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Portraits of Salmon Flies

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We have featured Danish Niels Have's beautiful full dressed classic salmon flies before, but here's another take on them

By Martin Joergensen, Niels Have

Niels Have is a Danish salmon fisher and fly-tyer, whose merits are well known to the regulars on the Global FlyFisher. His flies have been shown before and his story told. He is an excellent fly tyer and produces very fine full dressed salmon flies, contemporary hair wing flies as well as Danish sea trout flies, but what separates him from the average salmon fly tyer is that he ties his full dressed feather wing flies for fishing!

Yes, every single fly that you see on this page has been tied for fishing, and has gone right back into Niels' fishing fly box after having been photographed.

The classics
Niels is very much into the classics. He does tie more modern flies - both for salmon and for sea trout - but it's still patterns that have a history. Niels is pretty particular about what he fishes, and has some standards, which are beyond the understanding of most of us. If one of his flies does not live up to this standard - shape, proportions, proper materials, tying quality - well, it simply doesn't go in the water! Most of us would be proud to have these flies framed and hanging on the wall, not to mention being able to tie them. But Niels won't fish them...


Some of the patterns are repetitions of flies we have already shown, while others are patterns that Niels has recently adopted into his collection.


Simple portraits
On this page you see a bunch of Niels' flies depicted in the simplest and most revealing manner, and you can judge the quality for yourself. Most of the flies are impeccable, and usually when Niels ties up a bunch of the same pattern, they are also identical - the hallmark of most really good fly tyers.

I know that Niels bought Sven-Olov Haard's book Tied in the Hand and that he plans on embarking on the vise-less tying journey. Like Niels' flies, the ones in Svend Olaf's book are also tied for fishing, and I'm sure those who own the book will see some similarities in style and pattern selection.

We will surely return to Niels' flies again - tied in the hand or not. I still have boxes full of hair wings and flies tied on double hooks that I'm in the process of photographing, so they will follow soon.

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More stuff to look at on The Global FlyFisher

These other stories on "Salmon Flies - Flies for Atlantic and Pacific salmon" might also interest you: Anatomy of a salmon fly Tiebetter: Although each salmon fly pattern may call for its' own proportions and components, the following diagram and table identifies the standard anatomy and proportions used in salmon fly tying. Go to the story Good floss work Tiebetter: I've developed a habit instilled in me by my salmonfly tying mentors. When evaluating the salmon fly dressings of others, I look at the floss work first. It is a key characteristic that determines and shows the skills of the cream of the crop. Go to the story More about Salmon Flies

A few random articles for your entertainment Danish Flies Martin talks a bit about the flies he uses and which one would be his first choice if he could bring only one pattern. There's a bit about fly sizes, different types of flies and ways of using them. As usual recorded by the water. October 12th 2007 Peeete's Welded Wide Body Tunnel Hull Pheather'n'Phlash Tube Phly AKA Peeete's Welded Wide Body Tunnel Hull Pheather'n'Phlash Tube Phly. The name is complex, but the fly is simple, showing how to build a large baitfish imitation with few and easily accessible materials - and Pete Gray's neat welding technique. January 22nd 2013 Build a rod, 5 The rod is done and you need to determine what line is best for it. Don't always trust the fine print on the blank, but join Jan-Ole Willers on the water for a test of the newly built rod to find out whether it was worth the effort. June 1st 2007 Small Fry: The Lure of the Little The smallmouth bass is the headliner of small coolwater venues and that fact is understandable. Micropterus dolomieui bends fly rods and performs top water acrobatics throughout the course of the fishing season, even during the hottest dog days, as long as the human on the other end of the line knows his or her art and craft. June 30th 2008