Viking Lars | Saturday, 30 July 2016
Summer holiday is almost over - well, in fact, technically it is as it's now weekend and I'm not on holiday anymore. Three weeks of travelling with the family through Europe to the UK and back, a week of a little relaxing and a some practical work around the house (like trimming hedges - I struggle to find a task I dislike more), tying flies and fixing a few things and it's now back to work on Monday.
One thing springs to mind - I haven't fished once these past three weeks. I *might* fish tonight, but I'm not sure. Bombing my last Sunday with little or no sleep might be suicide as I have to get up at 05.30am to get to work on Monday :-). Then again, it'd be nice to get out.
We spent almost two weeks driving down through Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and France to sail over to the UK and spent a good week there. We had a great time, ending with a few days at Paul's in Essex, relaxing, swimming in his mom's pool and testing new Hot Torpedos.
Paul and I had a discussion a while back, started by me as I asked when he'd make a Hot Torpedo 5-wt (which he eventually will, even if he doesn't know it yet :-). Paul said 4's the new 5, so why bother. Well, since there is no 4, I think that's reason enough :-). Anyway, I did finally accept that a 4 and a 6 is a perfect set and yet, I can't see myself without a 5-wt for my trout fishing and light saltwater fishing.
Which is a little odd, because for saltwater, I have a long time ago weeded out 7-wt. I think a 6 and an 8 is a perfect set for stillwater and saltwater in Scandinavia. And for pike, I just use an 8. Trout and grayling - a 4 and occasionally a 5. For stillwater, a 5 or a 6 (occasionally an 8). So apart from from the 5, no odd numbers for me. Oh - apart from the 9'6" 7-wt that is my go-to singlehand rod for river sea trout and salmon :-).
For some reason, an 8 seems I find too heavy. A 6 is really fine, but sometimes it's just too light to spey cast really big tube flies. A 7 is the perfect compromise for that particular kind of fishing. And knowing myself, I will also be getting the HT 7'6" 3-wt once it's ready, and so, I'll way too many rods once again. I've never had a 3-wt before and acutally never anything lighter than a 4, so that's a new for me. I tested the rod in the UK, and it really seems like a very nice rod close-quarter-under-trees-and-bushed-precision-demanding-fishing.
I still have 456 meters of hedge to trim and even a good handful or or two flies on order that I need to finish before the weekend's over. I'm usually quite fast in completing orders, but I seem to digress into ideas and needs of my own (a result of not having tied for while). A few flies I really enjoyed tying for my own box was these lowater Jeannie with mallard wings.
Have a nice weekend!
Lars