The Pink Pig or Pattegrisen
Published Jan 5th 2008
A tentacled all-rounder
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+  A nice one |
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One of the flies in the DVD's was Pattegrisen (the original name) or The Pink Pig tied by one of the guys behind many articles about fishing on the Danish island Fyn. The originator Claus Eriksen was strongly inspired by Morten Ĝland's Spey Shrimp when he made this pink/coral version with a few substituted materials - which made it all better.
"I have tied that shrimp in all colors, and all of them catches fish, but the pink-pig-color is superior to all other", Claus explains and continues "In fact, it is so poisonous that even mid summer and early autumn, I get quite a score on that fly in size 4-6. All books and articles (including my own) covering that time of the year all say the same: using small, pathetic flies and long, fine leaders is the only way to go."
"The last two summers with the pig have turned that picture up-side down." he says.
Now Claus nearly always has this fly at the end of his tippet. The smaller fish often release themselves (about 50%) but the bigger ones get hooked and stay on a size 4. He uses it at all times under all conditions, even on bright, sunny days, crystal clear water and with a surface like a mirror.
Boring, sometimes, but the fish love it. Often Claus attaches a small, grey gammarus, size 10-12 some 50 cm/20" up the leader just for the variation, but this smaller fly rarely takes any fish. Well, of course if The Pink Pig is already luring the fish.
If The Pink Pig leaves the tippet for a more natural colored fly or maybe a Magnus or likewise, then the small gammarus is back on the top taking quite a part of the fish.
"If that's not convincing..." as Claus puts it.
It is not only the Scandinavian sea trout, which is interested. The fly has become an angler's favorite, and under a warm breeze in Mexico it was attacked by 4 big scaled tarpons - after nearly all tarpon classics had been thrown into the ocean in vain. But as you may already know, four takes from a tarpon does not even bring that bony mouth fish close to a camera lens.
Great fishermen never die; they just smell that way - if you also want to smell a bit of fish - and pig - you may want to take a look at the following step-by-step guide.
The Pink Pig - Pattegrisen
| Type | Cold saltwater fly |
| Originator | Claus Eriksen |
| Year of origin | 2004 |
| Difficulty | A little difficult |
| Target species | Cod Garfish Sea trout (sea run) Steelhead (sea run) Tarpon |
Materials
| Hook | Patridge CS54, size 4-6 |
| Thread | Fl. Shell Pink, 8/0 |
| 1. Antennas | Hackle stems, white |
| Mouth part | Spey hackle, shrimp pink |
| 2. Antennas | Ultrahair or Supreme Hair, Shrimp |
| Eyes | Fly Eyes, pink or melted nylon eyes |
| Weight | Tungsten foil |
| Rib | Nylon, 0.15 mm |
| Body | SLF, Shell Pink |
| Body hackle | Spey hackle, shrimp pink |
| Shell back | Antron yarn, shrimp pink |
Tying instructions
- Tie in a thin strip of tungsten foil on the underside of the shank. Let the thread come over several times to secure it. Add a little super glue
- Tie in a small bunch of teal, at the bend - if you like.
- Tie in the first pair of antennas. Tied so they are pointing away from each other.
- Tie in the mouth part hackle. Make a few turns and form a nice collar around the antennas.
- Tie in a pair of Ultrahair. They should be fairly long.
- Tie in a pair of Fly Eyes or home made ones . They should curve away from each other - slightly.
- Tie in the rib.
- Tie in the body/palmer hackle.
- Dub the body with SLF, so it gets tapered against the hook eye.
- Let the body hackle follow. Make sure to get the fibres pointing downwards and backwards
- Tie in 1-2 pieces of antron yarn at the hook eye.
- Take the antron yarn over the hook bend. Secure it just behind the syes with the ribbing.
- Rib the fly in more and more narrow turns against the hook eye.
- Whipfinish.
- Use your dubbing brush, to make the fibres and the dubbing come outon the underside.
- Varnish the head and give the back a small amount too.
