Fly swaps!

Another fly tier who I have come to admire over the last couple of yrs is my mate James Plante from "The Salty Riffle" blog and so when He asked for a fly swap I jumped at the chance to get hold of some of his flies. I've kept the yellow one aside for a frame but the other two I'm taking out to South Africa with me to hit the surf.

He also sent me this double stinger pike fly in chartreuse and white Icelandic sheep hair which has already seen some action but as Chartreuse hasn't been working for me too well this Autumn Its going to get a hammering in the spring time. I still have this evening and the weekend still to fish before I pack the rods away for my trip so Once I get out to South Africa I'll stick up my stats for this season. 240 consecutive days fished and over 2800 pike caught and released. Anyway thanks for these awesome flies James,much appreciated mate and I'll send you some images with fish caught with them once I'm out there.

Fly Candy

Some more flies for my trip out to South Africa next week. All have been tied onto slightly bend back hooks and all have the hook point facing upwards & range in length between 80mm - 110mm. I've combined Reindeer fur with white microbarb saddles,Holographic Xmas flash,white chinese cock hackles and white marabour hairline feathers. This will be fished off & around the rocky groins up & down the south coast and will be targeting Shad,Trevally, Stump nose grunter,Springer and anything else that might like the look of em!

Fly Candy

Here are a couple of flies I've been fishing with the last couple of weeks with varying success. I started by tying on a thin strip of grey rabbit zonker 120mm ,then added a barred black n white rabbit zonker directly over the top of that. Then added a couple of decent pencil thick clumps of white bucktail around the whole hook shaft followed by a thin clump of brown bucktail, then finished it off by wrapping some black UV Polar chenille near the hook eye. Both these flies have been fished slowly and left to drift in the current more than usual yet this has out fished the bottom one 4 - 1.

This one is very much the same kind of fly except instead of rabbit zonker I used recycled white/chartreuse & black icelandic sheep hair for the tail. Then added a couple of pencil thick clumps of chartreuse bucktail around the whole hook shaft then finished it off with some black raccoon fur. Out of the two models this has been the less successful. Chartreuse generally is a fantasic colour here around the island but maybe not in late autumn/early winter. As you know I far prefer naturals over synthetics, but if I have to be honest I'm not a big fan of using icelandic sheep hair on pike flies. Yes it has fantastic movement in the water but its certainly not pike mouth friendy and tends to get mullard and knotted all too easy. The same goes with big fly fiber as well.

The Gurgzilla

Our mate Raymond Noordermeer out in the Netherlads is at it again with another of his creations "The Gurgzilla". Sweet fly Raymond!

Pike on the fly in Canada

Love em or hate em, but these are the notorius Midnightsun charter guides in action. Yes the same Charter company that were involved in Barry Reynolds film "In pursuit of the waterwolf" and the same ones that threated our favourite Danish pike fly fisherman with their lives......As guide myself the last thing I want to be doing is threatening people with their lives especially on water that doesn't belong to me.

Season so far!

Its been a long hard season for me. With constant unseasonable southerly winds I've been able to fish a whole month extra than last year. Water temps have stayed a constant 4'c - 6'c, and with no ice to worry about, the pike have been feeding well. I only have a few more days left before I pack up my kit for the winter and have already started compiling all the stats and its interesting reading for me. I've started to get a better picture about what coloured flies work best in certain areas of the island and especially what flies have been the most productive at different times of the year. Again, tactics were changed,and they have payed off in a big way and although I haven't caught many fish over a meter here this year, my clients have,and thats the most important aspect when your life revolves around this magnificant fish. I'll post my stats a couple of days before I leave for South Africa.

Readers fish porn

Olivier Lesage out in Belgium sent me this the other day of a nice 76cm pike he bagged quite recently. Thanks for this Olivier,I'm looking forward to meeting you and your party here in October mate.

Fly Candy

Another Banger hybrid this time tied with white and cream bucktail, white fluoro floss,red arctic fox and a couple of strands of pearl tinsel flash. This though is the saltwater version tied for South Africa.Total length 90 mm

Free swag if you impress!

For all those in the Uk or subscribe to fly fishing & fly tying magazine then I recommend you look out for the december issue as its running a fantastic fly tying competition with some great prizes as giveaways in the form of Bugbond kits and a Regal fly tying vise.

Rudd, nah!......prefer a Burrito instead!

How many times has a pike followed your fly all the way to the boat and not taken it. Found this yesterday that might shed some light on why Pike can be quite selective at times with what looks edible or not!

Flies for a far!

I'm off to South Africa at the end of this month for 3 months break to get out of the impending winter, so I've been tying up a load of saltwater flies and poppers to be used in the estuaries and also off the rocky groins. I'll still be posting on a daily basis, but there will be a tropical feel layed down once a week depending on where I've been fishing and for what species. I've teamed up with "Easyfly" out in France who have sponsored me a load of new kit to try out (Hardy Proax Sintrix 9" 6# & Airflo bluetooth Nantec 9" 10/11#) lines (Monic phantom WF6 F tropical and a Monic clear WF10 intermediate), reels (Airflo Airtecs) as well as other goodies. I'm going to be running a number of fly tying workshops around the country and will also be up in the Drakensberg mountains flicking 2# & 3# sticks at brook trout which I'm really looking forward to.

The Knuckle head crank bait

Pike on the fly in the Netherlands

A backyard in Nowhere review!

So I've watched "A Backyard in Nowhere" three times over the weekend and I can honestly say that this film is without a doubt, one of the best Fly fishing films to have come out in the last couple of years. In fact I'll go as far as to say that if this film doesn't pick up any accolades at the next fly fishing film awards I'll take a dump in my hat! It makes the "Deliverance" look like a tea party! And lets face it there aren't many fly fishing DVD'S these days produced where it says on the back cover CONTAINS: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE,PROFANITY,DRUG USE & NUDITY.

"A backyard in nowhere" is set in the muddy barren wastelands of Alaska down the legendary Innoko river and has a supporting cast of local misfits that any film maker could only dream of having. Its fantastically well edited, and as it says on the back cover "It mixes Western & Gonzo with traditional fly fishing.......Just cant believe they managed to bring the Molboro man out of retirement to narate the film!

On top of all that, these four intrepid Danish fly fisherman that go through hell and back to avoid being literally threatened with their lives by a bunch of unruley fishing guides from the "Midnightsun" trophy pike adventures, bring you one of the most riveting fly fishing films to come out in a long time.

And yes, its filled with the kinda pike fly porn dreams are made of and will quite literally be the benchmark for all pike fly fishing films in the future. In short This film shows why Pike on the fly has become the fastest form of fly fishing in the northern hemisphere and why So many of us fish for this truly awesome species.

If you don't already have this film then I suggest you order it today from Flyfishingwestern.com
Its the absolute bollocks!........nuff said!

Fly Candy

These bendback hightie synthetic baitfish patterns are another fly that going to be added to my shop in a variety of different colours. I've been testing them for a number of months now and they are by far the best fly I have fished with through thick reed, long water grass & weeds ever. Granted, as with all bendback flies you do loose your fare share of fish but I'd rather loose the odd one every now and then just to be able to strip this fly back through thick obstructions where snotrockets will be lying up just because I'm able too. Sorry for not getting the tutorial up for this fly yet but have been so busy the last month I haven't had time to finish it off in Photoshop.

Readers fish porn

Its been a fantastic year for my Baltic pike tours clients. 33 in total and over 1623 pike caught. Nine over a meter, 37 between 90cm - 100cm. This was the last decent fish caught by Philipp a few weeks back when he was over. Considering this was probably his 8th pike ever he managed to get this 112cm snotrocket into the boat within a couple of minutes. Congrats mate! I Still have a couple of openings for next season if anyone is interested in coming out here to the island and fishing with me. www.balticpiketours.org

Catch Issue 20 out!

Catch magazine Issue 20 is out if any of you aren't already subscribed to this fantastic magazine.

Building furled leaders

I dont use furled leaders but I know several people who do and have no complaints,so this winter I'm going to make several of these to test them for next spring. My only concern with using this method that even after twisting the 15lb mono to approx 30lb and then twisting it again to make an approx 60lb top part to the leader,your still left with a 15lb loop where your tippet attaches.If like all pike fly fisherman that use some kind of wire trace of around 25lb's to 30lb then surely the weak point would be the 15lb mono loop. Any thoughts on this or if any of you use this method then drop me a comment or two.

I've been very impressed with these woolhead flies catching ability over the last 2 months. This Pike version has accounted for numerous fish and its still looking in good nick. Over the winter I'm going to be adding a set of these flies in a range of different colours to my Baltic pike flies shop as well as 5 new models which I have tested over this past season.