Pike Rod - Bartsch BF 909-2

After long work I managed to finish the first rod for this year. I've been a little bit out of exercise but everything went well. I built the rod for a pike fly fishing session in Ireland ( Lough Derg ). I hope, I'll drill some nice Esox with this rod. Karl Bartsch, one of the most skilled rod builder I ever met helped me with the choice of the components. Many fly fishermen don't like 2 piece rods but I do even it will be a little bit more difficult with the transportation. 

It's a 9 foot  9WT rod built on a Bartsch BF 909-2 blank with an ALPS reel seat, REC guides. Thank you very much Karl for your help ! 

Here is a link to Karl Bartschs Rod Building Shop !

The Grande Bouffe - Part II

Now it's time to present my catchy wet trio, 3 terrestrial wet imitations, included in the chubs summer 'grande bouffe'. I modified this patterns during the years adding new elements or replacing some of the used materials with newer ones. All of them are very productive but my favorite one is the wasp. You'll definitely be successful fishing this patterns also in trout waters. Here you have a general recipe:

Hook:         heavy shrimp hook at least size 8 ( for example Akita )

Thread:      any, just match the colours

Abdomen: antron (yellow / green) and peacock herl

Wing:         krystal flash ( tan ) / deer hair

Hackle:      soft hackle ( brown / black)

1. The Wasp - The abdomen of this fly is made of yellow antron ribbed with black silk. I used tan krystal flash for the wing, tied in a S-loop. One partridge and one brown hen feather for the hackle. It is easy to tie and very effective.

2. The Black Fly - I start the abdomen with 3-4 turns of pink sparkle braid continued by a few turns peacock herl ribbed with silver wire. Same S-loop technique for the wing. The hackle is also made of 2 feathers, one partridge and one black hen.

3. The Grasshopper - The abdomen is made of green antron ribbed with silver wire. You can use some other more contrastive materials for the ribbing. Rubber legs are a great option but you can also use pheasant legs. The wing is made by deer hair but don't take to much. In this case I used only one brown hen hackle. 

Have fun with the tying and hope you'll catch big chub with this patterns.    

The Grande Bouffe - Part I

Having a few days off, I started to think where to go fishing. The idea of catching trout or grayling didn't satisfied me, probably cause I caught almost salmonides the entire year. My thoughts quickly ran to the fish that opened the gates of fly fishing for me, the chub. The rivers had low water levels during the last days and I chose a tributary of the Danube which resembles almost perfectly with the river on which I cast my first flies many years ago.

Since the mercury past 30 ° during the last days and the water temperature was more than pleasant I completely gave up waders.

Food is abundant in the summertime. Wasps, grasshoppers and other insects land unwittingly on the water surface contributing to the grande bouffe. Chub is a customary guest of this culinary orgy.

In this case I use to fish with wet flies. I always have my catchy trio in my box: wet wasp, wet grasshopper and a black fly.

The results were not long waited and fish made their appearance with the first casts. Most of them I caught on the wasp imitation and had between 1 and 3 lbs. Although the drills were rather average, the strikes were like cannon shots, firm and strong.

A snap on the surface caught my attention and I immediately cast in that area. Instantly I felt the strike in my rod. This time I had a bigger fish on the other end of the line. After a few minutes I had the fish in my net. It seems that my wet flies were also appreciated by this last fish of the day, an asp around 4 lbs.

When the sun reached its highest point on the sky, I decided to end this wonderful fly fishing day cause of the heat. I caught nice fish, made some nice pictures and I knew some cold beer was waiting for me at home.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and there will be more about the flies during the next post.

Fly Fishing X - Zone

Fly fishing is like a Pandora's box. When you think there is nothing else to impress you, unexpected things happen. As a conclusion, fly fishing is like a box full of surprises that is feeding our eye, mind, soul and sometimes our stomach.

I decided to try to catch a carp with the fly. My home water holds nice specimens, but never saw them feeding on the surface. After discussions with fly fishermen on different forums, one of them told me to put some garlic extract on my nymph. I don't have such an extract at home cause I'm not a regular carp fisherman but I have enough garlic in my kitchen, so I cut a clove into pieces and put it in a small box together with a damsel fly I wanted to fish.

I knew the water in cause was always good for a surprise but never thought it will go out like you'll see in the next pictures. After the second cast I began to strip the fishing line with short breaks in between, strip-strip-stop-strip and strike. Suddenly I had fish contact but it was definitely not a carp. The fish was fighting good but not as aggressive as a carp. I thought it could be a bigger perch or maybe a pike, for this last case I was using a piece of 7x7 steel wire rope. No, it was not a pike, it was an eel. Long time ago somebody told me a story about an eel he caught on the fly and sincerely I hardly believed it. I couldn't have a better proof that you can catch almost every fish species with the fly. I sacrificed the fish taking care not to get the blood on my mucous membranes and went home with my prey.

I enjoyed it fried with some potatoes and a cucumber-garlic salad. I'm curious if I'll have another opportunity during this human life to catch another eel with the fly.

A New Toy - Double Handed Fly Rod

I'm a fly fisherman since many years without to bother much about 2 handed rods and shooting heads. Did I started this kind of fishing only cause it's popularity increased even here in Europe? Definitely not! The many movies I watched and articles I read about it, had been just a trigger to the requirements imposed by the water. The advantages are huge when there's no space for false casts, fish are far from the shores and somewhat in comparison with the single handed rod after you make your cast, let the flies get downstream on the swing, you have more time to observe what's happening around and for example you can easily handle your pipe if you're a pipe smoker (laugh). Although I'm just at the beginning of this chapter, I try to use the 2 handed rod as often as possible.

Another Day In Paradise

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.”
― Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories

… I am haunted by waters. Often the night before fishing, I dream about the water in question, sometimes even about fish. Same happened to me a few days ago and when the first rays of sun dragged me out of Hypnos cave, I knew it would be a good day, full of achievements for a fly fisherman.

I decided to fish a river I fished last time 5 years ago. The water section where fishing is allowed extends over a length of almost 20 km, a true jungle you’re not able to fish during a single day. Considering that a few km are sufficient to get enough joy, I made my homework the night before (Google Earth has been very helpful) and I have chosen a segment I might like. 

This river is really something special, being a few years ago known for big grayling specimens but also for the presence of Danube salmon in his waters. Cormorants made havoc here and I was curious to find out the actual stage of the fish population. Many years ago, in other words in 1908 were signaled the first great fish damage of this river made by otter, now being faced with this bird, a real black plague that decimates the European fish funds.

I spent a few minutes on the river banks, near a mill to analyze the situation. Fish were not rising so I turned a few stones to see what kind of candy to lure. Food was abundant, cased caddis, gammarus and small dark nymphs were hiding behind stones sharp corners. Last prevailed, so I opted for a black BH nymph with a silver ribbing, tied on a hook size 12. The results were not long expected and the first rainbows and brownies knowledged the fly. 

Mostly I’m fishing upstream of the start site, this time I got downstream and let the mill behind, entering a tunnel formed by tree crowns. There were just the two of us, me and the river, isolated from the rest of the world and he shared with me the secrets he holds. It was like in a tale, the rays of light that made it through the clump of trees were dancing on the water surface like fairies.

 

What I would have been able to wish more from that day of July than all of these beauties with which nature was honoring me, but soon this dream was ended by the rapid growth of water, waking up in the middle of a torrent without to be able to get to shore. In a few minutes the water level had increased by approximately two palms. I hardly went on shore about 100 feet  below, imaging what was causing this unpleasant surprise. First thought that crossed my mind was: 'I wonder if they open the weir gates every time they see fishermen?'

I had no chance to continue fishing were I was and went upstream to analyze situation on the spot. Obviously above the dam the water level decreased and the river formed a stream, flowing behind a big rock which was now sticking out of the water. I thought the place is worthy of attention and after the first cast I felt action on the other end of the line. This time it was a grayling about 12 inches long. There followed more of them but no one like five years ago when 14-16 inches fish were not a rarity.

 

I took a break on the grass with a cup of tea and a short nap. With fresh forces I went downstream to explore the last part of river set. Then I said goodbye to the river in the hope I’ll return sooner than this time and he’ll share more of the secrets hiding under his stones.

Killer Dry Fly - Modified Jingler (Part II)

As promised in my last post, now I present this deadly fly pattern. A few months ago while looking for soft hackle flies, I found an interesting website with lots of useful videos for the fly tier and fishermen. The mentioned site is called 'onstream-guide' and the author of the fly is Jonathan Barnes.

I'll present the way I tied this fly, for the original click on the link above.

Hook:        D04BL HW size 12
Thread:     Power Silk
Abdomen: Antron
Wing:        CDC
Hackle:     Genetic Saddle - Ghost Grizzly size 14 + Partridge Natural

1. Attach the hook firmly in the vice, and run on apply your thread base, then tie in 3-4 fibres from  a partridge feather as a tail.

2. Build the abdomen with the antron till 2/3 of the shank.

3. Tie in the CDC feather.

4. Tie in the grizzly hackle and run 2 turns behind the CDC and 3 in front of it.

5. Add the partridge feather and run not more than 2 - 2 1/2 rows, whip finish, colore the head and apply a drop of head cement on the thread.

6. Voila this is the fly: