This morning I got good or even great idea about trip for May. Instead of ice fishing we could go after sea trout. I know few good areas in Norway. I got good offer about camper for few days etc. So I decide to check if there is any regulations about going Norway nowadays. Of course there are, you need to have test, quarantine etc. So my great idea crashed before it really got any wings. So maybe it could be back to ice fishing planning. This will be short info how you can support our unique trout population in Kuusinki river.
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With the spawning over I'm back on the water again and because of the current restrictions, I'm staying local so had my first float tube session of the year on Monday. The local lake has a decent population of largemouth bass although it's fairly featureless which can make them hard to find. More interestingly, it has a thriving snakehead population which keeps the bass fishermen away most of the summer.
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What information do you want to have about a fly line?
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The AFTMA industry standard (now known as AFFTA) has been around for a very long time. It was invented around the 1960’s by Myron Gregory, and it is a very simple system. The first 30’ of fly line, minus the level tip, should weigh a specified amount (in grains), with tolerances either side of the target weight. For example, a #5 must weigh between 134 and 146 grains, with a target weight of 140 grains, and we call lines that follow the AFFTA standard ‘true to weight’ lines.
Line manufacturers are making lines that are overweight, which means they are heavier than the industry standard, so what you see on the box is not always what you get! Why do they do this? It is often quoted that the increased weight ‘loads faster actioned fly rods’. Well, it does load them more, but it’s a big misunderstanding about how casting works. The rod doesn’t work as a giant spring that propels the line, it is mostly a flexible lever that lets us move the line as straight as possible. The heavier line DOES give the rod a different feeling, but then as Paul says “you’ve bought the wrong rod!” We choose tackle by deciding on the biggest fly we will use, and go backwards from there. The rod is actually the last thing in the sequence. For distance casting you actually want LESS bend, which means less counterflex. Less counterflex gives the caster a tighter loop and more line shoot. The heavier lines go further because they have more mass. Now, a fly line that says ‘#5’ on the box could be a true #6, #7, or an #8, or even a ‘half weight heavy’. What is the point of that?! Fishing wise, this presents a big problem. If you want to fish size 20-22 flies effectively, for example, then you'll need a #4 line that's true to weight. If it says #4 on the box but it's really a true #6 or #7 then you are going to straighten the small hooks and/or snap the light tippet with the heavy line. You won't be able to see or feel the take very well either.
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For the last year or so, a podcast called The Mill House has been popping up in my youtube search suggestions. I wasn't really sure what "The Mill House" was, and quite honestly didn't take the time to investigate the possibility that it may be something I'd enjoy. That is, until I saw Flip Pallot advertised as a featured guest....that of course got my attention.
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It’s been over a year since the last BFCC event was held in Devon, the club has since been in hibernation due to the Covid pandemic. However, this week the committee members got together, via Zoom, to hold an AGM and to discuss the year ahead. Thankfully the rules in the UK are beginning to allow for a return to normality in stages, and as such, outside events with up to 30 people present will be permissible soon.
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Some events stay vivid in memory for a long, long time. It can be anything, obviously significant to all, less significant to others, but for some reason, stil significant to me or you. One of my earliest fishing memories is standing under the bridge over my local, childhood river, casting my spinners upstream into a weir pool. Spinners my dad had bought me the same morning in the local sports shop (I still have one or two of them). That wasn’t allowed, but when you’re a kid you get away with a lot of things. There was another river I often persuaded my dad to take me to, where I never had a license. Sometimes walking along the river, the landowner would step out of his tractor and ask if I was a member of the local club. A simple “No, I didn’t know you had to” (which was true the first time) would leave me with a shrug from the farmer and a “Well, you just keep on fishing, it’s OK”. That’s a lot harder to get away with as you grow up (or a least, get big enough to look like a grown up). Eventually I got a license, of course. Nor would i ever consider fishing illegally today, of course.
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As I told last week weather is looking good for ice fishing. It was awesome weather during last weekend. Almost +20 celsius and sun shine. Snow was mostly gone from ice so light can go down. Unfortunally it was maybe too good weather and during weekend when we fished with Satu it was more like enjoying the sun.
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I'm terrible at naming flies. Or at least, terrible at it most of the time, when I actually come up with a fly that's reasonably original I can come up with something. It's probably because, I don't really think most patterns warrant a new name.
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Right now nearly all travelling is blocked by the regulations to fight Corona. Obviously this means I have to find the FEW big fish in and around my home town. Quite an interesting challenge!
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Saratoga are a prehistoric, non-edible sportfish found in the tropical Northern rivers of Australia. There are two species Scleropages leichardti found mainly in the southern rivers and Scleropages jardinii found mainly in the Northern rivers. They are found in inland rivers, billabongs and flood runners. A billabong is an Australian term for an oxbow lake, or an isolated pond left behind after a river changes course. A flood runner is a small anabranch which flows only during periods of high flow in the stream it branches from, ie during floods.
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I was over in Langkawi last week for filming a forthcoming TV show. I had an absolute blast. I’m not going to talk too much about what happened and what I learned because that would spoil the show, right? :)
But what I will say is, man, those fish really know how to run! The biggest we had to the boat were around 5KG and I’m not exaggerating when I say some took 200m of line on the first hectic rush. Luckily I took extra backing!
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We’re just back from another great day on the river Dee, an unusually warm and sunny day where we saw a large number of sedge flies in flight and caught lots of fish. For me all my fish today were on dries, even though I only saw a few rises. Besides the fishing, the location is great for spotting wildlife such as otters, squirrels, herons, kingfishers, pheasants and we could hear a woodpecker though couldn’t spot it. The river is very low at the moment, so wading is easier than normal, although there were still a few moments that I thought I might end up taking a dunking as the stones on the river bed were very slippy with algae. The beat we picked today had a cold wind blowing initially against the flow, which then switched 180 degrees, meaning casting could be a little tricky, so it helps that James and I can cast a #3 easily in such conditions. The tricky wind meant I needed to practice curve casts to make sure the fly was drifting ahead of the leader.
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Yesterday was the opening day on the Danish salmon rivers. It’s always a big day with a bi-zillion fishers out and a few really big ones have been caught, including a 124cm/19kg giant from Varde River. The rule of thumb when fishing salmon in Denmark is to fish deep, almost tickling the salmon on the nose with the fly. I know it’s possible to rise a salmon to a small fly and an intermediate line and I think it’s mainly fishing pressure keeping the fish down.
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I have been doing last fixing before snow is gone and reindeer are back in the wild. So it means driving with snowmobile and working on snow, I found some areas where we have about 1 meters snow still but it should be gone fast now when we have wind and almost +10 celsius, where sun can do it macig it was +18 celsius. I have noticed that when watching movies or tv anyhow, I do like to watch ”reality-tv” from Alaska etc. Anyway nature related programms.
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It's turning into another strange spring. I was looking forward to the end of the smallmouth spawn over the next week or so, I've some new streamers to test on the hungry post spawn fish. But that might not work out as planned after all.
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Usually I would be fly fishing for Sea trout in Sweden now. But no, the Covid situation again is completely out of control making it nearly impossible to well organize any hosted fly fishing trips within Europe.
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April first, opening day of trout season in New York state can be somewhat of a big deal, especially in the Catskills with all the fishing history and traditions. Is it bigger than a Stones concert? Yeah no. Do the non-fishers even notice? Maybe. The local newspaper probably had a back page article about it that some glanced at as they flipped through the pages looking for information on baseball's opener. While out on errands they may have noticed a few guys standing in the river. Maybe not. If opening day falls on a weekday, it's a soft opening; Saturday draws the numbers, and then the non-fishers would notice a handful of cars lined up next to a well known pool for the traditional 'First Cast' where a politician or dignitary throws out the first fly as a bundled-up, coffee cup holding audience stands off to the side behind the local paper's camera crew. SLP is never mentioned.
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What a fantastic day I had on Saturday.
Me and one of the Saltwater Fly Fishing Forum member from Brisbane decided to chase some Tuna out of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. We were just cruising parallel to the shore- not far from it as you can see on the clip- between Moolooluba and Noosa.
I was perfectly equipped for that trip: inter line, 25lb fluocarbon leader, 4210 reel, and HotTorpedo 10wt.
Let me tell you that I am super happy to be a distance caster and that I spent time on practice.
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I’m writing this having just got in from fishing, it feels good to write that after being locked down for so long. Tracy and I had a great day on the Welsh Dee despite an overnight frost and a bitterly cold wind suggesting that the fishing could be tough. To be honest, it was hard when we first arrived but things got going as the temperature climbed (albeit to only 7 degrees C) during the day.
During lockdown Tracy and I bought a car specifically for fishing as our other car is quite low and prone to grounding, plus it has very fat, low profile tyres that offer little in the way of grip on some of the muddy access roads. Actually not long ago I remember having to get some passing walkers to push me backwards off some level wet grass as my wheels span uselessly.
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Ferrules - you know, where the sections of your rod meets, are important. Far more important than most fly fishers realise, I think. I’ve asked around in the rod industry (and had answers from Sage, Scott and G. Loomis - funnily enough, I’ve never asked Mr. Sexyloops. Hey Dude, what’s most common cause that causes HTs to break? There, done). One said “user mistakes” and included car doors, falling over, heavily overloading rods, not putting the rod properly together, high-sticking big fish and was honest enough to even include the (of course very rare) manufacturing problem. The two others also included a list, shorter, but both had not putting the rod properly together on top of their list.
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It has been almost 7 months from my last guiding trip. Last week I had one group and this week it will be 2 groups. We have had visitors at the farm, that I consider more like hosting than guiding. I didn’t realize how much I have been missing guiding until today.
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The spring fishing has been good to me so far this year, unseasonably warm days from January onward meant some nice carp were caught, along with some big prespawn smallmouth before the maruta arrived which meant good fishing for them as well as the carp and barbel that were following them in the hope of getting some eggs to feed on.
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On the Sexyloops board as well as on facebook there was (and is) a discussion about violating the 180 concept causing a tailing loop or not. In that discussion the terms dangling end and tailing loop got significantly lost (mixed up) for some participants. So I put this clear now!
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We fished for Red Drum in Louisiana at the Chandeleur Islands and the Louisiana Marshes in the USA in October 2017.
The Chandeleur Islands were so named by the French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville in 1700. These Islands are part of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana. The islands are shrinking after being battered by severe hurricanes such as Georges in 1998 and Katrina in 2005. They are now uninhabited, and only accessible by boat. We flew into New Orleans and sailed from Pass Christian.
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This week I am off to Langkawi chasing and hopefully catching Ladyfish (Giant Herring). I’m looking forward to this and it will be nice to see the sea!!
I’m in a bit of a mad rush today, in town and heading back to the Battleship for a couple of days. Mondays are always chaotic for me. I have two Zoom flycasting lessons tomorrow. These are going very well! I thoroughly enjoy teaching flycasting using this medium.
By the sounds of things I might even have fly fishing guests again soon. Malaysia will shortly be allowing people with two vaccine shots to travel and without quarantine. Yay!!! No idea when I can get my inoculation, but it will be great to be hosting guests again!! Both for the soul and the wallet!
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Tracy and I finally got to go fishing this weekend. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a long gap between fishing trips before so it was really great to get out. The restrictions on movement within Wales were lifted last weekend but the high water levels meant we had to wait another week before we could fish the river Dee.
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If you want to open a heated debate, try discussing the colour fiery brown with other fly fishers. Most colours we can almost all agree on instantly. Blue - yes, a blue might be dark, light, dusty etc. (and discussion might become a little excited when a blue gets to dark it begins to go purple). Yellow? Most will a agree on what’s yellow and then we might begin betting when others would say dark yellow or light orange. We’d still share a pint afterwards and have a laugh.
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As I told last week we are planning some accomandation. Friday evening we got that to the goal. So I’m really happy to open this case little bit. It is opening some great possibilities to you as fisherman when visiting our area. And not just for you but if you have companion with you, there is change that she/he is not so worried about you spending so much time in the river, because she/he will love to hang out in our logde.
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I have a Japanese friend who's always trying to get me to go fishing with him on mountain lakes and streams for tiny yamame trout and iwana char. I can't really motivate myself to do it when there are other species that are so much more interesting to me here in Japan.
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