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.
Photocredit: Fly Fishing nation – @flyfishingnation
Salmon season is over and in general I think it’s been a fair season over most of Northern Europe and the UK. Instead of taking a look at season statistics, huge fish, happy stories, stories of the lost fish, I’ll turn you over to Stephen Carella, who in this nice story takes a look at something important that sometimes happens when you go fishing. Making friends – an important aspect of flyfishing.
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.
The ultimate game bird for fly tying? Maybe not, but the different feathers from a partridge are amongst the most versatile for nymphs, flymphs, wet flies, spiders and soft hackles. Soft pulsating hackles with an attractive marking that offers plenty of life and movement to the fly.
The trout season is coming to end end, at least if your’re a topwater/dry fly fisherman and many rivers and lakes close down for the winter. But it’s still September and although there are very few mayflies hatching now, there’s still some caddis, but also an abundance of terrestrials – or land insects. They are at their prime now.
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.
What defines a Spey fly? Two distinct features – the low brown mallard wing and the long, flowing hackles, often from a heron. So can you justify adding the “Spey” in from of a fly, which you modify using a long, flowing hackle rather than a more traditional cock- or hen hackle found on most traditional wet flies? And what if the long hackle isn’t even a heron hackle? I’ll steer clear of that discussion for now.
