Billfish fly candy

Here's another Bill fish fly I tied up last week. I 1st tied on some long White,Brown & Grizzly microbarb saddle hackles near the bend of the hook.Then added a clump of black bucktail around the hook shaft. Then followed that with some Gold,Brown & Black fine tinsel for the main body and tail. I then repeated the microbarb combinations with shorter feathers. Then palmered on two burnt orange marabou hairline feathers at the front and finished the fly off with a couple of 15mm rattle eyes, bugbonded together. Total length of the fly 280mm tied onto a Gamakatsu 8/0 SL12 big saltwater hook.

Vibram five fingers

Looking for some alternative footwear for the new year, then maybe you should get yourself a pair of these Vibram five fingers. Ok granted they might be comfortable, but why would anyone want to put themselves through all the unnecessary ridicule which would surely fly your way if spotted with a pair of these on. Not only that but you'd look a right knob walking down the high street or on a mountain trail. Anyway click the link to visit their site.

Fly Candy

The Wired rooster pike streamer did catch me a couple of snotrockets this past season. I've added bugbond to the head....well over and around the eyes just to give it a bit more weight at the front.

This a a copy of a saltwater pattern...don't know the name given to it but I was sent some from James a while back which have been a surprisingly good Perch fly,so I decided to tie up a couple more. Red arctic fox for gills,yellow/white bucktail,then some purple UV krinkle flash followed by some silver krinkle flash and finished off with a couple of peacock hurl feathers. Bugbonded the eyes as well.

Aaah, The good ol days!!

Here's some rare footage of Frank Sawyer using a snare to catch himself a pike. We have some pretty traditional methods over here in Finland with regards to fishing for pike, but I must admit I have never seen this before.

Replot Sand eels

Feathers feature heavily on my flies. They're not everyone's cup of tea but I just find they impart a fantastic action once submerged under water especially if you combine them with a smattering of tinsel. Although they are supposed to be sand eel imitations for the Sea bass (Striper) market, I' sure they would be good for a multitude of other salt & fresh water species as well.



These are some Juvenile sand ells 90 mm long. For the tail and main body I Combined small helpings of white slinky fiber with small sprigs of white bucktail with a few strands of Silver FFF krinkle flash,blue frizz fiber,Purple UV krinkle flash and a couple of peacock hurl feathers for lateral lines.

With the heads I wrapped Holographic Xmas Tinsel around the hook shaft up to the hook eye. Super glued a couple of 3D eyes on and then Bugbonded over them. This has not only given the fly a slight bit of weight ....which I was looking for, but has brought out the holographic tinsel along the hook shaft nicely.

Bass bug deer hair

Here's a tutorial that most of you have probably seen...yet deserves to be gracing the pages of PikeFFArticles. I Very rarely tie these kind of flies for pike, let alone use them unless its for an order. Yet many swear by them which I have no qualms with either. I just find the time and effort that goes into tying something so intricate could be better spent doing other things. Anyway if your interested in trying a few Dahlberg diver patterns then this is the tutorial for you.






Trimming the head

Raccoon bunny fly candy

These have been great tube fly to fish with this last season. The Red/White ones have been by fay my most productive colour combo.The second from the bottom has a red arctic fox head dubbing looped with some Red krinkle flash tied in along its flanks. The top Brown/Yellow has a decent amount of Gold/Brown tinsel flash tied in above the yellow raccoon zonker strip as well as a generous helping of Fosfori hair for glow in the dark attractant. The bottom one here has an Orange arctic fox head dubbing looped with plenty of Gold/Brown & Black tinsel flash tied over the Brown Raccoon zonker strip. I like to use use coneheads on most of my tube flies purely because they add a little weight to the front of the fly which in turn gives it a nice undulating movement under the water.

Fly Candy

I very rarely tie these kinda flies purely because I find it a complete waist, tying a whole fly with Flash tinsel, but I did with these ones purely because I had so much of it lying around. Based on a small baitfish we have here around Replot I've used Pearl angel hair for the under body then a mixture of Green,Blue,Black,Brown & Gold flash tinsel above that then bugbonded the head.

Saltwater fly candy

Some more Saltwater cross over fry. Am sure there are are similar designs out there that people tie,but maybe with different combinations of materials. With these I start by tying on a small sprig of white bucktail to the rear of the hook near the bend.Then I wrap Holographic tinsel along the hook shaft up to the eye. I then add another sprig of bucktail....With these I've used either Chartreuse,Turquoise & yellow. To finish of the fly I tie on a single strand of holographic tinsel on either flank at an angle. Tie on a couple Peacock hurl feathers for lateral lines and then bugbonded on some eyes.

Bill fish candy part deux

Another bill fish monstrosity 180mm long. Here I've combined grizzly & white micro-barb saddle hackles with White bucktail and added a splash of purple UV & silver FFF krinkle flash tied on to a Tiemco 600sp 6/0 hook. 12mm rattle eyes were added last. Would it be good for pike....I'll leave that up to you to decide!

click images for larger view!

Readers fish porn

Robban Sørvik sent me this the other night with some fantastic images from this season. With a trip planned for next August to Norway,I'll definitely be stopping by for a couple of days pike on the fly with him next autumn.

Pictures 2009 from Robert Sørvik on Vimeo.

Raccoon Tube bunny's

The name say's it a really. a length of raccoon fur 70mm tied onto the back of the tube. Then a mixture of dark/light FFF sea flash with UV flashaboy. I then dubbing looped some chartreuse raccoon in front of that for the head. Finished of the fly with a couple of eyes and a brass conehead.

Click images for larger view!

Bill fish fly candy

A couple of weeks a go I was asked to tie up some bill fish flies for a chap heading down to Baja. His only criteria, was they needed to be light enough to cast yet have plenty of volume and that they should have trailing hooks. Not sure what to call this really....Maybe those that choose not to follow this site anymore ....but still visit daily might have an idea. I started with the trailing hook, 1st tying on 4 or 5 grizzly micro barbs over some holographic tinsel. Then palmered on two marabou white feathers,whip finished and treated with head cement. Then attached it to the main hook,The body is a mix of black bucktail and black tinsel flash....and well the head is just a straight forward bucktail diver head, which was a bit tricky to trim due to the grizzly micro barbs I'd tied in at the neck area. Total length 150 mm all tied on to a 6/0 Gamakatsu SL12 big game saltwater hook.

My kinda multi species fly....which I'm sure it would be also great for snotrockets,and especially Musky.

Click Image for a larger view!

Fat pike on the fly

Cross over surf candy

Multi species fly design or cross over flies in some circles, is something I'm very interested in. With the high cost of materials & hooks these days I'm finding myself more and more tying flies that can be fished in Saltwater as well as fresh. I call these the Bend back surf skimmer,for obvious reasons. They are fantastic small fry baitfish for surface or bottom use. With a few slight modifications they were the 1st fly I ever tied in South Africa and bagged me several species from Elf (Shad or Tailor in Aus),Garrick,Kingfish/Trevaley, Flatheads, Stumpnose, Bass, Perch & even Tigerfish. I wrap holographic tinsel round the hook shaft then add some bucktail, then some FFF krinkle flash, then a couple of Ostrich hurl feathers for lateral lines as well as a grizzly variant saddle hackle (new addition) and a small blob of bugbond inside the eyes.

This one has Silver FFF krinkle flash

This one has yellow bucktail and some Flouro yellow FFF krinkle flash

Another natural baitfish pattern but with pink FFF krinkle flash

This one has Turquoise bucktail and arctic blue FFF krinkle flash tied on

Jvice 443

I received my new Jvice the other day and I have to say I’m pretty stocked…. actually that’s an understatement, I’ve got a stonking great boner looking at it . There are vices & then there are vices & this is the dogs bollocks with regards to vices. One only has to read the reviews that have been written about it on its website to know this is a true piece of engineering work. What makes the Jvice even more special for me is that its produced in South Africa 30 km from where I grew up in Durban in a place called Kloof by a chap called Jay Smit. Mine is 443 or the four hundred & forty third Jay has manufactured.

I wont bang on about it now but in a month I’ll write a full review on it. To have a look at it more closely then click the links or the image to visit the Jvice website….Cheers pops.

Fly Candy

This Zonker wig hair streamer has an Orange arctic fox zonker tied at the back of the hook Bunny bug stylie. Then clumps of Orange and black wig hair are added similar to how I tie a wig hair streamer adding some flash for good measure. Weed strimmer guard added also finished off with a couple of eyes

Slinky zonker streamers have worked really well for this season. This one has a blue rabbit zonker tied on to the back of the hook bunny bug stylie. Then I add Orange Slinky fibers in front of that with some FFF Flash as well. Both these have weed strimmer chord guards attached. Great fly for weed beds and patroling the bottom.

Threads

I only ever have one criteria when it comes to cotton and that is its got to be strong. I like my wraps to be tighter than a camels arse during a sand storm. I’ve also never felt the need to have a multitude of different colours of cotton at my disposal either. All my flies are generally tied with either black/white or clear thread with the occasional use of olive if I’m feeling adventurous. If I had to choose one thread above all the rest it would have to be Uni Kevlar W3/0. Having used it for the last couple of years now I feel confident once the fly has been whip finished and covered with head cement it will hold the materials in place….no worries. My one gripe I have is that they seem to be just a bit tight with the amount they place on their bobbins. I know I’m a tight arse, but sometimes I think these manufacturers take the proverbial piss,& I’m sure I’m not the only one that shares this view. If they gave a couple of extra meters on each bobbin it would cut down on the amount of plastics I end up contributing to some land fill area. Bio degradable bobbins would be the way forward if you want my opinion. For any company reading this then I’d be glad to receive a monthly royalties check in the post for each bobbin you sell. No seriously guys…stop being so bloody stingy with the thread.

Saltwater critters

Here are a couple of Saltwater critters for the new saltwater range I'm putting together. I've used this fly for donkeys years and was very productive for me in South Africa & Australia.

Marabou hairline & a splash of white bucktail make up the tails. Body is either Olive or Blue polar chenille or a combination of both. The neck is a small sprig of similar colour bucktail to the tail and the head is a small pair of dumb bell eyes inverted,tied on to a Tiemco 811s 3/0 saltwater fly hook.

Click images for larger view!

Replot marching powder

Spose I better pack the fly equipment away then!...and get the snowmobile out the shed. Must have moved a ton of snow this morning with the hand snow shoveler....and its still bloody well snowing. Have to say I dig this weather though.

36" Pike on a 2wt

Jeff Hatton catching a 36 inch pike on his hand crafted 2 wt gnomish bamboo rod that he built.

Fly Candy

More slinky fiber baitfish patterns from my vise.
Click images for larger view.

Bugbond

My one pet hate when it comes to epoxy’s is that there’s a lot of hassle involved, not only with the mixing but also the application as well as the drying process. Its not that I don’t have the patience, just find the whole rigmarole messy and long winded. A few months back I was sent a test kit for a new product called “Bug-Bond” by David Edwards which has changed & completely revolutionized the way I finish the front of my flies without all of the hassle that 5 or 10 min epoxies have.

Probably the main pitfall with using many epoxies is that they turn yellow after sometime, especially once exposed to sunlight and it’s hard to eradicate air bubbles that occur during mixing. The difference with “Bug-Bond” is that it’s resistant to yellowing when exposed to sunlight and also has a degree of flexibility when cured while leaving no visible bubbles & lastly has been designed to be optically perfect and when cured correctly to have a tack free surface.

What I particularly like about this fantastic product is it is extremely easy to not only apply, but with the use of the special UV lamp that comes with the kit, I’m able to cure the resin within seconds, thus cutting down not only on the time but the hassle that normal 5 min epoxies have given me in the past. The specific weight is very near to or the same as some brands of epoxy resin that were weighed in the laboratory. Bug-Bond is more fluid than epoxy resin and will soak into fibers and when cured to form a stable composite.

Sure there’s been a couple of alternative products available on the market now for a few years coming from the States’ but I’ve found that delivery of these products from distributors has been long winded so to have a product available to me here in Europe is a god sent. In short Bug-Bond is easy to apply, easy to cure and with care – no waste! There have been a few innovations & products that I have embraced over the last 5 yrs and “Bug-Bond” is one of those. If you are into fly-tying as much as I am I whole heartedly advise getting yourselves a kit.

Bug-Bond comes in a 20 ml bottle with a standard nozzle that you can cut the tip off to apply but probably the best solution is to use the optional Pro-Tip kit

which has interchangeable nozzles allowing a controlled application of the material – a little goes a long way.

I should mention that the UV light is not a toy and should be kept out of the reach of children… UV safety glasses are also recommended. Lastly I would like to also say that I received no money from Bugbond for this review in any shape or form in fact I have just bought myself a new complete kit from them through paypal.

Click the link or the Logo's to visit their site