Dry fly fishing is fascinating and I’m quite certain that all fly fishers agree. Watching a fish slowly and confidently sip down an imitation is, for me at least, the pinnacle of fly fishing. But alas, trout don’t always rise. In fact I suppose it’s correct to say that most of the time, they don’t. If you’re a die hard dry fly fisher, you wait (and perhaps cry a little) and you stay home during the cold months. I personally love dry fly fishing for trout and grayling, but I don’t stay home during the cold months, and I don’t (always) spend a day at the river, waiting for the 45 minutes at noon when the temperature rises just enough for a short burst off insect hatches.
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Danish Salmon Opening
Mathias “Tuben” Ibsen with the stuff we have been dreaming for… Silvershining salmon from the opening day of the salmon rivers.
I’m writing this on Thursday April 9th, which means that there is exactly one week until the opening of the Danish salmon season. By the time you read this, there are only six days. I’ve mentioned this before, but we’ve had the wettest winter since we began recording weather data in the middle of the 19th century, so I’m quite convinced that there are plenty of salmon in the rivers.
Salmon Fly Tradition
Photocredit: The Flyfishing Nation
At the time of writing this, there is exactly two weeks until the Danish salmon rivers open on April 16th and naturally, my mind has been drifting towards salmon flies. This blog will be about salmon flies and so will the next with some recommendations on good flies for Danish salmon. But for now, I’m not thinking so much about flies for Danish salmon in particular, more about salmon fly traditions.
Spring
April 1st is just around the corner, and that means spring. After a winter with more rain than ever recorded before in Denmark, it’s been really strange that within a few days, we went from rain-rain-rain-endless-rain to clear skies (and frosty nights). None the less, even though fishing has been good all winter (pike and sea trout in the salt) because of the mild winter, the salt is certainly waking up and beautiful sea trout are being caught all over.
Strange Times
With the Covid-19 virus spread all around the globe, and many countries in different states of lock-down, some even under curfue, these are indeed strange times. In Denmark most workplaces are either shut down or kept running with a minimum of personnel. We are still here at Ahrex HQ – and we are well under government recommendations in terms of number of people in one location and we have plenty of space between us.
Pike – final rounds
It’s Friday the 13th (!!!) and that means roughly two weeks left before pike are protected for a month or more (in Denmark, April 1st – April 30th in freshwater, April 1st – May 15th in saltwater – be sure to check your own areas and waters). So if you have the urge, maybe it’s time to get out there and see if you can find a couple of hungry pike.
Cinnamon Saltwater Shrimp
At his time of the year the trophy for the coastal flyfisher is silver-coloured.
Over 20 years ago, I was visiting a small fly shop here in Denmark called “Fugl & Fjer Fluebinding”. Directly translated that means Bird and Feather Flytying. The shop was run by my good friend, Jens Pilgaard, and was essentially a specialty shop for materials for classic salmon flies. I didn’t tie classic salmon flies back then, but Jens’ shop was always a treat to visit, because one would always stumble over something new or strange to tie onto a hook.
The Story of Ahrex
It might sound a bit pretentious for a company as young as Ahrex to tell it’s story now, but we get a lot of questions on when, how, where, why and who when we’re on shows and from retailers and distributors. And prompted by J. Stockard, I decided to ask Søren and Morten some of these questions and let them tell the story.
It’s show time!
Last weekend we attended there British Fly Fair international, which was, as always, an excellent and very well organised event.
Introducing Angling Scotland
The blog this week is about the amazing fishing in Scotland. Two scottish anglers, Fraser McIntosh and Andrew Herkes have started a project named Angling Scotland. We have been talking to the guys behind and here is their own words about Angling Scotland.