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Videos by Michael Jensen

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Black Zulu

Classic wet fly tying, The first fly I ever caught a trout on. I guess I was eight or nine years old, and I didn't even have a fly rod back then. Just a Black Zulu, 10 feet of mono line and my bare hands. By now this fly has followed me through nearly five decades. The combination of black, silver and red seems to work for all kind of trout... anywhere.

Black Widow Muddler

Way back when I started flyfishing for seatrout in saltwater on the Danish coast... few people did that. There weren't many fly patterns developed for this new fishing. I did what felt natural and used the flies I had tied for river fishing. One of the most successful was an all-black Muddler. On some spring evenings this one would outfish most other patterns. It has changed a slightly over the years - but it is still a deadly fly for trout in freshwater as well as the salt. I primarily use this fly early and late in the day, for night fishing and fishing on dark days. I feel that the blue sparkle in the dubbing adds a cool effect in the dim light.

Streamtease

The Optic fly was released by ABU in 1967 as "a streamer of tremendous killing power" - and that label wasn't all wrong. The Swedish tackle manufactor actually sold 80.000 Optic flies in the first year alone. The Streamtease is still a fabulous fly when trout feed on sticklebacks, minnows or young-of-year fry. This pattern has given me some beautiful lake-living wild brown trout.

Fuzzy Bugger

Part Woolly Bugger and part Fuzzy Wuzzy. Started out as a Woolly Bugger tied with the cool speckled Whiting Coq De Leon hen feathers. But since the best part of these feathers were to short for the palmer hackle on larger hook sizes - I started using the Fuzzy Wuzzy style with 2 seperate hackles. Worked so great - that i had to give the fly a name. Since I just combined two great patterns - the name had to be Fuzzy Bugger :0) I tie this fly in a variety of colours - so it's more a tying style, that a precise pattern. Works great with partridge hackles as well. You can choose colours to match your local leeches and rag worms.

Deerhair Dun

My favourite kind of no-hackle dry fly. I use natural wool, that absorbs any kind of fly floatant easily. With the air filled body hair from deer this floats right in the surface - imitating a hatching mayfly dun. This has been one of my go-to dry flies for more years that i care to think about :0) I even use it for sea trout dry fly fishing in rivers and saltwater. You can tie it in colours to mach any hatch - and wrap up a a dozen or two in an hour.

ABU Optic Chillimps

In 1969 the Abu Optic Chillimps was introduced. The simple palmer hackled shrimp fly was already a legend in River Mörrum before the Optic eyes were added. The Chillimps was born one late night in a bar near River Mörrum - when three Swedish gentlemen turned a wild idea into a catchy fly. The men responsible for the Chillimps were famous Swedish anglers, Rolf Vilhelmson, Olle Tornblom and Sven Hallman. According to the legend, they used some scraps from a carpet and from the skirt of a waitress to create the fly. True... or just a good story? A lot of thrustworthy people say it’s all true – and it doesn’t really matter. Fishermen love the story and the simple orange Chillimps - and fish feel the same way about it. The addition of the Optic Eyes did not make the beautiful orange fly less popular, and it soon proved to be a killer when fishing for sea run brown trout and Atlantic salmon – and not only in River Mörrum. The text above, and the fly pattern is taken from my book on the Optic Flies. You can get more info... or buy the book, Tying and fishing the ABU Optic Flies here: https://shop.michaeljensens.com/?product=tying-and-fishing-the-abu-optic-flies&lang=en

Blue Zulu Spey

A spey style version of the classic UK trout fly, made for seatrout, salmon and steelhead fishing. Note that I tie the Whiting Spey hackles in at the butt end of the feather... not the tip, as you normally would do with a spey hackle. That gives more volume to the front hackle of the fly - which I find suits this pattern well. My reason for double dubbing the body is, that I find it an good way to make a solid, full tapered body, that is easy to tease out with a velcro strip. Buy Woolly Sparkle Dub here: https://shop.michaeljensens.com/?product=woolly-sparkle-dub&currency=EUR&lang=en

Lefty's Deceiver

The Deceiver is probably one of the worlds most famous saltwater flies, developed by the master fly caster, fly tier and writer, Lefty Kreh who died just a week ago. Lefty was a great inspiration for me and thousands of other fly fishermen. The Lefty's Deceiver works equally well for freshwater predators of any species.

Hugh

Hair winged tube fly, inspired by the late Hugh Falkus' fantastic Sunk Lure. It is a sparsely dressed fly, with no bells and whistles. Just a totally basic tube fly, but the disc adds a lot of turbulence and give life and motion to the soft fox hair. True to the spirit of Mr Falkus, this fly is an easy tie and a solid workhorse on the river.

The river, the inspiration and the streamer fly

A film essay on passion

Strip Tiger

It's a jungle out there. Predators with sharp teeth are on the loose in the fading light ;0) Ok... I know that even the most badass monster trout don't eat tigers... but wtf :0) This fly was inspired by an image i had in my head... of a pretty fierce man-eating tiger. And there's just something about this combination of yellow & orange versus black & white that makes this fly highly visible under most conditions. At the same time looks kind of sneaky and deadly. And the music? Well streamer fishing is pretty rock'n'roll and... so are tigers. Anyway trout really like the Strip Tiger - and I'm pretty sure most other predators will as well: Bass, pike, musky comes to mind. Tie some tigers... and let me know :0)

Black Bear Red Butt

A classic American hairwing salmon fly. This version is tied on a small double hook, using squirrel tail for wing. On large version i use bear, bucktail or fox hair. The combination of black, red and silver is highly visible even in small hook sizes. This fly holds it's own against all the new and more funky flies that emerges every year. Works just as good on a single hook or a tube. Give it a try :0)

Boss

Small version of the classic Boss. Originally the body material was floss or wool, but chenille is a great alternative if you want a fat profile. I use squirrel hair on small hook and bucktail on large. The hackle can be orange or red... or anything in between (reddish orange).

Pattegrisen (the Pink Pig)

This is my my take on Pattegrisen, probably the most popular and famous Danish saltwater fly ever. It was developed by Claus Eriksen back in 2006 - with some inspiration from Morten Oland's Spey Shrimp. It's a killer for sea trout. The fly is tied on an Ahrex NS150 hook. Claus was actually part of the team, that designed that hook model.

Nightwatchman

The Nightwatchman is my own pattern, and a personal favourite for fishing in low light conditions: Dusk, dawn, nighttime and days with dark skies, rain and thunder. This version is tied mostly for pike and other large predators, but it is great streamer for trout as well. When the Nightwatchman is doing its rounds... things can get nasty :0)

Chartreuse Sneaker

When you want to knock rocks, hug structure, fish weedy areas or crawl lily pads - this fly can be your sneaky ticket. This is an easy tie, but has lots of movement in the water. I tie this type in a variety of colors and sizes. Tied on an Ahrex Texas Predator hook for weedless performance.

Sunburst Pike Slider

Made for pike, musky, bass and other predators The large woolhead push a lot of water, and calls for attention - while sliding just under the surface.

QuickGuide - Pro Flexitube System

A short introduction to a super versatile tube fly system.

Yellow Monster Bugger

Lean, mean and with a color that make big trout go bananas :0) Slimline articulated streamer fly, that makes a good alternative to the more compact sculpin style articulated streamers. It's an easy tie, the materials are cheap and it's a killer (even though we probably release most of the fish anyway ;0)

Bacon Snack

My take on a large articulated streamer fly. It's a Zonker style tie using muskrat fur strips for the wing, and Woolly Sparkle Dub for the head/shoulder build up. Has proven super effective for most predators - especially for brown trout and sea run brown.

Fat Bugger (Black'n'silver)

Streamer fly for trout, perch, bass and other predators. It has got a jigging action and lots of movement and flash. I like this color combo - especially for night fishing and dark days. It's just an amazing searching pattern for rivers as well as lakes.

Loopy Leech

This is the illegitimate offspring from a romance between a Fur Leech and a Woolly Bugger. Not really rocket science - but the dubbing loop technique give a lot of options for mixing colours, structures and materials. I use Woolly Sparkle Dub, which is a natural wool dubbing with some subtle sparkle in it. You can experiment with other dubbings, hair and feathers as well. This colour combination is great for trout fishing from dusk til dawn. I tie an articulated version as well, typically using a smaller hook at the rear.

Amber Fish Skull Bucktail

Amber and rusty coloured baitfish imitation, that has got a jigging nosediving action thanks to the fish skull. This one is tied on an Ahrex saltwater hook, but the fly is equally efficient in freshwater. I use it for brown trout, sea trout (sea run brown), sea bass - and perch and pike.

Shades of Green

My own pattern inspired by the fabulous Woolly Bugger and Scandinavian sea trout flies like the Magnus. The name... well it is pretty green and at first i just called it "the green fly." But as it turned out this green bastard caught so many sea trout during it's first days of action, that I had to give it a name. And there was this erotic movie, that seemed to be on every media at that time so.... Anyway green is great for silvery trout, so try it out. I know the trout like it, and I hope you will too.

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