The beauty and versatility of the White Wing
A modern hair wing edition of the White Wing. Photo by Heimir Óskarsson.
Anglers who come for fly fishing for salmon in Iceland will want to know which flies work best. There are of course a few certain favorites but the flora is immense and very many less used flies tend to have their great moments. Among them is the White Wing.
In the book Salmon Flies – Flies of Icelandic Rivers, compiled by Bjarni Jónsson and the photographer Lárus Karl Ingason, it says that salmon flies with a dominant white colour are rare, yet the White Wing serves as proof that the white colour can be deadly for salmon. The White Wing is one of the old classics and as such is far less used for Atlantic salmon than before. Which is a pity. It is though still to be found in many a fly box throughout the Atlantic Salmon world. It was first tied by James Wright and has a history of being more than potent.
In the named book on Icelandic flies, Bjarni Jónsson offers this memorable tale: „One bright and sunny day I stood on the bank of the pool Gullhylur, on the Húseyjarkvísl, and cast a number 16 White Wing carefully over the pool. I was using a number six fly rod with a long 4 kg leader which I felt was appropriate in the brilliant sunshine and still weather. At one point I felt a salmon had passed under the fly, but nothign else happened so I pulled in the fly and added a hitch to it. A moment later the White Wing cut its „v“ over the lie , the surface bulged and a big salmon stuck its head out and nailed the fly. An hour later I landed a 96 cm cock fish. A perfect fish on a perfect fly.“
The older type, white a high feather wing. Photo by Einar Falur.
In Bjarni‘s story the hitching of the fly may have made allt he difference and perhaps any hitched fly would have done the trick. However: The editor of AI onca sat in a fishing lodge and several anglers were turning up stories of this fly and that. One told us of how he had once been fishing on Midfjardara and with the water very low, the fishing had been slow. However, one angler, a local expert by the name of Rafn Hafnfjörð, had come in with a notable catch one evening. Upon being asked, he reveiled that he had used a small White Wing. He had caught his fish at dusk and the told his friends that he often used the fly to excellent effect and that it was particularly effective at dusk. He had sufficient White Wings to give three of his friends a fly each. The next day the fishing remained slow, but come dusk Rafn and all three of his friends scored, each one at a different beat.
This tale reminded the editor of a another one involving a dear old friend who used to do his fishing on Reykjadalsa. He was not a very able fly fisherman but did his best and once he had spent most of an afternoon changing flies for leaping salmon in one of the main pools. Nothing had budged however and he was starting to think that he would finish the day without a fish. Suddenly a car stopped on the nearby road bridge and out hopped an angler who was to fish the river the next day. They knew each other slightly and the guest was in fact an expert fly fisherman. After a short discussion, the arriving angler pulled out a fly box, took out a number 8 White Wing and asked: Have you tried this one? If not, pleas do it now, you still have half an hour. Several minutes later a seven pounder had been beached.
The editor cannot claim many salmon caught on the White Wing over the years. That is probably due to the fact that other flies were in the forefront. On one front I did though catch a lot of fish on the White Wing. For years I fished Scarcely touched mountain and moorland streams and rivers for brown trout. The first year I found out that I lacked the presence of a Black Ghost in my boxes. The closest thing I found were a few numer 6 to 10 White Wings. To make a long story short, who needed a Black Ghost while equipped with a few White Wings? They were devastating for the wild browns.
