Flytying material - Ahrex Hooks

Season is over

For most in the Northern Hemisphere winter is either here or fast approaching. This doesn’t mean that fishing is over, but I believe that most of us fish a little less and some not at all, perhaps depending on how diverse you are in your fishing. Here in Scandinavia, lots of fly fishers fish for several different species. In the salt, early winter is actually a very good time to chase for one of the elusive, chrome sea trout that skip the spawning run. Pike are also in season and are hungry, busy feeding and getting ready for the slow winter months and cold water.

Wooly Bugger

The good, old Wooly Bugger has at some point been in most fly boxes around the world. When asked that “which-fly-on-a-deserted-island-would-you-bring?”-question, a Wooly Bugger will probably end up high on the list. I should add, of course, that the deserted island is littered with lakes and streams and surrounded by sea with all sorts of fish. There are probably hundreds of variations being fished and there’s absolutely no doubt that not’s highly effective.

Nymphs for carp?

The variety in fly fishing is enormous, and almost all species of fish can be trigged in one way or another with a fly fished on a fly rod. The traditional trout and salmon fishing are familiar to everyone, but out there beneath the surface a lot of other exciting species await – and they also like to take an enticing fly. This week we talked to the English fly tyer and fly fisherman Jamie Sandford about one of his newer favourite fish, the “bonefish of fresh water” – the carp.

Here Jamie himself tells about the exciting fishing for the carp.

Pike flies and dubbing brushes

From last years International Flytying Symposium; Brian Shumaker, Steve Silverio and Bob Clouser.

Before we get to that, let me remind you that we are attending the International Fly Tying Symposium in New Jersey tis weekend. We’ll be there so if you’re there, please come by and say hello.

The small stuff

Small is always a matter of context. A small pike fly is infinitely larger than a small trout fly, but no matter the context, small flies are often important to have, often even the deciding factor between and take and a refusal.

Ismo Pupa

Caddis are important prey for trout and grayling. Some species leave their pupal case and swim towards the surface. Here they swim towards shore to hatch on land or in vegetation. They’re fairly big and you can easily see them almost rowing along the surface. This behaviour obviously makes them highly exposed to trout and grayling, but also very fun to fish, because you can skate and twitch the fly, which often triggers quite aggressive strikes. Skating and twitching is often something we strive to avoid when dry fly fishing, but in this case, it’s exactly the way to fish.

Keep it simple

Once again a blog from Peter Alexandersson, our resident fishing machine. Peter fishes a lot and for a lot of different species, but maybe more for sea trout than any other species. Today Peter offers a little advice for autumn fishing for sea trout.

A love/hate relationship

I suppose there are many of those – I think all fly fishers have them, in one way or another. One of mine is definitely midges, mosquitoes, knot in Swedish – whatever you call them. Some of them are really small, bite and will at one point get under your clothing. And when they’re out, they’re usually out in bi-zillions. There are others that don’t bite, but they cal still be a nuisance when they hatch, because they always do so in great numbers. They do however also produce some really interesting, good and not least challenging fishing. Trout like feeding on them. One can wonder since they’re so small, but the numbers make them a good meal for a trout. Trout also know (well, trout don’t know anything, but you know what I mean) that especially as emergers they are an easy meal.

Thunder and Lightning

Perhaps the most famous of the classic salmon flies? Perhaps the one with the most variants and modern interpretations? If one ever were to answer that one question that no fly fisher ever wants to answer, the answer could be Thunder and Lightning. Let’s take a closer look at this beautiful combination of black, orange, blue and dark brown, colours.

Tubeflies – big and small

A century ago it wasn’t uncommon, in fact it was the norm, to fish for salmon with huge hooks. Size 2/0 was a small one and when hauling from boats, size 6/0 up to 8/0 were used. Although the rods were long and made of green heart and the lines heavy, I doubt they could cast an 8/0 salmon iron from the bank. On the other hand, a certain Alexander Grant made a witnessed 65 yard spey cast with a double handed green heart rod. So who knows?