Trailer Hooks

Intruder au Natural by Niels Verner Pedersen.

Not the ones you find on every self-respecting car owner in the rural areas, no – the ones used behind flies. A trailing hook – as in a hooks that hangs “behind” the fly, further back than the hook would be, had the fly been dressed on a wetfly- or streamer hook. That is sometimes an advantage.

Continue reading “Trailer Hooks”

Jigs and zonkers

It’s not uncommon for new flies, styles and patterns to emerge from combinations of other well established ones. Some turn out really well – some not quite as well. But when you combine the superior mobility of a zonker with the basic principle of the upside down properties of a a jig hook, I say we’ve got something good.

Continue reading “Jigs and zonkers”

Hökensås Trout Safari

Our friends at Hökensås Sportsfiske have been organising their popular Trout Safari events for a long time, and they usually sell out very quickly. In the last weekend of October, we have partnered with Hökensås til to put on a Trout Safari together.

Continue reading “Hökensås Trout Safari”

Intruding personal space

It’s not as serious as it seems, but it was the general thinking behind the first Intruder-flies Ed Ward, Jerry French and Scott Howell tied, sometime in the early 90ies. They discovered that big flies would illicit aggressive strikes – because the “intruded the personal space” of big fish, without spooking them. To begin with they used them for king salmon and then slowly transferred the style of fly to steelhead fishing.

Continue reading “Intruding personal space”

Old Man’s Earplug Daddy Muddler by Brian Ratcliff

Earplug Daddy Muddler by Brian Ratcliff-01

There are so many new and exciting flies to try, and many of them you discover in the most unexpected way. That is especially true if we as fly fishers and fly tiers are open to new ideas and think outside the (fly)box.

One of the innovative and very creative fly tiers out there is our friend Brian Ratcliff from England. Among all the flies he’s sent us, especially one pattern caught our attention a little bit more than the rest and we were curious how Brian fishes this fly and how it came about.

Continue reading “Old Man’s Earplug Daddy Muddler by Brian Ratcliff”

Soft Hackle Flies – The Swedish Tradition

Soft hackle flies are some of the most universal and, for me at least, some of the most important in my trout/grayling flyboxes. I fish them as teams of two in the rivers and I often use them as droppers in stillwater. While the old, English masters of the tradition actually were quite specific on which insects their dressings imitate, they are often good year round.

Continue reading “Soft Hackle Flies – The Swedish Tradition”

Burned Wings

Mayfly - Imago-01

The perfect may fly imitation has haunted fly fishers, probably since the dawn of fly fishing. At least we know that as modern dry fly fishing evolved on the chalk streams of southern England in the late 1800s (with Marryat, Halford et al.) the development has never seized.

Continue reading “Burned Wings”

Hook News – HR 428 Silver

4 Weeks Of Daylight - High Res Image Resources00020

Photocredit: Fly Fishing nation – @flyfishingnation

Yes, it’s that time of year. We know all you salmon flyfishers are waiting for the next season and some of you are probably already going through the boxes, checking the flies, deciding on new patterns, which to keep and which need to be replenished. At least I know a few of us here are Ahrex are – OK, one at least. Me.

Continue reading “Hook News – HR 428 Silver”

XO – Series release

DFL 18-10-22

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.

Continue reading “XO – Series release”