Hobby psychologists would start to analyse the following as a form of obsessive compulsive personality disorder - but they are of course wrong.
They say that folks with OCPD may need to keep everything in order and under control and set unrealistically high standards for themselves and others. Those people also might think theirs is the best way of making things happen and worry when them or others might make mistakes. Heck, they even expect catastrophes if things aren’t perfect and are reluctant to spend money on themselves or others. On top they have a tendency to hang onto items with no obvious value.
So nope, not us right? We are flyfishers and ... ok - I stop the argument here ... I might not like where this might be going.
However - I am proud of how perfect and compact I managed to pack my stuff. Remember - stuff, the things one does need so badly. We all have stuff. The task is though to have just the necessary and all that packed as small as possible - because I am trying to combine motorcycling and flyfishing. No, I am not about to cast from the seat. I mean the travel on two wheels from fishing spot to fishing spot. However, Tthe nature of a 2-wheeler only allows for so much luggage.
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I’m a committee member of the BFCC and we’re having our AGM next month, so James and I have proposed some changes to the rules for the distance fly casting events to try and make the competition fairer and more accessible for everyone involved.
We’ve entered lots of different competitions that have varied rules; some bizarre, the stripping basket of the CLA saltwater event springs to mind. Also at previous CLA Game Fairs, you started the trout distance event with the fluff in your hand and then stripped the fly line off the reel during your time-slot before commencing casting; not exactly a great way to start and not that interesting for spectators. I’ve watched casters strip the line off and the whole thing bunch up in a huge tangle due to all the twists put in by other casters – in these cases, the caster generally walked away or spent the rest of their time trying to untangle the line! The event did have everyone using the same outfit so there was an element of fairness from that respect, though the outfit needed a lot of maintenance!
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Today Marina and I will start a fly fishing trip to Austria. Tomorrow we will meet with Christof Menz and Uwe Rieder to share some excellent fly fishing for trout and grayling in the two rivers Alm and Laudach. Both Christof and Uwe are making their living on teaching fly fishing. They are truly experts - especially when it comes to dry fly and nymph fishing.
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As a kid I was practically obsessed with the six-pound brown trout on page 156 of A.J. McClane’s epic New Standard Fishing Encyclopedia. I knew that my angling life could never be complete unless such a fish graced the end of my line. As it turned out, attaining completeness would require some behavior modification.
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On Thursday, Sexyloops turned 18 years old. It's a bit of a milestone! It certainly made me think for a bit. 18 years ago the Internet was pretty small, it had only been around for a few years, there was no Facebook or Google. It was pretty new (and slow) and back then I felt that it was important to be "up with the times" so I bought the sexyloops.co.uk domain and started a one-page advert for Flycasting Lessons, Instruction, Guiding and Tackle Sales. The only problem was no-one knew it existed! And so about 8 months later I wrote the "Fly Casting Manual". This was originally seven long pages that took 10 days to write. There was a lot of casting in the garden to try to work things out, and while much of it is out of date now, it has actually stood the test of time and it is in fact Sexyloops itself, and particularly the Board, that has outdated it!
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There’s something intimidating, unnerving, exciting, and inspiring about peering out over the gunwale and seeing only water. Turns out the vastness is 3-dimensional. Glancing at the sounder confirms that you are way out of your comfort zone. 80 meters. 150 meters. 500 meters. What does that even mean?
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I've been enjoying the late, warm summer we've been experiencing here in Denmark during september. Unusual 25-30 degrees C earlier thjis month have kept the mackerel schools close to shore for longer than usual and fishing has been good.
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Don´t throw it away. Keep the waste you have when tying. Why? The old is new. Dubbing specifically. Have I mentioned I use a lot of fur, mostly hare, for my flies? No? I am sure I have.
There is quite a lot of underfur and snippets left over. I keep them in small plastic pouches and make new dubbing with it. How? ...
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On my first dedicated flats fishing holiday I wore an old pair of training shoes. These weren’t a branded make, just a cheap generic running shoe from a high street store. I’d already had plenty of use out of them as I used to jog at the time, so I was comfortable with the thought of ruining them by wading in saltwater every day for three weeks. It turned out that these trainers lasted the course of the trip just fine, and they went on to be used for two further saltwater fishing holidays (as well as being used when washing the car and mowing the lawns in between). The reason I eventually retired them was that sand was getting into the padded layers in the sole making them a bit lumpy and uncomfortable (I’m sure the sand started reproducing in there as no amount of rinsing could get it all out).
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Obviously facebook has become a large platform where fly fishermen from all over the world share their fly fishing. Since most of us have a family and a job life outside fly fishing this doesn't leave much time for other platforms like internet forums for example. So facebook maybe has become the biggest fly fishing community!?
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I grew up watching this on 16mm film (!) during every one of my father's Fenwick Fly Fishing Schools.
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About a month ago while we were up in Latvia, hanging out on a beach where the car wouldn't start, we met a couple of Kiwis on a bike ride. They had started off in Estonia and planned to bike and train through Europe down to Turkey. So naturally we invited them to Latohegy, here in Hungary. They biked in a couple of days ago and we've been hanging out since. Yesterday I taught them to cast, with a little bit of fishing for Black Bass, and today we'll look at the Drava and hopefully catch some Asp. The Drava looks absolutely perfect at the moment.
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There are some small, hidden, sadly private waters around where I live, crystal clear water - nearly like looking in a glass of vodka. But the fish aren't easy to spot, mostly you just see them right then, when you spooked them away. But downstream streamer fishing was my solution...
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This is almost not related to flyfishing at all, and then, still it is, because many of us camp. Some go all in and camp for years in a dingy on a jungle lake, others, like myself, have a more normal (sorry, Dude :-) approach and go for a week or two now and then - or just a few days.
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Ice. Snow. Cold. That is what one thinks when hearing the word "arctic" - the record in Norway is minus 50 or so C. That is technically speaking damn cold. Unimaginable cold. I was in minus 27. That was cold. But minus 30 and below is really way too much for me. Call me a wimp if you will.
So nature has to really prepare the animals living under such circumstances. They need real high outdoor clothing. The area I fish in summer is that cold. They hit minus 40 and below every year. This created a very special breed of hare ...
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A few weeks ago I wrote about flats fishing for barracuda and how, in my opinion, they are underrated as a fly fishing target. Other species that are often ignored are sharks, with lemons, black tips, grey reef, nurse and others all catchable with a fly. The first run from a sizeable lemon shark hooked on fly gear is unforgettable, not just fast but very long.
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In many countries around the globe it's still pretty uncommon to fly fish for carp. Why? I think because it takes a litte time and effort to get into some constant success.
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This one is current for SL readers in the northern hemisphere. Just come back and read it in six months if you're in the southern hemisphere. ;)
The thin waters of the late season can significantly alter the living arrangements of the trout, forcing a change in their holding and feeding locations and providing some of the most exciting and exacting angling in all of fly fishing ...
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I'm back in Hungary, it's been quite an adventure since my last time here, one year living on the boat in Malaysia, with fishing trips to Thailand and the Philippines, and then the road trip from England through Sweden to Russia, fishing in Finland, Sweden, then the Fly Casting World Championships in Estonia, fishing in Latvia, a hectic drive through to Switzerland for the Swiss Fly Fishing Show and some teaching and then through Italy and finally back to Hungary! The plan is to be here mostly for the next month and a half - there is a lot of work to be done here, unfortunately the wine harvest is not going to happen this year, but there is lots of work to be done on the land, but mostly this time is about Sexyloops work; rod design and so on - we have new blanks and tubes on their way to England and we have to do some marketing (whatever that is). And we have an event coming up...
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Streamer fishing is one of the oldest versions of fly fishing, yet it also seems to be one of the fastest growing types of flyfishing today. I don’t know why that is the case, but streamer fishing is certainly an interesting, complex, and exciting way to angle. It also opens up new doors, and allows the fly angler to experience many “new” and exciting fisheries where insect imitation with dries and wets simply cannot and will not work.
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Last year a couple of friends, Gorden P. Henriksen and Frederik Lorentzen, invented "Session", which was an informal get-together rendezvous of flyfishers. The event took place on the Danish island of Møn, where we have the best brackish water pikefishing in Denmark, and there is good sea trout fishing on the coasts around the island.
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Red. Red flesh, specifically on trout and salmon, indicates that the fish has been feeding on organisms containing carotin. Same red stuff found in carrots (wonder why rabbits do not have red meat than) never mind.
So there is a myriad of patterns for imitating this type of food. They all seem to work. The variations one finds seem to be mainly based on personal preference … and let´s face it. Once you´ve been standing in the cold sea with the wind & rain in your face for hours without success (we are talking about Denmark here) than one does of course believe - given the angler is able to imagine a take - that this version with feathers harvested by virgins at full moon must be the «thing» itself. The math goes like - at least 6 such flies per angler times the amount of anglers = 1 million patterns multiplied by the years fishing = gazillions
Anyway - all these constructions are based on rather similar principles. A long hackle in open turns for the movement, a trigger or hotspot (mostly red or orange) and eyes.
The pattern today is such a fly. The materials needed are easily obtainable and one does not need much. A grizzly hackle feather of larger proportions, bead chain eyes, a saltwater shrimp hook and seals fur dubbing.
Things are bit different here in Noway of course. We catch fish all the time and getting a seatrout on a fly is dead easy ... you just ned a few patterns. One is the so called "Vaskebjørn" (raccoon in english) has it´s name from it´s colors, which resemble a raccoon. No fur of that animal is used in the fly though. I believe name for the fly is also a little wordplay. «vask» means washing and the fly is known to really «clean out» a water ;-) Bjørn means bear.
Anyway - a really good fly, easy to tie and feel free to make your own version so you have something to believe in when feeling really tiny while chucking that even smaller fly towards that big horizon. Believing is catching, you know?
Otherwise just "abide" :-)
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The design of reels for fly fishing has remained pretty constant since someone first had the bright idea of attaching a drum containing the line to a fishing rod. Sure the materials used to manufacture them have changed throughout the years but the basic revolving drum configuration has stood the test of time. I don’t see that changing in future years either, but I do think that how we produce and purchase reels is going to be subject to significant development.
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Right now it's late summer in Denmark and we are fly fishing along the coastline of the Baltic sea chasing Sea trout. Tough fishing at the moment due to almost 20°Celsius water temperature. We are having a great time fly fishing, fly tying and fly casting all day long. Yes, some nice fish have been involved as well!
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Last week’s FP was all about simplicity in stillwaters. So is this week’s FP!
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I'm currently in Switzerland hanging out with a couple of friends from the world championships - Velibor and Robbie - and we're on the road to Germany for an exciting day's fishing!
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The second fly show in Switzerland just ended a few hours ago. Puh, a lot of work because I had the part of the organisator but it was a lot of fun!
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It's strange how fishing for the same species of fish can vary greatly from country to country - and in a few cases, from river to river.
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Sexyloops Fly Tying School - chain eyes
Hey honey, what are you in bathroom so long for. — Oh, erm ... no nothing. — But what´s that noise? Is all alright — (the man comes out of the bathroom with a pair of pliers in his hands and a guilty look on his face) — what did you need the pliers for ?? — Oh, I just fixed something. —- OK, I got you - you stole the chain for sink lock again. Give it back ....
….. such and similar scenarios happened in many flyfishers homes back in the day. Now the tackle industry has saved us fly-tiers (and future generations of tiers) from such embarrassing moments. However, I still fancy chains found in hotels.
Always carry pliers or better a Multi Tool like a LeatherMan 300. I have lost mine in one of these completely useless and stupid security checks at the airport … what is all this 100ml nonsense about for example? Utter BS if you ask me. And what could you do with a pair of pliers or a pocket knife? Pauls socks are allowed in the cabin … they are more dangerous. Believe me. Anyway, I go along with French Airlines banning swedish canned herring known as surströmming from airplanes. That´s a bomb this stuff. However, it doesn´t taste as bad as it smells … herring … right — sorry - back to the actual topic. Fishing.
So in previous article we covered the topic of legs. Now something similar - eyes. There´s many who believe eyes are important on streamers and such. The easiest way is to use the above mentioned «chain eyes»
i like them because one can balance the fly with them, meaning they «turn» the fly in the water the way you have intended it to. Hook up or down for example. Very easy to use and not expensive (heck even free should you dare to take them from that hotel bathroom).
How to attach the eyes is very simple too, and even easier if you do not cut the the chain before them «eyes» are secured with thread wraps.
Next week we´ll do a fly with them .. I promise. And how about discussing «eyes» on streamers on the board? I´d like to hear all the pro´s and cons.
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Today’s walk to work was in bright morning sunshine, however it was noticeable that the heat of recent weeks was missing. Now this may just be a daily weather ‘blip’ but to me it felt like the onset of autumn. Currently the water temperature in our local trout lakes is very high, above 21 degrees C, and as a result the fishing is poor (in fact our favourite nearby reservoir is closed to fishing as it is C&R only and it’s felt the high water temp is not conducive to good survival rates). Once these temperatures start to fall back towards 16 – 17 degrees C, after some chilly mornings or some heavy rainfalls, then the fishing should be excellent. The fish should move back towards the margins to feed heavily on fry, so streamer type patterns will be effective. Seeing trout bow-waving after a fast-stripped fly is a lot of fun.
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