Charity fly auction

So if you remember, you can put yourself inline to win this Pikesaber rod by guessing how much will be made from the fly auction I will hold to be able to donate the proceedings towards the Casting for recovery organisation. Anyone can enter by either contacting me through the contact form in the right column or leave your answers in the comments section of this post. Those that send me materials + a hook to tie a decent pike fly with,will be given 5 extra guesses.

Anyway materials have started arriving from people which I'm rather stoked about. Rok Jesenko sent me this pile of goodies + 8 of his own flies towards the auction which I will show once I have taken images of them. Thanks for theses Rok.

So last night I started with this selection from him,some natural fox zonker strip ,Bucktail and some fluoro orange craft fur and came up with this beast below.

I started by adding a mono loop at the back ontop of the hook shaft for a zonker guard.Then added a 100mm strip of the natural fox zonker.Then added some of the orange craft fur. Gave a decent collar of the longer bucktail then spun some shorter piece for the head area.

I've called this fly the Hairy-bomber. Anyway keep on sending me those 5 different materials + a hook (3/0 or larger) for this worthy cause and put yourself in line to win the rod.

Fly fishing for pike by David Wolsoncroft-Dodds

Open publication - Free publishing - More pike

This bloke called David Wolsoncroft-Dodds in the UK has a book out called "Fly fishing for pike" if anyone is interested and can be baught from Amazon for between £14.50 & £17,50 The above issuu flip ezine gives a brief insight into the book.
Best viewed in full screen

Fly Candy

A couple of marabou hairline tubeflies with grizzly rubber legs thrown in for good measure. These have so much movement through the retrieve, but come into their own during that all important hangtime. Not the longest lasting flies I've fished with on hooks but these tube flies are still in my box from the beginning of the year.

I use a slightly wider tube at the back to slide the hook into so it displaces the fly once the hook sets. Adding a small amount of KY jelly to the inside of the tube allows the fly to slide out off the hook easier which helps the overall longevity of the fly......(Top tip).

Fly Candy

Another one of these fury flashtails. With this one I started by adding 3 tapered clumps of Ice silver grey FINE HAIR. Then added 3 long white microbarb and 3 shorter black microbarb saddles.

The added a dubbing brush of white raccoon zonker fur and hen followed that with a dubbing brush of black raccoon.

Whip finished and stuck a couple of eyes on. Have some more like this tied up in a variety of firetiger, red/yellow/orange colour combo's. Click images for larger view!

Fly Candy

Rumaging through my fly image folder I found these weighted jigging tube flies I tied several months back for Zander/Walleye/Kuha, using the new Eumer weighted jigging heads for tubes. The heads come in a variety of different weight and sizes and slide directly into the front of the tube once you've finished tying on your materials.

Zander are primerily fished for here with using rubber wobbler lures with great success so I was looking for a material which would give off a similar action under the water,which Raccoon zonker fur does. They aren't necessary but I added small rubber worms to the hooks just to add some extra movement.

With a 9" #10 rod you don't even feel the extra weight from the jigging heads like you do with the new fishskulls. Anyway these caught me several nice Zander at Kyrosjarvi but have been particularly effective catching Perch here around the island.

This white/Chartreuse and the Orange/brown below have been my most productive colour combinations thus far. Nearly all the takes using these flies were made when the fly was on the drop which the weighted heads do so admirably. Anyway if your looking for a new addition to your fly collection and you tie with tubes like I do then find a Eumer dealer in your area and get yourself some of these weighted tube jigging heads.

Fly Candy

Not to be mistaken with the flashtail whistlers,I've called these Fury flashtails for obvious reasons. I started by tying 3 seperate tapered clumps of Gold sparkle hair near the hook bend.Then added a short clump of assorted gold/bronze/silver fine tinsel over that.

Then added 3 long black and 1 long grizzly barbed micro saddles. Then wrapped a dubbing brush of white raccoon fur then a dubbing brush of Olive raccoon fur. Whip finished and stuck a couple of eyes on.

The design isn't new by any stretch of the imagination,I just like the thought of combining these different materials together,which I havent seen done before.

Fly Candy

How I've missed using these flies this year......Still, at least these are going to a good home.

Recipe
1 x bottling cork...dremmel front out, then spray paint black
Start by attaching popper head to hook shaft (See below)
Then take 2 pink & 2 x red schlappen feathers and tie on splayed outwards facing
Then add a couple of strands of flash
Then palmer on 2 x orange marabou hairline feathers
then palmer on 2 x red marabou hairline feathers.
Stick a couple of rattling eyes on the popper head
Jobs a good en!

One can wrap some soft foam around the hook shaft then attach by wrapping cotton around it, but I have found this the best method for attaching cork popper heads to my hook shaft. Build three balls up towards the front end of the hook. Once this is done,coat with super glue and slide the cork popper head over.

Schiels Salamander & Frog flies

Sorry but the company that produced these are untracable these days....Thats a pitty cause these flies were dynamite!

Food for thought!

I do pride myself on practicing correct catch & release methods, but I do like to eat fish as well. I spend a lot of time traveling the length of the country teaching out door cooking skills to either fishing guide courses or wilderness guide courses here....especially with pike in mind. As in most countries pike is regarded as a shit fish here and generally gets slaughted and thrown on the bank for mink,eagles & seagulls to finnish off, yet it is a fantastic fish to eat if you know how to fillet it it and especially cook it. Baltic pike taste so much better than river or lake pike purely because of the saline water they live in.

Cut yourself two decent fillets down the length of the spine.

extract the rib bones

Then clear away the irritating Y bones. and your fillet is ready for the next step.

Break an egg into a bowl and mix the whites with the yolk. dip small chunks of pike in the egg then cover with beadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs should have some curry powder mixed into it. take some sour cream,add a decent helping of chives as well as a decent table spoon of sweat chilli,Boil some potatoes and there you have a decent scoff fit for a king. I have so many decent pike recipies on this blog for you to use or visit my good friend Joseph Bognanos blog "Sports fishing Americas" for some truly inspirational table delights using pike.


This is the method I use

cleaning a northern pike from Mark Buesgens on Vimeo.

Here is the Canadian way for filleting pike

The Lost World of Mr Hardy

A few weeks back I received by post, a copy of the “The Lost World of Mr Hardy” presented by “Truffelpig films” & produced & directed by Andy Heathcote & Heike Bachelier, and what an outstanding piece of cinematography it is. Although I’ve never owned a Hardy’s rod or reel, I’ve had the pleasure of fishing with a couple my grandfathers split cane rods several years back and I was always impressed with how wonderfully they cast. So to be able to put faces and places to their manufacture was rather special experience for me…..especially being a geordie like!

Anyway the film takes you on a journey from the company’s inception in the late eighteen hundreds by William & John James Hardy to the “House of Hardy” to present day Hardy- Greys. Filled with personal accounts from past employees, wonderful archive clips from their hay day when their split cane rods and Foster Hardy’s perfect reel, were to be matched nowhere else in the world. The film gives real insight into in to how Hardy Brothers brought engineering of the highest quality into fishing tackle manufacture. Introducing the first fishing catalogues as well as half hour fishing films to take round to prospective clients during the 1920’s was unheard of then. In short they literally revolutionised the fly fishing industry into what it has become today. As a fly tier I found the interview with Ken Middlemist particularly interesting, as he reminisced about the good old days where Salmon flies were dressed and not tied, by hand.

It’s only fitting that the finest fly rods & reels in the world should have a truly remarkable film produced about them which this film is, and for any avid fly fisherman out there I honestly recommend you add “The Lost World of Mr Hardy” to your collection.

To order a copy, click any of the links or the image to visit the Truffelpig website or click the banner in the right column of my blog

The Lost World of Mr Hardy (trailer) from Trufflepig Films on Vimeo.

Here is a short clip from the film just to wet your appetite.

Musky Country: Zero to Hero trailer

Musky Country: Zero 2 Hero Trailer from RT on Vimeo.

Check out the new teaser trailer for the new Robert Thompson flim "Musky country: zero to hero" coming out in February 2011. Although a different species, these guys share the same intense passion I have for pike. I hope someday to get the chance to chuck some fluff at this fish cause they sound a real challenge by all accounts.

photoshoped fly art

Have been tying like a madman the last month to clear orders which hasn't given me any time to myself with regards to fly design and new ideas. I did manage to photoshop these 2 creations though, which I am very happy with.This one has been given the water colour treatment while the bottom one seemed to work best in neon glow effect. Best viewed large...click images!

Ice pick streamer by Rch Strollis

The "Ice-Pick" Streamer from Richard Strolis on Vimeo.

Here's another fly by one of my favourite fly tiers Rich Strollis, that could be tweeked slightly to target pike. I've become a massive fan of these fish skulls from flymenfishing co as they give your fly an awesome jigging action when used with a floating line and sink tip.

Testing flies

There are a culmination of reasons why I fish every day and one of them is I'm constantly testing new flies. To tie something up and be able to drive five minutes down the road to try them out is why I've put so many hours in over the last 3 yrs with regards to pike on the fly.


Combining different materials and seeing 1st hand how they perform with different lines,leaders & stripping retrieves has been a great addition to how I approach the sport.
This is one of my gurglebug frogs working its way back to me. Over the course of 3 days I spend several hours fishing them with different sink tips to see how long I needed to pause before the fly rose back to the surface. I'm so lucky here on Replot the water is crystal clear until the middle of september when the plant life starts to die off and makes the water rather murky. So being able to watch a fly from 20m away has been a great help in understanding how they move through the water column and how to get the best from them.

This probably why I have become more prone on using natural materials over the last 3yrs than synthetic baitfish patterns purely because Of the extra movement they give off. Saying this though, that all the fish I caught over a meter this year were all caught with synthetic baitfish patterns.

Pike on the fly in Canada

So some things have been put in motion to hopefully go out to Canada next year in late June,early July to go spend 10 days filming pike on the fly with Carlos Gonzales, then back here to Replot for a French fishing film company. It's still too early to say how it will transpire but more than likely myself and Benoit will be out in the North west territories filming some awesome top water surface action. Stay tuned for more info as it falls off the press!

Fly Candy

When I tied these Black/white bangers up I was hoping they would fare better than other colours of the same fly. This wasn't the case this season. They did catch me fish but not as many as I would have hoped for....well not as many as the pink/white or Chartreuse/white versions. The red polar chenile at the front was there to mimic a bleeding fish from the gills yet didn't attract the pike as its supposed to do...or should I say what the general consensus is with regards to adding a splash of red to a fly. The fly moves as well as other versions, and looks like a baitfish. So why was it not as productive?

I can only surmise that the pike weren't attracted enough by it. Maybe I didn't fish it as well as I could have. So many variables to consider.....spose thats why I go fishing!

2010 season stats!

It’s taken me four or five days to go through & compile all the results, but as like last year, I’ve documented as accurately as possible the stats from each of my day’s outings. There will be some out there that’ll question some of these statistics as rubbish, while some won’t believe me either……Well, that’s fishermen I suppose, and everyone is entitled to their own opinions……Its funny though, that isn’t it always those that have such a high opinion that are generally the ones that fish maybe 2 or 3 times per month….or even less, yet seem to know everything there is about the sport.. Anyway here they are.

1) I fished from (April 22nd – Nov 5th) - 204 consecutive days, averaging 3hrs per day. During the weekends off course, more time was dedicated to chucking fluff

2) I wasn’t sure whether I should put the final tally in purely because of my opening comments but

3) I caught 1037 pike - averaging 4.8 per day

4) I’ve released 1028 pike back

5) I took 9 pike home for the table

6) I had 29 blanks this season - This I put down to the extremely hot summer we experienced, and a late ice melt off in the spring. Also, 9 of these days were completely calm days with no wind and zero surface disturbances.Had I not had so many blanks I'm sure my average catch rate would have been a lot higher!

7) I caught 218 pike below 65cm

8) 292 between 65cm – 75cm

9) 427 between 75cm – 85cm

10) 88 between 85cm – 95cm

11) 9 between 95cm – 105cm

12) 1 x 106cm, 1 x 112cm, 1 x 118cm

13) I caught 6 pike over a meter in length

14) 3 x PB’s 106cm, 112cm & a 118cm

15) I caught 472 with floating lines & 562 with intermediate lines

16) I started this season as I ended last with one rod set up with a 60lb mono leader trace but scrapped it directly after the tournament due to what I’d seen through a couple of lost fish. I did catch 7 fish before scrapping the system.

17) I have since only used a wire trace on both rods and caught the remaining amount using this method.

18) I caught 9 pike with my 1^st cast of the session

19) I caught 441 fish on sunny/partly cloudy days & 596 fish on overcast/rainy days.

20) I’ve used, tried, and in some cases tested 12 different Intermediate & floating lines.

21) I’ve had to pull a hook out of my body on 13 occasions this season, and no, I’m not a shit caster, I just don’t let 18m/per/sec winds stop me from fishing.

22) I caught 381 using tube flies……317 were with raccoon bunny tubes.

23) I caught 738 pike with attractor patterns & 299 with baitfish patterns

Most popular colours with attractor patterns

Green/yellow 32
Chartreuse/white 114
Olive/brown/gold 62
Pink/white 126
Red/white 86
Orange/black 91
Turquoise/blue/white 22
Black/white 38
Yellow/Orange 19
Flash 55
Pink/Black 22
Yellow/white 17
Others mixed 27
Turquoise/white 19
Blue/white 8

Most popular baitfish colour patterns

Perch 44
Herring 36
Red/black 24
Red/white 38
Purple/blue/black 41
Black 27
Orange/white 9
White/Black 16
Black/yellow 33
Black/pink 31

Some more to follow in a couple of days

Fly Candy

The double bunny gurglebug tube fly can be fished with a floating or intermediate line. Probably best used with an intermediate on slow flowing rivers. Cast this across and up stream and allow the line to sink through the drift. A couple of sharp long strips gets the fly down around 2 feet as it swings across back towards you. Very visible, and has plenty of movement to entice the most lethargic of snotrockets.

Pool 32 Mag Issue 1 out!

Here's a new Ezine called "Pool 32 mag" full of truly stunning images taken from around Bristol bay for you to subscribe to and read through your lunchtime. Click image or link to visit the Mag. Well winter is well and truly here as 10mm of snow now coveres the ground.Packed up my rods, cleaned all my lines over the weekend ready for next spring. Lets hope I make it through the winter!

Competition time!

So as promised, it’s time to give away that Pikesaber rod with carry case to some reader, and I’ve come up with a cool way for doing so. If you’ve been following PikeFFArticles for some time you’ll know I sometimes love to fish with some pretty obscure shit tied onto my hook.

What I’m looking for is for 25 readers to send me 5 separate materials + a hook to tie the materials onto. Materials can be anything you desire from flash, plastic rope, Synthetics, feathers, doctor’s rubber gloves….your choice, but should be enough to produce a decent pike fly with. As and when the materials arrive, I will then tie up a fly from them, photograph them + the materials used, and then put the collection of flies up for auction on a web based auction site. All the money obtained from the auction will then be donated to “Casting for recovery Alaska” which is part of the national program to help breast cancer survivors heal - both physically and emotionally - through weekend fly-fishing retreats.

To put yourself in line to win the rod, entrants must predict as close as to the amount made from the auction of the flies. Anyone can enter, but for an added incentive, those that send me an envelope of materials + hook, will be given 5 extra guesses each.

Materials must be sent to

Baltic pike flies
Söderövägen 31
Replot
65800
Finland

So although there is a rod to be given away, there is a bigger picture here with regards to this competition, as the proceeds go to a truly worthy cause. Leave your answers here in the comments section of this post or you can enter them through the contacts form in the right hand column of this blog. For those that have a blog and follow this one….please spread the word, I’m hoping this is going to generate a lot of interest.

Bloodknot issue 3 out!

Bloodknot issue 3 is out and well worth the read over lunchtime. Click link or image to visit the site.

Fly Candy

Caught some decent fish with this fly this season. Found it most effective with an intermediate line with short sharp strips and a log pause in between. Have to admit it didn't swim well until I trimmed the bucktail from around the hook bend away,which freed up the Microbarb saddles for more movement.

Plastics.....Uuuugh!

Spot the odd ones out! Nothing against you plastic chuckers.....I just know which method is the only way to target snotrockets.

This is Fly! issue 2 #4

The latest instalment is out from the boys that bring you "This is fly" with Issue 2#4. Check out the wicked article from Cosmoledo Atol near the Seychelles and an insane interview with Daniel Goz & Bach kristensen about the merits of float tubing for massive Tapon. Click links or image to visit the site.

The big,black 'n ugly

I use a lot of these tandem hook flies during the early part of spring here, purely because the pike tend to nibble at the fly towards the back, and most are hooked in the front bottom or top lip depending on which way the hook is facing.

Fly Candy

I've only used a few poppers this season here on the island with very little success. To be perfectly honest they aren't very effective here. This I put down to fishing on the sea. Salt water isn't a great habitat for frogs for a start, and very few mice or Voles swim any length of distance between islands and shorelines, so Pike very rarely get to see them from the below. This doesn't mean to say they don't take the odd vole or mouse or small duckling that strays away from the comfort zone of shoreline or their mothers, but on a whole Pike just don't seem that interested when I'm fishing with surface lures.

It's a crying shame because its my favourite form of fishing for Swamp donkeys. Its the only aspect whith regards to pike on the fly, which has been sorely missing for me this season.

Saying that though, the sheer clarity of the water here around the island, and being able to literally witness hundreds of blistering takes, has more than made up for the loss.

Pike on the fly in France

My good mate Thomas sent me this last night of him snagging a few snotrockets. Nice one Tom....wicked sound track as well!

Catch Magazine Issue 14 out!

With my season nearing it's end, there are certain things I will be looking forward to over the coming winter months and one will be new releases of "Catch Magazine". Issue 14 doesn't disappoint in the slightest. Anyway click the image or links to have a relaxing lunch break!

Fly Candy

Keeping with the spirit of Halloween past, I tied up this pumpin orange wig hair streamer the other day. The next couple I tie will have fishskull heads on just to see how they perform.