Deer Creek

Deer Creek specializes in offering some of the worlds most advanced Trout, Salmon and Salt-water flies to discerning anglers across the globe. We are now also able to offer the creative & forward thinking fly tyer an exciting selection of highest quality hooks & unique new materials that are at least as up to date as any seen anywhere else in the world. Couple these factors with a specialized custom tying service & exceptional after-sales.

Anyway,Nickolas over at "Deer creek" sent me a shit loada new corks of varying sizes as well as some gator eyes and some "Diamond clear" lacquer for me to try out....Cheers for that Nic.

Greg Senyo believes these eyes are the closest to Large mouth Bass eyes he has ever seen. they come in 4,5,7 & 9,5mm sizes and assortment of colours cost £1,99 for a packet of 16.

This bottle of "Diamond clear" lacquer is made from 100% recycled materials & retails for £3,99. Click any of the "Deer creek's" links to visit their site.

Marabou hairline

As you’ve probably noticed over the last 9 months Marabou hairline…. Or in some circles “Bird fur” features heavily on a lot of the my flies. I’ve been using it for donkeys years. In my eyes its just has to be my absolute favourite material to tie with. I’m not a big fan of tying up baitfish pattern type pike flies to target Snotrockets. On your vise it looks like a fish…..because that’s the way you’ve tied it, but once its wet it looses much of its shape and just becomes a long strip of whatever fibers you’ve tied on to your hook. With Marabou hairline though your fly truly does take on a life of its own once you have it in the water. It gives you lots of volume & movement for very little weight. The theory behind my madness is “Mike the pike” is going to be far more attracted to something that moves through the water column in waves & pulses, than just a stiff length of your favourite synthetic material. Sure EP fibers/ SF Flash blend/ Alien fur/Flash ‘n Slinky to name but a few, retain less water than natural products, but I’d rather sacrifice a few grams of extra weight in water when having to re-chuck my fly, just to have that extra movement it gives off when under the surface.

Don’t get me wrong synthetic baitfish pattern flies work….and will keep on catching pike for as long as we keep chucking them, And if your happy with using them then don’t change a winning formula. I must add though, other than my normal White/red Schlappen streamers that regularly bag me fish, 70% of my fish this season have been caught with my marabou hairline streamers.

Pink/Purple; Pink/Blue & White/Red have been working extremely well for me. There are 3 or 4 different ways one can tie it onto your hook and I’ll go through those over the next few weeks. There’s also a fantastic time saving piece of equipment specifically designed for those that use the material a lot, which I will feature as well.

Wee fellas

I tied some of theses on to hooks last year and they caught me plenty of Perch. They would be fantastic for all you Bass fly-fishermen as well.These three have been worked onto tubes this time. Very easy to tie so will do you a tutorial this weekend for them.

Post a pike

Pike on the fly in Canada

Jigging tube fly tutorial

Last week I tied up some Walleye/Zander jigging tube flies and said I’d do a tutorial for you, so here it is. All you need is 2 White marabou hairline feathers, 2 x 10mm strips of Black & white Raccoon fur and a couple of strands of pearl tinsel.

Step 1: Run a line of cotton along the length of the conehead

Step 2: Cut 2 lengths of Raccoon fur zonker strips 8mm in Black & White

Step 3: Start at the back of the cone and tie in the white strip first. This will be your tail.

Step 4: palmer on one white marabou hairline

Step 5: Gather all the feathers from the bottom & snip off.

Step 6: Take 3-4 strands of pearl tinsel. Tie half way and fold back over itself.

Step 7: tie on the black Raccoon fur strip at the front of the conehead.

Step 8: Palmer on the second white marabou hairline

Step 9: Whip finish and there you have it.

Here’s what its profile would look like in the water. Now you cant tell me that this fly wont catch you a Walleye/zander/Perch

Tube fly Candy

I'm not a great fan of Steve Farrar's SF Flash blend, but I was given several clumps to try out a year ago and am desperately trying to get rid of it. There is just too much wastage with it, and it also retains more water than I expected. Anyway I have tied up some small baitfish patterns onto some Eumer tubes yesterday for targeting Perch with. At 45mm in length they should be perfect.

Pike on the fly in the USA

More gifts from a far

James Durbin sent me these which arrived in the post the other day. they are great mate and thank you so so very much...although I have said that already to you on numerous occasions.

Fly Candy

More tube flies hot of the press.I have been asked by Jaakko at Eumer to develop a range of Walleye (Zander/Pike perch) and Perch flies for them for jigging purposes as its big business here in Scandinavia and also the States. Anyway I have looked at the the simple jig used around the world and decided that the best line of attack would be to have a wobbly tail which one can achieve with using Marabou hairline and Finn Raccoon Zonker fur, and as I can use different sized heads for the jig I can vary the amount of the materials I tie onto them. Here is the 1st batch. I will do a tutorial for them over the weekend and post it on Monday.

Toothy critters love flies

If you don't already know yet,there are 2 new pike on the fly books hot off the press.The 1st is "Toothy critters love flies" by George Bernstein and also "Fly fishing for pike" by David Wolsoncraft-Dodds. Anyway I have been speaking with George Bernstein over in the States and he will be sending me his new book for me to read & review for him which once I have done will then hold a small competition here on PikeFFArticles for some lucky regular to win.....So stay tuned!

Pike on the fly tournament

Here's the first glimpse of an event I am putting together for next year May here on the island of Replot. I already have some fantastic sponsors within the fly-fishing world on board. More to follow in the coming weeks & months.

GBA Tube fly

Here is Richard Strollis again this time giving a great tutorial on a very simple tube fly. There is no end to what can be created on tubes. Pop over to Dave's blog and have a look at some of the tube flies he posted up yesterday with some great explanations.

GBA Tubefly from Richard Strolis on Vimeo.

Hot of the vise

With my leg still crook,Tube flies have been rattling off my vise these last few days like blokes streaming in and out of a whore house in Amsterdam.

Purple tube Bunny Bug

Elk hair bug streamer

Baitfish pattern tied with Red/white & Mullet brown SF blend

Tandem streamer tied with purple marabou on the front and Palmered guinea fowl feathers on the back

Flouro green & yellow marabou Angel

Flash fur streamer. Black fox zonker and olive racoon zonker strips palmered on the front and Gold FFF Flash & Silver pearle tinsel for the tail.

The Plipper

The Plipper was designed by Martin Joergenson, and is a real easy fly to tie on the tube. Depending on how long the piece of tube you are using, will depend on what fish you want to target. For this tutorial I have added my own spin on this great surface lure fly and would be great for all you Bass fly-fishermen out in the States & Summer Chub fly-fishermen in Europe.

Cut the tube to the desired length you want the fly to be and then tie on line along it.

Then wrap some pipe tube garland around it (I used Gold here). Tie secure.

Palmer on as many black Sclappen feathers it takes you to cover the tube.

Fold the foam to this shape. At the end of the bottom fold, punch a small hole in the end as this is where you will slide it over the tube.

Make four rubber legs and tie onto the side of the body when making the securing wraps of cotton to the tube.

I just added some character to this easy fly by drawing on some spots and adding some eyes but they aren’t necessary and either is the palmered Sclappen feathers…..especially if your tying it specifically as a pike fly. For Bass though, this needs the detail I’ve added.

Used over lily & weed pads one can place the hook mounting facing upwards to alleviate snagging or for slightly more open water have the hook mounting facing downwards.