How refreshing it was not to come across anything written about Trout in this the latest offering from Bloodknot magazine. There's a great article about pike on the fly by my blogging mate Wayne Mumford who has his own blog "Willfishforwork"
The Sleeping in the dirt crew have just published their 4th edition called "Sid4kids edition" purely dedicated to getting the younger generation interested in the best past time in the world. Click the link or image to visit the latest Ezine,its well worth the read over a couple of lunch breaks.
The Rattle 'n Hum is a fly I've been using more and more of this season. I've eventually found a fly that I can go wading with and not have to worry about those irritating snag ups. I also haven't had the need to refin its design either. 
Maybe change the materials I use now and then,but on a whole I'm very happy with this fly....and its a fish catcher as well. With this model I still used the black slinky fiber and contrasting bucktail but added some grizzly microbarbs for lateral lines and palmered on some brown rabbit zonker for the head instead of black raccoon fur. Then Bug-Bonded a couple of eyes on to finish it off. 
I started off with this gurglebug tube fly by tying a small chenille ball towards the back of the tube. Then added a decent length of white rabbit zonker. Then palmered on a dubbin brush loop of white raccoon fur and then followed that with some black. Pushed the loops tight up against the chenille ball so that it would flare out. 
Added the foam head and added a splash of red marabou for under its chin..Jobs n good en!
Water temps have dropped and the fishing has very much improved over the last couple of weeks. I've had some nice fish pulling my string and I'm getting to change my flies a lot more regularly now. This is one of my favourite spots found in the west of the island which hasn't been very fruitful this year. Last year it rocked, but this season....well lets say summer, we've only managed a handful of decent fish from here.Saying that its an awesome place to chuck fluff as it has some decent rocks to fish elavated from, and plenty of wading areas as well. Water clarity is still decent, but will soon deteriorate due to all the sea grass/weeds 'n reeds shutting down for the winter.
A pink lazyboy with some white raccoon zonker for a tail. I far prefer to use this fly with an intermediate line than a floating. Has great movement under the water and reasonably light to cast.
This is how treacherous the waters are around here on Replot. Just over a week a go this boat which was ferrying 22 passangers to one of the northern Islands for a day cruise sank after hitting a submerged rock. The captain who has been sailing these water for many years running the same trip apparentely became distracted while looking at his nautical maps and slightly veered off course and the resulting sinking took place. Fortunately everyone on board was rescued before the boat completely sank........and visiting fisherman wonder why they need a guide here.
Francesco visited me recently looking to pick up some tips for his inland fishing trip this week. Although a passionate trout fly fisherman he's had this burning desire to catch a pike on the fly for sometime. So I took him to a couple of my favourite spots around the island .Conditions were blustery with 14m per sec winds yet it didn't put him off his game and he managed to catch this 80cm snotrocket on a brown/gold/silver flash streamer, which isn't a bad fish for your 1st pike on the fly. 
This is the first of many I gather as he say's he's got the bug big time.
I've been very impressed with the longevity of these Bangers. Sure they become shorter as time goes on but I'm still using one I tied at the beginning of the season and it catches me a fish everytme I use it. 
They stay super elevated in the water and with these I used fosfori hair for the tail and so glow lumo white under the water. 3 seconds under my caps mag light and you can see this fly from 15m away under 2m of water. 
For me fly fishing for pike is not about having to catch big fish all the time. In fact its the last thing on my mind. Pike on the fly is about being outdoors,one with nature. The fishing is a secondary factor. Sure its great when you do catch a nice sized snotrocket but I'm just as happy with a small 68cm jack that I've fooled into taking one of my flies than anything else. I feel very fortunate to have been able to fish every day since April 26th 2hrs in the morning and 2hrs in the evening for Mike the pike. 
I've had a lot more blanks this season than last year which I put down to the adverse weather conditions weve had through the winter and now with an extremely hot summer. Saying that, the fishing has started to pick up again and will do now until the middle of October. Except for the five fish I have taken home for the table, every one has gone back to live another day.
I've known Mathias now for some time through his father who I met while teaching pike fly fishing on a fishing guides course being held here in Vaasa last September. He's been following PikeFFArticles religiously for over a year and often emails me with questions about the sport.
Anyway he sent me these images the other week of a few jacks he's managed to bag while out on his boat for my readers fish porn section. I'm looking forward to taking him out for a days fishing as soon as I have a free couple of days over a weekend. 
Chucking fluff at mike the pike is slowly gaining popularity here in Finland,especially within the younger generation When I moved here 6 yrs ago there were very few giving it a go,So seeing lads like Mathias becoming mad for it Snotrocketliners gives hope for the future of the sport.Thanks for these Mathias, you'll be hearing from me soon mate.
Another fly I'm not sure what to call but it has caught several fish over the last couple of days. I started with tying in four or five long black chinese microbarb saddle hackles. Then added a couple of clumps of orange bucktail.
Then added several hot orange grizzly saddle hackles and then finished of the head with a vail of orange arctic fox. The eyes came off within the first two fish although they were only placed there for esthetic purposes anyway.
Catch & release is becoming common practice between sport fishermen these days.....well lets face it, someones got to do it for future generations to enjoy the sport. It was the fundemental reason why I put the tournament on in the 1st place. all 421 fish caught during the weeks fishing were returned to hopefully live a long and fruitful life. You cant ask for more than that!
A big shout goes out to Jyri Kivioja & Leo not only coming down and help document this event but also for producing this video of the recent pike fly International which I put on over here. If your from Finland then you can follow his own fly fishing exploits around the country with his two mates Leo & Kari through their blog "Ruoto - for fly fishing" , simply translated means Fishbone - for fly fishing. Nice work mate,I know a lot of hard work went into getting this out.Kvarken International Pike Flyfishing Tournament at Merikarvia, Finland from Jyri Kivioja on Vimeo.
Some new slinky baitfish patterns destined for a good home. Here is a bling bling baitfish tied with white flash n slinky with a slash of gold flashaboy and gold tinsel added.
A very successful colour scheme for low light conditions the Red baron
This is a simple mottled green sllinky baitfish with some arctic fox trim.
And lastly a smaller baitfish tied onto a tube using a mix of slinky and SF blend.
Not long back I was fortunate to be able to spend 5 days guiding a couple of french lads Jean-Sebastien and Stephane who were out scouting for new areas to bring prospective pike anglers too, other than Vastervyk in Sweden. Fishing was tough and as a guide your always under a bit more pressure when guys like these come out to put them onto the fish. Most fellas when they fish this island suddenly realise how truly huge the fishing grounds around here are. You could fish a different area every day for a whole season and never see another boat on the water. That's how little sport fishing pressure this area has. Even Netting is at a minimum. 
Anyway I very rarely manage to get my camera out to take snaps all the time.....well there are more important things to be doing you know! So I'm dependant on clients sending me some which Stephane has kindly done. Thanks for these Stephane, especially the catch and release images. 
More flash flies using the dubbing brush tool on my vise. This one is made with gold and silver Xmas tinsel baught down at the local supermarket in December.
This one is with Blue Xmas tinsel and some turquoise bucktail thrown in.
This one I started by 1st adding a clump of Dark brown fine tinsel tapering the ends.Then added a gold clump. Then a dubbing brush of the green/silver & gold fine tinsel.
This is just a classic red/silver version and has been quite successful over the last few weeks.Jani had a couple the other night with one head tied up using the same colur scheme.The difference being he used red deer hair for the front of the fly.
Another Goldy mix Xmas tinsel flash streamer. Have to say though that I'm finding the fine tinsel a lot easier to work with than the thicker strips like this one is constructed from. I've also found the finer tinsel flies far easier to cast as they are less wind resistant aswell. 
Here's a new Olive lazy boy I tied up the other day for an order. Has a dahlberg diver head in Chartreuse and white. a length 120mm olive raccoon zonker strip tied on to the back of the hook. A large collar of white bucktail and some grizzly crazy legs.
You can fish this with a floating line but I far prefer to use a slow sinking Intermediate with this fly as you get a great undulating movement as it gets retrieved back. The head pushes a hell of a lot of water while the tail gives off some wicked eel like movement.
The grizzly crazy legs are always a good addition to any pike fly just for that extra bit of movement. Probably one of my favourite flies to fish with over the last couple of years.
Tied up some cross over fry patterns yesterday. I'm running short on perch flies and these will keep me going till the middle of September when they slowly go off the bite.
I used Tiemco 811s 3/0 hooks for these babies. Simple construction. Placed a sprig of white bucktail on the underneath of the hook shaft and then a sprig of yellow above. Then wrapped some Uni Mylar Holographic silver around that. Stuck a couple of eyes on then Bug-Bonded everything up until the bend of the hook.
This one I used Grey bucktail and blue eyes.
This one is chartreuse with red eyes
And finally a Brown with silver eyes.
These will last me a few seasons here at least. What I do like about these is how well the clarity of the bug-bond has brought out all the colours of the eyes,bucktail and especially the Holographic Mylar.
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