Fly Candy

"The Lazy boy" is the name I've given to this fly. Can be fished at all depths but has been particularly productive on the Merikarvia river mouth this year. It has a decent length of Raccoon fur zonker strip tied on to the back mixed with rubber,Flash and bucktail.

Pike Sculpture

Stop by David A Worth's website for some fantastic carvings of fish.

Readers fish porn

Robert Sørvik sent me a nice selection of pike porn from his season the other day. there are so many I'll post some today and tomorrow. He says "It started very early this year, right after the ice disappeared from Nitelva(river that runs into Øyern. Lillestrøm city 20 min from Oslo).

Thanks to global warming the season is starting earlier and earlier. My first fish this year was that fat one , didn't way it, but probably 9-10 kilos, fattest pike ever, almost bursting.

This river is constantly very dirty, but right after the ice disappears we have a couple of days with very clear water and often very good fishing.
Pike Muppets works really well early in the spring, because they have pulsating(?) move even if you strip in the fly really slowly. Found out his year that very slow retrieves was the right medicine, so slow that it was almost boring(middle of March).

The Pike Muppet is one of the flies He uses most of the time pike fishing in Nitelva and Øyern. Very easy to cast . Black, chartreuse, red and white and black and red (black tail, red marabou) are my favorite colours. Strangely they don't work that well in clear water, but when fishing murky waters its my first choice.

Hook: Mustad stinger 2.0
Tail: Big fly fibre with some crystal flash
Hackle: 2 Pieces of marabou
Head: stick on eyes and epoxy.

My personal best was 12.8 kg caught in early 2000, after spawning, it was 116,5 cm. This year he finally beat it with a monster fish caught before spawning, 13,7 kg , 121 cm and what a fight. Its almost a religious feeling holding a fish like that. Its going to be hard to beat that one but that is not what it's about for him anymore.


Thanks for these Robban,I hope to get up to see you hopefully next year or the following May

The Little Wizard

This fly I call the "Little Wizard and is a great all round Salt & fresh water fly. I used something similar while in Australia fly fishing for Queenie's. We used white bucktail instead of the white Raccoon fur Ive used here.This weekend I've had a few Perch on it, but I know the lads down in Merikarvia have had a few Rainbow trout with it last weekend.

Step 1:

Slide a 10 mm bigger tube over a small tube towards the end. All tying will be done on the smaller tube. Then run a length of cotton along the small tube up to the bigger tube then back 8mm.

Step 2:

Cut a 5mm strip of white Raccoon fur and tie on from where you had stopped with the cotton

Step 3:

Turn vise upside down and tie on a small clump of pearl angel hair

Step 4:

Turn vise back over and tie on a small clump of Chartreuse pseudo hair

Step 5:

Cut a 5 mm strip of Olive raccoon fur. Snip fur from leather and tie on in front of the Chartreuse pseudo hair

Step 6:

Palmer on 2 Chartreuse grizzly variant neck hackles on

Step 7:

Whip finish and add a dab of head cement to it. Slide a silver cone over the tube to finish of. This fly can be tied onto hooks as well.

Spinning Ostrich Hurl

Here's a great tutorial for spinning Ostrich hurl. I use this method a lot with my flies.

Pike on the fly in Canada

Chucking fluff

Sitting in front of my vise creating new patterns, combining different materials, is all part of the intense buzz I get from fly-fishing for snotrockets. In fact, I’d go as far as to say, that pike on the fly for me is a total obsession, & I’m never really happy until I’ve caught my next one, especially if its with a new fly I’ve tied and never used before.

I know many of you out there probably look at some off the flies I’ve tied and think, “ Fuck me! That’s got to be like chucking a soggy tampon”, and yes, in hindsight some do weigh a fraction more than say a plain baitfish pattern tied with either EP Fibers or Flash n slinky but I learned a long time ago one doesn’t need to cast flies 25-30m (80 or 100 feet) all the time to get the best out of my fishing.

This brings me back to the beginning of the season with my new found friends from the States. Both were excellent casters of a fly, yet were so hell bend on trying to chuck their flies 80-100 ft all the time that I often found them both looking quite drained once the fly had hit the water, especially after a couple of hours on the water. Chucking flies that far opens you up to all kinds of problems. The further away the fly is when the pike strikes at it makes it much harder for you to set the hook due to so much slack from hook point to reel, and secondly fly lines have a considerable amount of stretch in them, combine this with the 1st issue and your chances of a hook up are greatly reduced. It was also one the things I brought up that second morning with them. I’d noticed that the extra exertion they were putting into their casting was greatly affecting their concentration level which in turn was affecting their hook up percentages. They agreed to try shorter casts to around 15-20m (50-65 ft)….and well, the results showed for themselves.

The 3rd day saw them casting shorter distances all day and I also noticed that they’d stopped yakking to one another like they had the 1st evening. Both were more focused than the previous 2 days, which reaped rewards as they ended the day with 33 pike between the two of them.

Unlike fly-fishing for Bone or Permit where precision long casts of 80-90 ft are needed majority of the time, the opposite can be said about chucking large wads of fluff to mike the pike. In fact I’d go as far as to say that casting should figure last on any pike fly-fisherman’s agenda. Everything should be focused on the retrieval and presentation of that fly. Mixing different speeds with short tugs of your line combining them with slight jerks of your rod either up or down or sideways is what will catch you fish….not the 35m cast!

That “Killer” fly….not!

I’ve never been one to just fish with the same pattern day in, day out……..Yawn – Booooooring” ! Don’t get me wrong, if you feel comfortable using just one or two patterns for the rest of your life, tied with the same materials over & over again, then good for you, you’ve found your comfort zone!. Unfortunately fly-fishing for pike with this mentality, limits your knowledge of not only how other materials perform under the water...but also how other types of flies can be fished.

4 months ago I had a couple of clients arrive from the USA. Once we’d got them settled the one chap couldn’t wait to show me his arsenal that he’d been furiously tying through the winter. When he opened his 4 boxes I was amazed to find 80 or so flies all tied with the same materials and style. He’d been fly-fishing for pike 3 yrs and had learned the pattern from a friend, and had stuck with it….only changing the colours and material type slightly, every now and then. He called them his “Tora Tora Killer” and gave me a few to keep, saying that I’d never need to use another fly again. Granted they were stunning looking flies, well tied with a good mix of materials but definitely not worthy of the cult status he’d revved them up to be. You’ll never hear me bang on about a specific style of fly until I’m blue in the face saying it’s the absolute bollocks or “You’ll never need to use another fly again”…blah! blah! blah! Those that do, to me, have found their comfort zone and aren’t prepared to delve into the realms of pike fly design and materials that much, which is sad in a way as you eventually end up fishing with blinkers on. Anyway if it was the only fly you ended up fishing with the rest of your life….wouldn’t you find that fucking boring as well !!!!!

Anyway that afternoon we spent 5 hours chuckin fluff and only managed 4 pike…. So much for the killer pattern I thought!. Anyway the next day I took a large selection of my own flies along and before we departed we sat down over a couple of cups of coffee and disgust the previous days fishing, where it transpired that both were basically self taught pike fly-fishermen & fly tyer’s (Respect fellas) This though had unfortunately stunted their progression in the sport some what. I told them they both needed to look further than the comfort zone they’d obviously fallen into, & just for that day use a multitude of different flies I’d tied, instead of the flies they’d brought….Which thank Christ they agreed. By the time we’d stopped for lunch both chaps had bagged no fewer than 15 pike….The most pike they’d ever caught in a single 4 hr session.

Before each change of fly, I explained to them the action it would give off under the water as well as how to fish the fly through different depths and speeds. By the end of the day the pair had caught 27 pike. In one day they had learned more about the engineering and esthetics that goes into different pike flies, than in the 3 years they’d been pike fly-fishing. This wasn’t because my flies were better, but because we used all types of flies, tied with all manner or materials & colours, fished at different speeds and depths and it opened their eyes up to a whole new world………..More tomorrow!

Fly candy

Have been combining bucktail with rubber over the last 2 weeks to many of the flies I've been tying. There's still a lot of development to be done but have been catching pike even so.

Pike fly vid

Many of you have probably seen this video tutorial but for those that haven't here's something a little different from the norm.

Advertising billboards

The Little Ned tutorial

Here is the tutorial for the "The Little Ned" I promised. A very simple tie and a quite effective saltwater freshwater pattern.

Glue a small 8mm length larger tube over 30mm inner tube

Tie on a 5 mm strip white raccoon fur then tie on 8-12 strands red krinkle flash in front. Snip so they just hang over the raccoon tail

Take a decent clump of black bucktail face towards the hook eye or front of tube. rap a couple of turns of thread pull tight then fold back over itself. Crimp between fingers so hair stays either to the top and bottom of hook or tube.

Repeat step 3 except with a bright colour. Here I used red.

Whip finish and add a dab of head cement. slide cone over tube,if using a tube. Eyes are not necessary but I've placed some on just for aesthetics.

It was thiiis big.......serious!

I very rarely feature lure fishing videos on PikeFFArticle but this deserves to be seen. Bob Mehsikomer's will probably take this to his grave as the one that got away....I must admit I have to feel a tad sorry for the bugger.

Bob Mehsikomer's Big Muskie from Bob Mehsikomer on Vimeo.

Bicycle madness

For something slightly different today, I thought I'd feature Danny Macaskill trail biking. After watching this video It took a group of surgeons to pull my long johns from my arse due to my sphincter clenching so much. This bloke has a pair of bollocks the size of an elephant!

Perch fly tutorials

Fly Candy

Flies from James Durbins collection

Poppers from James Durbins box

How many flies do you take out for a days pike on the fly? I know of some blokes that go out with boxes and boxes of flies.I even had a client last year arrive with over 700 flies in his box, and only used maybe 20 of them. An overkill if ever I saw one. You really only need 10 flies,15 at the most for a days fishing. I take one box of 10 flies with me where ever I go, either on the boat or out wading, thats how confident I am I'm going to catch a fish here on Replot. The fishing has been that good this season its allowed me to really scale down the amount of tackle I use,and flies has been one of them.

Fly Candy

"The Little Ned" is the name I've given this small fly. When I lived in South Africa I used a similar pattern to target Green Elf/Shad or Tailor in Australia and they were very productive. Ive changed a few features with this fly by adding a short strip of white Raccoon fur for a fuller body and also tied them onto tubes instead. The Chartreuse/Black combo and funnily the Pink/Black combo have been catching me perch regularly but, the Pink/Black & Red/Black flies have been hitting blanks. Not sure why as Red/White and black coloured flies have been particularly productive here on the Baltic this season. Materials used - Bucktail,Raccoon fur and a splash of tinsel flash.Anyway I've done a tutorial for this fly which I'll post Monday. Have a great weekend everyone. Click images for a larger view.

Fly Candy

Click images for a larger view.

Beer n fishin!

Here's a bloke that takes the biscuit,with regards to fishing lures. I have to take my hat off to the fella though......A legend in my eyes!

Garden sculptures

Looking for something different to have in your garden then why not this "Pike on a trike" from Darren Greenhow at www.recycling.me.uk . Darren is a keen cyclist and most of his works comprise of old bicycle components. Stop by his website to see some of his other amazing works.

"The Bob Marley"

I used a slightly different combination of materials when I was primarily fly fishing in saltwater but have been using this pattern now for around 5 years since moving to Finland. Yesterday I caught 2 perch with it and only last week when I visited Merikarvia did I catch my 1st Merikarvia rainbow trout with it. I gave it the name "The Bob Marley" purely because he's the king of Reggae and I listen to plenty of it when I'm out fishing. Its also great salty fly for Stripers, Pollock, Trevalley,Trout, Salmon you name it.

Step 1:

This fly can be tied either on hook or tube. Run your cotton along the length of the thin tube and back to half way

Step 2:

Cut an 8 mm strip of white raccoon zonker fur and tie on

Step 3:

Turn vise upside down and tie on a small clump of pearl angel hair

Step 4:
Directly after the white raccoon tie on a dumbbell eye any size.Here I used large.

Step 5:

Turn vise back over and then tie on a 120 mm microbarb grizzly saddle

Step 6:

Directly after that tie a small clump of brown Raccoon fur on.

Step 7:

Tie on your second microbarb grizzly saddle (This one only 80 mm long)

Step 8:

Turn vise over again and tie on a very small amount of red arctic fox fur.

Whip finish and add a dab of head cement to finish off

Alternatively,one can replace the dumbbell eyes with two grizzly variant neck hackle and finish off with a conehead like in these two examples.

Click images for a larger view.

Fly Candy

Whether your tying a head for a Diver,Popper or even a sub bug with bucktail, the general consensus or rule of thumb is to trim the head down leaving a slight collar behind the head. Me,I'm different...I like to leave the collar as long as I can possibly have it. This way I'm able to create a little more volume to the fly than if I trimmed it off, & secondly at the end of each strip the collar springs back thus creating a little more life to the fly. I've found this untrimmed collar helps the fly dart and jerk a lot more through the retrieve.

Click images for a larger view.