Henrik Mortensen (Denmark)

When you meet Henrik there is no doubt that he has Viking blood coursing through his veins. He’s rugged, physically imposing and very serious about what most people consider merely a hobby. But don’t let that steely exterior fool you; he knows precisely how to charm the fish with a fly. Henrik has harnessed that rare man-nature connection, which puts him at the top of the fly fishing profession.
Since the mid ‘80s Henrik has worked professionally with fly tackle design and development. And in that capacity he was at the forefront of the discontinuation of the old AFTM system, which was replaced by the unique gram-weight system for rods, as currently used by most leading manufacturers. Whether it's the design of world-class fly rods, developing some of the best fly lines or teaching the art of casting and fishing, there is nobody more well-rounded and experienced than Henrik.
With his relaxed, easy style he is recognized as one of the world's finest casting and strategy instructors, educating thousands of fly fishers on four continents. Henrik regularly participates in international exhibitions and shows throughout Europe and the US, frequently receiving praise for making the difficult seem possible through his demonstrations and accompanying explanations. He is known for teaching the “physics of fly casting” and explaining the importance of using the body in the cast. Due to his continuous exposure to students of all levels, he is able to understand and design equipment for various needs and skill levels.
Henrik’s highly reviewed multi-volume video series entitled The Fly Fishing Academy and his first book, Fly Casting – Scandinavian Style, expose many to his "Scandinavian style." His whole philosophy of casting is engineered around fishing the fly. Not only does he bring the “wow” factor, he demonstrates and explains clearly how to actually catch a fish.

Mathias Lilleheim (Norway)

Fly casting has been a dangerously important part of Mathias’s life for almost 30 years, but he will still admit to the fact that it’s the fly fishing that has captured the most vital part of his soul. Still, he’s an active competition fly caster with four Norwegian Championship gold medals, two Norwegian records and two silver medals from the very first fly casting World Championship (Ireland, 2006). He has written two books. The first (”The Perfect Cast”) is a semibiographical colloction of short stories and the second (zzzzzAP) is his version of a pedagogically angled fly casting text book. ”zzzzzAP” was written based on his experiences from more than twenty years as a fly casting instructor, of which the last ten has been as responsible for educating fly casting instructor for the Norwegian Hunting and Fishing Association. Mathias will focus on clinics, demonstrations and product development in his work for Zpey.

Jim Johansen (Sweden)

Jim is Zpey’s representative in Sweden. He’s originally Norwegian (of course), but moved to Sweden almost twenty years ago and came to stay. In Sweden he’s recognised as ”The Seatrout King” of the eastern coast and he’s out there with his fly rods up to 120 days every year. The kind of fishery he enjoys most, is the hunt for salmon and sea trout, but other times he’s perfectly happy just casting. For years he’s been guiding fly fishers in Norway and Sweden and he’s a well known fly casting instructor as well.

Crille Wiklund (Sweden)

As a ten year old, he got his first fly rod and that was that. Another poor soul at the mercy of fly fishing. At an early stage it was clear that his heart had a special place for salmon and sea trout and that hasn¹t changed.
Chrille starts his yearly fishing already in the beginning of January and he fishes for eleven months before taking December off. The genuine hard core fly fisher. This means a lot of fly fishing in really cold water, which again means sinking lines and Chrille is a guru with sinking lines. He fishes a lot with Jim Johansen (our representative in Sweden) and together they make a fearsome team. Chrille defines himself as a 90% catch & releas man, because, as he says, one has to take good care of ones pals. He does a lot of clinics and has guided hundreds of fly fishers in their never ending hunt for salmon and sea trout.

Tore Tiltnes (Norway)

Few know more about salmon- and sea trout fishing in Norway than Tore. He was the originator of a special service for the Norwegian magazine ”Villmarksliv”, where people could call a number and get reports on salmon fishing in the most popular Norwegian rivers. Nowadays, of course, we use the internet. Later, he wrote the book ”382 Norwegian Salmon- and Sea Trout Rivers” together with Snorre Evensberget. This book was published in Norway and Denmark. In addition to this, Tore has, togheter with a colleague, been responsible for more than 30 radio programs about sports fishiing on the Norwegian National TV and Radio Station. He’s a dedicated fly fisher with a tiny preferenca for salmon and sea trout.

Thomas Thaarup (Denmark)

Thomas has always been fascinated by everything fly fishing has to offer. He got his first fly rod at 10 and has never looked back. He’s an authorized fly casting instructor for the Danish Sports Fishing Association and he uses the knowledge this has given him as a base for his own pleasure in both fly fishing and fly casting. Thomas is convinced about the fact that a basic understanding about the principles of fly casting is necessary to be able to enjoy fly fishing. He prefers to teach fly casting step by step and bases his teaching on good communication with his students. Thomas often travels around Europe with Henrik Mortensen, helping him with casting clinics. When he doesn’t teach fly casting, you can find him in a fly fishing shop, at a fly fishing fare or in a salmon river in Norway, Scotland, Denmark or USA.

Henrik Møller (Denmark)

Henrik lives in Denmark, in a town called Bjerringbro, close to the famous Danish salmon river ”Gudenå”. In this river he’s been cultivating the local sink line fly fishery after salmon and sea trout for years and Henrik is one of the masters. He could also be found along the banks of other wonderful Danish rivers, like for example, “Skjern Å”, or in Norwegian or Islandic rivers during the summer. Henrik is a well known fly casting instructor and fly fishing guide and he really enjoys helping other fishermen with their casting and fishing.

Paddy Mc Donnell (Ireland)

Paddy is a professional guide and fly casting instructor in the famous Irish river ”Moy”, where he also runs a very successful fly fishing academy. Paddy has fished the Moy and other rivers and lakes (The Great Western Lakes, Corrib, Mask, Conn….) for 40 years, hunting both for salmon and trout. He’s an authorized single and double hand fly casting instructor through the F.F.F. USA and, of course, he the Irish representative on the Zpey Team. Paddy philosophy for teaching fly casting and fly fishing could be summed up as follows: “You have to learn the basic fly cast from scratch. Understand how, why and then take it step by step from there….”.

Kenny Frost (Denmark)

Kenny is a genuine fly fishing nerd, especially when it comes to sea trout and salmon. He enjoys salt water fishing almost as much as river fishing and spends between 100 and 150 days a year with a fly rod in his hands and most of his summers I the Norwegian river Gaula, where he also hosts salmon fly fishing clinics. In addition to his favourite salmon and sea trout, Kenny’s fished for steelhead in British Columbia, brown trout in New Zealand, bonefish in Cuba and arctic char in Greenland. Two years ago he quit his job as a school teacher to pursue his dream of being able to make a life for himself as a professional salmon fisher. He’s still doing it…..

Jarle Strandberg (Norway)

This man was born in another part of the country, but came when ”Hemsila” called for him. Moved to Hemsedal five years ago and came to stay. He’s a raving lunatic when it comes to fly fishing and this is purely a positive diagnosis. Jarle is an authorized fly casting instructor through the Norwegian Hunting and Fishing Association and is also a knowledgeable and experienced fly fisher and a very good instructor. He started his fly fishing career at twelve years of age, but after he moved to Hemsedal, he was lured into the darkness of fly fishing competitions by fishing companion Tor Grøthe. This resulted in both individual and team gold medals for Jarle in 2008 and he’s ready for the World Championship in Scotland in 2009.
Jarle helps Tor with clinics and with guiding in “Hemsila” and he soon knows the river as well as Tor.
In addition to this, Jarls thinks he’s the best hare hunter in Norway.

Tor Grøthe (Norway)

Tor has been fishing about from the day of his birth and with ”Hemsila” as his closest neighbour, this is the way it should be. He caught his first trout over one kilo at fourteen and after that there’s been no going back. His largest dry fly trout is well over four kilos. Tor is an authorized fly casting instructor through the Norwegian Hunting and Fishing Association and he’s extremely good at teaching both fly casting and fly fishing. Over the years this interest (or this madness) has turned into a part time occupation, filling up the summer months with guiding and instruction. Take a look at his home page at www.hemsila.no and on the presentation of “Grøthe Farm” on page …. in this catalogue.
Tor has been competing in fly fishing for many years. He has two individual Norwegian Championship gold medals and six gold medals in team competitions. In addition to this, he has one individual Nordic Championship title and he has one victory in an international tournament called the “Friendly International”.