Have you ever thought about how few shortcuts there are in fly fishing except, perhaps, for using forceps to tie some knots? Whenever I try to take shortcuts, something bad happens. For instance, during practice last week, the fluff came off the leader. I reeled up the line but left the leader out to work on it and brought it inside the house. I set the reel on the end table. In the meantime, the rug needed a good vacuum. I saw that most of the tippet was rolled up. I didn’t see it, but there was sufficient length still out to reach the floor. The vacuum found it, quickly sucked it up like a largemouth inhaling a minnow. It ate the tippet and the entire front taper with the reel flopping around before I could kill the power. Toast.
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Yes indeed. It’s almost Christmas again. The year just flew past. I’m just recovering from the last one. And that’s just how life is nowadays.
Anyway the great thing about this, is that if you want a Xmas to remember, then now is the time either to order a Hot Torpedo for yourself, or alternatively drop the hint. After all, if you don’t say what you want then you might get a cardigan.
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This week we'll wrap up the "Doctor John" series of Tarpon flies with The Orange & Badger Doctor.
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This week was Tracy’s and mine last full week on the flats and it was an eventful one. I must say that after 6 weeks of fishing we’re both a bit physically battered, in particular our feet are burning sore. Looking after your feet and skin are vital on a long wade fishing trip, we don’t ever use anything other than factor 50 sunscreen and purchase products aimed at surfers or children because we feel they do not wash off as easily as standard lotions. In our boots we have insoles to cushion our feet from the rocks etc. as well as thick neoprene socks, however after 40 plus days of wading up to 6 or 7 hours (limited by the light at this time of year) the normal ache can turn to pain. On the subject of looking after your feet; after the first day of wading I noticed a blister on my toe (the same toe that had the gout flare-up) – this then took 35 days for the hole in my skin to finally heal over. We’ve experienced this with other cuts and abrasions, they don’t heal at the normal rate when exposed to saltwater on a daily basis and scarring is greatly increased. Tracy still has marks on her ankle from a seemingly minor injury that happened on a trip years ago, so look after yourself if you’re planning an extended visit.
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I’ve spent a lot of time outside November 2022. Doing field archaeology, fishing, on the bike and it has been the warmest I can remember (not that I keep track). That means that some season and important baitfish have been around for longer - most notably sand eel. They usually disappear in the winter, but the water is still 8-9 degrees, so they are still here.
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Last weekend it was almost -20 celsius. Cold wind and lot of humidity in the air. So it felt much colder than -20 celsius.
Good thing is that now when we don't have much snow yet, ice on the lakes will be best for years. We have ice about 15 cm now and when there are not snow to isolating. Also ground will get frost and soft areas will be better. When snow will eventually come, our tracks will be easier to do.
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Hawaiian Dave managed to get himself invited out on a bass boat with another guy we know this week, the swine! Which made me jealous as it's the peak big fish time. I had to slum it on the muddy river looking for carp instead.
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Fishing season ended for us November 1, the day we did the burn pile. The storm on November 1 caused a lot of tree damage. At least ten of our trees fell during the storm, five in the driveway, four on either side of the house, two of which hit the roof but caused no damage. The snow was so heavy that many smaller Douglas Fir trees (6”-10” trunks) bent over, some 90 degrees. Some trees snapped midway up the trunk, including one beautiful Larch. We’d just finished the burn pile and thought we were done with bucking, stacking and hauling slash for the year, but the storm cemented our chores for a couple more weeks. The storm was then followed by unseasonably cold temperatures, highs only reaching into the teens (Fahrenheit). So although the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks district we’re in (Region 1) allows fishing in moving water until November 30th, we were done.
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I’m planning to film a teaching video on hauling and cross-shoulder casting today. I’ve been planning this for a while so we shall see what happens. There does appear to be an incoming tropical storm and I have to pack for my weekly visit to town for both shopping supplies and a 16km training run. So if it’s uploaded and appears here then you can be very impressed! Otherwise, damn it, it will happen… “soon” :))
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Today we explore another one of Dr. John Tebbetts patterns from his archive, one of my personal favorites...The Doctor Darth.
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It’s 5pm Saturday here as I write this, beer in hand watching the light fade over the bay that our apartment looks over (unfortunately to watch the sunset we need to be on the other side of the island). It will be pitch black by 6pm, the light fades very rapidly on this side almost as if someone has switched the lights off. Tracy and I are just relaxing having got in from a pretty epic day’s bonefishing.
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Fishing comes in all forms imaginable and I suppose there’s hardly a fish that can’t be caught on rod and line. First class fishing is normally considered a high quality fishery, usually with very good chances of fish, lodges, guides, riverside lunches.
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Don't fix it. Everyone understand that or at least most of rock bands has understood it. ACDC, similar music for decades and it still kicks your ass. Metallica, Ozzy etc This list could go on and on. Rock will never get old.
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There was no fishing for me this week. I was hoping for some carp, but after some heavy rain the rivers were high and mucky.
So I decided to tidy the fishing room and then get to work on my mullet box. I made some form of progress on the tidying front, but I kept getting distracted by the tying books and pulling stuff out to see what I "need" to buy. Eventually, I got my act together and got things looking somewhat civilised, I'll maybe finish it tomorrow while working from home. Maybe.
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It’s become apparent to me that most people who train their flycasting don’t have a training plan. This is very limiting and without a plan you end up just practising what you are already good at and not really make significant improvements in that either.
A coach should make the difference. On my 12 lesson Zoom courses, after every session I create three or four new exercises to train over the next 1-2 weeks. These are specific to whatever the current needs are, and they are to be done in conjunction with the core skills training that are to be worked on during every session.
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This is it. Lake is rising. Snakehead are spawning. We are coming headlong into Prime Snakehead Time now. I know that the world is upside down, particularly if you are living in Europe. So this is a call to Aussies. Someone or two really should get in touch and book a trip with me between now and Xmas. Tim Kempton is over for the week the beginning of December. If you book now you can get in before him (maybe one or two of you Singaporeans?!). Or else straight after.
The alternative is Tim comes and then I fish the place flat out before and after. That’s not a bad option for me because I would actually really like to set about them properly and slam them! But I run a business and if we can do a couple of trips over this period then that would actually be preferable. Fishing wise I’m happy either way!
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Today's Front Page highlight's two of Dr. Tebbett's more basic, but no less effective Tarpon patterns, the Orange Doctor and the Yellow Doctor.
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On our previous trip to the Bahamas, prior to the Covid pandemic, we met up with another Sexylooper, Flavio, who was also staying on the island chasing bonefish and other species. During this time we discussed flies for casting at predators and, being as Flavio had brought a fly tying kit with him, he crafted some super flies.
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It’s great to get out and have an easy day, rely on your experience in choosing the right location, choose the right fly, rod, line, tactic and catch a handful of fish. But every fishery, every location, every type of fly fishing, every single day poses at least some kind of challenge and there are some challenges I like more than others, just as others like other challenges than me
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Snap of the finger is measurement of time as you know, like also blink of the eye, both of them have different tone as you might say. Now days are running like snap of the finger for me.
I was able to finish our fence project two days ago. Then I have list for other things which needs to be done before real winter and begin of winter season. The list is not long, instead it won't happen in blink of the eye. The fence was not built with just snap of finger. It is funny how you can play around with just these two dictum and everyone understand meaning, I assume.
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After a great start to the seabass fishing, my season has hit a real snag. Availablity. The boats are booked solid until Christmas, even on Mondays, which is when I usually go out, and I've never been unable to get a boat on a Monday before!
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The slash pile was as big as a bus. Well, a VW bus. Bill, our experienced neighbor, said it wasn’t too big and we could add more. But we didn’t listen. We’d only had experience with very small slash piles, so we started a second one with the intention of adding to the first after the initial conflagration settled a bit. Dumb. Just dumb. Bill was right. We spent two hours moving sticks from our pile and launching them onto the flaming pile. Bill’s a good mentor.
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Last weekend I did an Ironman 70.3 in Langkawi and of course the inevitable happened and I decided to do the full 140.6 again, this time next year. I wasn’t sure that this was going to be my decision but I could imagine doubling everything up – all apart from the run. I’m sure that with the training focus, that knowing I will do this event next year gives, I should get fit enough – and the next 70.3 will be a breeze!
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Last week we kicked off a series of Front Pages that pay homage to my dear friend John Tebbetts. Like everything he did in his life, John's fly tying pursuits were equal parts science and art.
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Bonefishing can be exhilarating, but it can also be frustrating. With the higher water levels this time, we are adjusting our notes on pretty much all the ‘flats’ we previously fished. However we have found some new flats where the fishing’s been great with bones eager to snaffle our flies. I love to stalk the bonefish and watch where they move, anticipating the direction and casting suitably in front of them, to see if they will take the fly I cast.
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I don’t mean teams on competitions, I really don’t like fishing competitions, but that’s an entirely different matter. I mean fishing teams of flies - meaning two or more flies on the leader. I’m not two flies on the leader can be called a team, but I’ll refer to is as such. I’ve hooked - and landed - two fish in one cast, but that’s not why I use two or more flies (I very, very rarely use more than two). More often than not, one or both fish are lost and the fight becomes really strange. It’s about presenting the fish with two choices
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Weather is not winter nor autumn. It is both depending the day, and it is making our life difficult with reindeer. Things are getting icy frozen and that is not a good thing.
Sunday we had wolf hunting which was success as we had two licenses and both were used. There is saying that things will get worse before getting better. We are on that in many ways now.
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The early winter bass fishing on Tokyo bay has continued to be good although not necessarily following the expected patterns.
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Despite wanting to live here for 30 years and trying to move 12 years ago and again 5 years ago, the timing was never right. Finally, we felt like the only way to get it done was just to do it, to force it. This time everything fell into place. One of the reasons we moved to Montana was to shake things up. We’d been fishing the same places for 17 years. We were in a rut and needed a change.
It seems that we humans have a tendency to get into ruts.
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Every few weeks or so, someone mentions to me that a Sexyloops Hot Torpedo rod is better than XYZ rod/s in back-to-back tests. And not just a little bit better but better in every way, especially when it comes to a) Feel and b) Loop control and smoothness. And I often get asked why this should be?
In fact sometimes there is an element of surprise in the question. A Yeti living in the jungle, working with a Spanish manufacturer and a UK rod builder, making better fly fishing rods than businesses with more staff and more money to throw at development. So it’s actually a rather interesting question.
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_(1).jpg "A Fly On The Wall Part 5")
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.jpg "A Fly On The Wall---The Doctor John 2")
