After a few week with hook releases, let us first say a big “THANK YOU” to everyone who received the new hooks so well. Last weeks release of the PR 378 GB hook was extraordinary and the attention it has received has taken us a bit by surprise, and it’s kept us busy in the office with questions, orders and inquiries.
Yes, we’re not done releasing new hooks this fall, and today we’re releasing a really exciting project.
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.
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.
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.
We’re proud of our Scandinavian roots, so hooks for Scandinavian saltwater were the first we released. Pike on the fly also has a long tradition in Scandinavia, and I know he’s not going to like this, but it has to be said – Morten was one of the pioneers over 30 years ago and has been very influential in developing the fishing and the flies, so pike hooks were just as important to us.
A signature is something personal, be it the name you sign under legal documents, an artistic style, an icon, a sign, a seal – something personalised. In fly fly tying it can be a material, a style, a certain technique or a special fly.
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.
Last summer we flew to Greenland to experience the epic char-fishery that GetAway Tours offers on the Erfalik Camp. The fishing really is spectacular, but landscape and the nature is equally breathtaking. Mountains, valleys, fjords – it’s all there.
