Wonderful Wets

I remember days of old, swiping Karl's wet flies (which he had inherited from an old timer) when we fished on the lake together. I've tied him a batch of his favourite moleflies for xmas and have been playing around with some new designs inspired by English patterns. These will be tested in the week to come as we both head off on a xmas fishing mission to chase lake fish.

The Golden Pheasant tail wing is bright with a natural speckle. These should work well!

Mike Tyson

In the gold corner - 70cm of pumped brown trout!

Where's my dubbing wax?

The summer holidays have arrived and I've been busy stocking up my boxes ... it's best to have just the materials you need on the bench!

Marc Petitjean

Marc's Parachute

Explaining the magic head

Leech with the magic head

Marc, Peter and Karly...3 good boys!

Marc Petitjean has been travelling around New Zealand catching trout and promoting his CDC tying techniques. Marc entertained his audience with stories about the history of CDC tying in Europe and with some amazing tying techniques. A range of Marcs products will now be available through 4 stores in Christchurch. (This is a pretty big deal for the 8 or so fly tiers in NZ!) Marc's background in engineering helped him to design some amazing tools, including his new bobbin which is threaded externally.

Marc caught some nice fish in New Zealand and only used 2 flies, both CDC of course. A CDC nymph and emerger style dryfly with deerhair. His patterns are sparsley tied and are quick to tie. As he said, "I'd rather be fishing flies, than tying flies!"

It was a real pleasure to meet a guy who is so passionate about tying and developing new ideas.

A-may-zing

A warm afternoon, birds gather, dancing over the river catching mayflies. A small trail of mayfly wings scatter the rocks where the birds briefly stop to feed. Some mayflies escape, drying their wings before take-off and chancing their luck.

Electric Fishing

Dobson fly Lavae and Pupae.

A young Brown trout.

Electric fishing in action.

A nice snack for a hungry trout.

Fish and Game Officer explains Electric Fishing.

Today there was an event at a local stream held by Fish and Game. They are the organisation that manages New Zealand's freshwater fishing and water fowl resources. Two small brown trout and a few bullies were zapped and netted. There were a few mayflies about and this Dobson fly lavae, which I have never seen before. The event attracted about 15 people.

Bending the Bamboo 2nd Time.

Lukey...

Lukes exciting find...

A fine day...

Opened the door this morning... just had to get on the river!

Decided this morning to get the Bamboo out again. I love the gentle presentation I'm getting. Pushing the rod quite hard too and getting a good long line. It comes to life with a fish on and I can still put heaps of pressure on when landing. I just need to get the leader length and weight right.

Extra Grip without the Glove.

Here's a funny gadget I came across to give you that extra grip when conditions get tough. Just push it on, align it and press in the spike, then enter the next dimension.

Shimazaki Wing.

I added a little foam float and dubbed a loop of hare fur around the wings, Shimazaki wing does the rest. I'm keen to try this pattern again this season. Last season I used CDC instead of hare for the hackle, but I prefer the random effect you get from dubbing on a dry.

Hook: TMC #16 5212

Tail: Cock de leon fibres

Body: Stripped peacock (Use a piece of flat rubber and an eraser, trap the quill between the two, will strip quill in seconds.)

Dub: Chocolate hare fur

Wingcase: Chocolate brown razor foam

Wings: Shimazaki

A postcard from the past.

Hand painted postcard. Lake of Yumato of Nikko. Looks like an 8 weight rod!

Essentially Green.

Essentially Green..

Beached.

Green Dragon.

Kea - Mountain parrot.

Trying out a landing..

Tommy aged 11 years caught his first fish on the fly. Earlier that morning I let him land one of mine to get the feeling of how it all feels. Then after lunch he disappeared out of sight around into a beautiful bay with a gorgeous drop off. With every cast a little more line went out, laying it on the water each time with a splash. A technique I've seen employed by old timers night fishing, but in this case, a beginners attempt to get a little more distance.

Then he appeared fish in hand and a grin across his face that said it all. A great day for a young boy an old fibreglass rod and a trout.

Simply Magic! After the excitment died down he was off back to the same spot to try his luck again!

He's been hounding me ever since for the fly which he gave me to look after and an old vise, so he can start to tie some more bullies.

May contain traces of nuts.

Once in a blue moon one goes in the pot. Jack and I enjoyed a meal of trout. Cream, white wine, red pepper and mushrooms just to name a few of the ingredients. Washed down with a good wine.

The 50 Metre River Sprint.

training complete.

released...

landed and unhooked...

across and down...

across the river...

out the other side...

through the tree...

under the tree...

still going...

further down...

down-stream...

Hook-up...

Today I did some training for the up and coming, down-stream Olympic river sprint.

What are they eating? Anything!

Quite a smorgasbord.

Jack with a hen.


Pete with a jack!

Two lovely trout today, sunny skies and good humour. Life couldn't be better....

Not Quite Spring

A cold blast of weather brought fresh snow to the mountain tops. The wind chill is freezing and winter is trying to return. Once the cloud burns off, the sun tries its best to warm up the day. My fishing skills are still a bit cold too, missing another good fish yesterday! My indicator seems to dive under much quicker than I ever remember.

It's great to be out and getting some sun on the face.