Flytying video - Ahrex Hooks

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.

Mr. Wicked Trout

You remember mr. Wicked Trout? Our good friend, Stefan Larsson. Dry fly fisher par excellence, rock ’n’ roll bass player and singer, whisky connoisseur and in the trenches in the fight against dams on his home rivers in Älvdalen in Sweden.

Mackerel in the summer

It’s high summer which isn’t ideal for many of the “traditional” species coveted by fly fishers. Salmon, trout, sea trout, grayling, even pike really don’t like sunny, hot weather. Fishing for perch can be really good – they like it hot and sunny. Another fish that like it hot and sunny – and one’s that’s a summer guest in nordic waters, is mackerel. Mackerel is a popular fish, but it is often hard to reach from the shore. Fishing for them from large jetties is very popular and can be very effective.

Two books

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.

The Partridge

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.

Seasons

In a fly fisher’s year there are always seasonal highlights that usually occur either when fishing for a particular species open, when seasons turn and not least when certain hatches occur. Some hatches are more important than others and they are of course not the same all over. Streams and still waters have different hatches that happen on different times. Most of them of course begin when spring begins to heat up the water.

Oliver Edwards

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.

Ahrex Hooks – Why should you make the switch?

We don’t like to brag, but we will anyway do it in this week’s blog post. We have known and collaborated with the innovative guys from Spawn Flyfish for many years, and we were therefore extra proud by reading one of their latest blog posts. We have been allowed to reproduce that here.

Høtyven

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.