I started my fishing escapades as a salt water bait fisherman when I was just 6 years old. My uncle, father and I would get up early and go out in either my uncles or my fathers boat and fish off Caloundra in Queensland. My first fish was a king George whiting and it was the biggest thrill of my life in those days. The toy washing machine I had received for my sixth birthday earlier that week paled immensely by comparison. I was the only sibling out of four (all female) who would join my father in the boat on cabbage tree creek in the small hours of morning as we fished and laid out crab pots. Our most success was in crabbing much to the delight of my father who loves these crustaceans. Strangely I have never taken a liking to the taste of fish nor crabs but can eat lobsters and crayfish, none of which we ever caught.
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Flytying Tips.....
1 Use monofilament for ribs on slow sinking wets and dry flies. Nibble the end with your teeth before tying in for purchase.
2 When tying marabou wings use your fingers to break the fibres, not scissors!
3 Tie minimum of five per pattern per size. Make them look the same.
4. If the fly looks neat it's shit....
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A busy week has ended for me. Last Saturday the new president of Scientific Anglers, and good friend of mine for years, arrived in Bozeman for meetings and some fishing. Then the SA sales and product development teams arrived, and our European sales team, and a surprise visitor, lots of folks....
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Covering for Ray today. I've been back in the UK for almost a week and so have almost recovered from jet lag. Although curiously I'm getting up in the mornings and going to bed in the evenings, which is highly concerning. It's approximately 20 degrees colder here than in Malaysia and of course I forgot to leave any clothes in the UK, because they're all in Hungary. But apart from that life is fantastic!
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This is story number one on where flies go when they separate from the tippet - a bit like the clichéd missing sock. I say a bit because most do not break off a sock as we do with flies . Has anyone ever broken off a sock?... probably Paul. I don't know what the numbers are but I think it's fair to say, mind you without having a slo-mo video to verify, most socks that go missing do so sans fanfare or notary public.
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Last Wednesday I offered you a list of 20 common fly casting faults. Teaching fly casting is as much of a skill as is fly casting itself, I wrote. Thus obviously there should be a list of common teaching faults as well. Having been a student myself in many lessons I learnt a lot of different ways to teach. Not all proper ones though. Here is my list of common teaching faults:
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I'm back from the Jungle and entering a period of unknowingness. It's been a hell of a long time since I've lived and taught fly fishing in the UK, and I do know that it's now become very expensive - more than five times as expensive and considerably colder than where I've just come from! Neither of which I find particularly endearing. Still it's a bit of a wild card for me but not too risky. If it works out then fantastic, and if it doesn't then I'm going back to jungle fishing: there is a hell of a lot to be learned there, by me at any rate, and I have a really alive feeling camping out in the North Malaysian jungles, more so than in a long time, and the bloody fishing is just coming right! Anyway...
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We've had a mild winter here in SW Montana. No one minds not having bone chilling cold and wind, but mild winters are also usually dry, and this one was no exception. We need more snow, hopefully it's coming. But, nice weather has everyone thinking of fishing again and Yellowstone Park is starting to open. Spring also wakes up the wildlife and with more people afield there are occasional conflicts, especially in the park where there are lots of animals and they are not afraid of people......
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And as usual, I'm in a state of semi-panic and torn between too many options for exciting fishing. But right now, I'm a bit busy at the vice because I need to re-stock some salmonflies before opening in April 16th. I'm good on saltwater flies, so no worries there, but I also need to tie some flies for friends before the Danish Fly Festival April 11th and 12th.
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... and where did it start? Were you a shadow to an older brother? Did your uncle drive up early on Saturday morning to get you out of the house, so your parents could be left alone to fabricate your sister? Maybe your grandfather set you up out on his dock to catch Bullhead well into darkness for the next day's breakfast?
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Teaching fly casting is as much of a skill as is fly casting itself. Maybe the most important part of teaching is to identify all casting faults, which the students bring into the lessons. At the same time this probably is the most difficult part of teaching for most fly casting instructors. Fair to say it needs a lot of teaching-practice and knowledge about the details of fly casting.
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I've had an absolutely wonderful time for the past four months in Malaysia. It wasn't the trip I had planned - late December flooding prevented that - and while the fishing has been extremely hard this time, I've still had a blast. I lost a large Snakehead yesterday in a tug of war when the nail knot slipped. So I now have a loop in the flyline, whipped and glued in three places, four feet of 70lb leader with a Bimini Loop one end, five feet of 40lb, Bimini Loop/Slim Beauty to the 70lb, six inches of 30lb Tyger Wire, Slim Beaty to the 40lb, and Lefty Loop knot to my fly. If this doesn't hold a Snakehead then I just don't know what will.
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It's March in Montana and that means water is starting to warm, slowly, and if the weather cooperates, midges hatch. If it really cooperates, other things might hatch too. While we do have occasional dry fly fishing all winter long, March is when it becomes more predictable, as long as it isn't below 0 (F) and/or blowing 60 kmh.
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Please allow me to do some blatant marketing. On April 11th and 12th we have our bi-annual Danish Fly Festival in Kolding, Denmark (yes, it's in Denmark, I lnow you're surprised :-). The event is shaping up nicely, and many casters and tyers, foregin and national, are already confirmed!
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I'm filling in for Ray today who's gone fishing! And I'm starting to wish that I hadn't! Last night I camped out on the boat and fished one of my favourite bays today, which was FULL of Snakehead, but for some unknown and bloody frustrating reason I had no fish and only one follow.... arrgggh!
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It's an annual question that gets mulled over and reexamined many times before reality provides the answer. We try out answers while in line at the cashier, while half listening to business meeting jibber jabber, while on the way to work in the subway or car stuck in traffic. The Question is not "What's the definition of Creep?". I'm referring to a question that many of us first started asking many years ago, when we were children.
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Many sources of information on the www and elsewhere still claim:
“Creep is the most common cause for tailing loops” (and thus a casting fault per se).
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There are a couple of char native to Alberta. Char are a type of salmonid, a type of "trout" that spawn in the fall. Included in the family are bull trout, lake trout and the brook trout (introduced in Alberta).
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An interesting page yesterday from Bruce on the current and not so current trend of "working outside the AFFTA system". My view is this, if you feel the need to upline your rod from the manufacturer's rating then you bought the wrong rod! We have reviews of 5 weight rods being made with 5.5 wt lines, we have lines being made heavier for "today's fast action rods" - what a load of crap. When a designer makes a rod for a designated line weight, he does so for that line weight specified. If you choose to use a heavier line because it doesn't feel right for you, then it was the wrong purchase. And let's face it, some people are fast; they move fast, they drive fast, they live fast. Others are slow - they move slow, life happens in the slow lane for them - these are Winston people and glass fibre addicts. So they should be buying soft rods and not fast actioned rods! Buy the right rod in the first place. Of course a good caster should be able to adapt to anything...
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I've dealt with line weight issues for many years. Most of the confusion was about spey lines. That made sense as no two spey geeks agree on much of anything as far as I can tell. But now the problem has migrated to single hand lines and confusion reigns...
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There's always a chance of encountering picky, selective fish, even during spring fishing, where most fish are more concerned about eating than what they eat. Generally, sea trout are less than picky in March and April, but once in a while, especially on calm, suny days, you will see fish that aren't easily caught.
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Drilling down to the good things in life.
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We are having a true winter here in the Northeast - snow, cold, more snow. During my childhood it would have been my dream come true. Born in late December and growing up in New England, I adored winter. We skied, snowshoed, ice fished, camped, built igloos and of course played hockey. Anything to be outside in the snow - even shoveling.
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Around the Baltic Sea we find thousands of anglers chasing Sea trout. Catching a truly big and silver one means for most of us coastal anglers the catch of the year but for us fly fishermen it is more about the catch of a lifetime!
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We are so close to spring here in southern Alberta, it is getting tough to bear it.
Unlike the eastern part of North America, we have had well below average snowfall. So below average, that our local ski hills have had to close 2 months earlier than normal, and 4 months earlier than a good year. We have broken a number of temperature highs this winter and below average precipitation. The lack of snow, empty reservoirs, and the brown dry grass portents of bad things to come.
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I have some work to do. I'm most probably out of Malaysia in less than three weeks and one of my potential options is to teach and fish the UK stillwaters. Sleeping in a car - that sort of thing. The Malaysian fishing has been shit this year but everything else was pretty good. Girls, friends, the Jungle, fitness (that's always important) and my mind is clear. I've escaped yet another winter. And finally I've made significant inroads here for future fishing and also a plan to widen my scope outside Belum-Temenggor, and even Malaysia, as well as get to do it here absolutely properly.
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To get a job as a fly line designer you have to go to fly line design school. But of course there aren’t any, that’s a complication…... There is one other way… Get a job at a fly line company doing something else and quietly take over the design job when no one is looking, that’s what I did!
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