2 days of fishing in Norway

Me and my oldest daughter Ello have decided to go to Norway for some salmon fishing (and some shopping too). So we crossed the border on monday afternoon and reched our destination Steinkjer early in the evening. We decided to start our fishing thuesday morning so we did just hanged out in our cabin at the camp site rigging up our rods and reels and also did a short shopping trip to the AMFI Center in the city so everbody was pleased. We did also walk down to the pools below the camp site and had a chatt with the some friendly local fishermen that told us about the conditions and were to fish and not to fish as the water was very low because the lack of rain.

We started our fishing the next morning and the weather was realy sunny but a wind from the Atlantic ocean did keep the temperature down.
We fished the pool a couple of times and had some pulls on our flies but nothing more so we went to our cabin for lunch and a siesta.

Later in the evening after a late dinner we went down to the river again and there were four local fly fishermens that told us that they they seen some salmons running the pool earlier in the evening but none of them had any offers. We started to fish with smaller black flies and when it got darker we changed to bigger black zonker flies and did fish until 01:30 but had no offers so we went to our cabin to get some sleep.

Next morning we went up early to fish and it was cloudy and the air temp was nice and cold but no bites on our flies all morning so after lunch we put the rods on the car and went down stream to try some other pools. The weather did change in the afternoon and the clouds vanished and the river level had dropped 20-30cm during the day. Both Ello and I had fish pulling our flies but they did not want to bite properly even that we tried all tricks in the book so we went back to the cabin and some snacks.

After looking at the weather forecast that did say +30c in the shade we decided to break up camp and drive back home to Sweden after a good nights sleep. We can say we was beaten by the weather but will try to go back later this summer if there comes rain so the river rises and get more fresh salmons from the sea running the pools.

Fishing is not all about catching fish so we hade a realy great time anyway and Ello is a realy good flycaster/flytier and got a bright future in the sport.

Stocking fish in River Harmånger in Sweden!

A nice Youtube clip about the work that Harry and all other people in Strömgruppen are doing in River Harmånger. It was realy fun to get the chance to be part of the release of the parrs.

Skjern Å Lystfiskeri Festival 2016

On the last weekend in may I was invited to Skjern Å Lystfiskeri Festival in Denmark to tye flies and show some skagit casting. Me and my wife Kicki did arrive to Skarilld and our rented cottage already on thursday just to get some time to fish River Skjern and some shopping also. Had never before fished any one of the Danish rivers and the fishing there is not anything that I'm used to but did think it was intresting and will sure get back next year to try get a fish also.

Early morning.

The Festival started on Saturday morning and ended of Sunday afternoon. It was realy well organized by Nils Mogens Svalebøg and the other guys from the Angling Club in 1929 and a big thanks for the invite. 

Working on a fly.

Did meet some great people like my good friend Mattias Drugge (Hardy) Stuart, Silja and Lasse from Baltic Fly Fisher, Claus with family from Skagit Anglers, Bjarne Laursen, Ali Hutchins from Scotland, Kim Sørensen (Hardy/Future Fly) Allan Kuhlman Hansen, Klaus Fløe Kristensen, Lars Munk, Bo and Søren from Korsholm and lots of other great fly tyers and fishermens. On Thursday we visited Korsholm tackle shop that are close to heaven for a fly tyers. On Friday morning we took the car up to Ulstrup to meet Mr Pro Sportfisher him self Morten Bundgaard and a big thanks for materials and coffe.

Evening by the river

Korsholm Tackle Shop

Some candy from Pro Sportfisher

Two brown and Sunburst flies

Back from morning fishing

The sign in Skarilld

The Sea trout and The Shrimp

 C&R on a 65cm Sea trout 

 Had two nice days on the River Harmånger with three Sea trouts caught, two fish that came off and also some pulls on the fly. On the the third or fourth cast on friday morning I hooked up with a 75cm Sea trout that gave me a good fight and made my Hardy Bouglé scream a little bit. I had a new fly pattern at the end of my leader that did the trick and it always fun when a new fly delivers fish. The fly was a Shrimp pattern in peach colors and made with composite loops. Did loose one bigger fish that was on for maybe 5 seconds then after a cup of coffe and a short rest in the sun I did hook up with the second fish for the day. It was a realy good take and the fish went airbourne three time and did a good work bending my rod. After a while I could release a 65cm Sea trout and say thanks for the fight. After the second fish I was realy pleased and packed my stuff in the caar and went home.

Early on Sunday morning I was back on the river again and did fish for some hours with just a pull or two before I waljed further down the river to a pool I never fished before. I started to cast and with just my Commando skagit head and a couple of meters of shooting line I had the first very gentle pull on my Hares ear and brown shrimp fly but no fish on. Did some more cast at the same spot but the fish refused to take the fly again. I started to cast longer line into a realy bad wind and maybe after 5 meters of wading down the pool I got fish on. After a nice fight I could release another 65cm Sea trout and then I went up river again to try some pools but no more fish and by now there many people fishing the river so I decided to call it the day.

65cm Sea trout with a Peach Shrimp

A bunch of Shrimps

From the top: Olive shrimp, Hares ear and brown, Grey heron and rainbow.

The river

Harmångersån - A beautiful little river!

River Harmånger or Harmångersån meets the sea in the small village of Strömsbruk on the east coast of Sweden. Its a small river and the Sea trouts can reach realy goods size with fish over 90cm caught and realesed (it's just C&R and only single hooks allowed) so they can come back to spawn. The main part of the fishing is in the spring because it's a spate river and when the snow melts now in April the fish that stayed in the river over the winter starts to move down to the sea and new spring Sea trouts will enter the river. The river has the pontecial to be one of the most productive smaller rivers in Sweden but at the moment the fish can just migrate 1,5km up to  the first dam. There are a group of people working hard and doing a realy good work to restore spawing grounds both down stream and upstream the first dam. Hopefuly the first dam will be gone in a near future and in a couple of years the fish will have 50-60km more river to run and find new spawing grounds.

Here is some pics from the some of the lovely pools down i Strömsbruk. It' s well worth a visit in April and you have a chance to hook up with big Sea trout.

Happy New Fishing Year 2016

Stingrays in 2015 version

Well I must admit that 2016 was not the best fishing year for me but have had a great year anyway when looking back. Did start the season a bit to late as I had other stuff to deal with so I did miss the best part of the spring fishing at my local river and I also cancled my trip to River Lainio. Got some great days in River Stjördal  in  August with my buddies Allan and Dick but the fishing was slow with low water but we had fun anyway. The autumn/fall fishing was not the best but I got some Sea trouts (sea run browns) both in Ljungan and in Ljusne.

Nice to see my daugther Ello back on the river.

The best things with last season was that my daughter Ello picked up here rod again after some years and quickly got back into the fine art of skagit casting. Also the new OPST Commando heads that are designed by Ed Ward and Jerry French was released and I realy love to fish with those short "magic" skagit heads.

I have some plans for the 2016 season that includes a trip to Denmark and the Skjern Å Lystfiskeri Festival in may and also some fishing in Swedish and Norway is on the agenda.  

Skagit cast with OPST Commando & Echo Glass Spey

A simple Snap T using OPST Commando 475gr and Echo Glass Spey 12,9" #7.

A great set up that are easy to cast with and got lots of power to.

Happy Fishing Christmas!

Now all presents are wrapped and under the tree and have started to pre pare the food for Christmas eve. No snow were I live and up to +7c degrees and the river closes the 1th of January so there will be some "Christmas Fishing" in next couple of days.

Hope you all will get new rods, reels and skagit heads from Santa.

Happy Christmas!

OPST Commando vs Echo Glass Spey

Glass is not dead! Have been fishing with the Echo Glass Spey 12'9" #7 with the OPST Commando 475gr and a Vision Ace 10" T-14 for a while now and must say I just love the combo. The Commando head works perfect with this rod and with all diffrent tips from float to T-17.

The quality of the video is not the best due to low light conditions and lack of tripod and will make a better soon.

How I make my Composite Loops SBS

The last few months I have been using more and more composite loops in Jerry French style when tying my flies and I really like how the flies looks and not least swims in the water. Have made my Vikingtruders for many years now with hair and dubbing spun in loops. I got the right spin technique but had problems to keep the composite materials together when lifting them form the tying table to sliding them into the loop and many with me had this problem. I have noticed by all mails and messages I get when people ask how I do. I always send them a link to the OPST Youtube site so they can see how Jerry does his loops and hear his thoughts on composite loops flies.

After some thinking I came up with a idea how to get the material into the loop without dropping half of it on the floor or in the bin bag and I call it the Buisness card trick and it works like this. It takes some practise to get it right but this helped me alot and hope it can help you too.

 

 

Take a business card, playing card or other stiffer paper and use a black marker on one of the edges of the card to get a line so it will be easier to see were the loops is going to be placed. Then start placing the material you want to use on the card.

Take a second card or what you prefer in the same size and put it right on top of the first and you will get the edges of the material sticking out. Pick it up from the table holding the cards together and then you can adjust the edge of the material with your fingers.

Put the material in the waxed loop just by the edge of the cards.

Then very carefuly loose the pressure on the cards and slide them away from the loop very slowly so no material will fall out.

Now you can start adjusting the material with a dubbing needle and with your fingers.

Then it's just to use your spinning tool and the composite loop is ready!


   

River Stjördal in pictures

I and my buddies Allan and Dick went over the Norwiegan border to fish for Atlantic Salmon in River Stjördal. We had no luck with the water levels our weather but after some rain the lower parts of the river got better but no fish would bite my flies. Dick did Catch a very small Salmon but a Salmon is Always a Salmon no matter what size.  Heres some Pictures from our trip.

Svarthölen

My rods

107:-NKR

OPST and a Carrot in Midkil

Midkil

Iverhölen

URGE

Rods in rain

Nyhölen

Nyhölen

Nyhölen

Relaxing

Its not the beard on the outside, it,s the beard on the inside that Counts!

Kommunvaldet

Ready for Norway

Small salmon zonkers

Today I will go to River Stjørdal in Norway and fish for salmon and sea trout. Will stay in Stjørdal some days then I will go try River Verdal. New flies are tied and my gear is packed and I ready to hit the road but first some sleep. I will try to update here on the blog and on my FB site how the fishing goes.

OPST Commando Skagit Heads - A "Pure Skagit" Revolution

The brand new OPST Commando skagit heads are finaly on the market and I got a 450gr from Skagit Anglers in Denmark. OPST is a brand that Jerry French and Ed Ward have started and they make great products for skagit fishing and flytying. The line is designed by Ed Ward and he realy knows what his doing as he was one of the guys alongside others that did invent skagit casting back in the 90ths.

The Commando heads are very easy to cast and comes in the range of 150-475gr (10-30g) and  in lenghts between 12" - 18" (3,6 - 5,5m) so it is a short line but not just like any other short skagit heads on the market that I have tried over the year because this is something else. The are designed to be used with MOW tips but the works just great with other tips from Intermediate to T-tips in diffrent grades. Have tested my 450gr head on diffrent rods from 13,4#7 down to 10" Switch but at the moment my favorite set up is my 12,6#6 Cult rod that I think is a match made in heaven (or hell, if you prefere) for lighter Skagit casting. Claus at Skagit Anglers have used his Echo DHII 12,6" #6,5 with Commando and just loved that set up.The short head turns over the tips easy and no problems to fish with a 12,5" T-10 and big flies. I used a 15" Sink 3 tip on my 13,4" and it did turn over my flies well but I think it works best on rods under 13" and that just what the line are designed for.

Have fished the line for 4 days now and I realy love the way it preforms in all diffrent situations and my daughter Ello have used it and think it was very easy to cast with. I can realy recommend OPST Commando if you look for a short and light skagit head. Go to Skagit Anglers shop http://skagitanglers.com/ to order yours!

Stingray Intruder inspired by Ken Sawada

The last couple of day I been cleaning up in my flytying room that had become a real mess and found some old hidden or forgotten flyboxes in a drawer with flies that I made and fished with for eight to ten years ago. Many of my daughters first attempts to make tubeflies and also some intresting other flies that some how have lost there place in my boxes today even that they did catch lots of fish back then. I realy don't know why some of these flies have been put a side but when I get new ideas and start using new material or technics I often transfer my old favorite colors into new patterns and old ones is forgotten. It's Always fun to Watch old flies and see how I tied and what materials I used back then and sometimes give an old pattern a make over like in this case. 2006 I got my hands on a copy of Ken Sawadas book "Tube & Waddington Flies" and I got realy inspired by Mr Sawadas beautiful tubeflies. I Always have used a lot of bright colors and like to try all sorts of crazy color combinations (at least some of my fishing buddies would say) and that's why I realy liked Ken's flies. So when I found these old Sawada style patterns I was realy inspired to re-make then to something in Intruder style that I would tie and fish with today using new technics and also adding some new materials to them. I started this make over on one of my old favorites, the Stingray! Black, green and a little touch of white is a very nice color combination that works well in most of our Salmon rivers all over the world and many fishermens out there have caught big fishes on these colors.

The things I have changed from the original pattern is first that I put in a tin tail of bucktail. Second I tie in a Guinea hackle in the back. Third I change the color on the front shoulder Amherst from white to green but also some other small changes. 

Pattern recipe: Stingray Intuder

Tube: Lime Green

Tail:  A small bunch Black Bucktail tied in forward and holded back. 3 strands of Green Mirage Flash. 3 Natural color Amherst pheasant fibers. 2 Grizzly natural saddle hackle.

First hackle: Natural Guinea

Eyes: Green Pro JC

Body:Bright Green dubbing. (I brusch out the dubbing to get more volym to the body just to get more of a siluett as I will use this pattern for the Baltic Sea run browns that tend to like bulkier flies.

Ribb: Oval silver tinsel (I use no ribb as I spinn the dubbing in a loop)

Front shoulder: Black fox hair spun in a loop. Black Marabou spun in a loop. A bunch of Green Amherst pheasant fibers tied in around the tube or spun in a loop. You can also use a Composite loop and tie in all materials at the same time. Take a look at OPST on Youtube were Jerry French shows how composite loops should be made.

Head: Metallic green Pro Sonic disc or similar discs from other brands.

Try not to over dress the fly as it will swimm much better if spares dressed.

The new one on the left and old on the right.

The Easy Squid

It's been a long time since I could post a fly pattern on my blogg but now I'm back with the Easy Squid pattern. 

Have had the idea to make a easy to tie pattern for a long time because I normaly goes"over kill" when tying my flies always adding some extra material just to please my own eyes and I think it's both good and bad. Good: I get a fly pattern I realy have confidence in when fishing. Bad: It takes more time to tie the fly and when fishing T-tips in logg and stone filled rivers you will snag and loose a bunch of flies in a days fishing. In some pools when I know that I must get down realy deep but also knows that I can or probly will snag the bottom I may not use chose my best looking flies that I realy know works and I love to fish but insted use a fly that I may NOT WANT to use for the moment but I don't will spill any tears when loosing it. So not using the "right" style of fly I will fish the pool with less confidence and maybe not catch the Silver from my dreams.

The Easy Squid is not realy a "Squid" pattern but if you hold it vertical it will look quite like a small squid but in the water it will look and behave like a bait fish.They are realy "Easy" and simple to tie and now a days there's so many diffrent brands of Sili legs on the market so it's no problemo to convert any of your favorite patterns to a Easy Squid. For example you can take a bait fish pattern and use the pearl shimmering legs for belly, silver or gold legs on the side and black with silver or green flakes the back of the fly or why not transform a classic salmon fly to rubber version? I tie the fly in two diffrent sizes, one bigger and a smaller but always the same bead as body.

When fishing the Easy Squid I use a loop knot and I some times slide on a piece of plastic tube as a hook guide. Fish the fly on a normal swing or let it just free drift trough the pools as the Sili legs will get the fly lot of movment.

You can always add some extra materials like a hackle and also some Amhearst fibers just to get it to look more like a more "normal" Intruder style of fly.But just a brass bead, fake JC, Sili legs, disc cone and... Boom! It's ready to fish!

Pattern recepie: Rapala version

Tube: Fl Orange Small plastic tube 

Body: 5,5mm Gold Brass bead

Eyes: Large Orange Pro Fisher  JC subs.

Wing: 8-12 Sili legs (big fly = more legs)

Head: A Disc Cone 

Back in the game!

My oldest daughter Ello have been away from fishing for a while but now she is back again! We Went down the other day to try some new rods and she realy got hooked again and she said´that she forgot how fun it was to fish. Thats fun to hear as I have not been naggin' about it and try to get her back fishing when she wanted to do other stuff.

No fish for any of us but we had fun even that a gaelforce winds made casting difficult. Also our new "ghillie dog" Nova that made her third fishing trip learns more and more how to behave on the river bank and she enjoy being out fishing. We did not stay for more then Three hours as we went out of Oreo cookies after a while, how can you fish without Oreo's?