YouTube, Instagram and the internet in general is a vast and frankly quite incredible source of information. It can help everyone move forward in a new hobby (like fly fishing) very quickly and new knowledge is shared and presented at lightning pace. I generally believe that is good and there’s no doubt that the sharing mentality is helped along greatly by outlets like YouTube (and of course, we believe that our own YouTube channel is a good source of information and inspiration).
Our Swedish friend, Joel Skoghäll once again has provided us with some material for the blog that we’re very happy share. This time, a cripple-version of one of the most famous American dry flies, the classic Adams. The fly is a old one – from 1922, where Michigan fly tyer Leonard Halladay tied it on the request of his friend, Charles F. Adams. The classic Adams is a traditionally hackled dry fly with upright, hackle-tip wings. A parachute-version is a well known variation and here, Joel presents a crippled merger version.
I’ll give the word to Joel:
Rackelhanen is an unusual fly, originated by the Swedish trout- and grayling legend, Kenneth Boström in 1967. Kenneth Boström is well known in Scandinavia and originator not only of this quite excellent fly, but also the Rackelhanen fly rod, which is/was a three-piece rod with a split cane bottom section and two carbon fiber tip sections.
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.
Every trout angler knows the satisfaction of watching a trout repeatedly rise to take the same insect on the surface. As you carefully note the trout’s position, you tie on a close imitation of the mayflies the trout is eating and as the first cast lands, out come is almost given.
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.
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.
The largest mayfly in Scandinavia are the Ephemera danica and it’s stillwater relative, the E. vulgata. The are the same size and the vulgata tend to be a little darker than the danica. They hatch more or less at the same time, and both of course offer excellent fishing. Our “house fly tier”, Håkan Karsnäser lives close to the Hökensås lakes in Sweden and fishes the hatch every year, so I asked Håkan for a few tips and tricks, and a couple of good flies. Over to Håkan…
Dry fly fishing is fascinating and I’m quite certain that all fly fishers agree. Watching a fish slowly and confidently sip down an imitation is, for me at least, the pinnacle of fly fishing. But alas, trout don’t always rise. In fact I suppose it’s correct to say that most of the time, they don’t. If you’re a die hard dry fly fisher, you wait (and perhaps cry a little) and you stay home during the cold months. I personally love dry fly fishing for trout and grayling, but I don’t stay home during the cold months, and I don’t (always) spend a day at the river, waiting for the 45 minutes at noon when the temperature rises just enough for a short burst off insect hatches.
