Last weekend James and I went back to North Wales to spend time with our family and we managed to find time to fish the River Dee. The weather was perfect, the fish were rising and we had the particular beat we chose completely to ourselves. From the moment we arrived, we saw rises and James quickly waded in and started catching grayling using a single dry fly – the klinkhammer was our fly of choice and it worked well. I waded in too, and caught some lovely grayling and a small brown trout. Casting our #3 outfits at rising fish was much more fun than nymphing (mainly because my arm is still hurting from last time I ‘high-sticked’ all day!).
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3 weeks ago (in my Sexyloops front page) I wrote to be working hard on cracking the code on fly fishing for asp. Now both Paul and James have offered some fine thoughts about cracking the code in fly fishing based on their (different) point of view. Of course that made me rethink...
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Pretending to be a casting instructor has opened my eyes to an assortment of what I think are physical human instincts that are not beneficial to the novice casting student. Some may be archetypes from spin fishing to be sure, but others seem physically instinctual, as complete novice anglers are prone to them too.
Two of the most common novice errors I see include moving the hand forward on the casting stroke in a downward arc instead of horizontal, and the famous floppy wrist.
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I've been fortunate (or stubborn) enough in my life to have fly fished two areas to saturation point, namely Stillwater Trout and New Zealand. One always learns of course, it's just there comes a point in fishing where learning anything useful starts to take a long time and that's because after approaching 20-odd seasons of fly fishing day-in day-out you've experienced most behaviours and feeding patterns numerous times, giving yourself plenty of practise to get it right. Consequently my enthusiasm waned in both these types of fishing, I still have the odd stillwater trout day (had one yesterday in fact) and I'm quite sure that I'll return to New Zealand again in my life, although only for a few months, not a season and that's because I've moved on to my current area of fly fishing education; Jungle Fly in Malaysia. In around 7 more years I fully expect to have fished that one to death too and then I'll change location again - the plan being to live on a sailing boat and become a pirate.
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Last Monday, a solar eclipse was visible across the entire United States. The band of “totality” became a tourist destination as amateur astronomers, photographer, and thousands of interested citizens flocked to those zones to experience something truly unique. The buzz was exciting to say the least.
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Sometimes it's the small things that make a difference - or rather, in this particular case, the order of the small things. Salmon- and sea trout fishing in Denmark usually (unless you're night fishing for sea trout) means fishing deep - and often quite deep. Heavy sinking shooting heads, short leaders and often weighted flies.
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69 —- I travelled around in the 69 zone, not quite 71, but still quite far north.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - The 69th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 69 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane, in the Arctic. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Europe, Asia and North America, and passes through some of the southern seas of the Arctic Ocean.
The nature here is amazing. It is so beautiful that I forgot to fish sometimes. Just being there and feeling the air, seeing ocean and the mountains. It really moves me. Pictures do not do it justice but give a little idea. I have attached a few pixelated impressions. I hope the beauty come across.
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I read with interest Paul’s ‘Cracking the Code’ front page last week. I thought I’d add some comments of my own on perhaps why, as anglers, we don’t actually want to ‘crack the code’, more like put a bit of a dent in it.
Firstly, I’m sure we’d all agree that ‘cracking the code’ in a fishing sense is an impossibility. I could sit here and type all the variables that I can think of that make up a day’s fishing and someone else could easily come along and add a few pages more. With pretty much unlimited variables, the system (i.e. a day’s fishing) is best described, in a mathematical sense, as chaotic. So, at best we’re looking at trying to see patterns in this chaos and that, to me, is a good way to describe the process of learning to understand a particular fishery or species.
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Still improving my skills and learning about asp behaviour every day.
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Well I have to say that last week was a pretty dramatic week in my life; after following the advice from immigration officers (trying to help) and after having a booked flight cancelled on the way to the airport (bastards), I ended up taking the last flight out of Malaysia - a business class flight to Singapore. [Steven Sinclair says that living in Singapore was like living in a hospital, because it is so clean! - a comment that I will always remember]. I have good friends in Singapore - Pak Amin (Legendary Singaporean Fly Fisher, who has been flyfishing since 1971 and who I first met many years ago and prior to my first Malaysian trip, on a long stopover, and many more times since), Chuan Tay who fishes regularly with me in Malaysia, more than anyone else does, and also fishes with Stuntman Ronan in NZ and again with me in Russia last year, Henry at Coho Fly Shop - Singapore's one and only fly shop - who I first met through Amin and who is an excellent serious distance caster, as well as a growing circle of others... Qwek, Kelvin, Peter and many others. So there are far worse places to be!
Anyway, I shall be returning to England tonight and then I will kick some Internet Booking arses. Once I've been refunded I'm going to have some fun...
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I've tied a few classic salmon flies, just for fun and to learn how to do them. It was a lot of fun and also some horrible moments behind the vise. I'm fascinated about all the names and the story behind the different famous pattern. I still need more practice to bring these f**ing wings in the perfect position. But there was just one missing; to test them in the water!
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Last week was the Woollen Sock - this week, a new variant of that - one I call The Skjern Sock. I have wirtten before about the Swedish fly, "The Banana", which has become very popular in Southern Scandinavia over the last 5 or so years. Basically it's a dirty yellow fly in the normal, Scandinavian long-and-soft-wing-style.
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2017. August. Late summer. Finally a good day after all the rain and cold … it felt like the first day of proper trout fishing. I was lucky that Per Skåle of Skålestrømmen invited me to stay a few days at his hut. The good man even managed to order proper weather …
I fished every day til about 1am. When it got dark the action really started.
The fish gather in the faster water running off the upper lake. A good spot for bigger fish is right at the edge. It´s tricky fishing a s there are long casts with small flies required. The various currents don´t make it much easier. Plus one looks right into the low sun. Anyway - I´m just building up to the finale - I managed to invite too good fish to dinner.
One very nice trout which took a Griffiths Gnat with vengeance, and a super beautiful arctic char. I have not caught many char and this one is by far the most beautiful. The colours of these fish make my heart stop and beat faster and harder at the same time. The night before I had hooked on, but made the mistake of putting to much pressure on him. Not this time though.
Bingo.
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We’ve just organised our next DIY fly fishing holiday in the Bahamas – 6 weeks this time – in Spring 2018. So that gives us plenty of time to tie all the various flies we will need, or rather James, as I review all the current boxes to determine which flies we are low on and leave the tying to him. However this time I may have a go myself, just so I can say that I’ve caught a bone on a fly I’ve tied. So that will only be 199 more for James to tie ;-)
As we will have a few target species – bonefish, shark, barracuda, jacks, snappers, garfish, ladyfish, grunts, possibly permit and tarpon – there’s quite a selection of flies to tie. Plus we need a range with weed-guards and some without, some weighted and some not. The thing about the Bahamas is that there is such a variety of places to fish: for skinny water with mostly sandy bottoms we would use non-weighted non-weed-guarded flies; for deeper water – weighted flies; and for rocky bottoms – weed-guarded flies. Though it can be difficult tying weed-guards as there is a delicate balance between improving the anti-fouling ability and affecting the hook-hold.
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A fantastic week it was. I couldn't have fished more since I almost didn't do anything else but looking for mushrooms when changing the fishing spot. Yet the truly big asp is still to come but we caught several proper ones last week while searching the large river Elbe by boat.
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The loop Paul has produced for the photo (captured from a video?) on one of the banners for this site is, to me, the epitome of a sexy loop: arrow straight where it should be, with a narrow point, that intriguing bow shape, and minimal slack or waves in the rod leg. I think it represents the state of the art for a cast of a standard fly line as far as I understand it today. And, just to rub it in, he produced that on a back cast!
Every once in a while I’m tempted to hand someone my video camera and ask them to record my casting, just to see if I can come close to that level of casting perfection. Yeah, but then reality sets in and I realize I really do not want to know the humbling truth. I know better. I have helped a few folks to improve their casting, and I have witnessed many struggle to incorporate some change in their stroke, even after they seem to understand what tweak is necessary. Even though they understand what they have to do differently, and they are trying to make that change, they simply cannot, at first, get their body to move that way, even though they are seriously trying. In those situations, showing them a video of themselves casting is both very educational and obviously confounding. They simply cannot believe what they see. What they are doing compared to what they think they are doing are two different things. I am quite sure I suffer from the same, what… delusion?
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Before I talk about this let me tell you about one of the difficulties of being the constant traveller... immigration! The US is a nightmare - don't even get me started! NZ was pretty good - there, with a British Passport you get to stay 12 out of every 18 months, which I did for 18 years! Australia was just plain weird - I now need a working visa just to go fly fishing. Malaysia is, or was, and still is petty good, in that I can stay for 90 days and then by leaving the country for what was a few days but is now a week, return for another 90 days pretty much ad finitum. This worked just fine because I live less than 1hr drive to Thailand and so would regularly drive up, hang around, spend some money, eat some good food and return for another three months of fly fishing. But without letting me know, Thailand has changed their policy towards foreigners who are not Malaysian, and as of this year only allow me to drive in twice per year - no limits to flying however.
On Saturday I attempted car trip number three for the year and got turned back... hmmm, this was on the final day of my Malaysian VISA. But I can get an extension and so drive to Kulim in Malaysia for a 30 day extension - I fly to China in three weeks - but they don't recognise the Jersey passport as being British and think it might be British Virgin Islands and can only offer me 14 days with a flight out in that time! Oh no! How the hell do I explain the Jersey situation to a Malay? Even I don't understand it! So now on my second day over 90 days I am in Kuala Lumper trying to extend here! If this doesn't work then I'm on an evening flight somewhere - anywhere - for a week. Possibly Thailand or Singapore... stay tuned!
And now onto "Cracking the Code"...
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Callibaetis and damselflies have been dominating the trout’s menu on my local stillwaters recently, so of course they are also the insects that my mind has been feasting on. In particular, the morning Callibaetis emergences have provided my friends and me with some really fun fishing opportunities. The great thing about being into a great hatch over the span of a couple of weeks is that you really get to dial things in and experiment with what works and what doesn’t work as well. So with that in mind, here are a few thoughts that I’ve been having as it refers to the nymphal stage of Callibaetis in particular.
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As you can see in the picture, live from my little tent camp (in the rain), I've been fishing foam beetles for sea trout. That's a great way to catch river sea trout, and really effective sometimes (although I didn't have any luck yesterday). Fished upstream and actively a foam beetle can illicit exciting strikes from sea trout. But that's really for another FP, because it's the fly hanging on the lid of the box I want to write about.
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Tent scenarios
3:30 am … my left shoulder hurts caused by that big rock which crawled under the tent all by itself during the night. When I chose my campspot I did not notice it. I scanned the area I was to put the tent visually and with my feet. Heck, I even crawled around and smelled the earth. Nothing but as smooth and soft underground for my tent.
The next day was miserable because I was tired, sore and grumpy. Fishing sucked of course with such a start.
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Cool soft spot. Brilliant sleep. However – it rained. Heavy. Good I had this super modern “let-no-water-in” tent because the soft spot I found was in a bit of ditch, which now looks like a swimming pool with a small tent in he middle ..
Have you been there? I am sure you have and like me, sort of gave up tenting … tent camping is now a last resort for me.
But than came the change — hammocking. Lawson style …
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Qualification for the UK team for the world fly casting championships in 2018 is now officially underway. Tracy and I attended the first qualification event in Cumbria this weekend along with fellow BFCC members Matt and Steve. A number of other casters had also made the trip to the North West, along with some of the judges plus an inspection team from Norway representing the ICSF.
The qualification format is straight forward; Lee has arranged 20 plus dates where casters can turn up, practice and then, when they’re ready, be measured under world championship conditions (including tackle scrutineering). After all the events have been completed (around March next year) the people with the top 8 casts in each discipline will be offered a place in the UK team.
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Yet I am nowhere near to have cracked the code on catching large asp on fly. But I am truly working hard on it!
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I have been teaching a free beginner’s class each week for over a dozen years now. I did some basic math to get an idea on how many of the curious I have introduced to fly fishing and the number is frightening. Hopefully, I have been more of a service than the opposite.
They say that if you want to learn something - try to teach it. I know for a fact that is true in my case. Besides helping me get some understanding on how to cast a fly rod, this teaching endeavor has opened my eyes to how other folks think and attempt to learn. Or choose not to. Sometimes folks seem like they do not want to think or learn. The human mind is a fascinating thing.
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While fishing with one or more good friends can be great fun, I think it's fair to say that my most memorable fly fishing moments have happened while I've been fishing on my own. I suspect this is because when we fish alone we are the ones making it happen, with no distractions, with every moment feeling more intense. However it might also be because we get to fish for all the fish, and have double or more opportunities to catch them! Either way, fishing solo is very much part of the whole experience of fly fishing for me and more than anything else, it is the "real deal".
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It seems to be the word of the week: sinking lines. For us at the moment we don't have any other possibility to reach the fish. We gave the pike a little brake and started to go for perch in our lakes. Not always a easy project, specially since me moved and have some new water around us. To be honest, in one lake we still didn't found the rights spots but in the other it starts to run, but only with sinking lines.
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Did you read my FP from a few weeks ago about flies with phosforescent materials? I rambled about night fishing and glow-in-the-dark-flies and tying materials, and I also posted a picture of a fly. The way the fly's tied allows me to fish it in different ways - more below!
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... combining travel with fishing is an interesting task. We all are faced with it and tackle (pun intended) it in various ways. I find going into “driftwood mode” being a very good way of taking chances. Chances to experience the unexpected, the new, the inspiring.
Over the last years my way of travelling became more and more motorcycle based. For one the very act of driving is more fun. Not so much when it rains, but heck that´s still much better than driving around in one of Paul's cars .…. and my new bike is very good in terrain as well. A feature I will try to make much more use of in the future.
The other reason is the communicative bit. It never takes very long before people approach me and start a conversation. Such rarely happens with a car - OK, I can imagine Paul's cars having a similar effect …. mostly because he has to fix them roadside ;-)
A motorcycle has even less space for gear than a car. So things have to be planned at a higher detail level. I think this is fun. Having less stuff and more life quality - it´s sort of an eastern thing, if you so will.
So read on if you are really interested - or plagued by insomnia. It´s a boring FP, some plan according your preference. I assure you it either excites you should you be a nerd like me (that maybe counts for 2 or 3 readers - or if you want to be put asleep rather quickly. The other folks have to wait until tomorrow for more interesting topics - or join a discussion on the forum about flycasting (which puts me asleep)
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We’ve had busy weekends recently with work in between so haven’t much time to write a FP. So here are some photos from last weekend where we spent a lot of time running casting competitions from pontoons, walking around the Game Fair to get between the river and the stand (took 20 mins) and drinking around a BBQ in the evenings (thanks Jono).
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fly fishing, fly casting, fly tying and teaching all of them - yeah that's right!
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A few days back I had ringside seats to a bare knuckles fight. In one corner was my tarpon addicted friend, who I might as well call TA. In the other corner, the challenger was a surprise addition to the ticket: an approximately 75# thug from the back alleys of Poonland. While we were there hoping for a fight, we were not expecting this level of competition – the neighborhood is better known as a place for lightweights. TA didn’t care, he takes on all comers. The fact that he was equipped with lighter gear didn’t bother him at all.
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