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.
Category: Sea trout
Spey-i-fication
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.
Night fishing in the salt
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.
Dark is the Night (at least somewhere)
Summer is fast approaching, and with it, lots of sun and higher water temperatures. Both contribute to a change in behaviour of the sea trout. It’s possible, by choosing the right spots and adapting your techniques and strategy, to catch sea trout all through the day during the summer. But there’s no doubt that concentrating your efforts in the hours around sunset and sunrise increases your chance of a hook-up to two.
Danish Salmon Opening
Mathias “Tuben” Ibsen with the stuff we have been dreaming for… Silvershining salmon from the opening day of the salmon rivers.
I’m writing this on Thursday April 9th, which means that there is exactly one week until the opening of the Danish salmon season. By the time you read this, there are only six days. I’ve mentioned this before, but we’ve had the wettest winter since we began recording weather data in the middle of the 19th century, so I’m quite convinced that there are plenty of salmon in the rivers.
Spring
April 1st is just around the corner, and that means spring. After a winter with more rain than ever recorded before in Denmark, it’s been really strange that within a few days, we went from rain-rain-rain-endless-rain to clear skies (and frosty nights). None the less, even though fishing has been good all winter (pike and sea trout in the salt) because of the mild winter, the salt is certainly waking up and beautiful sea trout are being caught all over.
Cinnamon Saltwater Shrimp
At his time of the year the trophy for the coastal flyfisher is silver-coloured.
Over 20 years ago, I was visiting a small fly shop here in Denmark called “Fugl & Fjer Fluebinding”. Directly translated that means Bird and Feather Flytying. The shop was run by my good friend, Jens Pilgaard, and was essentially a specialty shop for materials for classic salmon flies. I didn’t tie classic salmon flies back then, but Jens’ shop was always a treat to visit, because one would always stumble over something new or strange to tie onto a hook.
Happy New Year
As 2019 draws to a close let’s take a look at some of the videos we produced and shared on our YouTube channel this year.
Cold water decisions
As the water continues to cool down, an age old debate tends to heat up. In southern Scandinavia we’re blessed with many flyfishing opportunities all year round. The first factor is of course that fishing is allowed and the next that waters are ice free, but if both are the case the flyfisher has many choices. Fishing for sea run brown trout – in the sea – is as close to a “national fishery” as you’ll ever get in Denmark, but also pike fishing in the lakes (and some river systems) is open during winter and with that also perch fishing.