Knekestorparen

Like almost all soft hackles, it’s simple to tie and uses only white tipped turkey for the body and a black hen hackle. I tied a batch last night and of course I instantly changed the black front hackle to a starling hackle, which I like a little better. Im sure fish cares as much about that as I do about soccer (and that’s really not very much). Where as World Tour cycling is a completely different matter. I love cycling and the Tour de France starts today. I’m ready and I’ll be tying flies as I watch the stage. I’ll probably tie a few dozens Knekestorparen.

The name translates to “The Knekestorper”. And that particular name once again unites my professions as a medieval archaeologist, my interest in fly fishing history and of course fly fishing in general. “Knekes” is most like a person’s name and the suffix, -torp is highly likely very old. As early as the 10th century, people began settling new villages from older villages from where they moved out. These new villages were often named after the primary settler, in this case, Knekes. The name could have been slightly different in the medieval period. Most of these new settlements were given the suffix -torp, which indicated it was settles by, in this case, Knekes and had moved out from an older village.

Today the name is associated with a small lake, where Gunnar Johnsson originated the pattern. So the lake might very well be named after a village from the middle ages. I’m not sure if the village is still there, but even if the village has been gone for hundreds of years, the place name often lives on, for instance in the name of a lake. The original -torp suffix has derivatives, which are also present in the UK, left over from the viking settlements in the country, especially of course in the area of the Danelaw. Some of the -torp derivatives are older than the viking age, though.

I’m digressing. Try out the fly, I haven’t fished it yet, but I’m sure it’s good.

Have a great weekend!

Lars