Sunturn Sunrise

Hook: Partridge M2 #2/0
Thread: Semperfli 18/0
Tag: Silver, black silk
Tail: GP, red & yellow swan
Butt: Ostrich
Body: black, yellow, orange and red sealsfur
Rib: Silver
Throat: Red and black
Underwing: Black GP tippet
Wing: Kori, yellow, orange and red swan
Topping: GP
Head: Shellac

Another winter solstice and the third sunturn fly I have made: each year I grab a bottle of Nøgne Ø “Sunturn Brew” and create a pattern based on the fact that we are on the darkest day of the year. I still have some bottles left of this beer that Nøgne Ø brew only on this shortest day of the year, and this year it had been stored for just over 2 years before the winter solstice.

The past years I have created a pattern that, looking back at it, reflect the state of my progression in fly tying: the first year it was a spey, last year it was a ranger. This year I have done a lot of married wings and getting into the classic salmon patterns, so it was obvious what I had to do this year! With the dark days and the focus on the sun turning to brighter days it was again the focus on black/yellow/red colors that dominated the pattern, maybe more yellow/orange/red this year than the years before. This one will go into my collection as the blueprint, but I’ll create some more for fishing.

The beer is everything I want in a winter beer: dark with sweet malts and a long full aftertaste. The balance and complexity is great, so it goes very well together with flytying on a dark winter night!

https://flytyer.org/eide/pattern/sunturn-sunrise