It’s the middle of may and the most important hatch of the year is on. At least in Northern Europe. There are plenty of hatches in the World, where huge insects hatch that can bring the big ones to the surface. In Europe, it’s the Ephemera danica and it’s slightly smaller still water cousin, Ephemera vulgata.
Photo: Matt Guymon / Freestone River Photography.
By far the first insects to appear on the scene when spring arrives are the stoneflies. They start moving even before all the snow and ice is gone. Ice fishing anglers can sometimes be visited by small stonefly nymphs, which crawl out of the holes in the ice they are fishing in. Especially if they are fishing near an outlet of a lake or near a flowing water. Because flowing water is the home of stoneflies, they are adapted to living in and near running water.
Continue reading “Stoneflies”
Today we’re pleased to let you know about a movie that our friend, Markus Hoffman, made about his summer fishing in Northern Sweden. It’s a beautiful movie capturing the essence of what it’s like being in the wild of Northern Sweden. Not only fishing there – also just being there.
I’ll let Markus tell you a bit about the movie and recommend you watch it. I really enjoyed it.
Continue reading “The Riverbank”
The Stimulator is a very well known fly pattern, especially in North America – and certainly in Montana, where I think it’s impossible to find a fly shop that doesn’t have it in the trays. It might even be hard to a fly box without a Stimulator in it. It’s a very versatile fly and of course not only effective in the US, but on trout everywhere.
The question is not how to fish, but why you do it. The author and his fishing buddies do it out of necessity. It’s more important than life and death to them to escape the human world, step in to water and wave a stick. Left on the shore is their misery and worries. Standing in the water they find freedom, healing and occasionally a fish.
Battles are lost and won with tongue in cheek and always celebrated with mountains of cake and an endless stream of fresh espresso coffee. To the band of brothers it’s more important who you fish with than how big the fish is; except for the ones lost.
You may not learn a lot about catching more and bigger fish, but reading these stories is like holding a mirror up in front of yourself getting a little wiser. The small why is a big one.
I suppose there are many of those – I think all fly fishers have them, in one way or another. One of mine is definitely midges, mosquitoes, knot in Swedish – whatever you call them. Some of them are really small, bite and will at one point get under your clothing. And when they’re out, they’re usually out in bi-zillions. There are others that don’t bite, but they cal still be a nuisance when they hatch, because they always do so in great numbers. They do however also produce some really interesting, good and not least challenging fishing. Trout like feeding on them. One can wonder since they’re so small, but the numbers make them a good meal for a trout. Trout also know (well, trout don’t know anything, but you know what I mean) that especially as emergers they are an easy meal.
Continue reading “A love/hate relationship”
In a fly fisher’s year there are always seasonal highlights that usually occur either when fishing for a particular species open, when seasons turn and not least when certain hatches occur. Some hatches are more important than others and they are of course not the same all over. Streams and still waters have different hatches that happen on different times. Most of them of course begin when spring begins to heat up the water.
The fly tying season is well underway and everywhere flies are tied and the boxes are filled for the upcoming season and for the adventures out by the water.
Continue reading “Troutman Hex”
The sight of a beautiful trout or grayling rising majestically to the surface inhaling an insect is the highlight of many flyfishers dream – the sight that drives us off to the water again and again.
Continue reading “Caddisflies”
Fishing trout in still water has a lot in common, whether it’s salt or fresh water. The trout live much in the same way: The feed and grow to maturity in the large still water and migrate to streams to spawn. Whether fresh or salt, the habitats also share some of the same types of prey – gammarus and baitfish/fry being two of the notable ones. In both fresh and salt water you can even be lucky enough to find trout feeding on terrestrials.
Continue reading “FRESH OR SALT?”