Three flies for Trout and Grayling.

The Fish

Brook trout - Salmo Trutta Fario

Grayling - Thymalus Thymalus

Trout come in three varieties in Sweden.
First, head of the family is the seatrout, searun brown or archetype for the family. Salmo Trutta and the fishing for these are conducted either like that for Salmon in rivers or at the coast with onehanded rods. I won't cover these in this post.

Then there is the Salmo Trutta Lacustris or Brown Trout, the regular model so to speak.
Local morphs can be found and they often move between lakes and river systems.
A fish of 3-4 kilos is considered a trophy fish

The third one is Salmo Trutta Fario or Brook Trout. They are generally riverbound and tends to be the smallest morph.
A fish of about 40 cm is very nice.
They are not to be confused with what Americans call Brookies, those are Salvelinus Fontinalis, a relative of our own Arctic Char, Salvelinus Alpinus.

The Grayling is another salmonoid distinguished by it's grand dorsal fin.
They also have morphs all over the world but our tends to be silver with a red and purple dorsal.

While trout,and especially the lakerun variety, can become pescavore grayling and brook trout tend to eat insects their whole life.
They inhabit the same waters many times and can be caught on the same flies, hence the shared post.

The Gear

As i mostly fish small waters with fairly small fish i find it more fun and more usefull to use a 8' #4 rod with a floating line.
When the water is really high or if i'm fishing a lake i sometimes use a 9' #6 also with a floating line, in the case with the high and/or cold water i use a light skagit setup to deliver the flies deeper. None of these flies will be covered here though as most of this fishing is going on in the summer when the fish gladly rise to the surface to sip floating insects.
Thin leaders is a must here but i never really used anything thinner than 0.18mm.

The Flies

Choosing just three was incredibly hard as this is a couple of species that eat a variety of insects (and even small fish in the case of the trout) but i concluded this was my top pick.

Elk Hair Caddis

This one was an obvious.
Half of my box is composed of these buggers.
Tied to imitate any of the Caddis species i find that it works well generally from early season to late autumn,they seem to imitate a wide variety of insects.
This one is my own variety with a dubbed head or torso.
I always tie a different colour on the body and the head though sometimes the colours are reversed.
I fish them in streams free drift and in lakes i tend to give a bit of movement by raising my rodtip up high and wiggle it a bit and the fly looks like an insect struggling on the surface.

Materials used in this fly are:
Body -  Moose Ear, Dark gray
Wing - Deer hair, Rusty
Head - Moose Ear, Light Gray
Hook- Kamasan B420 Sedges #12

Purple Nymph

When you're not fishing a dry you better have something to get down a bit.
There is a great variety of nymphs and the imitations are as complex and diverse as the dry flies.
I find however that something that was NOT adapted to blend in to the rocks and debri of the underwater world is a lot easier to get the fishes attention with.
I tie these in a couple of different colours but purple is by far the best of this sort,especially for grayling.
I usually fish it dead drift upstream in rivers and creeks and jigging in lakes.

Materials used in this fly are:
Tail - Peacock neck feathers
Body -  Purple silk
Rib - Copper wire
Wing sack - Purple rabbit
Head - Tungsten bead
Hook- Kamasan B420 Sedges #12

Chernobyl Ant

This one is a bit modern and will probably raise an eyebrow on any Cane fisher or imitation purist.
It is made to look like an ant,grasshopper or beetle.
I started using it as a unsinkable fly for skating.
I cast cross stream or 45 degrees down, let the current pick up a big chunk of line to give this speed.
It imitates not the bug itself to me but the movement of a bug flying over the surface.
The strikes are usually violent and sudden, not the slow sip you get with an EHC.
It can be tied with endless combinations of coloured foam though i use cut up kneepad and find it to work perfectly.
The rubber legs should be short and respond to all the small changes in the current.
As i said, i mostly skate this fly and i never use it in a lake.
I once caught 11 trout and 8 grayling in one summer night on the very same fly.


Materials used in this fly are:
Body -  Black foam
Belly - Orange chenille
Legs - Barred Orange sili-legs
Hook- Kamasan B420 Sedges #12

That is all for this round!

Three flies for Perch

To kick of "Three flies for Sweden" i'm gonna go ahead and talk about my favourite flies for Perch.


The Fish.

The European Perch, Perca Fluviatalis, is a smaller predatory fish.
A fish above 1 kg is considered very nice and the Swedish record is just above 3 kg.
The main bulk of the population is about 2-6 hg and these are the ones i mainly target when i fish for perch.
They can be found in both fresh and brackish water.
It's a great schooling fish, incredibly fun and for me they take me back to when i first started fishing, angling with a worm when i was little, back to the simple joy of cathing a lot of them.
When you find a school you usually hook multiple fish in very few casts.

I think this is one of the best species to start your fly fishing career with.
They can be found in almost any water, hungry and give a good fight and you oftentimes have lots of room for casting.
Watch out for the spikes on the dorsal fin and gill flaps though.


The Gear

Depending on where i fish for them or rather the expected size i go for a couple of different rods.
When fishing in small forest lakes or ponds where i can expect them to be smaller i usually use my #4 rod to get a bit more fight.
Fishing in a bigger lake i usually use a #6 rod to be able to cover more water.

The line is almost always a floating line, sometimes i use a sinking tip but as these fish can usually be found in the shallows or hunting the top water a floating line will do fine.

The Flies

Zonker

The fly i use most often is a rabbit zonker fly.
Rabbit is a soft material that moves great in still or slow flowing water wich is where you'll find these redfinned buggers.
The wing is tied in just at the base to give greater movement and the beadchain eyes gives it a jigging action.
Some flash under the wing to catch the sunlight and get them going.
It imitates a small fish or a leech and can be tied in any colour, perch respond great to gaudy colours.
Tie it on any streamer hook you like.
Somewhere from 4-8 cm in length depending on the size of fish you are targeting.

Materials used in this fly are:
Body -  Black woolen yarn
Rib - Stainless wire
Wing - Dark purple rabbit zonker and pearl flash
Head - Fur from the same skin as the zonker.
Eyes - Beadchain.
Hook- Kamasan B180 Low water Salmon #6

Crazy Charlie

Crazy Charlie was first invented as a Bonefish fly to fish on the Carribean flats.
It is however a fantastic fly for perch when you find them really shallow.
The eyes are tied on the up side of the hook flipping it over.
I fish this fly on a long leader at depths of 0.5-1 metre and let it sink to the bottom, pull it home and let it stir up mud, let it sink again.
Tied on a maggot hook, the type you use for icefishing, the hook point faces downward and the fish are securely hooked in the upper lip.
This is a fairly weedless fly as well.

Materials used in this fly are:
Body and Wing - Pearl thread
Rib - Copper
Eyes - Beadchain.
Hook- Mustad Maggot hook #12

Perch Popper

Popping for perch is not something you get to do every day unfortunatly.
It's reserved for the heights of summer but when you get to throw poppers it's the most fun fishing you'll ever get.
The main goal here is to generate sound and movement and trigger fish that are hunting the top water to hammer it.
Tie it fairly big, you want to make it worth their while (but not to big unless you target the biggest fish. This one is about 6 cm)
The marabou and schlappen tail gives a lot of movement and volume while the rubber offer even more.
The head is made out of a kneepad that i use a 10mm leather gauge to punch out and then paint with waterproof marker.
There are lots of nice popper heads do buy out there but i use these, simple to make and really cheap.

Materials used in this fly are:
Tail - Green marabou, pearl flash
Collar - Black Schlappen
Head - Kneepad 10mm popper head.
Hook- Kamasan B180 Low water Salmon #6

That concludes the Three flies for Perch!

New waters.

I realised it's been some time since my last update.
I've been busy with moving but with all that fuss and turmoil comes of course, new waters.

My main focus have been on river Våmån.
It's a small fairly shallow river that is wadable in most stretches.
It has a pepple and stone bottom with some weeds and sunken timber.
Perfect flyfishing water.
It also houses some of our favourite bugs such as different varieties of Trichoptera, Sulphurea, Beatis and last but not least both Ephemera Vulgata and Danica.
The fishes include, but are not limeted to; Grayling, Trout, European Whitefish as well as pike, perch and other spicies of whitefish such as the Common rudd and Dace.

Most of them eat bugs of the surface.

Pretty grayling of smaller proportions caught on a warm summer evening.
Dry fly.

Hello my pretty!
Ephemera Danica, one of the big ones when it comes to fly fishing.

Fairly big Common rudd caught on a dry.

I know there's good pike fishing in the lake by the village, it remains to be seen if it's as good on a fly.
And of course there's numerous small forest lakes with trout, grayling and char around that needs exploring as well as the upper stretches of Våmån that promises to hold more trout than down here in the village.

I think it's gonna be a good summer.
And i'm not entirely unpleased with living here now!

Pike Premiere

It's been a long winter.
But now,finally the warming rays of sun is starting to do its job proper and the snow is melting.
The ice is still on the lakes and rather thick to add to that.
Some rivers and streams are opening up though and with easter break comming up me and the lass is planning to go up to her parents, stay a few days, take care of our house and get it sorted for moving in and i plan to make my pike premiere of the year up in river Våmån, specificly in the lower regions.
The upper are still iced over and the pike are in low stock anyways.
Up there it's mostly grayling and brown trout and the season start for those are not until the sixteenth of May.

So pike it is!
Hopefully the river is fairly open and that some pike will have started moving up in preparation of spawning.
Might as well bring a rod anywhere you go,wouldn't you say?
There's always some fishing to be done.

To that end and in general preparation for the pike season i've tied some more glitter ones.
Experimented a little bit with fox hair and added rubber legs to a couple ones.
The all-hair ones are way to small for my tase in pike flies,only about 10 cm(over all they are a bit small, brown/orange flash/hair fly is 15 and YES that is a bit small), but the hairs lenght has its limitations.
Gonna have to get my hand on some Big Fly Fibre or Craftfur or something like that, tying with just fox hair is a bit expensive...
I do however like to look of the flies, especially the monochrome one.

Here's to hoping and a good comming pike season!

What keeps fishermen going?

 A non-fishing friend of mine once said:
You go out in almost any weather,even when it's below freezing, you toil and try but almost never catch anything.
How can you possibly keep going?

Well first of this refered to winter fishing and as some of you know it IS hard.
Secondly i do catch fish but since i mostly practice catch and release i don't have much to show for my efforts at the end of the day.

But really,what keeps you going through the seasons, why do you keep going out there?
To fishermen the answers are as abundant as the flies we've stuck in trees.

To those of you that do not fish however i'd like to share my take on it all.
Fishing is a great hobby. Gets you outside, close to nature and with a sole thing to focus your attention on when you are there.
To some of us and certainly for me fishing is more,it's part of life and the year as a whole.

The thing that makes you go back out there is the knowledge that the big one is out there.
Not nessecarily a big fish but just as well a big day.
The day when the stoneflies hatch and dryfly fishing is at its best.
The day when you see the water rising over the attack of a big pike and all those small ones were just something to spice up your trip.
The first day of spring when you see waking fish.
And of course, the very first fish of the year.

Why flyfish?
As stated in "A backyard in Nowhere"; Years ago someone invented the hardest way possible to catch a fish. To succed and be good at that gives you a great rush.

While i don't agree it's the hardest way of catching fish it is indeed not always the most effective.
But it is more than just catching fish.
It's the ritual of it all, getting to the water, rigging your rod, choosing a fly that you believe in, placing that perfect cast and much more that need to be felt, not read.

We continue to fish because we know that the big one will come.
The big day, the big fish, hopefully at the same time.

Yellow hackle fly on double hook.
Weighted with chainbead eyes.

My fishing company.
These swans usually checks up on me when i'm fishing in the usual spot.

There and back again

If Bilbo would have brought a 2 hand rod on his trips instead of a stick.
I wonder wha fishing is like in middle earth.

Anyways...

I'm back from my trip down the country.
Visited family and fished a couple of days.
I've already told you about Gävle so here's Stockholm!

I got picked up by car,the luxury of it was not lost to me, and we arrived at the Stockholm stream at about a quarter to six in the morning.
Just half an hour later the first fish was hooked by Patrick and i jumbled to get the net ready while Mattias got the camera.
Unfortunatly the fish snagged on a rock and got loose.
That one was probably big,the second one he hooked was a bit smaller.

To me it was a moodraiser though, now we knew the fish was there!
We kept on fishing but to little success.
We changed the spot and i really found it wierd and interesting fishing amongst the houses and trying to anchor the line while standing by a wall 5 metres above the water.

My favourite spot of the day was just downstream of the house of government, it was possible to wade and make proper casts.

All and all there were two fish hooked by Patrick but none landed over the day, i got a possible take but it would have just bit the wing of the fly and not the hook.

It was great fun,i delivered the swap flies and i got to do a bit of fishing, talk about fishing with people equally interested and try my luck on the seatrout of our capital.

Mattias in the inner city

A good day and i hope i get to fish with these lads again!

Halfway there

So,i've survived the christmas,it was really nice in fact.
As i said i stayed in Gävle to do some seatrout fishing but unfortunatly no takers.
On the other hand,none of the other three people doing flyfishing that day caught anything either.
Mus have been one of those days and winter flyfishing IS hard.

When you see winter steelhead flyfishing films out there filmed in the US their winer seems more like our early November.
Here it's up to a metre of snow and down to -20 when we go fishing.

Tomorrow it's time for the fishing highlight of the trip when i meet the lads from Troutpassion in Stockholm and try my luck at the seatrout there.

Fishing the Capital

I'm in the midst of planning a mini fishing trip.
Gonna pop down to Stockholm over christmas since i'm fairly close anyways.
The aim is set on seatrout and i'll be fishing with the lads from Troutpassion, something to wich i'm greatly looking forward to.

Right now it's talks about the best flies, where to stand,depth to fish and all that anticipation that comes with planning a trip.
Of course,as always, you find yourself thinking that the very first cast will grant you that big one.
Not likely but you know the feeling!

If i'm at all successfull it will be my first seatrout ever.
There is also a slim slim chance at salmon but the trout is the main target.

I'm planning to make a stop in Gävle and fish there as well on my way down the country to try for some seatrout there as well.
So a 14' pole, heavy sinking tips,skagit lina and big colourfull flies!
I'm really excited!


I'll probably keep posting in the comming days as i'll tie some more flies for the trip.

Only the river knows

The guys from Frontside Fly are at it again,this time with a 80 minute film.

"Only the river knows" promises to be a real treat judging by the trailer.
Nicely filmed in nice settings and with a story, not common in fly fishing movies.

They have been involved in some of the best productions these last years including the Vindel River series.

Here's the trailer: