Dryflies - Ahrex Hooks

Phryganea Grandis

Many flyfishers are looking for the time when the big mayflies, E. Danica and E. vulgata, start to hatch in late spring and early summer. The image of a big newly hatched mayfly dun swirling down the stream or standing on the surface of a small lake, is for many of us the true picture of what flyfishing is all about. And it is great fun to see, when also the biggest fish lower their guard and start chasing those big flies. But in Stillwater, there as time that are even more fun to experience and that’s when the big Caddis flies begin to show, running the surface to safer ground.

The Mayfly

Not mayflies as such – but the mayfly, the E. Danica and it’s stillwater relative, E. Vulgata are hatching now – or will be in a matter of days. Writing a blog can be many things and repetitive to a degree is one of them. There are seasonal highlights that deserve a spot on the blog every year and I believe we’ve covered the big mayfly hatch every year since the blog began.

The small stuff

The importance of a certain food item for trout and grayling and other species can be ascertained in several ways. You can get on the water with a seine and check what’s available to the fish, but you can also have a look at the number of imitations of a certain insect or other prey.

End of the dry fly season

The dry fly season coming to an end. But it’s certainly not over and the fishing can still be quite good. There are still insects on the surface – some that come from below and even some that come from above. An important food item for trout and grayling during the fall is sedges – or caddis.

May fly / Green Drake / Danica / Vulgata

E. Danica - Stigsholm 18-05-02a

“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.

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Henry’s Fork, Idaho

Gunnison - Stefan Larsson-05

Henry’s Fork – a name, a place that should ring a bell or two in all trout fly fishers. A famous spring creek in Idaho, closely associated with trout, massive hatches, dry fly fishing and one name in particular. A legendary fly fisher, fly tier, fly fishing guide, hunting guide, tv personality and several flies to his name – and of course that hat. Mike Lawson.

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Old Man’s Earplug Daddy Muddler by Brian Ratcliff

Earplug Daddy Muddler by Brian Ratcliff-01

There are so many new and exciting flies to try, and many of them you discover in the most unexpected way. That is especially true if we as fly fishers and fly tiers are open to new ideas and think outside the (fly)box.

One of the innovative and very creative fly tiers out there is our friend Brian Ratcliff from England. Among all the flies he’s sent us, especially one pattern caught our attention a little bit more than the rest and we were curious how Brian fishes this fly and how it came about.

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Staffan – in memoriam

Staffan_1

Staffan Lindström, Henrik Leth and Danish split cane rod, building legend, Bjarne Fries, photographed at Rena Fiske Camp.

Another of the great. Scandinavian fly fishers is no longer among us. On the morning of January 17th, Staffan Lindström passed away. Not long ago he was diagnosed with cancer to which he finally succumbed. Staffan was an innovator, an excellent caster and fisherman, trout bum, outdoors man in the word’s truest meaning and a giving person.

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Peace in Corona

It’s January 1st and time to wish all of you, our readers, a very Happy New Year. And not only that – also a very big and sincere thank you for all the support you’ve all given us in the past year. We are grateful and humbled by it.

It’s been a bit of a crazy year, and I’m sure every last one of you not only agree, but also are tied of reading about in various sum-ups of the year.

We got this very nice piece from Charlie Keyser, and we thought you’d appreciate it, so despite the above, I’ll now hand you off to Charlie.

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Burned Wings

Mayfly - Imago-01

The perfect may fly imitation has haunted fly fishers, probably since the dawn of fly fishing. At least we know that as modern dry fly fishing evolved on the chalk streams of southern England in the late 1800s (with Marryat, Halford et al.) the development has never seized.

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