Pike Flies

Some of you probably thought I went up into thin air, never to hear from me again, but guess what? I’ m still here! Now I could start to explain what happened the last couple of months but, most likely, you wouldn’t believe me anyway. And besides,
this isn’t Facebook! So I’ll stick to the things that matter (for all you pike fly fishermen anyway). I’ve had NO fishing and tying for several months (sad but true), but…
I’M BACK NOW!!!

And I have an upcoming trip to Ireland in less than two weeks, so that’s reason enough to pick up my blog again!

Besides, my vise started to send out some weird ultrasonic waves,

so unable to resist, here’s some new stuff…

This next fly is somewhat different than the previous one. First, this one still has a collar of marabou which I don’t use anymore. Some will say that it flares out while retrieving, well that’s bullshit (pardon my language), because it will only flare out when you have another material underneath that makes that happen (like bucktail for example), otherwise it will remain flat and sticky, which in this case isn’t a problem because it gives it a bloody effect. If you want something to flair out, use raccoon like I did with the first four flies.

But that’s not the reason why I posted it. The weak point with the previous flies are the eyes, sooner or later they get bitten off. I know, some types of glue are better than others, and I’m pretty satisfied with the “Loctite Flex Gel” I’m using, but it will still happen. If they don’t bite off the eyes, it will be the part of the head wherever the glue went.

So with this next fly, I put on some epoxy on the tip of the head and smeared it over the eyes. This way they will never come off. I already tested this one and it has little or no effect on the action of the fly, so I’ll certainly adjust a couple more.

This next one is a combination of two flies. I used the basics of a “ Firetiger Hangtime” by Brad Bohen for the tail and than made a collar of raccoon and my usual head of Slinky Fiber (in a brass wire dubbing brush).

And a couple of tandems as well…

I’m not quite satisfied with the colour of the head on the last one, but I‘m sure the pike won’t mind.

And now I’ll get to work again, I still got a lot of things to do the next couple of days…

Pretty in Pink

It’s been a week since a posted something, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t do anything. The water was covered with ice, so it was time to experiment at the vise.
I didn’t post anything because I tied all sorts of combinations of new materials and accessories (Flylipps, popper heads tied in reverse, new hooks and stuff like that), which I couldn’t test in the water. But the ice is gone now, and ‘the Grey Piker’ is picking me up at noon tomorrow (or today actually, when I look at the clock) to explore a new water, and test new flies.

But I couldn’t resist to post a (very) small selection of my ‘test flies’ already.

I picked out some white/pink combinations.

 

The first is a tandem fly, made of Raccoon Fur and Krystal Chenille. And one of the many Flylipps I tied in this week, under the chin.

 

This is a ‘Slider’, to fish with a sinking line, made of saddle hackles, some flash, Long Fur (in several dubbing loops) and a popper head, with some Flexifloss and a layer of epoxy mixed with some pink glitter.

 

I really like this Long Fur, but the only problem is the length (8 to 10 cm), so I tried to come up with a solution to make my fly a bit longer…

 

I just tied in a tail on an extension.

This, in combination with a Flylipp on top of the hook shank is one of the many things I want to test tomorrow.

 

This one will be no mystery, because it’s a normal ‘Replot Stinger’, just tied on a heavier hook and some epoxy eyes glued on with some UV stuff between them (but I tied me a full box of them the last couple of days, and this one was white and pink too, so I posted it as well).

You’ll certainly hear about other experiments as well, once I’ve checked them out…

A new fly

For over a week now, I’ve had this idea for a new fly, but the idea just kept changing. I pulled out lots of hooks and tying material and made several sketches. So finally, yesterday I was ready to give it a try.

This is just a prototype, some things will certainly change, but I thought it was worth posting anyway.

 

The original idea just had an epoxy head, but yesterday I found these Flylipps in my mailbox (thanks again for those Michael) and I just threw them in the mix.

 

This afternoon, I found a canal that was reasonably ice free (due to the busy shipping), so I was able to test the action, and I was very pleased with what I saw. This is a real ass shaker! With some improvements here and there, this will be a killer.

So…

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…

Pike flies

I feel like a little boy with a new toy, with this new fly pattern, I just can’t stop playing with it!

Here are some redheads...

The birth of the ‘Jerk Tom’

I’ve put my latest flies to an extensive test yesterday, no pike caught though (Belgium isn’t exactly ‘pike paradise’). And the action in the water is just fantastic. If you use short fast retrieves, this fly just swings from left to right like a genuine jerkbait, but it has the advantage that when you stop retrieving, it slides slowly downwards (which a real jerkbait will never do with such elegance, if they even do it at all).

And since this fly is based on a ‘Lonesome Tom’ pattern,

I will simply call this one a ‘Jerk Tom’.

Here are two more in chartreuse…

Pike flies

Just some more tandem flies (the same as yesterday), but I felt a bit ‘Pink’ today, so…

Chartreuse is next…

Pike flies

Lately, I’ve become a big fan of tandem flies. They just have a fantastic action in the water.

And although some people think that it’s insane to put so much time in tying a pike fly, I really don’t  care. Why? … Because I just love tying them!!!

Last week, I’ve been tying a lot of ‘Tandem Flash Flies’ (which I intend to do an extensive post on later) and ‘Tandem Lonesome Tom’ patterns, but this evening, I felt like using feathers for the tail instead.

I just can’t wait to give these a try!

Which will probably be tomorrow…

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!).

Pike flies

So, after I got home tonight from Brussels (see my last post), I really wanted to tie a fly that I already made a couple of times in my head the last few days. It's a combination of some flies that I’ve tied in the past, the new tandem flies of the last couple of days, the tandem flies of Simon Graham and a fly I saw in ‘Passion for Pike’ (from Ad Swier) from Herman Broers.

This fly is tied on two Gamakatsu F 314’s, size 2/0.

The first hook (trailer):

- I’ve started with some orange Vampire Plush (chenille) around (1 cm of) the hook shank

- then orange bucktail around the hook shank

- some yellow Rainbow Krystal Flash on the sides, and orange Krystal Flash on top

- yellow saddle hackles on the sides, and orange grizzly saddle hackles on top

- yellow bucktail around the bottom, and orange bucktail around the hook shank (most on top). The orange is from the top and the bottom of the bucktail (this way you get orange mixed with black)

The second hook:

- I’ve started again with some orange Vampire Plush (chenille) around (1 cm of) the hook shank..

- yellow bucktail around the bottom, and orange bucktail around the top (again from the top and the bottom of the bucktail)

- some yellow Rainbow Krystal Flash on the sides, and orange Krystal Flash on top

- the head is yellow, orange and black polypropylene fibre (cut into shape), with some yellow/black Crazy Legs, and homemade epoxy eyes.

I am very satisfied with the result, so you can expect a lot more of these, although it won’t be in the next couple of days, because I’ll have very little time…

Perch/pikeperch flies

Tying your own flies is a great thing to do. I tie my own dry flies and nymphs as well, but tying those doesn’t even give me half the pleasure of what I get from tying flies for toothy predators. The way you are able to do almost anything you want, with any kind of material… well, for me, that is a gift from heaven.

Don’t get me wrong, tying dry flies or nymphs can often be even more challenging, but you are always (or most of the time anyway) bounded by ‘the real thing’, the shape, the colour, the size, how it floats or moves on or under the surface.

Being able to replicate that, is something that I admire a lot, but it doesn’t leave you much room for imagination and crazy stuff (which I like very much).

I tie baitfish patterns as well, but most of the fun, I get from patterns that don’t look like any living thing at all, and they do catch fish too, especially predators!

So let’s go on with the crazy stuff!

I got the idea of using a jig hook from Dave Lindsay (the fluff-chucking caveman from Scotland), but I’ve cut mine off and connected a trailer hook, so I could use (more or less) the same pattern of the last couple of days (Tandem Flash Fly).

That's the beauty of the internet, you are able to get all kinds of ideas, from all over the world, mix them up with some of your own, and add another weird looking creature to your fly-box.

In Belgium, it is forbidden to fish with a live or dead baitfish and lures (that includes streamers) from January 1 until May 31. That is a long time for us pike fisherman! Luckily there are some exceptions. In some waters, we are still allowed to use the above methods to fish for pikeperch, and if you catch a pike, you have to return it to the water immediately. So, since I always return all the pike I catch, that still gives me an opportunity to fish. Unfortunately, these are not the best pike waters and there is a lot of angling pressure on them as well.

So I was looking for a fly with (particularly) pikeperch (in wintertime) in mind. So it had to go deep (even touch the bottom) without hooking everything which is not a fish, with a lively action and a hook in the tail of the fly (since mostly, pikeperch grab their prey from behind), and I didn’t want to tie a Clouser Minnow (well, not today).

 

These are the hooks I’ve used. Both are from Gamakatsu,

LS-5314N, size 1/0,

and a JIG 22, size 4/0 (from which I cut off the hook bend).

These flies are about 8,5 cm long, and they all have a 5 mm tungsten bead inside the head (with some sequins and epoxy). The first one (the pink above), is Polar Flash with some red Gliss’n Glow.

 

This yellow one, I don’t have the slightest idea what stuff it is (there was no brand on the package, and I can’t remember where I bought it).

 

This is black and gold Vampire Flash FX.

The next two flies, I’ve added a twister tail on the trailer hook.

I know there are still a lot of people out there, who are against the use of these kinds of additives to a fly, but I really don’t understand their motives (and frankly, I don’t care either).

 

So this is the same yellow mystery stuff, with a yellow twister tail.

 

And this is black and silver Vampire Flash FX with a black twister tail.

I have a lot of faith in these flies, and you will certainly hear more about them once they hit the water…

More Tandem Flash Flies

Because I like this pattern very much (especially the way it moves in the water),

I’ve tied me some more in different colours.

 

Green

 

Pink

 

Black & Silver

That’s all for today…

Tandem Flash Flies

 

As I was tying this flash fly for tomorrow (with a 5 mm tungsten bead in the head, to go deep), I was wondering if it was possible to make a tandem fly with this stuff. So I gave it a try.

All flies are entirely made of Polar Flash

This one is about 19 cm long.

 

I started with tying in a tail, followed by a brass wire dubbing brush on a Gamakatsu F314,

size 2/0.

Then I attached this hook with a titanium wire (with some beads over it) on a Grey Matzo Streamer hook, size 6/0. And then I filled this hook with a dubbing brush as well.

 

This one is about 15 cm long, tied on two F314’s, size 2/0.

This is still an experiment, but I’m looking forward to test them…