Lars Chr. Bentsen - Ahrex Hooks

Trout fishing in Dalarna

The great grayling fishing in Älvdalen draws fly fishers from all over Sweden, but many remain unaware that the area also offers excellent trout fishing. Älvdalen is Swedish and literally means ”the valley of rivers”.

When it comes to my home water, Österdaläven, it’s mostly known for its large population of grayling, which, as we all know, is a great fish to chase with the fly rod. Also, they are quite willing to rise to a well-presented dry fly, which most fly fishers appreciate. The excellent grayling fishing has pushed the trout a bit in the background. The trout population has been under pressure by a big dam and timber rafting. They have survived and the population has grown strong and offers high-quality fishing.

New Year

*The Ahrex Hooks salmon fly tied by Håkan Karsnäser*

Well, not quite yet. At the time of writing this, it’s a good 24 hours away, but it’s close enough to send you all a sincere Happy New Year from Ahrex HQ. We deeply appreciate the email, the interactions on social media, the tags, the mentions and so on. In short – thank you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

*Christmas Tree tied by Markus Hoffman.*

As most of you read this, it will most like be December 24th, Christmas Eve’s Day. Another year is coming to a close, just one more week and we’ll be into 2023. Many have the days between Christmas and New Year off and we at Ahrex hope there will be time for family, fly tying and some fishing for all of you, if weather allows. We’re hoping for a little fishing time our selves.

Boston Harbor striper on the fly

Fishing for stripers is incredibly popular in the US and we were lucky enough to meet one of the many skilled fishermen who enjoy this species. During the International Fly Tying Symposium in November, we met the talented guide and striper-fisher Joe Cordeiro, whom we persuaded to write a little about his fishing for what can be called the USA’s national fish – the striped bass og just stripers.

Irish Style Shrimp Flies

Many, if not most, of the Irish salmon-. And sea trout patterns include two or three hackles and no wings. They are tied on all styles of hooks – singles, doubles and trebles and on tubes. They do well tied and fished both small and large and some of the patterns are even popular flies for loch-style fishing for salmon. Their history is a subject for another blog – here I’ll take a look at the basics of tying them. They look deceptively simple, but there are a few pit falls to avoid.

Dahlberg Diver – by Andreas Andersson

Did you catch our recently published video with Andreas Andersson? It’s a very detailed instruction on how to tie the famous fly, the Dahlberg Diver. You can tie the fly however detailed you want, but I think it’s safe to say that Andreas’ instruction is among the best and most detailed you can find on YouTube. There’s no need to go into as much detail as Andreas does. Andreas is also among the best with deer hair, so I think it’s also safe to say that no matter how detailed you want to tie your fly, there’s a lot to learn.

International Fly Tying Symposium 2022

IFTS is an abbreviation for the International Fly Tying Symposium – an annual show that has been running for 31 years. The show is an institution on the international fly-show-scene and one that has attracted some of the biggest names in the fly tying world. We, Ahrex, are going this year for the first time and we’re excited and proud. Please come and say hello, we’re hanging out at the Regal & Keough stand.

Hökensås Trout Safari

About a month ago we posted a blog about this years Trout Safari at the Hökensås fishery I Sweden. You have seen dozens of pictures from the place. It’s Håkan’s home water and a place where Morten likes to bring his camera. Small forest lakes with rainbows and a varied fishery. A great place for beginners as well as the experienced. Here you can gain your first experiences casting and fishing a fly as well as hone your skills on specific techniques.

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.