Good reads

Bloodknots 2nd blogger issue and POOL 32 Ezines are out if your in need of some lunchtime reading. click images to visit the sites.

Fly Candy

I've called this surface fly a "Marauder" Its a combination of splayed out schlappen feathers,Bucktail and a tightly packed trimmed spun deerhair head.

I first combined Olive grizzly schlappen with plain yellow and tied three on on either side of the hook shaft splayed outwards. Then addd a couple of thickish clumps of tan bucktail around the hook shaft. The added another four schlappens,two on either side also splayed outwards.

The head is simply olive deerhair tighly packed up to the hook eye. The trick to this fly is to slice the entire bottom away with a razor blade then evenly trim away the sides upwards. It pushes a lot of water and has a real good frog like action as the schlappens spring back after every strip you make. These can be fished either with a floating line or an Intermediated.

Fly Candy

Three new Lazyboys colour schemes to be featured in my shop once I get back in March.
This one has a Chartreuse raccoon zonker tail. The body is a mix of Olive,Cream & white Bucktail with several strands of yellow rubber floss in between. The head is Natural spun deer hair trimmed Dahlberg diver stylie!! Total length 150mm

This one has a brown raccoon zonker tail with an all olive bucktail body & cream rubber floss in between. An elk hair collar with and tan brown tightly packed trimmed spun deer hair head.

This has a yellow raccoon zonker tail. Olive & white bucktail body with yellow rubber floss strands inbetween. Finished off with a two tone brown and cream trimmed spun deer hair head. Total length 150mm

Cracker shrimp

Been fishing down at the harbour on the low tide a lot over the last month on what I call "The Durban Flats". Exposed sandbanks that can be waded out to as the tide receeds. Fish like Springer and Trevally patrol between the deeper drop off channels and the shallower bays chasing the mullet down and so tiny baitfish patters have been the normal fly of choice. However there are a hell of a lot of Sole and flatheads in the harbour as well that love the odd crustacean offered to them so I've tied up a number of feastly delights for them

Cracker shrimp (Alpheus crassimanus) live in small holes all over the sand banks and are gobbled up by Spotted Grunter, Flaties, Snapper, Sole & eels. Around 50mm - 65mm in length they can be a deadly bait on any given day.

I first added a couple of mono filement eyes. Then added the front pincers which are made from elastic bands. I then attached a tiny dumbell eye towards the back of the 1/0 long shanked hook. I then palmered pearl chenille down the length of the hook shaft for the body. Then added several strands of cream floss rubber legs. Then finnished off the flies with a tail under the hook eye.

Male Cracker shrimp are slightly browner in colouration so I used tan bucktail for the legs,Some grizzly saltwater hackels splayed outwards for the pincers & used tan wool dubbing for the main body. Click images for larger view!

Finds around the house

Found this "Birdy chick tail" feather duster the other day wedged between two cupboards at my oldmans place. So being the ultimate tight ass oppertunistic fly tier that I am, I raped four of the best plumes off it.....Result!!,although if the old fella found out am sure he'd have my bollocks on a stake!

What I love about this find is I've never come across natural ostrich hurl in such perfect condition with such long hurls before. I mean this duster was massive and never been used either. Well,Its gone to a good home now!

Bad ass musky flies

This ones tied in Chartreuse and black Schlappen, bucktail,microbarb saddles,chartreuse fine fluoro tinsel & 3 green grizzly microbarb saddles. Total length 13" inches.


The next batch I'm tying up I'll be combining those synthetic microbarb extentions I aquired last year from Greg Bekker white water flies with an old friend. At 16" inches long you can expect things to get out of hand with regards to length, and am going to working on improving my Replot slug designs which I think the extentions would work well with.


Well I'm off to the harbour to catch the low tide and hit the sandbanks for a couple of hours. Have a good day all!

Pike on the fly in the Netherlands

Bad ass musky flies

I've been so snowed under with fly orders through my shop the last month and a half, that it's great to be able to have some freedom to get the creative juices flowing again with this new batch of Musky flies I'm tying up. This double tandem rig is just over 13" inches long and is a combination of Yellow & Brown schlappen.
Gold fff flash,Brown, yellow and black bucktail, Red/brown microbarb saddles and a tightly packed yellow and black deerhair head. The images aren't up to my usual standard as I'm having to take them with a shitty cheap hand held camera in an area of my dads kitchen that makes my Amsterdam whore house of a studio in Finland look like a palace in comparison.

With all these Musky flies I like to tie the schlappens splayed outward to give it optimum movement. This I do by adding two tightly packed clumps of bucktail around the hook shaft then butting the schlappens up against that. This allows the feathers to be splayed out away from the body of the fly and once wet stops them from clogging up between one another and frees the tandem tail up for more movement. Tying them on this way as well, allows them to spring back after each strip giving maximum vibrations under the water as well as give the fly much needed volume and a larger silhouette from below.

Road kill!!!

I'm always on the hunt for a decent fresh road kill and none come more finer than this find the other day while walking back after a Durban harbour flats fishing session. Okay not a proper road kill as such, but this gold wig hair extension still in its packet was lying ontop of a skip not far from a local hair salon........result!

Fly Candy

Another one of my hybrid ghost bangers for the new season. Probably out of all the flies I tie and fish with, the Banger is one of my favourites. This one is a combination of white bucktail, white microbarb saddles, red arctic fox, Pearl fin tinsel, and Olive UV Polar chenille. I'm also back on the Musky madness trail at the mo, tying up some more monster flies which I will start taking images of this evening. Trying out some new colour combinations and material blending on these ones, so stay tuned.

How to use Icelandic sheep hair!

Icelandic sheep hair gives great movement to any fly but has one downfall, Its not pike mouth friendly especially when combined with synthetics. The hairs are too fine and tend to end up being matted far too easily. Never comb this material out when wet as well and allow to dry before doing so.Even then, you'll find clumps falling off the fly and it very quickly becomes half the flies original length. Great tutorial though.

Wiggle tails update

A couple of wiggle tail flies that bagged me a number of fish in the second half of the season. I've been very impressed with them and will most deffinetly be stocking them in my shop once I get back home in March. There are two types which will be available. the first are these softer materialed type models that aren't coated with a thin plastic layer. If I have to be honest here though,they aren't as strong and probably not so suited to pike fishing purely because they tend to rip off the back of the hook in a pikes mouth or when being pulled through thick reed or weed beds.

The slightly stiffer plastic coated models like the ones shown in this image though, are another story, and are as tough as hell and have far longer longevity of around
20 - 30 pike per tail. Even after extensive casting they still hold their shape and bare no showing of deterioration. I caught fish with all the available colours.Holographic, Blue, Red, Black, Silver, Gold.

Yak fly

The J- Bobbin!

The "J Bobbin" is something you might not have seen yet. Manufactured By Jay Smit who also produces my Jvice is also another reason why I rate this chaps workmanship. I've been using this bobbin for the last eight months now and will be loading up a review on this fantastic piece of fly tying heaven over the weekend. Am also looking forward to going up and visiting and tying with Jay soon as he's just up the road from me. Stay tuned!

Fly Swaps!

Sorry for not being around for the last week or so, but a trip down the South coast over the new year period and some quite painfull back problems have kept me away from the laptop. Fused Muscles in my lower back and damaged nerves have had me in hospital for a couple of days on a mix of morish pain killers! Anyway more on that when I know the true extent of the damage. Thought I'd start the week off with a couple of fly swaps I've been involved in. This stunning creation is from a fantastic fly tier Called Holger Lachman from Germany.Its a tandem rig purely made from Raccoon fur with a smattering of flash thrown in for good measure.Total length 130cm.
This over sized Sculpin pattern is from world renowned fly tier & good friend Ulf Hagstrom. I'm just digging these new sculpin fish skull heads from Flymen fishing co.

Maybe not specificaly designed for us pike fly fisherman but still very tasty all the same. They still add some fantastic extra weight to any fly you add them to and still give a wonderful jigging action to your flies that need to be fished at deeper depths.