Swedish fly fair

Well I'm back from the Swedish fly fair which was held in Stockholm and what an amazing time I had over the four days. The Swede's know how to put on a good show and I have to thank Ulf Burglund and Mountain media for giving me the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the best fly tiers in the world. To name a few there was Peter Joest (Germany), Dave Wiltshire( UK), Chris Reeves and his wife Caroline (UK), Ulf Hagstrom (Sweden), Niklas Dahlin (Sweden), Par Palm (Sweden), Tommy Kjaergaard (Denmark), Martin Angel (Sweden), Phil White (UK), Mikko Stenberg (Finland), Hakan Karsnaser (Sweden), Charles Jardine (UK) and Helen Kernsby (Sweden)

My tying table from behind

And from the front. Cheers for the (Fat guy fly fishing) decals Alex took them along to spread the love fella.

Although Thu & Friday was busy...around 15 000 visitors,nothing prepared me for Saturday. An estimated 50 000 people visited the show and I was truly blown away by the response to Pike on the fly and PikeFFArticles in general. If you think pike on the fly is big in the States & Canada you truly have no idea how massive the sport here is in Europe. In total I tied over a hundred flies and gave all of them away to interested pike enthusiasts. Highlites for me were meeting new and improved friends Ulf Hagstrom, Niklas Dahlin and Peter Joest. What was even better I didn't come across a single over inflated ego out of any of the tiers which cant be said about other fly shows around the globe.

Chris reeves,Caroline & Ulf Berglund

Hakan simply a class act and an all round top bloke.

Mikko Stenberg...another class act and a hell of a nice chap on the left and my new found Guru...Peter Joest. This guy simply blew me away with his saltwater patterns.visit his website Twinkleflies.com

Niklas Dahlin, Still wondering why he had been invited because he was probably one of the poorest fly tiers there. Only taking the piss Niklas.What a fantastic guy and an extremely talented Catskill fly tier. ChecK his blog out (HERE)

And last but not least Ulf Berglund which I was very happy to meet and make new friends with. Over all it has to be the best fly tying fair in Europe. We were treated wonderfully over the 4 days with transport to and from the airport, hotels, meals, lots of whiskey...what more could one ask for I say.....I hope to see some of them back there next year.