In late summer when it’s hot and dry, trout fishing possibilities are limited. Trout are rarely active when the sun and the heat is high. It’s not impossible to catch them, though, especially if you restrict your activity to the evenings.
Continue reading “Late summer dries”
Many flyfishers are looking for the time when the big mayflies, E. Danica and E. vulgata, start to hatch in late spring and early summer. The image of a big newly hatched mayfly dun swirling down the stream or standing on the surface of a small lake, is for many of us the true picture of what flyfishing is all about. And it is great fun to see, when also the biggest fish lower their guard and start chasing those big flies. But in Stillwater, there as time that are even more fun to experience and that’s when the big Caddis flies begin to show, running the surface to safer ground.
Continue reading “Phryganea Grandis”
“Kært barn har mange navne” – a Danish proverb for “Beloved child has many names”. And that of course is also true for the Green Drakes, the largest of may flies that hatch in Europe, an important hatch as it’s the trout- and grayling fly fisher’s best chance for some of the river’s largest fish on a dry fly. The Danica/Vulgata hatch is one of the season peaks we all look forward to.
It’s hook launch time – again! We’re come close to ending 2020 (I think most of us look forward to that), but we decided to just go ahead and throw a proper New Year’s Bomb(er) to you.
You may have spotted these news on Facebook and Instagram already. If not – today is the official release of a new dry fly hook in the FW-series: the 504/505 Short Shank Dry Fly Hook.
Continue reading “Ahrex FW 504/504 Short Shank Dry Fly Hook”
If the fish are playing tricky, the best approach is sometimes to do something totally different (and often something that all the other flyfishers don’t do). And sometimes a big, high floating dry is the right way forward.
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:
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.
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 flies have one thing in common – they all float. Some float because they are tied of buoyant materials (foam hoppers for instance), some depend on chemical help in the form of a silicone floatant and some are designed to partially float (emergers and of course the legendary Klinkhamer Special). And finally, some are tied so they rest on the surface film as a result of their dressing.
