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.
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 elegant mayflies like drakes, danicas and vulgates deserve an elegant hook for the imitations. We have for a long time had a desire for a long-shanked yet light hook for the hatch of the largest species of mayflies that can fool the most skeptical trout or grayling, and we have launched it now – the FW538 / 539 Mayfly Dry.
Continue reading “NEW RELEASE – FW538/539 MAYFLY DRY”
The fly on the blog today features two legends in one. We maybe close to Christmas and far away from the trout fisher’s high season – the Danica-hatch, but it’s never too late to prepare, and probably never too early either. And if it goes as it usually does, Danica-season will be upon before we know it, so here’s a little inspiration to look at.
Continue reading “Gary Borgers Strip Nymph”
“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.
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…
