I though that I put a recipe/pattern of a very good Scandinavian style version/variant of the famours Green Highlander. Also here are some thoughts and some highligths of this fly. This is very simplified pattern by me and it is quite easy to tie. There is a short and not too happily ending story behind this fly.
When I was fishing in the Lakselva river in season 2009 I found a Green Highlander fly on a path to this nice spot. I checked the fly and it seemed to be in a good shape and I decided to give it some time in the water. Couple of days ago one of my fishing friend managed to land a nice 10kg salmon on that same spot so that was the reason being there. So I put that Green Highlander on the line and after few casts nice salmon catched the fly and then the battle begun.
I managed to hold the fish at least 10 mins on the same spot but then it decided to take a downhill run. The spot was very hard place to fish since there was very deep pool just few meters downstream. I tried to run downstream in the deep water but it was clear that this fish is gone. So it did manage to bend the hook and it got away. I never had a chance to see it really good. I only saw the fish tail on the surface couple of times.
After this event I decided to make my own version of the fly with same color scheme on the wing. The fly had lots of more things on the body like a true Green Highlander has, but I decided to keep it simple. Also I did not put any jungle cock in it because I did not have it at that time.
I managed to land my personal record breaking 11kg salmon with this fly when I was fishing in Lakselva river on early August 2010. I managed to land several others salmons from 2kg to 4kg with this fly. No need to mention it has become my favourite fly in my fly box
Also I would like to show you how to use Pro Tube Fly Systems products and how to use A.Jensens Crossbreed fox which is quite nice material. The crossbreed fox is very soft hair and it is undulating nicely when in water. Hair quality is very good and it is curly almost on whole length of the hair. You can tie very airy wings with it and you dont need to use lots of material on the wing to get perfect figure and shape for the fly. My personal preference is “less is more” when tying a wing on these Scandinavian style tube flies. Then the wing is more lively and airy when in water. If the wing is too thick is not undulating and is not lively in the water.
Recipe/pattern
Tube: Pro Tube Fly System X-Large clear tube
Tag: Flat silver
Butt: Black UNI silk floss
Tail: Golden Pheasant crest feather
Rear body: Yellow UNI silk floss
Front body: Electric Green A.Jensen Ice dubbing
Wire: Golden UNI tinsel
Wing: Yellow, Red, Blue Crossbreed Fox from A.Jensen
Wing flash: A.Jensen Angel Flash in Baitfish back color
Top Wing: Green Arctic Fox
Hackle: Yellow cock hackle
Conehead: Pro Tube Fly System small silver cone
Underwing is formed from yellow crossbreed fox and red crossbreed fox. Both colors should have same amount of hair. The wing lenght is approximately the fly body length or maybe a bit longer.
Tie little bit of blue crossbreed fox and leave it a bit shorter than first two colors. This helps the wing to be more lively and airy. This way the wing is not just a thick bunch of hair on the tube. Also tie few Angel Flash hairs in place.
The top wing is green Arctic FoxWing. Wing length should be approx 1.5 X the underwing length. You need to use your thumb to spread the wing on the tube. The green hair should be like an umbrella on top of the underwing. Also there are three yellow cock hackles. One under the underwing, one on top of the blue wing and one after this green Arctic Fox.
Final result should be something like this…
Here are the links to the step-by-step pictures:
I hope you find this Green Highlander version interesting and thank you for reading!
Nordic Angler 
