Viking Lars | Saturday, 26 January 2019
I’m continuing on with the theme of forgotten flies today. I’m not talking about forgotten flies from centuries past (although I might some day), but flies I used to fish a lot, and that somehow got pushed out of the box. Last time I was enjoying a mild December to fish an “old” Danish classic, The Djihad by Steen Larsen. Today I’ll tell you about The Wolf by Martin Votborg.
Martin Votborg is from the northern part Jutland, where he’s worked in a local tackle store for many, many years. He recently quit that job for another job - namely that of a semi professional flytier. Which makes sense as Martin is a phenomenal flytier. Martin invented this fly called The Wolf. It’s really an excellent fly for sea trout in the salt, and just when it came out, I used to fish it quite lot. I think it's around 20 years ago Martin first tied it, but I think it’s been out of my boxes for at least 10 years. Now it’s back.
It’s a bit of an oddball, really, as far as flies go. It’s best described as a double wing, asymmetrical triple-hackle fly. Once you get the proportions down, it’s simple enough to tie, no trickery involved. One important key point is the sparseness Martin insists on, so go easy with the Golden Pheasant breast hackles - two turns each.
Now that I have the materias out, I’m going to tie some more, and some colour variations. I think the patterns lends itself very well to colour variations, and I know I’ll be adding one with pink butt to the box, and maybe a few all-neutral ones as well.
If you’re curious, Martin has a video on his YouTube-channel. It’s in Danish, but you’ll get the tying anyway.
Martin takes orders on flies, so if you’re in need or too busy to tie your own, look up Martin on Facebook, or just search #minflue and you’ll find him.
Have a great weekend
Lars