Wingman — Holding Position

The story behind Wingman

The name Wingman came to me that summer — not as an idea, but as a realization.

The fly worked best when it held its position.
Not when it pushed.
Not when it dominated.
But when it stayed exactly where it was supposed to be.

The wing design turned out to be the key.

Materials that led the way

I originally bought stiff Twinkel Flash fibers in pearl for a completely different purpose — tying droppers (Sabiki rigs) for sea fishing, purely to catch bait.

That’s often how my flies begin.

Materials bought for one job, ending up doing something else entirely. Not because it was planned, but because something about the material felt right. In this case, it was the stiffness of the fibers.

Those stiff Twinkel fibers came with me to Norway for summer salmon fishing. It quickly became clear that the stiffest fibers were by far the most effective.

That summer, I landed more than 30 salmon on a small riffling hitch fly with short, stiff wings.
Not flashy.
Not aggressive.
Just calm, neutral, and stable in the current.

That’s where Wingman took shape.

Built for clear, low water

Wingman was tied in the summer of 2025 as a simple, neutral riffling hitch fly for clear, low water.

It builds on familiar riffling hitch principles, but uses Twinkel Flash as an active material, not decoration.

When the wings are kept exactly the same length on both sides, the fly tracks with precision. The wings vibrate subtly, keeping the fly stable and predictable.

The look is almost boring: muted, greyish, with just a hint of sparkle.

Exactly how Atlantic salmon seem to prefer it.

Why “Wingman”?

Wikipedia puts it simply:

“A wingman is the pilot of a secondary aircraft, flying in formation to the side and slightly behind the primary aircraft.”

In short:
Not the hero. Not out front. Just the one that holds the position.

That’s exactly what the fly does.

Wingman does its job, stays where it should, and lets the rest happen.

And then I discovered — only when I sat down to write this blog — that there is actually a product in the trailer world called … Wingman Hitch 😄

A pretty clever piece of gear, which I honestly found a bit fascinating — so I thought I’d share it with you.

You can see it here:

We hope to have Wingman in our shop before the season starts. More on that in a later newsletter.