Tandem time

The last pattern was so much fun to tie, that I decided to make a tandem version. It takes some time to tie them, but I’m very satisfied with the result.



























They are all about 24 cm long, tied on Mustad salt water hooks. A 6/0 for the head, and a 5/0 for the trailer.




























Here I used to much black in the head, but I like the result nevertheless.





































Same here, I shouldn’t have mixed black with the yellow.That’s another lesson learnd.

And the last one.

But more will follow…

Fly Fair

For those who don’t know it yet:

I’m already looking forward to it…

Pike flies

Just two more colour experiments on the last pattern.










I really like this one, the orange mixes well with the white and black.

So I tried to improve it a little bit.



But that didn’t work out as well as I wanted. I did an experiment with the polypropylene fibre for the head. And although I think it looks pretty cool, it’s not what I was aiming for.

























So regardless my intensions , I’m very satisfied with the fly nevertheless (you can only learn by t(r)ying)…













And now for something completely different…

Some asshole at blogspot tried to improve some things… well what ever idiot is responsible for it… go home man!!! It was already difficult to get some sort of nice layout for your blog, but now it’s a real disaster! Text and pictures jump from one side to another (if they even move at all) and there’s no logic you can follow to make it right. If this doesn’t change very soon, I will have to start a whole new blog elsewhere. So if anyone has a good suggestion about how and where, that would be more than welcome…

Pike flies

It feels good to tie flies again! I did some experiments on tubes today, which I won’t post because they’re horrible, so I took a hook instead and tied me these. They’re not a hundred percent as I wanted them to be, but I’m sure that the pike won’t mind.

The head is polypropylene fibre, and I tied in some Crazy Legs as well.

the same here





And I’m still in the mood, so I think I’ll just tie me another one…

Tubefly experiments

Tubeflies are something that you rarely see over here in Belgium, but it’s a kind of tying (and fishing) that I wanted to try for a while now, and finally, I got my hands on a “Eumer tube fly starter kit”.


It says in the catalogue: “This starter kit is the perfect kit for new tubefly enthusiasts. With a mix of brass and plastic tubing, regular and monster coneheads, artic fox, Finn raccoon, nutria, and a tube fly adapter, it has everything needed to tie over 100 flies”. It also includes a Product Catalogue with some tying instructions. So what could possibly go wrong?





Well... this…




This is how you’re supposed to put your adapter into your vise. And it looks good doesn’t it…

But however hard you put pressure on the jaws of your vise (and believe me, this Dyna King can handle a lot), the least amount of traction on your tying thread makes the adapter slide like this.





I can guarantee you that this makes your enthusiasm turn into frustration immediately.

But I don’t give up that easily, so I came up with a solution.







I took another vise. This is a Danvise, which is partially made of plastic, and I just drilled a hole in it…










And put the end of the needle into the hole. This way I can use a lot of pressure and the adapter doesn’t move at all!




So I was finally ready to start.




Of course I did some research on the internet first, because this is entirely new to me. And a very easy way to start, is to go to the site of Eumer themselves (http://www.eumertube.com/ ). It has loads of tutorial videos to get you on the way.
So I tied me of couple of those first, just to get some feeling with this kind of tying. But of course I wanted to switch to pike flies as quickly as possible, and here are the first…

I think that the hardest part of my difficult last months is over now, so from now on
I will post more regularly again (I hope).
First, I will tie me some of the same pattern as the flies above, on a hook, so I can compare them both tomorrow (if my back is a little more cooperative than today)…

Happy New Year!!!

First of all, I want to wish everybody a fantastic, healthy 2012,
with loads of (big) fish!!!

The wind is passing over here at 100 km/h, so if you don’t want a size 5/0 hook stuck into the back of your head, it’s better to stay inside. So I’ve been tying some more tandem flies. They’re the same as the fly on my last post (the one who defied the gods), just some other colour combinations….