Daily Cast Archive


I’m back!

Paul Arden - Monday, November 30, 2020

Sorry about last week, I think we managed to miss a few FPs and I wasn’t around to cover or make them happen, but I’m back now. I was “working”, being filmed presenting a TV series that will be aired next year. The fishing is not too bad at the moment, and thankfully we found some Snakehead. Not only did almost all (?) my shots go in first time but they were filmed as well! I’ll talk more about this in the future and where you can watch it.

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Gammarus

Viking Lars - Saturday, November 28, 2020

Gammarus are one of the most important food items for trout in any environment. Gammarus are on the diet, year round in both salt- and freshwater and they can be so plentyful that it's almost ridiculous. Have you ever tried kicksampling in a river? Where you hold a small net between two sticks that you hold downstream of your feet, and then walk trhough a little weed patch or kick some river bottom? First of all it'll tell you what's in the river (and with that also what the water quality is, but that's a different story) and if you do in 5-6 times during a season, it'll also tell you which insects are active when, especially if you also try setting up the net just to catch what's drifting. And I'll almost guarantee you that you'll find plenty of gammarus.

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Lessons Learned Revisited

Andy Dear - Thursday, November 26, 2020

As we have done for the past several years, my family and I are spending the Thanksgiving holiday on the Texas coast in a tiny town called Indianola. Unfortunately I did not realize that there is no Wi-Fi or internet connectivity at the remote cabin where we are staying....which is just how I like it actually. I ran in to Port Lavaca to put up a Front Page, and in the interest of time, decided to re-run one of Paul's favorites titled 'lessons Learned" from June of 2019. One of our favorite past times down here is the pursuit of LARGE Black Drum with heavy tackle and natural bait i deep water. This essay details the brutal learning curve we went through one hot summer day learning to chase the giants of the deep, and in the process, created some indelible, albeit hilarious memories. Hope all of you are staying safe and healthy, and to those of you stateside, hope that you all have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

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It’s all about to...

Paul Arden - Monday, November 23, 2020

James’ FP yesterday struck a real chord with me. It’s the same for me on the lake here. I have “The Squiggles”, Ant Island, Millipede Island, Snake Island, Elephant Island, Spooky Island, Snakehead City, Gourami Bay, Millipede Island (AKA Martyn’s Inferno, due to a rather large campfire) and so on. Which reminds me of a joke I attribute to my Grandfather (which may be incorrect by the way)...

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30 Yarder

Tracy&James - Sunday, November 22, 2020

When we’re flats fishing Tracy and I tend to make up names for things that makes perfect sense to us but, to someone overhearing us, might sound odd. Quite often we change the name of flats to something more meaningful to us rather than the ‘official’ moniker. This isn’t done for any sort of subterfuge reasons, it’s just because I’m not great at remembering names and, as such, if we come up with a more logical name then we both know instantly where we are discussing. For example, ‘Muddy Bay’ – it’s pretty obvious why we call this particular flat this, as fighting through calf-deep soft silt is pretty memorable (and strength sapping – but often worth it). There’s also ‘Church Flat’ named after the church roof that is our navigation aid to find it – this one requires a couple of miles walk through a fairly featureless terrain and looking back at the distinctive red tiles helps keep us on the right track to hit the exact entry point that we want.

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Long flies

Viking Lars - Saturday, November 21, 2020

Long flies - in this case sand eel imitations and imitations of other bait fish for that matter, often equal long wings to imitate the long profile of the bait fish. And the imitations can be very precise and very effective and I for one fish them alot. Sand eels, gobies, sticklebacks, small herring, sprats and more are on the big salt water menu around all of Scandinavia (though not all at once).

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explanation and arse eye

Mika Lappalainen - Friday, November 20, 2020

Last week Mike was asking from Paul some things in FP. I started to think about the same issue and thought to share my opinion. Opinion is like arse eye, everyone has his own but from opinion you could get something useful, otherwise than from arse. (ass has two meanings, does that tell something about arse or animal).

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Good news, bad news, etc.

Gary Meyer - Tuesday, November 17, 2020

So, the good news is I finally got out and went fishing. It was not in my canoes but in a friends boat, and that was probably just as good as the waters were pretty tore up from the recent storms. I doubt I could have gone anywhere interesting in a canoe and this trip did allow me a very thorough investigation of the situation. One of the most interesting observations was the number of other anglers on the water. Apparently, there were a large number of folks who were just as bummed out by our recent forced vacation from fishing. Everyone seemed happy just to get back out on the water.

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Teaching/Guiding Fly Fishing

Paul Arden - Monday, November 16, 2020

Before I write about the above topic, let me remind you that Christmas is just around the corner and for those of you looking for the best Christmas present ever – a custom built Sexyloops Hot Torpedo – then you should be ordering now!

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Twisted

Paul Arden - Sunday, November 15, 2020

We have a fantastic discussion on the Board - it’s a long one now - but well worth reading in its full entirety, especially if you are in lockdown and have some free time! I’m particularly enjoying reading Phil and John’s thoughts on the biomechanics of fly casting related to other sports.

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Guiding Business

Michal Duzynski - Saturday, November 14, 2020

I am after some advice guys. Recently I am doing very well with my fishing for carp. I know my grounds and where the fish are. My mate, I don't know if he is teasing me, or he’s serious tells me to start guiding for carp at the dam- just on weekends. I took his idea very lightly, but few recent events made me think more.

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Better, Faster, Stronger

Martyn White - Friday, November 13, 2020

I'm going on a bit of a ramble this week. But it's all connected, in my mind at least, to the idea of progress. I should probably start by saying that I'm no traditionalist whether in my fishing or my fly tying-anyone who watches my videos will know that. The thing is I'm always being asked why I still use varnish instead of UV resin, or don't move to the new super thin gsp threads that will make my tying easier.

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Old Friends

Andy Dear - Thursday, November 12, 2020

The most valuable antiques are dear old friends ---H. Jackson Brown Jr.

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Lots of fish in difficult times

Bernd Ziesche - Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Fair to summarize that logical thinking as well as keeping the public trust up high seems impossible for most (if not all) politicians in these days! Well, I better stay within fly fishing. That's obviously the best I can do to keep myself in a proper mood!

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Can't make this crap up

Gary Meyer - Tuesday, November 10, 2020

I'm writing this on Sunday morning as I expect I will be without power and communications sooner than later. Tropical storm "Eta" is approaching and looking outside it is not a secret. We are already flooding and squalls that feel like 60 mph are pruning my trees. And, as they say... "we ain't seen nothing yet!"

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Lessons from the Roof

Paul Arden - Monday, November 9, 2020

As you’ll know if you’ve been reading my recent FPs I’ve been working on my left handed casting which has been truly fascinating. Several times now and for the last four nights in a row, I’ve found myself still casting when dawn makes its abrupt appearance! I’m using the Sexyloops lumiline and the HT Instructor 6.

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PULD Leader Board

Tracy&James - Sunday, November 8, 2020

Wow, the latest entry into the PULD challenge that we set a few weeks ago is spectacular; Bernt has thrown 140ft with just one back cast. We now have a fantastic leader board, though not unsurprisingly, I am still bringing up the rear. I really do need to practice more and am hoping that the weather improves here in North Wales so I can have another attempt, or maybe two or three ;-)

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Shooting heads

Viking Lars - Saturday, November 7, 2020

I needed a set of shooting heads for my 5-wt, which is the rod I use the most when floating (pontoon or float tube). My current set of sinking heads is at least 10 years old (and probably more) and three out of four were cracking in the coating. They were an odd bunch, collected, cut and spliced from various lines over a longer period. They worked very well, but since they all needed replacing, I ordered a Scientific Anglers standard shooting head, a 7-wt. Just one to see how they fit. They're 30-feet, which is OK and I would be OK cutting a little off, adding to it harder.

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growing old

Mika Lappalainen - Friday, November 6, 2020

”Get a haircut and get real job”, George Thorogood is telling that to you. I don’t know about real job but I got my first ”adult/grow up” haircut today. Earlier I have had army look, bald and mostly goblin look. I had to make myself look somehow decent because on Saturday we are going to ”party”, confession one. Not sure about translation but it should do. My daughter will be celebrated and dad has to look something else than goblin.

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Wingmen

Andy Dear - Thursday, November 5, 2020

A good fishing partner is one who's always a little worse than you are. ---Unknown

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Tapering Off

Martyn White - Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Last week I wrote about my worry at becoming over reliant on the rubber candy in my sea bass fishing around Tokyo bay.  On Monday Hawaiian Dave and I had another evening run, which gave me a chance to break my habit, so I stuck a 17cm hollow fleye on the 8wt.  I couldn't quite leave the silicon behind so although I didn't tie on a rubber candy, I put a 7.5 cm siliclone on the 6wt. Luckily the conditions helped quite a bit on that front.

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Season's greetings

Gary Meyer - Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Finally! As I type this a cool breeze is forcing through my house windows. You cannot believe how wonderful that is! The last nine months have been, for me, the longest unfishable duration in South Florida that I believe to have ever happened in my lifetime.

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Boat life

Paul Arden - Monday, November 2, 2020

I’ve been mostly chilling out this week and avoiding people. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone for 5 days. I was a bit worried that we were back under lockdown again, but I’m just moored up in a secluded bay. I need to avoid people sometimes; I’m sure you’re the same. KL is in Lockdown by the way, but that’s another story.

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PULD - Latest

Tracy&James - Sunday, November 1, 2020

The PULD competition has now been running for just over a week, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have entered so far. There have been some exceptional casts entered, especially from King Bart and Michal who have both posted distances in excess of 130ft – very, very impressive considering it’s a #5 line with only one back-cast. When you consider all the BFCC competitions over the years, only four people have achieved over 130ft in the #5 trout distance event with a ‘normal’ cast (I’m not one of them), but here we have people doing it with a pick-up/lay-down.

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