Some people might wonder what goes into those of us who venture across a whole country – some even across borders – to attend a show on fly fishing and fly tying.
How nerdy can you be!?
Well, judging from the attendance to the 2025 version of the Danish Fly Festival, quite a few people are actually quite nerdy when it comes to their favorite pastime.
Even though the weather was nice in spite of it being early March, and fishing might have been a temptation for many, a lot of folks decided to go to the Pulzion facility in Kolding in Denmark and watch a bunch of fly tyers and fly casters – and maybe massage the credit card a bit in one of the many booths tempting with gear, clothing and materials.
An invitation
I was cordially invited to tie at the show, as I have been the last many years. It’s always enjoyable to tie at these events, not because I’m a master tyer or have anything special to teach, but because I get to chat with a lot of people.
I usually joke that I’m not there to tie, but to talk, and that holds true ... I do talk more than I tie!
People pass by the tyer’s isle and hang out, and I get stopped while walking around by people I know or who recognize me.
I do talk more than I tie!
Martin Joergensen
Pike flies
I usually select a theme for my tying, and this year it was pike flies because the main theme of the show was fishing for pike and perch. At earlier shows I have tied articulated flies, shanks and other types of flies, and two years ago I tied floating sea trout flies using foam and deer hair.
But pike flies it was, and that’s an easy task. Pike flies are not big art – at least not when I tie them. I basically pile a lot of colorful and flashy material onto a big hook, and I then have a temptation for pike. I don’t tie them too large or too bulky because they are hard enough to cast because of their mere size, and there’s no reason to make that worse.
I think I managed to tie about 10 flies during the two days (make that 9), which is not exactly impressing, but as I said: I talk more than I tie. As long as there’s a hook in the vise, I look like I’m busy, and honestly, people seem more interested in the person Martin than his flies.
Quite few GFF visitors passed by, and a couple of contributors too. One of them - Danish Sune Andersen - brought a real life version of his fly the Water Vole featured on this very site. It's an impressing morsel of foam popper heads, shanks and rabbit strips that will most definitely tempt a pike or a big trout if spashed in the surface in their hunting territory.
A lot of talent
Luckily there’s a lot of talent present at these shows, and even though the really big international names aren’t as many as they used to be, there’s quite a few very skilled and well known tyers to watch. And most of them can both tie flies and teach people stuff much better than me.
Many of the booths also host tyers, and as a fly tyer there’s enough to see.
On the casting side there’s an equal pool of talent, and there’s a rich program of casting demos both indoors and outside. And should you want to try a particular rod, there’s a good chance that you will find it present at the show, and be able to rig it with a line an try it.
See you in two years
So another year and another show is over, and kudos to the Danish branch of FFF who set this up! There’s so much to take care of, so much to plan and so many ends that needs to meet. the logistics are insane at events like this, and if there were any glitches – and I’m sure there were – it wasn’t anything that I noticed.
I even managed to meet up with some good friends for a meal and a cozy evening. We had rented a summerhouse not too far away and enjoyed a meal and a glass of wine before turning in. I was up and at the show the next day while my friends decided to tage advantage of the good weather and go fishing.
So it’s thanks for this festival and see you in two years.
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