Ole Martin, often called Mr. Møn, has often talked about the island of Møn, situated in the south eastern part of Sjælland (Denmark). The high cliffs and the beaches are beautiful and there’s excellent fishing. Having seen pictures and film from Møn, I had to go. I was dreaming about big, silvery sea trout, but I also had work to do, taking photos and writing, which was taking its toll on my fly fishing dreams.
A real “trout-snack” – photo: Henrik Kure Nielsen.
They are big, they can bite you, some find them quite unappealing and yet, the first big hatches of bag worms are the events all saltwater fiy fishers in Scandinavia look forwards to. There are many, many different species in different sizes and colours, but the sea trout aren’t picky – they eat them all.
A part of our very first hook releases was the NS 172 Gammarus, which very quickly became very popular for a variety of reasons – and for a good number of different types of flies. But we also very early on began getting requests for not only bigger versions for various predator flies, but also stronger versions for stronger fish. And of course the inevitable requests for a saltwater version.
Today marks the official release of a brand new series of hooks that we have chosen to call XO. XO has plenty of meanings in today’s world. Our younger readers will relate it to “hugs and kisses” in text messages while our slightly, how should I put it, more seasoned customers might tend to connect it with cognac, where it signifies that a cognac has been aged for at least six years in oak barrels. We – however – use the term differently, as an abbreviation for Cross Over.
It’s autumn, October, and sea trout this time of year can be very picky and difficult to catch. Fishing can be frustrating, since the fish will often hang around for a long time – often completely uninterested in any offerrings.
Brown Bodied Parachute tied by Jan de Haas.
We’re fly fishers and fly tiers – that’s why me make fly hooks. Being fly tiers we love quality fly tying materials (almost) as much as we love quality fly hooks. There are so many high quality materials available today that it’s hard to believe – natural materials, synthetics, furs, hairs, silicone products, rubber. But in some way the quintessential fly tying material is the feather. The simplest of modern dry flies – from the Halford-era consists on a tail of hackle fibres, a dubbed body and a front hackle. Even the very first fly in written sources mentions the use of feathers.
The Butcher, proberbly the best known classic wet fly – tied by Håkan Karsnäser.
When fly tiers and fly fishers think about “mallard wings”, I suppose that most of us have the image of a classic spey fly with its low set roof shaped wing of the beautiful (and impossible) brown- and black speckled feathers from a mallard’s wing.
On southern Fyn (the isle in the middle of Denmark, which happens to have some extraordinarily good sea trout fishing) you’ll find a rarity – at least in Denmark. No, it is in fact something as ordinary as a fishing lodge. There plenty of fishing lodges around the world, and yet, Denmark Fishing Lodge on the edge of Helnæs Bay on Fyn was the first, full-service fishing lodge in Denmark.
With only about two months delay, summer has finally arrived (some would say struck) here in Denmark and while that might not be good for most of the fishing, it “is” good for some of it.
Fishing for sea trout during the warmest summer months most often means fishing through the night. Sea trout don’t like luke warm water, and if you don’t have deep water with lots of tidal current close by, fishing through the night is a great option. Not least because night fishing is a special experience. You can go about it in several different ways, and here’s how our Swedish friend, Andreas Larsson prefers to do it.
