This newsletter is a bit of a groundbreaker for Sexyloops. I've been stuck in the monthly groove ever since I started updating the site. Now however too much happens and besides I want you to come by more often. Sexyloops has undergone radical changes in the last month. And we're not just talking the visual stuff either. Sexyloops is now a full-time commitment. I am now en route to Australia where I am going to spend three months working on this site, fishing the salt and getting to know a girl better.

Ok so there's always a woman involved…

But seriously Sexyloops now has the resources and the focus to become a real player on the Internet. There are a few major happenings about to be revealed. The casting tips, the tackle shop and the forthcoming stillwater section are each independently going to blow your mind.

I've spent the last 9 months in communication with Steven, my website manager, and together we have come up with some brilliant ideas. His knowledge of web design and just how to use it frightens me. And I'm the owner, not the competition!

Anyway all is now being revealed.

I now have a laptop, a very interesting digital camera and three months. For one thing this site will now be updated on a daily basis.

Tackleshop

All UK fly fishing sales are now handled through Kate Fleming of Blairgowrie. Kate owns an excellent tackle shop. It's run by both Kate and her son, Paul. I met them when I was working with Guide and was immediately impressed by the combination of professionalism and fly-fishing knowledge.

Believe me, this is an unusual combination in this trade.

One thing that excites me is that Paul knows fishing. I would like to bring some of his knowledge through into Sexyloops. He is an excellent fly fisher who fishes the salt on the West Coast of Scotland, Salmon fishes his local Perthshire rivers and chases hill loch browns and pike.

The other exciting development is the increased range of tackle now on offer. Kate Fleming sells Sage, Cortland and 3M. Get very excited. I am.

I am also developing relationships with tackle shops in other countries. Get very excited. I am. Leider du Deutsche liebst, or if you barbie your shrimps...

The new tackleshop including a sexy shopping cart is in the workshop as I write this.

Germany

Was fantastic. I was a bit worried about it before hand. These things are either brilliant or disasters. And I'm slowly beginning to realise that my personal life has a leaning towards the disaster. But hey this is far more interesting!

But I actually had a hell of a lot of fun. For one thing we went Grayling fishing. You know it's often like this. Sure you've got to make money as an instructor, but you've also got to fish.

Now let me reveal something about Germany which you may not know – unless you are German, in which case you will probably think it natural (it isn't); in order to fish in Germany you need a rod licence and in order to get one of these you need to pass an exam.

The exam is stuff like 'how many scales does ze average perch have' and 'vot is ze Latin for you must return all fish unter funf und zwanzig cm'. And it's in German. Which happens to make it extremely tough to pass if you don't speak it.

Now I had a German bird from Munich for a while and I looked into the Tourist licence scene down there and it does exist. But my friends had a better scheme. They decided that I should be able to get the licence without the necessary prufung (exam). And amazingly they succeeded. Blackmail methinks…

But even with this we had to drive deep into East Germany to get the bloody thing.

East Germany is beautiful by the way. I've had a couple of girlfriends from the West who have led me to believe that East Germany was full of ugly factories and ugly women. Not true. I can reveal now, here on Sexyloops, that East Germany is not full of ugly factories. And Chris (fellow instructor) had a girlfriend from the East, and he says that she was good looking. And although I didn't see any pictures, I am prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.

So we went grayling fishing. Most excellent it was too. In four days I had three grayling and about 300 trout. Does this surprise me?

I fished the Salle. This is a really beautiful river, and the fish were complete suckers to the sedge. But I also learned something new. I really got into streamer fishing on the last evening. Wow!

3 inches of orange streamer fished down and across is absolutely deadly. I've done this before of course. Tongariro, Mataura and the Itchen spring to mind, but never had I realised just how effective it can be. And fun too! I actually had more fun that I was having with the dries. For one thing the fish were bigger.

It's true benefit is that it allows you to fish the tails of pools effectively. Upstream with dry fly is always a problem with drag. Down and across with the skated sedge is fun, down and across with the B52 ist besser.

I used to fish downstream lure just for fun of Spey casting. Now I do it for the fishing.

The German Teaching Experience

Sure so I lived with Germans for 5 ½ years. Doesn't mean I spoke German. When Birgit was speaking to me, she did so in English (unless she was swearing of course).

Christopher Rownes (FFF USA) on the other hand can speak German. So we had some real fun. I'd give the demo and he'd translate. Sometimes it would get confusing. Someone would ask a question in English and he'd ask me it in German.

But I'd get my own back. I'd be casting and talking without thinking and he'd be translating simultaneously. So I'd slow down, and he'd still be translating. I'd slow more, maybe just say one word…

In the end it was really good; we had lots of fun and we're going to do more of these. It's nice to click with another instructor.

And he can cast…

The Flight

So don't fly Buzz. For 170 quid I was kept waiting at the airport for 2 ½ hrs until they were given a landing slot at Stanstead. They charged me for my lunch, wouldn't inform my pickup party that I was delayed and believe in crap service.

And they didn't have any meals for vegetarians.

Huh?

Yes I am a vegetarian now. Have been for almost 4 months. The irony is sickening. Back in an old newsletter I suggested that you might want to unsubscribe if you had met some vegetarian chick and had given up flyfishing for something less exciting, like sex.

Well it wasn't quite like this. Close maybe. I do know that I was unhappy with the food that I was eating and was open to a new diet. So it goes like this. Paul meets vegetarian girl. Vegetarian girl gives Paul vegetarian book. Paul reads vegetarian book. Paul says 'what the f. I'll give it 6 weeks and see what happens'.

I'm now fitter, faster and feel better. Triathlon time is dropping. No turning back now. Actually I'm converted. No dairy – if I can avoid it, no mixed protein and carbohydrates, all organics, fruit for breakie. But I do eat fish.

Now this is truly ironic, because I used to put them all back!!!

Japan Airlines

I'm writing this from one of their jets, on my way back 'home' to Noosa. JAL, I have mentioned before. They have good service. And let me tell you something else; if you are a vegetarian then you really MUST fly with them (and definitely not BA for example); their food is fantastic. They are good with their drinks as well – what else is there?

Well unfortunately they won't give me a spare battery pack for my laptop. Now this really sucks. My battery is running out. They offer them to first and executive class and I can just sense that they have spares up there, but they won't give me one.

Come on. Help me out here. Isn't there one airline somewhere who offers the complete package?

Now I have to find a power point in Osaka airport…

Osaka Airport

Hey this is neat. I'm finishing this newsletter from a PC bench, willing my battery to charge up quicker. The airport's nice but the duty-free sucks; I was hoping to buy some electronic stuff for my notebook for example. And all they sell is perfume and leather. Which reminds me of this club in Berlin…

This week

I'm working on the casting tips. Steven's working on the Tackleshop. We are also bringing in a new forum on the Bulletin Board to separate the general stuff from the technical.

- Paul