For years I’ve been hearing those strange words spoken about me, and I’m quite proud of them, but the truth of the matter is that I have magic powers.
I don’t consider myself to be a trout torpedo – those fish just don’t wiggle my tip. However on those rare occasions when I do fish for them, I always catch the biggest one in the river. For example 11.5lbs out of a Varzina River tributary in Russia – not only the biggest brown trout that my casting bitch has ever seen, but the biggest fish in the entire river! I did that and I did it using magic.
He has an ongoing fantasy for Giant Snakehead. Anything over 5KG is considered a trophy when it comes to these tough mean ugly slimy bastards. I’ve had three over 6KG, including the biggest of 6.8KG which happens to be – surprise surprise – yet another fish I caught with magic.
Yes, I may have cannon-like properties and I’m not without a large dose of finesse, but my true area of expertise lies in magic. I dabble in there-is-no-four: kinetic magic (obviously), illusion, necromancy and conjuration.
Those last two being particularly useful for Imaginary Saltwater Flyfishing, where I have an ability to hallucinate large bonefish zombies on the flats.
Put me within casting distance of your average toilet bowl – anything up to and often beyond 140 feet (less of course if I have to cast through a window) and I will catch you a fish bigger than anything you’ve ever imagined!
Take care – I have been known to turn danglers into princes, or sometimes toads.
Hello everyone, I am HT6 nr 137. My owner Piffen ordered me after some lengthy talking to Paul Arden and Piffen wanted some funky blue and orange colours on my whipping. Lee Martell made some mock up whippings on a blank and Piffen saw that one of them was the perfect dark blue colour for my appearance.
At last I came home to Piffen and while hanging around in the kitchen, I saw him making different custom scabbards and sheaths in leather for arborist saws and secateurs. They all had nice carvings and colours. That made me a bit jealous! Why should all these tools have beautiful and comfy leather homes to live in and I just in an aluminium tube? I told Piffen “If you don’t make me a leather case, I won’t perform my best”. Piffen took the hint and made me my luxurious new dwelling. He wasn’t a very good caster in the beginning, I must say. He used too much power so the loops was all over the place and he was struggling to make it better. Nowadays he has got a bit better through asking on the Board and hanging out with my designer Paul and Mark Surtees that could show him hands on how to cast, much to my relief. I think I can perform better now that he’s learned some tricks of the trade.
In my two year old life I have been to Malaysia for fishing with Piffen and Paul twice. On my first trip I was lucky to land a Giant Gourami, late one night. Thus far that’s my greatest accomplishment. But later on during that same trip, Piffen managed to break my tip, one inch below the tip top and Piffen got really sad but Paul heated up the epoxy with a lighter and put the tip top back on the top section again so that I could fish again. A little later Lee made me a brand new top section so now I can appear as either a 9′ or an 8’11” for really tight quarters. Though the inconvenience I’m glad I must say.
On my second trip to Malaysia I wasn’t that lucky fishing wise. Piffen got there just as Ramadan started and even though he saw and cast at quite a few Gouramis rising, they didn’t eat his offerings because they only got up to breathe air. I would never have expected them to celebrate Ramadan, not eating during the day, as the Malay.
During the times I haven’t been brought to distant places, I have mostly gone to a lake outside Stockholm to fish for Rainbow trout and caught a few of them but I want to catch more of them. I think Piffen has to shape up his tactics a bit. He has just read Arthur Coves book “My way with trout” so I hope he has learned a bit so that I can catch a lot more of them.
So during the times that I am not in Piffens hands, I am resting in my cozy leather case he made for me and I won’t accept anything else since I am hell bent for leather!
Hello, let me introduce myself. My name is Sexyloops Hot Torpedo 5wt Competition, and I live with Mike since 2012. A lot has happened since then. Let me give you a brief story of my existence. I was the first( serial No.1) rod in this series that Mr. Sexyloops created – boom straight to Mike’s hands – he likes to be first…
Obviously Mike broke me after a while and I was sent to Hungary to be reborn, still as No.1, and I lasted for a while until Mike broke me again. Then I was send to UK to be reborn again, this time with serial number 2, but guess what? On my way somebody lost me and I never got home. Yes you are right – I had to be reborn for a third time (feel like a cat with 7 lives). This time I made home and my new license plate says 123 (third time lucky).
Now I am in Australia and I am having lots of fun with Mike. I know some of you read a story not long ago from my younger brother Sexyloops Hot Torpedo 10wt. Well I read that too – what a bunch of complaints and wingeing – not fishing enough - not casting far enough – Mike not treating him well – jealous about some other rod ! What a wanker! Let me tell you Mike is the best and he knows how to use a fly rod and how to take care of it – and our recent trip to Gold Coast QLD proves it.
Mike has a friend Vince AKA “King of the Seaway”. Vince invites Mike sometimes on his boat to chase those imaginary saltwater species, but this time reality was much better than imagination. On those trips Mike always take 3 of us: my brother Hot Torpedo 10wt – for heavy job , some dude from Echo in 8wt for medium job and me, Hot Torpedo 5Comp – for light job . This time was different and I did all the job and I felt like a king. We started with plenty of Queenfish. After the first cast I knew I am in awesome hands – all smooth and perfect. I know what you say “those Queenfish were not big”, but trust me they pull hard for their size, and I had to work hard to pull them out. They stretched me left, right and under the boat.
That was a perfect warm up before Vince said to Mike “Let’s go deeper and bigger”. As soon as he said that I looked at my brother rigged with dredging line, all smiling and thinking it was his turn now. Sorry mate, Mike made a different decision – stay where you are. We were fishing in 21m of water with fast currents, but the fish were not big enough to involve my MUSCLE DRAG QUEEN brother, so Mike took everything away from my wanker brother and put it on me. MAN, what a set up. Big 10wt reel with 26feet of T17 attached to 90feet of T8 as a running line and the fly he put on (that was crazy) shrimp looking pattern with eyes made out of ball sinkers.
Once again I felt like a king – so powerful, but at the same time scared. I thought one bad stroke mate and my tip section is swimming together with those Queenfish.
After the first cast I was free of doubts. Nothing wrong can happen in Mike’s hands – he is a PRO. Second cast – fish on. I was so excited I even shouted to the others STAY ON THE DECK YOU SUCKERS!!! I was pulling fish after fish. The best thing was that there were many boats around with stinky bait fishers and shiny lure chuckers, but only me and Vince’s baby were bending over- GOLD.
Guys, nobody put me to work so hard before. Now I gain back my confidence that as a Sexyloops Hot Torpedo 5Comp I am capable to do some hardcore stuff. Have a look at this carp from a local creek – it is a pleasure to be in Mike’s hands.
That said, I know that my brother SL HT10WT can do even more crazy fishing, but it is not his time yet- poor bugger.
…but it is getting better.
At one moment I felt such a strong bend and shakes I almost saw my butt with my tip guide. It was going nuts, me full bend and stretch, 110 feet of line gone through my guides, I thought THIS IS THE END, but Mike kept his cool…..and then slack – gone, me back to RSP.
Mike and Vince thought it was a snag, but there were no snaggy spots as we could see the bottom 20m down. While I was catching my breath I saw the leader half gone and shredded – weird. 10 min later and Vince was in the same situation. This “something” almost pulling Vince’s rod of his hands.
The guys thought it could be a shark, but I heard them saying maybe a big Kingfish as Vince’s leader was also shredded and apparently when you hook up a Kingfish they will take your line everywhere – this time to the rocks.
I almost shit myself, and said to my brother ”mate, next time it is your butt!”- he is a one happy SL Hot Torpedo now. After the 5h session we went home. Mike took some fish home for dinner to please his wife. (I can hear them arguing sometimes – WHATS THE POINT OF YOU GOING FISHING IF YOU NEVER BRING ANYTHING HOME?). Mike gave us a nice shower to rinse all the salt off – fuck that was itchy, and while we were drying he cleaned the fish, and occasionally he looked at me and winked at me for a job well done – felt great. I tell you the best part now… Mike’s wife loved her dinner sooo much!!! (They even had a Bonito as a sashimi- I heard them moaning – sooo good).
She asked Mike to call Vince again and set up another trip – HOW COOL IS THAT? Looks like we are for some more action soon – so watch the space…
HT6 – Fishing for Jungle Perch (Sebarau) in Sabah -Eastern Malaysia
The story of a HT6 #16.
Owner Tim Kempton
I was invited in place of a HT8 on a trip to Sabah in Eastern Malaysia to fish for Red Mahseeer and Jungle Perch (Sebarau) . We were fishing the renowned Tagal rivers in Sabah. The word ‘tagal’ in the local kadazan-dusun dialect means ‘no fishing’. The main purpose of ‘tagal’ is to preserve the environment as well as the ecosystem of the river for the benefit of the generations to come. The initiative started over 25 years ago, where villages progressively decided to implement a tagal program for their stretch of river. There are now over 500 Tagal programs. Each program has a yellow, green and red zone. The yellow zone can be harvested once a year as decided by the committee for that Talgal, and the catch divided among the community, including member of the community who did not join the program. The green zone is open to members and non members to fish whenever they like. The red zone is a total “no fish” zone, and strict penalties discourage poaching.
Rudi is a local guide (when he is not off fixing heavy mining machinery) who has negotiated with many of the several Tagal committees for the rights to fish the red and yellow zones.This is catch and release only. The money raised from the anglers is used to build infrastructure in the communities.
The Sebarua, or Hampala Barb, or Jungle Perch is found in the Mekong Basin, Thailand, in the various rivers in Peninsula Malaysia and also in Sumatra, Java and Borneo (Sabah). The Sebarau is a predatory fish and actively hunts smaller fish and invertebrates.The Sebarau inhabits various aquatic habitats including clear rivers and streams, which typically flow through intact forest, with either silty, sandy or gravelly substrates. The species can also adapt to more muddy, lowland rivers and reservoirs. It is considered to be a freshwater migratory species.
That’s the backstory.
I was strung up with a WF6F line. It was recommended to use a WF6 SA Magnum for the gurglers. This line would not load, and did not work. It made me look silly and even though I bent my back trying to make it load, I finally convinced Tim to take it off before he did some damage to me and probably him. He changedthe line back to a Rio Gold WF6F line which suited the way I was designed to load.
There was a lot of casting in the jungle…long casts into the spots where the Sebarau were lurking. The Sebarau are aggressive and give impressive surface strikes. There was a lot of wading and the humidity and hot temperature called for frequent swims.
The fish of the trip was 2.8kg ..it smashed a green gurgler and took several minutes to land.This fishing required long accurate casts, to which I was ideally suited.
Im part of the HT collection together with the 4, 8 and 10.We now have a newcomer, the HT 12 with a fibre glass butt.Classy piece of ass!
I asked Viking Lars to judge the winner for the May entries:
Paul asked me to be the judge for this month’s Hot Torpedo competition. I took my time, and read through the entires a few times, and had a good, long think (and a sleep) before I finally chose Mike’s entry as the best. Why? It made me laugh. I enjoyed the (slightly vulgar) humour and the story of the rivalry between the rods. Let’s hope Mike’s Comp V2 sweeps away the competing rods for good.
Congratulations, Mike!
Mike wins a Sexyloops Shirt that he gets to design himself. This is what I designed recently, but I’m sure that Mike will design something completely different! Mike also goes through to the final where the overall winner wins a new HT fly rod.
Congratulations Mike! Now I wonder who will win the June competition? 😀
