Christmas stuff

This afternoon, I did some more Christmas shopping, and I thought I had found something really interesting again… but I didn’t.

 

This silver stuff looked exactly the same as the Thermo Fibre I’ve got laying around here (like the chartreuse on the picture), but the test was a little disappointing. It does react in the same way when you heat it, but instead of silver, you get a dull kind of grey instead.

Well, you can’t always be lucky.

I will find a way to use it though.

Oh, and I decorated my Christmas tree, I hope you like it (I do).

Pike flies

Some of you might recognize this situation: every now and then, I start tying a fly, but when I’m good and well started, I want to tie something completely different. So I cut the thread and throw the hook on the side.

 

So this afternoon I was cleaning up my tying table and the mess around it, and came across some of these hooks with a tale tied on.

Most likely, this was to become a diver pattern, since I didn’t put any thread on the hook shaft…

 

…but as you can see, it turned out a bit differently.

I added some more Krystal Flash, some yellow and grizzly orange saddle hackles, a collar of orange, black and yellow artic fox, some sequins and epoxy.

So it is more a Simon Graham type of fly.

I can’t wait to see it in the water (which can take a while, taking the weather into account).

Pike flies

Yesterday I bought several brands of these saddles, but I especially like the colour and shape of those from METZ, the MAGNUM #2 SADDLE D/O GRIZZLY.

So I made some flies with this stuff first. They are tied on a Gamakatsu F 314, size 2/0, and are about 14-16 cm long.

- first I tied in some yellow Polar Flash

- then one grizzly yellow saddle hackle on each side

- yellow bucktail around the hook shank (keep it short, for the action of the fly)

- three grizzly yellow saddle hackles (one on each side, and one on top)

- silver fox (or black artic fox) in a dubbing loop

- yellow artic fox in a dubbing loop

- sequins and epoxy

 

the same way in pink

and chartreuse

New stuff !

Today, I went to the fly happening with my fishing buddy Koen.

We met some interesting people but we lost a lot more euros then we intended to.

But I got me some new tools and books, and of course a lot of nice fly-tying material.

Which brings me a whole new problem…

What do I try out first?

Toro

Dave (the fluff-caveman from Scotland at www.mcfluffchucker.blogspot.com) asked me if I could post the fly that caught me the zander (see the picture, three posts back).

I did have to look for it for a while (I’ve got quite a few streamers laying around here), but I found it. And I have to say that it looked a lot better before I used it.

Now this is not exactly a zander fly (it is 23 cm long). I was actually fishing for pike at the time.

 

This is my (used) version of a Torö Killer v2.0 by Ulf Hagström. You can find a tutorial of his fly on www.elmerfishing.com.

On his blog (www.ulfhagstrom.blogspot.com) you can see that it’s not just good for pike, because he caught a 4 kg sea-trout on it.

Fly happening

 

For those who really don’t know it yet (and don’t have to drive a 1000 km or more to get there).

I’ve already made a (pretty long) list of all the stuff I need.

Flymage

I've found another great ezine on the net worth checking out and subscribing to.

In cold times like this, these kind of pictures can really warm you up!

Check it out in the column on the right with the other ezines.

Perch/pikeperch flies

Yesterday I found this deer hair floating fry in a book. And of course, when I see ‘deer hair’, I have to give it a try. The pattern I found was designed for top water trout fishing (hook size 2-6). The ones I’ve maid are bigger than that, and I tend to fish them on a fast sinking line (Teeny TS-250), with a short leader to make them swim just above ground. And it is not trout, but perch and pikeperch that I’m after.

 

The first one, I used white marabou, and only white deer hair, which I coloured with a permanent marker. I like the result, and I will fish it, but why colour the hair when there are so many colours available.

 

 

 

So the next one, I used yellow marabou (two kinds of yellow, to get closer to the colour of the deer hair), and yellow and red deer hair.

These two flies (or fish), are tied on a Gamakatsu LS-5013F (Aberdeen), size 2/0, and are about 6 cm long.

 

 

Here, I used white, pink and red marabou and deer hair. This one is a bit bigger, tied on a 4/0 and about 8 cm long.

I will definitely tie more of these. It does take some work and time (and deer hair) to make them, but it’s really a lot of fun.

 

And this is what I’m after. I know it’s not a pike, but it is a beautiful fish!

 

(and putting a picture like this on your blog, makes you forget the ice for a moment)

Pike flies

 

These flies are tied the same way as the previous ones, up to the bucktail. Then I tied in a bigger collar with artic or silver fox and crosscut bunny (I’m out of orange artic fox) in a dubbing loop.

I’ve also weighted the heads on these two by tying in some lead wire, before I put on sequins and epoxy (see my post on practical, homemade epoxy eyes).

Lucky me

Ever since my lovely neighbour Marie-Jeanne knows I tie flies, before she throws anything away, she comes asking if I can use it. And this time I got very lucky.

This used to be a collar of an old coat she didn’t wear anymore. So I spent three hours taking it apart (it was put together with all different pieces, big and small), and now I’ve got a shoebox full of silver fox. So I won’t have to buy any black artic fox for a long time.