It's been a fun and eventful trip around Europe for Ashly and I. Lots of great highlights and quite an adventure. but now it's nearing time to go back "home" to my boat in the Malaysian Jungle. This time last year was quite stormy but the Snakehead fishing was still excellent. I hear from my friends who live there that it's been "wet, wet, wet". This will be interesting for Ashly and I living in the jungle! Last year when the weather turned completely to shit for two months, I fished less and took refuge in a friend's bar. However this year I shall be doing something different - fishing for Jungle Perch in the rain, camping on islands and sleeping in the boat, and filming the trip!
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As soon as the leaves are coming down the trees I nearly can't wait to drive up north to fish my favourite fish: the sea trout! In the last few years we have been always minimum two weeks fishing in the area in northwest Zealand in Denmark. I is a fishing with a lot of ups and downs...
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The first half or so of my fly fishing life, I always tied my own leaders. There were several reasons for this. In the beginning, the primary one was that I was taught by John, who at that time already was a very experienced flyfisherman, that tying your own leaders was the only serious way forward for a flyfisher. Later on, I continued tying my own, simply because the tapered, factory made leaders weren't very good.
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November … winter in other words is a dark time here in Skandinavia. Not many hours of daylight. However, it is also the time for sitting together with friends and family. Going for long walks. .. and for me and many others - the creative time. Fly tying for example. Nothing better to sit by the vise these days and dream about the next season.
For me it is also the time for intensive teaching. I arrange quite a few fly tying classes in this time.
I run two formats - the traditional “sit together in a room” with the students format. or - "e-learning". Fly tying via video conferencing. This works tremendously well as the camera can go places your eyes couldn´t. Don´t ask me how I learned about this.
The curriculum is dependent on your wishes. The first minutes we asses your skill level and discuss what you want to learn. Than we work on a tuition plan. Pricing per hour / session payable via paypal. 100% satisfaction guarantee - if you din´t like it, you get your money back.
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When promoting the BFCC at shows or meetings, I am often asked how I got into distance fly casting. Sometimes it’s from people who then say that they catch fish at their local fishery and don’t see the need to cast distance or go for casting lessons. My response is always the same; that when it’s windy, I will still be able to cast to the fish, whereas it’s probable that they can’t.
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The last days we had nearly crystal clear water making it hard to fool the pikes. So we had to find proper solutions to get them eat our flies. Of course we did find some solutions!
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A short snip from the new book:
As with other sports, visualization is a useful tool in fly casting. I quite often spend time “casting” in my head, seeing, and almost feeling, the casting motions that I am focusing on. For me, it is like the visual and tactile are linked by residual sensations of prior experiences.
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A few people asked me last week how it was possible to bring our a rod of significantly higher quality that the Sage X but at the same US price. After all, our blank is more expensive, our fittings more expensive and our build more expensive. In short they cost a lot more to produce! The simple answer is that we predominantly sell direct. It's true that we sell through a few select shops (friends) but then everyone works on smaller margins.
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Autumn, in general, and October in particular is one of my favorite times to be outdoors and fishing stillwaters. There are many methods of fly angling that work on stillwaters, and there are many parts of a lake or pond that attract trout. Flats, bays, weed beds, drop-offs, and more. There is no way I can touch on them all here today.
That said, a unique fish holding zone that I’ve come to appreciate more in the last couple of years are near-shore weed edges. Not edges along weed beds that have grown up from the bottom of the lake, although those are great spots too. The edges that I’m referring to in this case are actually more like weed walls, formed in the autumn as aquatic vegetation dies off and big winds rip it free of the bottom and push it in large quantities across the lake, piling it up along the windward shoreline. Take a look at the POD for an example. These walls may stay in place until the lakes freeze for the winter, or they may be here today and gone tomorrow. It all depends on wind, weather, and water levels.
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I can identify a number of significant "impacts", impacts that have changed the way I cast, fish, think, tie etc. A very significant one was my first casting course with Danish Erik Kyrping. Another was my first meet with Paul, who really showed me what casting could really be. One thing I remember vividly was Paul's demonstration of how to smoothly lift a flyline from the water. After a lesson Paul demonstrated how to lift a (long) line and in a single backcast, cast the full line. I was deeply impressed and that demonstration alone gave me so much motivations to train, practice and get better. It was also Paul who moved me to get into casting instruction and take a formal certification.
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some more Seatrout flies ... I hope you liked the tying instructions for the "Klympen" & the "Vaskebjørn". The "Krampa" is another take on the "Klympen" fly. the difference is how you use the dubbing loop. There os other version with CDC, but I prefer to use this dubbing loop technique. CDC is dean expensive and not as flexible in it´s use - I think. Anyway ... this fly is also a good example on how this "spilt thread dubbing loop" can work. I would say this opens a myriad of options.
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After my FP a few weeks back about DiY fishing in the Bahamas a question was asked on the board about what makes a good guide. I very much agree with one of the answers given that the best guides make their client’s day enjoyable. Tracy and I have had many excellent days guided flats fishing, but we’ve also had some stinkers. We can look back on these now with a hint of a smile, but at the time they were less than enjoyable.
The first day, and probably the worst, involved a very well known guide who will remain nameless. Tracy and I were ready at the dock at the agreed time as was the guide, however he’s a sociable kind of guy so had to speak to everyone and their dog prior to setting off, plus updating his social media status etc. Eventually we motored out about an hour late and he opened the throttle for a long run to the first flat of the day. [Being ‘battered’ in a skiff is one aspect of guided fishing that I definitely don’t enjoy, however I accept it’s unavoidable if you want to fish far off flats]. After nearly an hour’s travel, the guide spotted an impressively large hammerhead shark. At this point, and without discussing things with us, he threw the skiff into a circle around the shark using the prop to kick up a sand and silt curtain to contain it for a few moments. Now Tracy and I love seeing wildlife while we’re fishing and we’re especially fond of sharks (this one was not catchable on a fly rod). However we’ve seen plenty of them previously, so pointing it out and perhaps easing the throttle so we could take a brief look and a photo would have been more than adequate. As it was, in his efforts to ‘show off’ by trying to pen the shark in the boats wake, he managed to break the steering. Realising this he moored the skiff to the pole and set about radioing the lodge for help.
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I am fly fishing in Pike-land, Germany right now. Today we caught a shit load of fish - a hell of a catching day!
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Small streams usually don’t force much in terms of wading, aren’t typically the realm of long casts and, with their shallower waters, can be dry-fly heaven. However, just because a stream is small doesn’t mean that it can’t also have secrets.
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Ash and I had a great trip down to Bosnia last week, fishing midday hatches for Grayling and Trout on Pliva and Ribnik, with good friends Robert and Velibor (and Nikola) as well as catching up with Djordje, Aitor and Pliva Master, Zelko. It's always a fishing lesson on these waters, particularly fly fishing with Zelko, learning the French Nymph, waking Grayling up and even herding them around the river! Anyway more of that some other time...
We're back in Hungary now and will be here (probably!) for the next three weeks before heading back to my favourite learning fly fishing destination at the moment; Malaysia. We'll be heading straight back into the beginning of the Wet Season which is both good and bad. Good for Jungle Perch, bad for sleeping in the boat! Between now and then is the time that I've set aside to update the shopping cart on Sexyloops, get things back into order, launch the HT10 and RAMPAGE, organise the next 6 or 12 months of Jungle fishing - as well as sort out Latohegy for another year or two and ignite the Hot Torpedo Owners' Club.
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I nearly can't wait until it's October, finally the temperature is sinking and we get all the water back from the people who love to swim, walk with their dog, grill & chill, drive kayak or what else. But nearly more important, the snow up in the mountains stops to meltdown - that means finally we can fish again the rivers who haven't been fished the whole summertime...
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Last weekend trip to Denmark Fishing and Outdoor Lodge was great - it's a fantastic place, and I'll write more thouroughly about it and the fishing opportunities they offer later on. The fishing was slow - I only managed a few houtrs on Saturday, and Sunday was fine, plenty of time, but only a few fish. I did miss a few shots I had on a big trout foraging on low water, but I missed it.
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I mentioned things one does not need when tying flies. very traditional people might even say you do not need a vise (or vice) ... I have seen guy like Mike Townend tie flies on their hands - meaning the hold the hook in between thumb and forefinger. Cool, and certainly working for larger flies, but a fly tying vise is damn handy thing to have.
With vises, as in many other things in life, I prefer simple and sturdy. I have been through most of the one available on the market and a few years back I ended up having a Regal Vise. Since I like this thing more and more every day. It does the job in such easy and reliable manner.
I like vises with a base. The Regal base is heavy, really heavy. It stays where you put it - given that it is a flat surface. Some people like to mount their vises to a table with clamp. They offer this option too ... personal preference really. oh isn´t that cool with all these gizmos ... soon x-mas again. Start your wishlist ;-)
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I love salt water fly fishing and reading the articles by James about the Bahamas reminded me of the many trips we have made there and to other similar flats destinations. My favourite species remains the bonefish, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters there is, however this page is about the species that I find the most frustrating, but great fun, triggers!
There are a number of triggerfish species that we’ve targeted, around the Caribbean they are mostly the oceanic variety, but these come with a number of colourations from almost black to pale blue, with spotted fish in between. There are other Caribbean species, queens etc., although it is rare to find these up on the flats. In the Pacific there are more shallow water species to target such as yellow margin, titan, moustache, cross-hatch and the beautifully coloured Picasso triggers. All of these fish seem to have similar traits when it comes to taking a fly though.
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Last week we have been pretty busy teaching fly casting all week long. Inbetween the lessons we have been fly fishing for asp. Right now we are on the run to start our fly fishing trips to Rügen island - fly fishing for pike, pike perch, perch and Sea trout.
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Few things are more exciting in trout fishing than being in the thick of a major, mid-day emergence of mayflies on a glassine spring creek. It is during those times that some of the biggest fish can be taken on dry flies. It is also during those times that trout can become very focused in their feeding, watching only narrow bands of water—lanes—for drifting insects. Often those lanes are obvious, but sometimes all is not what it seems.
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I'm heading to the Danish island of Funen in a couple of hours, to join my very hood friends, Jens and Helle, who have invited me to stay with them for the weekend at the Denmark Fishing and Outdoor Lodge. I'm very much looking forward to a couple of days of fishing and their company.
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Seatrout flies ... I hope you liked the tying instructions for the Vaskebjørn. Another very effective, but even more simple fly is the "Klympen" -- This pattern can look very different depending on who you ask. Originally a danish fly named after a fishing spot for imaginary seatrout emerged into something rather different looking. It´s simple to tie and very effective. I tie them in orange, black and green to cater for various water and light conditions. However, finding the fish is the key ... some hav issues and call seatrout fishing imaginary ... others (like Bernd & Lars) are more successful - sorry Paul.
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In the last year or so there has been a lot of discussion about the topic of do-it-yourself fishing in the Bahamas. This at times has become very heated and politicised. From what I can make out there appears to be a lobby group, comprising of some guides and lodges, who would like to see DiY flats fishing banned for non-Bahamians. They propose that inshore sport fishing should be fully guided and these guides should be licenced by a central government agency.
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being able to present your fly with finesse to the fish. It takes less effort as you may think. Of course you really have to want it!
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I'm off to Bosnia to do some French Nymphing. Now I know that many people don't consider this to be "fly fishing" but then what is it?! Anyway I'm not going to discuss "what is fly fishing" only acknowledge the fact that the fly rod as we have it is not the best tool for lobbing out a nymph! I think what is required here is a long, relatively stiff and light-weight rod. And while I have cast (one) specialist rod for the job, I found it to be on the tip heavy side, when what you really want for the task is a feather. Anyway, that's not actually why we are going to Bosnia, we are going there to fish with friends, catch up with others and for Ashly to get out of the Schengen are for 7 days because otherwise she'll be arrested when we leave and I'll be fishing on my own in Malaysia until she gets out of jail.
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I really like to fish in stillwater; pike and perch in our big lakes or seatrout fishing in the sea. If there is no current your fly can move only with your stripping moves, that gives you a chance for other patterns and materials like "river-streamers".
One of my favourite materials is craft fur, sometimes also called pseudo hair or something similar. This material is cheap, available in all colours, has a lot of movement and doesn't get heavy in the water. Here you get a step by step baitfish pattern with craft fur and a nice little trick for a round head...
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I'm not at all sure why, but the first fly I fell in love with when I took up flyfishing was the Mickey Finn. I don't know if it was the myths that surround the fly; US Airforce pilots apparantly had one in their emergency kit because it could catch fish anywhere; it's allegedly named after a famous drink called The Mickey Finn, which was/is slang for a laced drink - that's how deceitful this fly is.
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