I'm still organising another FP writer to take over from Jason. I'm trying to keep it in the USA! Anyway this gives me a chance to talk about the COMP5 V2 rod that we sell on Sexyloops. We've sold quite a large number of these recently and so I expect to see MANY at the World Championships in Cumbria next year - the date has just been announced: 16-19th August 2018. There are a couple of exceptional qualities to this rod, which while it has the stiffness of a 10WT rod, offers incredible tip stability even when massively underlined. The second special quality is the Torzite Titanium rings giving a far superior shoot to anything else I've tried. For the next SLTV 5 mins of Fly Fishing I'll drone shot a 90ft carry with this rod.
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This week's 5 Mins of Fly Fishing is again slightly more than 5 minutes (but hey, what can I say? Fly fishers have no sense of time). It involved Terry the Tilapia (caught on a woolly bugger), some casting sequences, the Bimini Twist, a hell of a lot of rain and some Jungle Perch fishing on Poppers. Sometimes the fishing is hard!
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Numerous credible sources including Bloomberg, are reporting that Northern Dynasty and it’s proposed Pebble Mine project in the Bristol Bay headwaters of Alaska, have essentially risen from the dead following the election and inauguration of the new administration in the USA. Stock values for the company have more than tripled since the election and a new share offering has raised over $32 million (USD) from investors.
When that kind of money is involved, history clearly shows that many will ignore any potential impacts to the environment, human heath, and indigenous rights to fatten up their pockets. The battle over the Pebble Mine and the future of Bristol Bay is clearly back on.
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There are so many things I like about fly fishing: The cast, the flies, the gear, the water, the fish, being out etc. etc., but with the Danish Fly Festival coming up in about a month, I came to think about something else. The fly fishing community - and the sharing that often comes with it. Across borders, even continents, from all levels of society, men and women - when we meet by the river, only the common ground set the stage: The river, the weather, a nice fly, a good catch, a conversation about the mad bull around the next bend, and the only thing that matters is the common ground.
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New kids on the Block ... it is very nice to se that more and more young guys are taking flyfishing and fly tying very seriously and give it their personal touch. Watch- and watch out for Simon Johansson - the multi lingual Swedish-Swiss fisherman -- he is like a Swiss army knife ;-)
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Last weekend I went out for my first distance casting practice session of the year, it wasn’t pretty! I normally practice little and often, although Tracy might have other ideas about what constitutes ‘little’. Unfortunately over Christmas ill health (a bout of puking, possibly caused by food poisoning, and then a winter cold) meant that I didn’t practice once, despite the casting field being very conveniently placed right at the end of the garden. I was therefore a bit rusty as far as out-and-out distance goes.
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This is my final weekly FP here at SL. I thought about some clever ways to end my stint here, but they all felt like I was trying to be too clever. So, I decided to just post another bit about fishing and leave it at that. I hope that you find this last FP to be useful on your own fly fishing journey. I call it "Going Deep."
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This is the much-anticipated start of SLTV3, "Five Minutes of Fly Fishing", which should be approximately :p five minutes of fly fishing every week. I'll try to mix things up and keep it exciting. I guess that the first few weeks are going to be sharing things I've learned here over the past five years or so. If you have any questions or comments then please do send them over, the tying of Vince's Loud Mouth Popper was inspired by/tied for Iskander.
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As you already know I love it to fish for sea trout, but there is a funny flat fish that sometimes appears at the end of my line... a flounder :) Nearly every coast fishing trip I catch one and already got the funny nickname flounder-queen. Sadly I still have no clue how to catch them specifically!
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world domination .... shameless promotion of one of the most stupid ideas of the year ... apart from voting for the clown with the orange wig maybe. You people really let this guy take the oval office ? ... crazy shit man.
Anyway - this is even more crazy - Paul forced me to sell flies ...
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There are a couple of regulars at my local carp lake who, to be honest, are a bit of a pain in the arse. Their friends also know they can be a bit stupid and show them a degree of contempt at times, whilst barely tolerating them generally. You’d think that they’d temper their behaviour in light of their pals disdain but they carry on oblivious, taking delight in spoiling things – especially when they see a fluff chucker on their coarse angling venue. It’s a smallish estate lake and Tracy and I do our best to tuck ourselves away in quiet corners so as not to disturb the bite alarm brigade, however as soon as we hook a fish (and sometimes before) these two are there seeing what we’re up to with our ‘strange’ tackle and typically getting in the way. One’s a duck and the other is a goose.
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A serious fly fishing adventure is coming up to me right now. Can't wait!
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Today we have an article from Roland Bachofer on his experiences with Tenkara Fly Fishing. I promised a new beginning to SLTV today with Five Minutes of Fly Fishing and this will certainly happen, but it's going to be later in the week and most probably starting next Monday - I want to start with a bag, but the fish have had different ideas! I've also promised a step-by-step to tying the Vince Loud-Mouth Popper variation that I use - this will happen too, and at the same time no doubt. :) So here it is, Tenkara Flyfishing...
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Today’s FP includes no fishing tips, fantastic stories, or casting secrets, but the topic, should you choose to participate, may greatly influence your angling and the angling of many others for the better. This FP is merely a call to encourage everyone out there to get involved and participate in the regulatory or political element of your local fisheries management. Consider making “GET INVOLVED” one of your 2017 New Year’s Resolutions.
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My friend, Daniel D Holm and myself had a trip planned to fish baltic, brackish water pike on Rügen next weekend. Unfortunately we had to cancel as the weather forecast turned and promised subzero temperatures in the week leading up to and over the weekend.
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Håvard Stubø /Jazz & Flyfishing have released another short film. One of these "must see" films. Not only for flyfishers ...
The stuff they produce differs very much from the "car - cast cast cast - some fish - campfire - back in car again" go-pro productions with "the tallest man on earth" type music in the background. OK, they sit in cars too sometimes, but than it´s Volvos ;-)
Anyway - this is proper film-making with humour, a real story to tell. ... see for yourself.
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After reading Lars’ FP on Saturday, James and I discussed how we both learnt how to double haul. James has always been a natural caster so had one day decided to attempt it and was successful straight away. However I have never had good co-ordination between my hands (I could never do the pat head, rub stomach thing). When I first learnt to fly cast over 20 years ago with AAPGAI instructor Derek Turner, he taught me the single haul. It was many years later, after getting into distance casting that I thought I’d give double hauling a go. I didn’t find it easy at all.
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Fly Fishing School Bernd Ziesche: Lots of educational fly fishing trips ahead in 2017!
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In trout fishing, drag is often thought of as a bad thing. It can be, but sometimes creating drag, or more precisely, enhancing drag, can be the key to success. This can be especially true when slinging big, "swimmy looking" stuff. A good example of complementing the current to enhance a streamer presentation is a technique that my father has humorously referred to as “The Baitfish from ‘L’”. I've not heard a better name for it, so that's what you get here.
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I've just spent one hour looking for a guest article on French Nymphing but can't find the damn thing! So, sorry about that. I'll look for it again later this week. But right now it's 17.50 and I only have 1.5hrs of daylight left and it's primetime to catch a Giant Snakehead of Giant Gourami.
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Quick FP from me covering for Daniela today. Tomorrow I have a guest page on French Nymphing, so let catch up on where we are now... I'm now going to fish, fish, fish! Fantastic! This week Ashly and I made a trip to the city - always strange going to such a mad busy crazy place after living outdoors in a place where there are no traffic noises, no crowds and lots of wilderness.
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I was just watching RIO's latest video on their YouTube channel where Simon Gawesworth teaches double hauling. It got me thinking, and I actually remember the very day I learned double hauling - and at the very spot!
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I finally jumped over my own shadow - and wallet - and invested a substantial amount in photo-gear. So far I worked with a minimalist setup ... big word - I used a small camera or later my iPhone for pretty much everything I did. I would say I got pretty far.
I had inspiration moment when I watched my daughter develop her photographic skills. That did build up my confidence that I would be able to make sense of more advanced gear myself.
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Happy New Year from Tracy and myself. I hope everyone has recovered from the celebrations and are looking forward to lots of fishing in 2017.
I’ve got a number of things to do in the early part of this year, some of them prompted by our fishing trips to the river Dee over Christmas. We had one really good day chasing grayling and two not so good days, this was despite the river looking pretty much perfect on all three days. Perhaps the temperature had an effect; our best day was a mild 10°C however for the last day, where we both blanked, the thermometer had dipped suddenly to a chilly -4°C. I know grayling are sensitive to changes in water levels and temperatures, and I also know that other people struggled at around the same time, and not just on the beat we were fishing.
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What is the best age to get started in fly casting? - A question I am often asked.
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With the passing of the new year, I ended up thinking about the inexorable passage of time and the eternal cycle of mankind's journey from life to death. No, not really. I was mostly just exhausted from being up too long and then the Pendulum Cast popped into my head. It seemed, um, timely, so I figured why not toss a primer up here?
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Last month I did my usual stint at managing a friend's bar in the rainforest. It's always fun meeting new people, playing pool, talking about fly fishing, being outdoors but with a roof while the torrential rain does it's thing, playing bar music while expanding my music tastes (not everyone appreciates Motorhead), and generally living like a night owl. However this year has been a little different because the monsoon seems to have missed this part of the country, and the lake levels are still at summer lows. The lake has come up about 1.5m, but still has another 5m to go to Wet Season levels, and since the Wet Season is almost over, this means that it's either coming in late or almost not at all. What this will mean for the summer, I have no idea, but for free-rising Snakehead it might be really good!
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I've now finished my month of running my mate's Rainforest Bar for the Xmas season and we're down in Kuala Lumper to pick up some important stuff - such as a waterproof camera for shooting Jungle Moments for SLTV, big waterproof bags, wire for Snakehead, hooks for Gourami and a small list of other things. The monsoon appears to have virtually missed Belum-Temenggor, which means it's either coming in late or not at all. What this means for the summer fishing later in the year, I have no idea, but I think it might actually be better.
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It’s my honor to kick off the New Year with our first FP of 2017!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
There is something about the new calendar year which causes us to look back and look forward, reassess and resolve. The world is an uncertain place, especially these days, but we can all be happy to know that Sexyloops is still here, and the great community of worldwide anglers that gathers here will continue to support and learn from one another. In the grand scheme of things, it may be small, but it is meaningful.
With the spirit of community in mind, I invited everyone to join me on the FP today to ring in the New Year.
On that note, I will sign off and let the others take over. Wishing you the best on and off the water in 2017.
Take Care and Fish On!
Matt
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