Newly stocked rainbow trout in artificial- or natural lakes and streams are usually not on a particular diet, and they have a reputation for biting on almost anything that they come across. Experienced put and take fly fishermen, however, know that this unnaturally big appetite will rapidly diminish and that even stocked trout sometimes become extremely picky. It happens, gradually, as they become accustomed to their new environment’s natural food availability. Among the rainbow trout’s favorite dishes, damsel nymphs rank high, perhaps because these hardy insects aren’t overly demanding when it comes to water quality and since, as a result, they are present in prolific quantities in almost all types of put and take waters. One of the experts when it comes to fly fishing and tying for stocked trout lakes is Swedish Håkan Karsnäser, who has regularly demonstrated his skills at many European fairs. We met Håkan to talk about his longtime experience with rainbow trout and not least his poisonous fly pattern: The Booby Damsel.
3.000 flies a year Håkan Karsnäser is happy to admit that fly tying is at least as important to him as fishing itself. Håkan has been tying flies for more than thirty years, and - already at an early age - he started tying flies for local shops. Today, Håkan uses fly tying as a relaxing element in everyday life, and he ties flies for almost all forms of fly fishing, as well as a lot of classic salmon flies, which are mostly for fun and for practicing advanced techniques. - Fly tying has had an almost therapeutic effect on me, Håkan explains. I started with the flies when I was quite young, and I had tied for quite some time before I even started fishing with them on a fly rod. I tie flies daily and
Håkan Karsnäser
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I love my home waters in Hökensås, and I usually do at least a hundred shorter or longer fishing trips a year there.
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it usually runs up to 2-3.000 flies a year. I like to tie all types of flies, from very technical and time-consuming salmon flies, to simpler fishing flies like the Booby Damsel that we’re going to tie today.
During my time as a fly shop supplier, I often tied several hundreds of the same fly, and this has given me great insights into the technical elements of fly tying and maximum utilization of fly-tying materials. A fly like the Booby Damsel only consists of three materials, and - with a bit of practice - it is lightning fast to tie. Lots of Damsel variations have been made over time, but few are simpler than this one, he says. FLYFISH EUROPE - SPRING 2021
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