My name is Simon Johansson, originally from Sweden and currently living in the beautiful town of Bern, Switzerland. I am 24 years old and enjoying my dream job in a fishing shop.
I started tying flies when I was around 14 years old after finding an old fly tying kit at my grandparents’ house. I immediately fell for it and shortly thereafter bought my first fly tying book. The first flies were nothing like the ones depicted in the step-by-steps, but being able to create my own lures and to catch fish with them has stuck with me ever since. This has influenced my whole fly tying and I’m constantly trying to improve my patterns and find the best techniques to get the flies looking like I want them to. Although I have to admit, the process of finding the perfect pattern would be much shorter if I wasn’t such a perfectionist. This pursuit has led me to try out a whole lot of different materials to find the best ones out there. If there would be one thing that I’ve taken with me from the numerous flies tied and fished is to go for quality material: it is worth it in the end!
I came in contact with the Semperfli products a little over 2 years ago, when I bought my first spool of Nano Silk 18/0 Beige and it wouldn’t be the last! This material has become my number 1 used product and I cannot tie without it or the Nano Silk Predator anymore.
At about the same time, I started tying a lot more, posting what I was doing on Instagram under the name Hacklesandwings and producing 2 fly tying videos per week on Youtube. At that point I really knew what I wanted to do and I’ve followed this dream ever since. I am now working full time as the head of fly tying in the Swiss fishing shop “fischen.ch” which is just amazing and has enabled me to try out even more materials, tie all varieties of flies from pike streamers to the smallest nymphs and even tying at fairs internationally.
I am so happy and excited to be able to take part of this journey and I hope to meet a lot more of you either online or offline in the future.
