There are plenty of subjects that flyfishers can discuss at length over the campfire at night. Some of them will likely even cause animated exchanges of words, in all friendliness. Rod actions, reels (from the need of a brake and upwards), lines, leaders, knots and at the business end, flies and not least the colour of them.
Continue reading “The colour of flies”
To me there are few flies that embody the whole essence of “a fly” as old, classic wet flies. There are plenty, hundreds, to choose from and I’ve featured some of them in previous posts. A few decades ago, most new fly tiers began with a Red Tag and once the basic techniques were in place, next on the agenda was learning to tie feather wings. Usually the subject was a March Brown wet. It’s simple (until you get to wings), catches well and challenges the fly tier. Hen pheasant wing slips aren’t hard for the experienced fly tier, but they’re not the easiest either.
Continue reading “Old Wets”
It sounds a bit like a new direction in modern, Scandinavian cuisine, but it’s not. It’s a new hook in our Nordic Series. Do they ever stop releasing new hook, you might think. Well, not in any foreseeable future. Nordic Series was the first line of hooks we released, so named to mark that we are a Danish hooks brand. Most of the hooks are intended and designed for saltwater fishing in Scandinavia, but most of them are very versatile and will fit a number of flies for all sorts of fishing.
Continue reading “New Nordic Series”
Most fly fishers know the style of flies called Matukas. They are a style – originated in New Zealand; a matuka is not a fixed pattern. In fact, their proper name shouldn’t even be matuka, but rather matuku. Matuku is the Maori name for the bittern, and it was the bittern’s feathers that were used for the first matukas (I’ll from here continue using the now common name).
Continue reading “Matukas”
Another of those quintessential flies that embody everything that most people think of when thinking of “a fly”. While the classic Coachman is quite beautiful in its simplicity, the Royal Coachman is a bit more flashy and striking with its dash of red between the peacock herl parts.
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.
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.
