“Kært barn har mange navne” – a Danish proverb for “Beloved child has many names”. And that of course is also true for the Green Drakes, the largest of may flies that hatch in Europe, an important hatch as it’s the trout- and grayling fly fisher’s best chance for some of the river’s largest fish on a dry fly. The Danica/Vulgata hatch is one of the season peaks we all look forward to.
I’m not sure how many of the younger generations of fly fishers are familiar with the name Hugh Falkus? When I was new in this hobby, Hugh Falkus was a giant. One of Britain’s most well-known, well-respected and revered fly fishers. He was a prolific salmon- and sea trout angler, living almost on the banks of the Cumberland Ask with other hallowed streams within easy reach.
However I try to spin it, I don’t think I ever had a fishing trip that became worse after catching a fish. Not necessarily much better either, but worse? I don’t think so. After all, it is why we go out. Catching a fish is nice. Catching a big fish is even better. Catching a big fish in a spectacular way is certainly going to improve any trip.
In November 2019, we released the news that we had acquired the Flexistripper from our long term friend and developer of the Flexistripper, bamboo rod builder extraordinaire, Bjarne Fries. We haven’t regretted buying the rights to the production from Bjarne one second since then. We still believe that the Flexistripper is one of the best and most versatile, allround line-management-gizmos on the market.
It’s not as serious as it seems, but it was the general thinking behind the first Intruder-flies Ed Ward, Jerry French and Scott Howell tied, sometime in the early 90ies. They discovered that big flies would illicit aggressive strikes – because the “intruded the personal space” of big fish, without spooking them. To begin with they used them for king salmon and then slowly transferred the style of fly to steelhead fishing.
April 16th is an important day in Denmark. It’s the opening day for the all the salmon rivers in the western part of Jutland, Skjern, Varde, Storå, Ribe, Konge, Sneum and a few more. Gudenå in eastern Jutland has been open for some time now. Of course, it’s also Her Majesty The Queen’s birthday, which I’m sure is much more important to must, but like not to you, the readers of this blog..
Unlike in Denmark, where you can fish the coastline all year round , sea trout along the Swedish west coast are protected until April 1st.
… in the salmon rivers might seem relatively far away right, but that allows proper preparation (or as a former, German elite forces friend taught me – The 7 P’s: Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance). And while this proverb might have otherwise serious consequences in his former line of work, it also has the potential to get the most out of a week of otherwise difficult fishing.
Fishing for sea trout in the salt is about as close as you’ll ever get to a Danish, national favourite fishing. Fishing in the salt requires only a cheap, state license and you have access to approximately 7000km of coastline (all of which of course isn’t good sea trout water). The fishing can be hard, it can be easy, but I’ll say it’s always good – maybe not in terms of fish, but a day spent out is always good. It can even be said that the Ahrex brand has it’s roots in this type of fishing – our first series was the NS – Nordic Salt.
Absolute perfection at the vice – the Green Highlander tied by John Lind Rasmussen. Pattern as per Dr. T. E. Pryce-Tannat, all original materials – even the hook is custom made by John himself – absolutely stunning work.
Few types of flies are surrounded by more traditions, mystery and historical buzz than the classic salmon flies from the 19th century in England, and one of the most famous and wellknown is the Green Highlander.
