of you who follow our social media.