davy_wotton
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Back again.
Competitive fly fishing in the EU brought to gether many fly fishers from different countries with in some cases levels of fly fishing skill that the others did not have.
For example, so far as fishing still waters and natural lakes the guys who came over from countries out side of the UK and Ireland were hammered in competition.
On the other hand when it came to fishing the Czech and Polish styles the guys from the UK were hammered, until they also began to learn the techniques.
I might add here that competitive fly fishing in the UK has a history going back more than 100 years to Loch Leven in Scotland, a lake l have fished very many times for pleasure and in international competition.It is now on a world wide level so far as competing countries are concerned.
OK, move on here.
For certain the use of fly fishing guides here is way more used than in the EU, with the exceptions of the Gillies that work the natural lakes of Ireland, the Atlantic Salmon rivers of the EU and a few more places.Many of the rivers here do not provide for easy walk in wade access to start with, and access may also be restricted further due to trespass laws. In some cases you have no choice to float a river if you wish to fish it.
Scott,
Thats about right, diameter of mono should be related in some way to the hook size used and more to the point the expected size of fish you may enounter. BStrain.
I have used that knot for Tarpon and other very large fish, with no problem. And down to 12 x.Either way accept there is no 100%perfect knot and the human element here is also a serious consideration when setting the hook.
Even l screw up at times,Scott,
Great to see you there, and l forgot to talk with you about Spey flies, another time.
Kelley and l fished hard with the big flies, and were not able to get a big fish to oblige, weather was wicked out there, cold windy and wet.
But we did nail numbers of Bows, and a 15ins Cutt that took a 4ins streamer.
Either way a fun time for us both. He plans to get back here later in the year.Davy.
Zack,
Hugh was a friend of mine, he was something else l can tell you. He could drink Scotch whisky like you do not believe, 2 bottles a day, no problem and still go fishing.
The guy was a Spitfire pilot in the war, got shot down twice, was imprisoned by the Germans, and escaped back to the UK.
He was also one of the best wild life narrators l have ever l heard, a artist and a author of many wildlife and books on fishing.He was of the old school in many ways, he could not see or wish to at times others ways of thought.
For him to catch and return a fish was not acceptable. He did not believe in playing with a fishes life that way, and to some extent when you see the results of intense catch and release such as takes place on the San Juan, in many ways l have to agree with him.
That particular river being one of the exceptions to the rule.I also have two of the hard copy limited
Many of the casts demonstarted here are very usefull casts to use when fishing, so do not dismiss them all as simply demonstations of good casting and line control.
But you will have to put some time in to perfect them, and very likely be shown how to do them as they are casts that reguire both perfect line control and timing.
And in most cases you do need the influence of water to allow for these casts to be made.You may well wrap the line around your neck when you learn many of these, or tie knots in your fly line and leader configurations.
Many of those demonstrated are by the used of short lengths of line outside of the rod tip. The use of a double handed rod does allow way greater lengths of line to be used.
When Paul Arden was here with me last year, we spent a bunch of time messing with all manner of configurations of these casts, all great fun.
Davy.
http://davywotton.comPaul,
Rams wool is indeed a different material to work with than deer hair and one or the other has advantages over the other depending on what you wish to do here.
In my opinion you cannot beat stacked or spun deer hair for surface fished fly patterns, and in some cases for flies you will fish subsurface.
Deer hair also allows for you to alternate color variations within the make up of the fly, more so than lambs wool.I have used lambs wool a great deal, and there are two ways to use it.
The first is by the stack method the second is by the use of a dubbing loop, this takes a little more skill level as you have to make very sure you have the wool prepared the rigth way before you set it in the loop and commence the spin.It is a great material for sculpins and flies you wish to work at depth.
One of my departed friends by teh name of Bob Johns, innovated the best wool head sculpin l have ever seen, granted there are many variations to day.
One tip here. Make sure that the wool you obtain is real good quality, some of the stuff out there is useless.
Davy.
http://daywotton.com
Custom flies.Will,
Yes, the tungsten sheet is a real good alternative for the larger fly bodies, as you say it is not the easiest material to work with.
And you can pre shape it for body form. I use it often for stonefly nymphs and flies of that nature.Davy.
Bryan,
I am not so sure that it would make a great deal of difference here, but it is a interesting concept.
I would suspect that it would turn out to be very costly.
Lead and beads are a way cheaper alternative here.Davy.
Dave,
The best advice l can give you is this, before you develope faults that are not always easy to loose.
Go find a good casting intructor.So far as rod and line preferences, l have my own, and if it is a case of casting extream ranges 90 to 120 in 5 or 6 wt class it will be either a Ticrx or a Sage TCR.
Coupled with a SA/ED line.
The primary reasons why l choose those rods is that they will allow for me to hang a very long line out on the backcast, at least 80ft or more, which is needed to achieve max range with the right line.But they are also good set ups for fishing, but not always.
Bryan,
A interesting question and l can give you some answers here, having the experience of being a technical director for the Partridge hook company in the UK, now owned by Mustad.
I see no advantage to use what you know as tungsten.
The process of hook manufacture starts with soft wire, as a rule of a high carbon content, in both regular and stainless steel.
The carbon content is also a related factor to how well or otherwise the hook can be tempered.So far as automated process is concerned this wire is a continuous length that feeds into the machine that there after carries out the process of , point, bard, bend, bow etc.
And that can only take place with soft wire of any type.Hooks produced by hand are manufactured a different way, but the wire is the same, it differs only in that it is cut to regular short lengths for the hand applied process.
The final and most important process is hook temper, for without that process being correct, the hook will be too brittle or too soft, neither of which are of use so far as fishing is concerned.
Mike,
No worry l did not take it that way, you got me thinking in a direction here.
When l lived in Chicago, l did fish for the Salmonids in the lake and when they migrated into some of the river systems in Wisconsin, to be honest, l really have no interest to fish for black fish that are within a few days of death.But did real well fishing for steelhead, one of the flies to use was a large black bugger.
Steelhyde,
The traditions if you like for Atlantic Salmon fishing are from my homelands in the UK. I lived very close to some of the great Salmon rivers there. But fished many others in Scotland and Ireland for those fish.
These are of course anadromous and not land locked fish.If l were to choose 3 flies for Atlantics they would be.
Silver grey
Munroe killer
Shrimp patterns various, which overall l consider to be the best flies to use.Those Pacifics are a very different deal to Atlantics, if you have fished for the two species you will find that one out.
Never used woolly buggers for Atlantics, but l see no reason why they would not take such a fly at times, if the color and method of presentation was right.
Might give that a try when l go to the St Mary’s river later this year, at least some orientation color wise l know Atlantics prefer.
Davy.
Ian,
I have some original PTs the Frank Sawyer gave to me when l lived in the UK.Most Americans are not familiar with the kind
Thanks for posting Mike.
Not sure what happened there with the first image Mike, no worry.
These are some of my bait fish patterns for either fresh or saltwater use.
They can be tied from 1 to 5ins, both to float or sink, and by definitions of profile and color coding for the species required.In the case of larger flies l prefer tubes for deeper water techniques, but do have some adaptions for surface work.
The advantage of tubes is that you can tie a very large fly with very little weight, use either a single of a treble hook.These flies have accounted for more than 26 species that l know of around the world.
I would like to add a few points here.
Historically a palmered hackle wound for a salmon fly would be wound from eye to head, and wound in such a way as the hackle is close butted to the left side of the hackle.
This does two things. The first allows for the lie of the hackle in such a way as the the fibers will be more reaward inclined, if the wind was carried out well, the second was that the teeth of the fish would less likely cause the hackle stem to become brocken.In the case of trout flies, the best menns of security for a palmered hackle is to wind the hackle from the eye to the tail, and then reverse with a tinsel wind back to the head of the fly.
This adds way greater security to the wound hackle and also allows for additional attraction from the effects of that ribbing medium.The term legs, was at one time the term used for a hackle as such, differs now days of course.
Many of the trout flies l have innovated sport legs, and in the case of the smaller flies, not like wooly buggers or gurgle bugs, l will use cock pheasant center tail.
This can of course also be dyed to different shades.
Turkey herlScott,
Ive only just got to your post. I used to tie spey flies commercially at one time so can mroe or less tell you what you wish to know.
Do you reuqire the feather as a hackle or wing medium, as choice would differ.Herons are a protected species. Harline Dubbing co did have a licence at one time to import feathers from China, but due to how states here differ in how they regulate animal and bird products and the issues of how Fish and Wildlife also determine the legality, they had to stop importation.
Same exists in the USA for seal fur and many other materials, which may be legal from the country of origin but not legal for import.
Much of that has to do with the cities regulations.The only real substitute for Heron is Blue eared Pheasant, but expect to pay at least $100 or more for a A1 class skin. You can obtain the live birds and raise your own, which is what l do.
No need to kill the bird, just pluck out the feathers needed at the time.Ringneck has some uses but lacks the right color and size for larger flies when the hackle is needed for the body wind.
The traditional Spey or Dee strip wing have as a rule a pair of turkey wing strips for the wings. The more modern versions do differ.
One of my favorite flies to tie, they look so elegant.
