The coarse texture and subdued colours of deer hair, makes this material great for imitations of a variety of terrestrial as well as stream born insects. And the air trapped inside the hollow hair makes for great floatation – and adds a great bonus to most kinds of dry flies. Continue reading “Deer hair dries – great searching flies”
Fishing a dry fly to a steadily rising trout can be a very fulfilling experience. It can be totally uncomplicated as well – if the fish isn’t to discriminating when choosing the bugs. But some days are more challenging than others – and to have a success on a regular basis you need to know something about insects, hatches, drifts, drag, casting, tackle and lots of other stuff – and be able to observe the water patiently before whipping the surface with your fly line. All that adds up – and make dry fly fishing a sport for connoisseurs. Continue reading “Dry or die – on knowledge and passion”
The large and beautiful Ephemera vulgata lives in lakes and slow flowing rivers. It also lives in the large and dominating shadow of it’s close sibling, the Ephemera danica. I guess the focus on streams as the cradle of flyfishing culture has something to do with that. Continue reading “The second mayfly – and a skeleton diver”
Spring has turned directly into something that feels a lot like summer in our neck of the woods. We are still in May, though – and here in Scandinavia that means mayfly time. And it’s not just any mayfly I talk about. It is the large Ephemera danica that is commonly found in clear water rivers and lakes with sandy or gravelly bottoms throughout Europe and the British Isles. Together with it’s close relative, the lake-living Ephemera vulgata, this is flyfishing’s national bird around here. Continue reading “The Mayfly… Ephemera danica – fly fishing’s national bird around here”
Spring is on our doorstep on the Northern Hemisphere. Here in the southern part of Scandinavia, we have been able to fish open water most of the winter. Some lakes and fjords have been ice locked though, and generally the winter has been colder than usual. Continue reading “Spring is here – now let’s bend some rods”
The late Jack Gartside was a fly tier who came up with a tremendous amount of effective fishing flies – most of which were tied using relatively cheap and easily available materials. His classic Soft Hackle Streamer is a good example of his approach – and his equally effective Sparrow is another. Continue reading “Jack Gartside and the Sparrow – a Swiss Army Knife fly”
If you follow Ahrex on Instagram, you will see, that we like doing collab with artists. You might also have bumped into the name, Trout Bandits a couple of time. The name sends subconscious images of outlaws, smoking guns and the wild west.
When we design new hooks, we try to do our research up front. That means checking out what’s already on the market? What works great – and what sucks. And how can we improve on already existing designs. And in all these tasks, we try to get the help from creative and innovative fly tiers.
Continue reading “Meet Andreas Lium – Fly tier, fly fisherman, philosopher and hook nerd”
At Ahrex Hooks we feel rooted in the Scandinavian fly fishing tradition – but we never try to fool ourselves into thinking that Scandinavia played a major role in the early years of fly fishing. Our first claim to fame on that account probably was, that Victorian era English gentlemen visited Danish, Swedish and Norwegian streams to swing flies for our – back then – very healthy population of salmon and brown trout (sea run as well as stationary).
Continue reading “The Optic Flies – a book tracing part of the Scandinavian fly fishing heritage”
Sun is slowly gaining more power as it rises higher for each day up here in the north. I our neck of the woods, waters are still open. Seatrout fishing is slow on most days, but late in the afternoon on sunny days… the shallows warms up a bit, and trout move in to feed. And… each day brings us closer to spring.
Continue reading “Curved Nymph hooks – and three new videos”
