The classic Magnus

A great Danish fly for sea trout

By Martin Joergensen

I recently became aware of the origin of one of the true classics on the Danish coast - the Magnus. It was originally tied by magnus Ting Mortensen of the island Funen here in Denmark. And it was tied slightly different from my modern version of the fly. More than 20 years ago the pattern was described as listed below. You can also see the fly in color in the Fly Gallery.

Hook	4-10, straight eye streamer
Thread	Tan
Tail	Two tips of grizzly hackle feathers
Body	Grey hare's dubbing
Body hackle	Grizzly cocks hackle
Rib	Oval silver tinsel
Front hackle	Grizzly cocks hackle
Eyes	bead chain
Head	Thread and eyes varnished red

1. Tie in the tips of two hackle feathers as a tail. Length is plus/minus half of hook length
2. Tie in ribbing material
3. Dub the body sparsely to one eye width behind hook eye
4. Tie in a cocks hackle, butt end
5. Wind the hackle to the back end of the hook
6. Wind the ribbing the opposite way to hold the hackle
7. Tie down the rib and cut surplus
8. Tie in one more hackle, tip en first
9. Wind hackle as a wet fly hackle and tie off
10. Tie in a pair of bead chain eyes or pearls on top of the hook shank
11. Whip finish and varnish eyes and head with red varnish

Did you find the above interesting?

This other story related to "denmark" might also interest you: Tactics Use the right tactics: Look at this picture. It shows an imaginary piece of coast and how to fish it. The different 'landmarks' are indicated. Go to the story Click to see other stories with the keyword "denmark"

A few random articles for your entertainment Chuck and Duck Chuck-n-duck fishing isn't for everyone. Morality aside, it is an effective angling technique, one worth learning if you find occasionally find yourself in a situation where drifting a nymph along the bottom of a distant lie is the difference between catching and casting practice. November 12th 2006 Streams of Consciousness It is with due caution that I compare Jeff’s writing in “Streams of Consciousness” with the classic “A River Runs Through It”. I don’t want to embarrass Jeff by comparing him to the great Norman Maclean, but I finished both books with that same feeling. “Wow”. November 4th 2006 Fins Gotta stay on the fins to survive, as the fish said. We feature another gallery of not-so-traditional fish photos, this time of fins. See round ones, sharp ones, big ones and small ones in this gallery put together with pictures from several GFF photographers. September 3rd 2005 Tour de France GFF partner Martin Joergensen has let one of his favorite sports events, the bicycling race Tour de France, inspire a way of tying flies. He argues why tying many identical flies can be a good thing - and can be better than tying many different flies. July 25th 2004