Merry Christmas

It must be that time again, the Christmas lillies are out and fill the room with their heady aromatic fragrance. Just finishing off a few more damsel nymphs in preparation for some lake action. Thanks for visiting my blog and keep watching out for some movies after this holiday. Have a good Christmas and for anyone in the Northern Hemisphere I'm feeling for ya!

Hentai-ing

Straight from the dark side of tying, Nagoya, Japan comes a new pattern inspired by the anime classic Cutey Honey. A voluptous monster slayer who reveals her breasts as she changes into a costume that matches her cheeky mood. Tied on a longshank #14 using glo-bug yarn, melted mono and a touch of pink paint. Most fishers are surprised to hear that this perky pattern is an emerger designed to bring 'em up off the bottom!

Special thanks to creative genius, Daisuke and also the creators of Cutey Honey for providing the inspiration. Daisuke is currently working on a more technically challenging design.

Summer Lake Collection 2011

Topping up the boxes for a trip with Dad down to our holiday house in the deep south. The masks on the boatmen and dragons' are made from latex tied in first then pulled back over the eyes. Eyes are made of melted mono. Gave my parachute green beetles legs ...well why wouldn't ya!

Boys will be boys!

"I've wrestled all of the other 6 year olds to the ground...yeah I'm the toughest!"

Delish.

Trout and eggplant.

A sofa with a view.

A face full of wash and still smiling!

Fly fishin'






We went up the lake with the boys for a fish and tried out a new wool-head sculpin pattern. The trout were more interested in taking big dragonflies on the wing. We saw some spectacular acrobatic rises and managed to catch a couple. Next time I'll remember to take my dry fly box and some floatant!


We finished the day with some trout on the barbecue and a few bottles of ginger beer. After dark the boys went for a hunt and got some meat for the freezer. These boys are so hard case... they don't wear shoes and run around on prickly paddocks in the dark to pick up a freshly shot rabbit. When you're tough you don't need to say it!

Eagle Eyes

A river worn forest giant.

Rock hoppin up the gorge.

Trout, ghosty, mid-photo.

A window passes over to reveal his lie.

Taken on my yellow nymph.

Warming up.

A good cast matched with a good fly will get'em, if you can see 'em!

Cicada's beginning to chirp, mayflies and caddis on the move too.

Off the Road

My next goat curry on the supermarket shelves.

Broke the tip off my cane rod....not a good rod for bush bashing!

Man those eels are scary big..

Tried to get into this creek, took the waders off when it got up to my arm-pits, then tried to cross in my shorts with my pack over my head. Had to backtrack when I started floating. Tried again up-stream and finally got into some gem-green pools. Fish sitting at 20ft eye balling me. Missed a good fish in the top of this pool, he came down the pool a couple of times suspecting some kinda mischief.

Green Stoneflies - Teimco 400T

Thought I'd give this idea a go. Tying on the side of a 400T swimming nymph. This weekend I turned a few stones the the river in the photo and found some big stonies. They way the curve when they crawl and curl when they free float inspired me to try and capture it. Not sure how the hook-up will be having the hook on the side, should be OK. My mate Jack bent his up into some unusual positions with pliers and they still worked. These stonies have a yellowy orange on the underside which I penned in. The suggestion of gills were made from yellowish CDC.

My New Old Vice

Regal vices have always been number one in NZ, that's if you could afford one. I guess years ago they were around the $250.00 to $300.00 NZ dollar mark and back in the day this was a lot of cash for a high school lad. My first Regal was purchased from "The Tackle Box"in Chrtistchurch, where I once worked as part-timer. It was the standard regal with no rotation or leverage up and down. I've used it for years, only ever had one hook ping out, it's an old faithful, the jaws are still holding firm since the mid-80's. That one has now been passed on to dad and may have been used after his recent renewed interest in tying. (Although in all honesty he's probably using his old Indian vice.)

The other regal I picked up was for around $70.00 when I was living in Japan. The shop just wanted to get rid of it as it didn't seem to suit the tiers over there. Something about hook size. Anyway they have C and F and other fantastical vices to chose from.

Here's where the story gets interesting. While purusing our local internet auction I came across a Regal in all it's glory, advertised as new with rotating head, the up/down movement and a large clamp. It looked great. So like the trout to the fly I decided to buy it. I was so excited by the thought of being able to turn my fly upside down, nothing else seemed to matter. On arrival all looked good apart from the positioning of the jaws. So I contacted Regal in the states to ask them about the jaw positioning. They were extremely helpful. According to them however, this vice is an antique. possibly brought out on one of the first four ships to colonize NZ. They haven't seen this model since the early 80's and don't carry parts for it.

Anyway it performs well and now I can turn my fly upside down. And hey, I have a new antique!

Pale Yellow Nymph

For the rib I used this micro-tubing from Wapsi.

The wingcase is a yellow, mottled thin-skin.

I sat down to come up with a pale-yellow stonefly nymph and ended up with these . . . more like a mayflies. These were tied on a long shank #16. They have a small tungsten bead on the front. They are a bit plasticy, but in some places it's good to have flies that other, more professional fishers don't use.

Re-cycled Wooden Cabinet

I had been wanting to make a cabinet to display a few old fishing collectables and finally finished it last week. All of the wood I used was from old building materials with the odd nail hole here and there. I didn't check to see if it was square the first time I glued it, so had to pull it apart and straighten it up a bit. The woods I used are NZ Rimu and Macrocarpa. The lighter "macro" in the back makes a bright background to display the old tackle against.

Season 2010

Some trees have been cleared out, while others have appeared.

Bending the rod.

A 7.5lbs beauty.

Silver with a touch of orange.

Hard to see in amongst the rocks, silver rocket.

It's great to be out on the water again! After about a week of torential rain prior to the start of the season, the smaller creeks have started to clear. With the snow-melt and rain some of the larger rivers are still coloured up. Most of the fish landed have been in pretty good condition and haven't been too fussy.

Dragonfly Nymphs

A Great Wood Working Blog - Manasan

This guy has some great ideas and is very innovative. If you like tinkering with wood, check this guy out. Http://homepage3.nifty.com/manasan/english/index.htm

J Stockard - Internet Fly Tying Supplies - (Click for link)

I got in touch with these guys and ordered some tying goodies. They were very patient and professional. All the materiels arrived as ordered and the exchange was reasonable. Nymph legs are quite hard to get, my brother had trouble tracking them down from the distributor in England. The wing cutters are good, but I recommend sticking with the River Road Creations brand.

This is also a good place to pick up bulk micro-rings at a good price. Check them out for some tying goodies sometime.

Miho Mizuno - Artist

Keeping the sun off my neck. Thanks Miho!

Simply stunning!

Hare comments on Frog's back-cast.

We all know this feeling.

A call went out from the local store Kamiieda in Nagoya when a fresh faced foreigner wandered into the store. I was chatting with a guy who could speak english well and who wanted to rush down to the store to translate, but with time against us we decided to leave it this time. It wasn't until 2 years later I was talking with Daisuke Mizuno, that we figured out he was that guy on the end of the phone. It was amazing with over 2 million people in the city that we had met after speaking with each other 2 years prior.

I fished with Daisuke and his partner Miho a couple of times, but left for NZ shortly after that. They are a great couple to know, always smiling and laughing about something. Like the time they went on a date to the parasite museum in Tokyo. Why wouldn't you!

Recently Miho has started designing and making fly fishing t-shirts and neck scarfs with a touch of traditional Japanese brush work. Her designs include animals respected and loved by nature loving people throughout Japan. All of her work is hand dyed and hand painted making each piece a true artwork.

She spends many hours getting the right colours for her scarfs and like a true artist isn't happy until it is just how she wants it.

Thanks Miho for the lovely things you have made me.

A Return to Japan

A hot spring hotel foot spa.

An actual print of the caught fish with measurement and weight details.

Fish Boy.





Sugar and sour oranges.

At the temple.

Ishii brother's barbecue heaven.

Return to Dusk.

Old friend's.

At the Osu Temple.

I spent almost 3 weeks in Japan revisiting some old haunts and catching up with friends. I met a bunch of my old fly fishing buddies in Nagoya. Two friends have teamed up, (Tomo, previously involved in boat building and Shinichi owner of T-Craft) to continue to make high quality wooden nets and fly boxes for Shinichi's company. Once again I visited Kato's fly store "Dusk" and bought my usual stock of Daichi hooks. It was great to see everyone was in good form and still enjoying their fishing.

The weather was tediously hot and so humid, an extreme change to the 7 degrees and snow topped montains I left at my home. Travelling down to Kyushu brought some welcomed relief as the temperatures we much more comfortable. I couldn't find a fly shop down in these parts, but visited a few big saltwater fishing stores.

Torrential rain signified the end of the rainy season and the end of my trip. I had to rush to the airport as trains, planes and expressways were shut down due to the flooding.