Beulah Classic wt7/9' - Part 1

First Beulah rod is almost ready. In the end I decided to use a new reel seat (Alps), new guides and I'm pretty happy with my decision. I used Gudebrod Classic twist thread 001/207 for the guide wrapping. Coating the wrap is the only thing left. There will be more pictures after I'll finish the rod. Till then, I wish you a Happy New Year and all the best! 

Morten Oelands Hawthorn Fly

The Fish & The Fly 3 ( Terrestrials ) is a very inspiring movie. You have a great fly fishing and a fly tying section. One of the presented flies is the Hawthorn Fly. It’s looking good and it’s pretty easy to tie, a deadly pattern. He is using for the throax seal fur. You can use also a mix between seal fur and black cdc or just black cdc. I used in this case Partridge Grey Shadow hooks size 16. 

1.Attach the hook firmly in the vice and run on apply your thread base keeping a free space like in the picture to the ear of the hook.

2.Cut a strip of foam to fit the hook size ( 3 mm/size 14 ) ans secure it like in the picture with a couple of firm turns on the top of the hook shank.

3.Split the tread and make a cdc/ seal fur dubbing brush. Then build the thorax keeping a small space to the eye of the hook for the head of the fly.

4.Cut a 4 mm wide piece of fine plastic bag for the wing and use a needle to bring it through the foam from backward to forward and back. The insertion points of the wings are in the middle third of the foam wide.

5. Bend the foam over the cdc/seal fur thorax and tie it down.

6. Fold the foam back and form a head, than tie it down. Cut the rest of polycelon as short as possible and apply a drop of head cement on the thread. Also trim the tail and the wings of the fly.  

Enjoy and tie some nice flies !

New blanks, new projects...

The Beulah blanks arrived last week. One Guide Series 904-7 (9'/4 sections/7wt) and one Blue Water Series 907/8-4 (9'/4 sections/7-8wt). I'll use the old guides and real seat for the Guide rod. The Blue Water will get a brand new anodized aluminium reel seat and new chrome over stainless steel snake guides. I'll build this last one for bonefish fly fishing and hope to use it during next year. Just need to find some time to visit Karl Bartsch till end of the month to get the missing parts for this two rods and also to finish them till end of the year, at least this is the plan. A high modulus IM8 graphite is used for the construction of this blanks. They are fast, strong and casting will be pure joy.

The old 7wt rod built on a CTS Affinity blank with a broken 3rd section.

At least I was able to take the guides and reel seat from the old rod.

Brand new Beulah toys.

Blackwater Park - Pike on Fly

During a free weekend, without making too many plans, I decided to go out for a few hours to check my backyard for some pike. A few days ago I tied some streamer hoping to catch the first fish with the new  9-weight rod. Two months ago, while fishing in Ireland, the local situation made catching pike with the fly rod impossible so I had to create new opportunities cause only those who go fishing, catch fish.

Temperature fell under 10 degrees Celsius, fog veils had become increasingly more persistent and the leaves turned yellow and red. A cup of hot tea, a cigar, warm clothing and my fly fishing equipment was everything I needed to spend a few unforgettable hours on the Danube banks. I couldn’t choose something better to listen in the car than ‘Opeth - Blackwater Park’ on such an autumn day.

After I reached the parking place on the waterfront, an elderly fisherman who was preparing his gear for some coarse fishing looked at me indignantly with eyes wide open while I was preparing my fly rod. He asked me with some hesitation:

- Do you want to catch trout, here in this area?

The question awakened me from my sweet mental slumber and till to get the cigar out of the mouth to respond, he gave me also an answer.

- I think you have little chance.

Amazed I looked at him, took out of the bag a box with streamer, non smaller than 5 inches and said:

- I would suck to catch in this water a trout that is eating such monsters!…showing on the lures with my finger.

Wonder let him speechless. I cleared that I was going to catch monsters with teeth that are commonly called pikes. Then he ended the dialogue with a contemplative…ohhh…looking at me like to an alien.

Water was cam and clear. Casting the 9-weight rod proved to be not very comfortable but my stripping basket eased the task enormously. After about 20 minutes of fishing, I was thinking about changing the spot while stripping the line at a constant speed without breaking the rhythm when I saw how the line stretched and went sideways. Suddenly I felt movement on the other end. The fish caught was a jack pike but at least the curse was broken.

The following hours were found to be less prolific but the time spent outside brought me inner peace. Just need to learn how to animate bigger pike to attack my lures.

The Funeral

Today it was a sad day in my fly fisherman's life. To make it short, I managed to brake the second time this year my 7 wt rod. But let's start with the beginning. A few months ago, while casting some shooting heads on the loan, I heard a strange sound and the tip segment of my rod broke. After some chitchat with a friend, I decided not to order a new tip segment, just to repair it. The rod was working not as good as a new one but I it was OK. During the summer I used it a few times catching some nice fish.

This morning, after I drunk my coffee I decided to go out for some fly fishing. Even a milky drape of fog was covering the river, the first sun rays made it through till on the water surface. I choose an area of the river that I never fished before. The weather was great but no fish rising. 

Well, after some hours of fishing without any take, while casting some wet flies I heard the same scary sound like a few months ago while casting on the loan and without to look at the rod I knew it was over. This time it was the second segment. It made a good job during the last years. The last fish caught was a roach about a week ago.

The rod was build on a CTS blank but I don't think I'll buy one again. After I went home today, I ordered a new 7 wt blank. This time it will be a Beulah. I'm sad but on the other side I can't wait to build a new rod that will catch at least as many fish I caught with the old one.

Lough Derg - The Way of the Leprechaun

A few months ago, making a review of the picture folders on my computer, I got a hankering for the water that gave me the biggest pike until now, Lough Derg. I contacted my buddy Andy and we decided to make a foray on the water in cause mid of September. Soon everything was booked. The idea of fooling some big pike especially with the artificial fly haunted me for some time.

Moment 0 arrived, bags were ready in the morning and we went to the airport. The flight to Dublin went smoothly, then we rented a car and in the evening we reached the lake. The weather was not exactly as we expected but there were no obstacles to get out on the lake for fishing during the next days.

We prepared our rods for the next day and went to sleep, dreaming of huge Esox. In the morning I was a little bit concerned about the fairly strong wind and waves. Their amplitude didn't increased during the first morning hours so we went out on the lake.

We went to the places known by me, some lagoons about 10 feet deep, where a few years ago I managed to capture a female Esox with a length of 41 inches and a weight of 19 lbs. Our casting was hampered by the strong wind and after a few hours of fishing without any fish contact we decided to change strategy. On the way back to the base camp, we trawled big lures in deeper water. The vast lagoons we explored with the fish finder proved to be fish empty. Very curious, though water was about 16 degrees Celsius, pike would have to be found in shallower water but it wasn't like that. After a missed take, Andy was able to capture a beautiful Esox about 40 inches long. The first fish caught during our stay in Ireland, was also the biggest. Happy about the great capture but frustrated cause of the wind who made the fly casting very difficult, we ended the day in the company of our neighbors from Essen with some beers.

There followed two days with bad weather during we caught only a modest trout. We started to look for shoals of roach and bream with the fish finder. We suspected to find big pikes in the area where food was abundant. After long searching we found the fish. The fish finder was signalising huge shoals at depths between 26 and 85 feet, a depth at which the chances of catching a fish with the artificial fly were almost 0 without a fast sinking line. I only had a floating line with a few sink tips with whom I had no chance to reach the desired depth. We spent the evening in the pub enjoying a few Guinness pints. I had the opportunity to drink again a combination discovered a few years ago in Ireland, Guinness with black current juice, a true delight.

Cause of the situation I mentioned before, we gave up completely fly fishing and focused more on heavy bait trawling. The penultimate day was also the most prolific. Weather improved, the sun was shinning and at the end of the day we caught six pikes between 30 and 37 inches long. During the last day of fishing results have been weak compared to the previous day and we caught only 3 fish about 30 inches long.

Time passed quickly, too quickly to be able to put into application everything we wanted within a week. There still are open chapters. We learned some new lessons from this vast expanse of water and the Irish weather but the desire of bigger pike can lead us only to say: We'll be back!