On with the blog!

My summer in the Belgian Ardennes was the first thing I wanted to post, but I have so many pictures and stuff I could write about that I simply don’t know where to start, so… nothing happens. And since I want to move on, I decided to skip it (or do a piece now and then, or… we’ll see) and carry on.

 

The last two days for example, were exceptionally warm for this time of the year (over 20° C),

so I spent my afternoons at the ‘Hawthorn’ club water, chasing rainbows.

 

And I caught very well on this type of streamer.

Just a little bit of flash, a rabbit strip zonker and a deer hair head with some dumbbell eyes in it.

I actually tied these streamers this summer for chub (with great success by the way). Here are a couple of nice ones.

But as I said before, the last two days, they worked very well on these kind of beauties.

 

Especially a black version.

Now that I have that whole ‘Belgian Ardennes’ thing out of my head, I’m able to move on, so from now on you can expect a lot more posts on a more frequent base again…

Trout/perch Zonker

Yes, it’s been a week since I posted something, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t do anything. Since my main goal is trout at the moment, but the weather just stays horrible, with heavy winds, rain and hail storms, I stayed inside and tied myself a lot of trout streamers.

 

I certainly won’t post all of them, but I do want to share these ones. This kind of streamer is getting very popular over here in Belgium.

It’s a pattern by Pedro Guridi, a very nice Chilean guy who lives in Belgium. He’s not only a very good fly-fisherman, but also a fantastic fly-tier.

He made a tutorial of his ‘zonker’, which you can check out here.

He made some other tutorials as well (nothing for pike though), which you can find on the website of his club http://thenymphmaniacs.com/

And with perch in mind, I already tied me some slightly bigger ones in different colour combinations as well.

 

 

If this weather doesn’t change soon, I’ll do like Erin Block so elegantly said it in her last comment “Fist to the sky… and fish!”.

Successfully testing perch flies

Pike fishing isn’t really working well lately, but in this one water I always have lots of perch following my pike streamer. So I figured, why not go fishing for perch, for a change. So last night I came up with these little creatures and this morning I went out to test them.

Actually it was a double test, since I received this 5 weight ‘glass’ line to test from Fario Jan (still my favourite fly-shop).

 

So this was my setup: my favourite 5 weight (Guideline Fario), a ‘glass’ line on the reel and a 2,5 m leader of 20/00 fluorocarbon (maybe a bit heavy for perch, but there's a lot of zander swimming around in this water as well, so I didn’t want to take the risk).

 

And I was in for a big surprise!

This was my first cast of the day. At first I thought I was just lucky, but I missed a fish on my second cast and caught another fish on my third cast.

And it just went on and on…

 

This turned out to be the killer colour combination (olive/green).

I’ve fished for about two hours, and caught more than 40 perch!

 

Most of them in this size (20 to 25 cm), but there were a couple above 30 cm as well.

This next picture was taken by a guy who passed on his bike and stopped to see what I was doing, which was very amusing actually:

 

“Man”, he said, “I fish here myself with lures and spinners, and from time to time I catch a perch, sometimes even a pike or a zander, but what you’re doing is something I have never witnessed before. How do you do that?”

I didn’t say that I probably hit the right spot at the right time (maybe not very nice of me, but I couldn’t resist), so I just said to him: “that’s fly-fishing man, and this is how you do it”. After which I cast my fly, let the line sink for a few seconds, started stripping and hooked this beauty. You should have seen the look on his face!

Either way, I think my test was a success, flies ok and line ok,

and… A LOT OF FUN!

The Djuza Project, part 2

I’ve been experimenting with racoon, until I got to this pattern, which I think has great potential (I’ve tested them already, and they look very good in the water).

 

This is white racoon with pink chenille

It’s a bit hard to explain how I made them, so I did a ‘step by step’ to make it easier.

Click on any image to enlarge.

 

Put your thread on the hook

 

Tie in some flash material (this is polar flash)

 

Then some racoon

 

Then tie in some chenille (this Vampire Plush)

 

Wrap the chenille two times around the hook shank (although this depends on the chenille you use, with Krystal Chenille for example, I’ve used three wraps), and tie it in

 

Tie in some racoon, and spread it equally around the top of the hook shank

 

Repeat the last two steps up to the hook eye

(a couple of mm in front of it)

 

Tie in some racoon around the bottom of the hook shank

 

Glue on some eyes (or like I did, some sequins, since epoxy is the next step, so these will look like epoxy eyes)

This might be interesting

(if you aren’t using them already).

These are hair clips, which are very practical while tying or drying (pike) flies (after using epoxy). They come in all shapes and sizes.

I got this from Ken Capsey from www.pikeadventures.blogspot.com

and they are damn handy!

Epoxy the head

Normally I comb out a lot of fur, but with this racoon, I didn’t, because unlike other fur, the stuff you leave in, doesn’t just absorb water and lay flat, but it actually keeps it’s volume…

 

as you can see on this picture.

This is the same fly when wet.

And some other colours.

These are all about 9 cm long, tied on a Gamakatsu F 314, size 1.

 

Yellow racoon and red chenille

White and chartreuse racoon with red chenille

These are two flies from the experimental stage of the pattern above (they are tied on a hook that’s to big for this pattern, although that’s personal of course).

They are easier to tie, and certainly very functional as well.

 

I’ve just tied in the racoon on top of the hook shank.

Actually, I like using racoon. It’s durable, it keeps it’s volume, and has a great movement in the water. But this stuff is not very common here in Belgium, which makes it hard to find, and even if you do find it, they ask an absurd price for it. So, ordering it on the internet is the perfect alternative, but the problem with ordering stuff from internet shops, especially natural material, is that the example they put on their site, looks a hundred times better then the stuff you receive at home!

So if anyone can give me a good tip for ordering reasonably priced, good quality racoon zonker strips, please let me know…

The Djuza Project, part 1

Last week, fellow pike-fly-tier, and very sympathetic bloke from Finland, Djuza (from www.piketeaser.blogspot.com ), had a bit of an inspiration problem. So I thought that maybe we could help each other out. I asked him to send me a list of the material he had in stock, and I would try to make something out of it.

I don’t consider myself to be a fantastic fly-tier, but I love doing it, and I like a bit of a challenge (I just love to experiment), so I thought this could be a fun thing to do.

And besides, what kind of a world are we living in, if people stop helping each other.

Actually, I expected a rather short list (no offence, Djuza, but I haven’t seen that many different material on your blog), but the inventory he sent me will keep me busy for quite a while (so more posts are coming).

This is a piece of the mail he has sent me: “As you maybe know, I prefer naturals before synthetics” … “but I should not forget Slinky Fibre or other synthetics” … “My next tying project will probably be some baitfish imitations in a smaller size for the summer”.

I was already looking for some smaller sized pike flies for myself (usually, small for me is 12-14 cm).

So I had already tied this small version of a ‘Lonesome Tom’ (about 9 cm), and therefore, I thought, this could be a good way to start.

But the head is polypropylene fibre with Crazy Legs, and those were not on the list.

 

So I’ve changed it a bit. I’ve made the head with a brass wire dubbing brush with SF Blend, which I’ve cut into shape (I know that Djuza likes to use a dubbing brush himself).

But SF Blend wasn’t on the list either.

However, SF Blend is a mixture of Slinky Fibre and Angel Hair, and those two, he does have in stock.

 

So this one, I’ve blended myself (a dubbing brush is an easy way to do that).

This head is white and pink Slinky Fibre blended with white and pink Angel hair.

The only problem with a dubbing brush is the fact that the bottom and the top of your fly always have the same colour.

 

So here, I’ve used chartreuse Flash’n Slinky for the head, but I’ve coloured the top with a permanent marker (don’t worry, a permanent marker used on synthetic fibre is very water proof).

Another interesting part of this project, is that I’m forced to use certain materials, that I rarely use myself.

Such as, Polar Fibre.

I’ve used it before for flies like these, which could be used in the Baltic as well. They’re about 8 cm long. Some of them don’t look so fresh anymore (that’s because they have already hit the water).

 

Another fly that I've tied with Polar Fibre is this one. I got this pattern from Renzo Callebert, and he uses it for ide, feeding on fry, on the surface. I haven’t caught any ide on them yet, but they have been successful for perch, and I’ve met a guy in the Belgian Ardennes, who uses a similar pattern for trout.

But I wanted to do something else.

So I’ve tied me this baitfish pattern, which I’m rather satisfied with. They are also about 8 cm long, tied on a Gamakatsu F 314, size 1.

 

white and olive, with a little red under the chin.

 

white and chartreuse, with a little orange under the chin.

 

hot pink and purple

 

black and red

 

You do have to comb this material out first, and the amount of rubbish that comes out of this stuff is unbelievable (you can still use it as dubbing material of course).

The little jar is all the chartreuse Polar Fibre that I had to comb out for this one fly!

I’m already experimenting with Yak Hair (another material that I rarely use), so…

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…