Small stuff

I didn’t have much time to do anything the last couple of days, but the moments I did have to myself, I’ve used to tie some smaller streamers (since I plan to go more to the Belgian Ardennes for fishing this year).

 

These are actually for trout, but I think they will do fine for perch, zander, ide, chub, or any fish that feeds on fry (so I’ve tied me a box full of them).

Actually, I intend to try them out for perch tomorrow or the day after.

 

They are all about 5,5 cm long, tied on a Gamakatsu F314, size 6, with a 3,8 mm bead.

 

 

 

The materials I’ve used are, rabbit zonker strip, Krystal Flash and chenille (Krystal Chenille or Vampire Plush).

 

The first ones, I’ve also used some copper or brass wire to secure the rabbit strip (which you can see on some of the pictures), but the way they are tied, that wasn’t really necessary, so after a dozen or so, I’ve stopped using it.

I got my inspiration for this pattern from a book that I can highly recommend.

Not for pike or salt water flies, but every other type of fly fishing is very adequately explained

(dry flies, nymphs, streamers,… how to tie them and how to fish them).

The book also includes a DVD, mainly on Czech Nymph fishing.

 

Of course, since this book is brought out by Hends Products, every fly inside is tied with their own products.

I’ve been tying flies with Hends Products for a while now, and their stuff is really great, but to be honest, there isn’t much of a difference with other high quality products.

But the book is still worth checking out, whatever brand of material you use!

 

And I’ve tied me a couple of these as well

(just a variation on a Muddler Minnow).

This one is about 4 cm long, tied on a Kamasan B-830, size 10.

And now, I’m off to my vise again, because I’ve made a promise to Djuza
(from Piketeaser), and I intend to keep it…

The ‘Lonesome Tom’

 

Since I’ve tied two more colour combinations of yesterdays pattern, I had to come up with a name again. And again I’ve found my inspiration in the music I was listening to.

This might be the perfect opportunity to share another passion in my life. For me, listening to music and tying flies is a combination that gets me in a sort of healthy trance (I think that if the roof blew off, I wouldn’t even notice it).

This time I was listening to Tom Waits, and therefore I called it a 'Lonesome Tom’.

If you want to tie a head like this yourself (which is the head of a Bullhead basically), you can find a great tutorial by Dave Lindsay on his new website http://www.spanglefish.com/tyingpredatorflies (and loads of other interesting stuff on predator fly tying as well).

And for those who are interested, this was the music I was listening to.

I particularly like the seventies period of Tom Waits. He recorded some great music back then, and the two albums that I prefer the most are these:

 

            ‘Closing Time’                                                   and ‘Blue Valentine’

He is on the top of my list of artists that I would like the see live, but until this day, I’ve never had the opportunity (he’s an odd fellow when it comes to concerts).

I named the ‘Lonesome Dee’ after David Eugene Edwards, from Woven Hand.

Actually, I like all of their albums, but the two that really stick out (for me) are:

 

              ‘Blush Music’                                                        and ‘Mosaic’

They are also a fantastic live band. I‘ve seen them a few times, and if you want to see a man with charisma dripping from the stage, go check them out yourself if you got the chance!

Pike flies

This afternoon, I’ve bought me some new rabbit zonker strips from Fario Jan (still my favourite fly shop). And of course I had to tie something with them.

These flies are al about 15 cm long, tied on an SS-1930 INOX, size 4/0.

They are all tied the same way. The tail is a rabbit zonker strip with some Polar Flash, then some Vampire Plush around the hook shank. The collar is bucktail, and the head is polypropylene fibre (cut into shape) and Crazy Legs, with some epoxy eyes.

 

The black one, I’ve mixed black and red holographic hair in the tail for flash material, and homemade epoxy eyes...

Sexy gaze

 

Last weekend,

I came across these doll eyes, which I definitely wanted to put on some pike flies,…

So I did.

 

I don’t think these eyes will catch me more fish, but they do look very sexy!

The upside-down ’Lonesome Dee’

As you can see, my dryer had to work at full speed this evening.

Actually I wanted to go fishing today, but the weather was truly horrible, so I’ve tied me some flies instead. I really liked the pattern that I ended up with yesterday, so I had to give it a name (which I’m not good at). Since I’ve listened to Woven Hand (that’s a band) most of the time during tying, I called the fly, the ‘Lonesome Dee’ (Dee is short for David Eugene Edwards, the front man of the band).

The pattern is the same of yesterday (rabbit zonker strip and Angel Hair for the tail, a brass wire dubbing brush with SF Blend, and the head is a 5 mm tungsten bead, some sequins with holographic eyes in the middle and epoxy around it all). They are about 9 cm long, tied on a Gamakatsu JIG 22, size 4/0.

 

The SF Blend is pink and bleeding purple

 

Yellow and bleeding red

 

White and bleeding red

 

White and light pink

 

Bleeding black and bleeding red

 

I’ve cut the fibre to short on this one, but I will fish it anyway

 

Chartreuse and peacock

 

White and sea blue

White and grey

Normally I don’t tie the same pattern so many times in a row, but this one is really a lot fun…

Experiments with jig hooks

 

Since I’m still looking for flies that go deep without hooking anything at the bottom, these jig hooks are the perfect answer. You can tie almost every existing pattern on them, with the hook upwards.

If you read my blog regularly, then you know that I like to start with a deceiver pattern, to end up with something entirely different. So to find out what I could do with these hooks, it seemed like a good idea to start with some deceivers.

All these flies are about 9 cm long, tied on a Gamakatsu JIG 22, size 4/0. and they all have a (4,5 or 5 mm) tungsten bead inside the head.

Next to the usual material (feathers from a Chinese cock neck and bucktail), I’ve used Angel Hair in the tail as flash, and Steve Farrar’s SF Flash Blend over the bucktail.

Chartreuse and bleeding red under the chin. With some doll eyes and UV Clear Fly Finnish to fill up the space between them.

 

The same in yellow.

 

Here I’ve used a rabbit zonker strip for the tail instead of feathers.

Light and dark olive bucktail, with olive and wild olive SF Blend.

 

A classic redhead bunny.

I’ve tied some other things in between, which aren’t worth mentioning

(that’s experimenting).

But the pattern that I ended up with is this one.

 

Yellow rabbit zonker strip and yellow angel hair for the tail, and a brass wire dubbing brush with electric yellow SF Blend (cut into shape).

 

The same in orange (the SF Blend is orange, bleeding orange and hot orange).

 

And in olive (the SF Blend is olive and peacock).

I like this last pattern very much, so I will be tying more of these, and certainly on regular hooks without the bead as well.

The last four flies, I didn’t use doll eyes, but sequins and epoxy.

 

The last three flies I’ve attached some holographic eyes to the sequins first. That’s something I’ll do more often, because I kind of like the result with epoxy over it.

Since there aren’t that many colours in tungsten beads (not in Belgium anyway), I’ve been looking for a way to paint them. And this afternoon, I’ve found these colours of nail lacquer. Now, the cashier probably thinks I’m a drag queen in the weekends, but I really don’t care because I truly liked the look on her face.

 

And now I’ve got some foam to cut and some boxes to fill…

New pike fly boxes

This morning, I bought me some of these plastic boxes (very cheap), to store my pike flies.

 

I just added a piece of foam…

 

and the result is a practical pike fly box.

Artic fox

I haven’t been able to do much the last few days, but I did find this artic fox tail (or at least a big part of it) for half a Euro.

Sometimes, a little bit of luck, can really make your day!

Joana Amendoeira

After my post on an exhibition that was really worth checking out, last week, I've decided to put a little more culture on my blog. From now on, when I visit something really good (an exhibition, a concert or whatever), I will let you know.

 

And tonight was certainly memorable!

My father and I went to a concert of Joana Amendoeira, one of the most important Fado singers of the “new generation” (for those who don’t know, Fado is a traditional Portuguese style of music).

If you have the chance to see this lady live on stage, don’t hesitate!

You can find more about her on http://www.joanaamendoeira.blogspot.com or http://www.myspace.com/joanaamendoeira

Thanks again, Dad!

Perch/pikeperch flies

I’ve already explained our (stupid) fishing laws, so I don’t have many destinations to go fishing at the moment, and the few waters I do like, have a lot of angling pressure, the water level is too high and it’s very murky (I’ve tried it a few days ago). So that leaves me some canals (which means a lot of concrete, and a good chance to hook a car or a bicycle). That also means more pikeperch than pike, and I will have to fish deep, without hooking anything at the bottom.

And the best proven pattern to do this is a Clouser Minnow.

These are all about 7 cm long, tied on a Kamasan B-800, Size 4. I’ve used goat hair instead of the traditional bucktail, which gives the flies less volume but a livelier action in the water.

 

yellow/orange/black,

and white/yellow/black

Here I’ve put the eyes very close to the hook eye (5 mm). So these will have a jigging action.

 

white/yellow/black

Here I’ve put the eyes a lot further (15 mm) from the hook eye to create a sliding motion.

 

white/yellow/black,

yellow/orange/black,

and white/yellow/red

This is how I like them the most. The eyes are about 10 mm from the hook eye. This causes the fly to swim similar to a jig, with a slight sliding motion (like a traditional Clouser Minnow).

I’ve started to tie them entirely with synthetic materials, but more on that later…

Pike flies

Finally, I was able to tie something. I didn’t tie anything in five days, so I was starting to have withdrawal symptoms! Nothing serious though, but you never know with these kind of things.

 

So after tying this tandem fly, I felt a lot better already.

It’s tied (more or less) like the one on my last post, but I’ve added some saddle hackles on the front hook as well. And again, I forgot the Crazy Legs in the head (I’ve said it before, these things are really cursed!).