Flymen Blog
3 years ago, we visited a remote mountain location in Northern Sweden for the first time to target pike on the fly.
The plan was to make a really cool pike film with meter-long fish slamming mice and lemming patterns on the surface. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen because the water was already too warm by that time and most of the fish had moved out of the shallow coves.
So, fast forward and we decided to try again later on during the first week of the open season. During spring I had developed a pattern based on the new Surface Seducer Howitzer baitfish popper heads that was more of a subsurface pattern with 2 hooks, a Fish-Skull Articulated Shank, and a big Dragon Tail at the end. I wanted a pattern that would work well both when fished roly poly as well as with strong pulls.
The helicopter brought us out the Tjuonajokk fishing camp, located way above the Arctic Circle.
The plan this time was to drive with the river boats through the rapids upstream to a big cove were the pike had spawned a few weeks before and were still hanging around waiting for whitefish and grayling to come in and feed in these shallow areas.
We took turns poling the boat forward and with only one of us fishing at a time so our cameraman could catch every single take in slow motion. How did it turn out? See for yourself.
The Devo Diver Is a "Best of Both Worlds" Sculpin Fly.
Most sculpin flies that we see are designed to do one thing — get deep in the water column.
While these flies certainly are useful in many fishing situations, a lot of flies tied in this style of fly do not have much swimming action. The Devo Diver, with its multiple articulation points of the Articulated Fish-Spine, is a fly that will get deep but also have lifelike movement in the water.
Fly fishing small streams for wild trout is without question my favorite piscatorial endeavor.
Aside from the lack of crowds, the gorgeous surroundings, and the all-too-eager trout, small streams offer endless learning opportunities. The lessons garnered from creeks, streams, and brooks can be applied to all aspects of trout fishing.
The following are a few of the tactics I have learned from my experience on smaller waters that I fish frequently both on my own and when guiding clients as well.
Imitations of craneflies are very popular in Europe and not without reason, they are great, buggy fishing flies!
Even though it’s not that often you encounter a real “hatch” of these insects, they tend to be present during most of the summer and trout will take them if they crash land.
I tie these flies in 3 sizes and fish them quite often, not just to imitate craneflies, but more to show fish something that looks very tempting when they are opportunistic (which they are most of the time).
