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.
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?
Continue reading “Tubeflies – big and small”
The question is not how to fish, but why you do it. The author and his fishing buddies do it out of necessity. It’s more important than life and death to them to escape the human world, step in to water and wave a stick. Left on the shore is their misery and worries. Standing in the water they find freedom, healing and occasionally a fish.
Battles are lost and won with tongue in cheek and always celebrated with mountains of cake and an endless stream of fresh espresso coffee. To the band of brothers it’s more important who you fish with than how big the fish is; except for the ones lost.
You may not learn a lot about catching more and bigger fish, but reading these stories is like holding a mirror up in front of yourself getting a little wiser. The small why is a big one.
Today we would like to present you with two books, both very recent releases. We all like fish and one is on fish and fish alone and is a quite spectacular project. The other is about flies and we all like flies.
It may seem convenient to buy loose feathers in a bag, instead to buy a whole hide. But if you go through what’s in the bag and sort the feathers, you discover that the percentage of usable feathers is often quite low and not infrequently you end up without the feather you needed. Of course there is a higher price for a whole skin compared to a bag of feathers, but a whole skin has so many benefits that outweigh the investment.
This artickel is written by Håkan Karsnäser.
Oliver Edwards photographed in 2016 by Magnus Angus.
Saturday, April 22nd 2023, I received the sad news that Oliver Edwards has passed away. The fly fishing community has lost one of the greats.
Continue reading “Oliver Edwards”
Spring is here! Håkan Karsnäser’s home waters are finally opening as the ice breaks. Here are some thoughts from Håkan on his favourite and most important flies for the early fishing.
Continue reading “Flies for cold water”
The world of fly tying is amazing. We never finish discovering new techniques, finding new materials or a new way of using already known materials. Even as a manufacturer of hooks for flytying, we never finish developing new models – and fortunately for that.
Continue reading “George F. Grant Nymph”
Shrimp flies have always been popular for fly fishermen and especially for saltwater fly fishermen they are a “must-have” in the box. The Scandinavian coastal fishing for sea run brown trouts is now one of the cornerstones of Danish fly fishing and the Danish sea trout love shrimp flies. In this week’s blog, we’ll focus on a new pattern that has gone from strength to strength and proven its effectiveness to coastal sea run brown trout.
Continue reading “Høtyven”
Countless saltwater flies have been named the key to success when it comes to catching sea trout in the salt. This time, however, the wolf is actually coming. Martin Votborg is the originator behind The Wolf and has been fishing it and tweaking the design for over 20 years. He says without any uncertainty that The Wolf catches sea trout all through the year.
By Peter Lyngby
(this artickle has been published in the danish magazine “Sportsfiskeren” and the online magazine “In The Loop Magazine”)
