Back in bussines... or not

I finally got some time to go out fishing. 3 hrs fishing along the bank of the canal and on 70+ fish. I'm about to go on my well deserved leave, probably next fishing session will be already in September.

Again, slow start of the season

I have not been fishing to much recently. I missed the first two weeks of the season since I was in Poland. Later on, every time I planned a session, the weather was not encouraging. Yesterday it was raining the whole day, but the sky cleared out in the evening. I managed to go out for three hours and land 3 pikes, biggest one 80cm. Maybe the season will pick up now.

Back from Poland

I'm back from my trip to Poland, I have spent there almost two weeks, 2/3 of that time fishing with my dad. Well, although it was a good family visit, the fishing was bad. None of the caught pikes exceeded 50 cm (!), and there were much fewer of them compared to the last year. The fishing culture in Poland (or at least in the area where I come from) is still based on taking caught fish home. The biggest fish caught this spring in the local ponds was 90cm and taken home. In the time when I was there somebody caught 86cm pike on a live bait and took it home. Unfortunately the local anglers seem not to find understanding of catch & release, all they do is finding excuses for lack of fish (severe winter, family of otters, etc...). Pity.

Now the new season in Holland is before me. It looks like I'm going to focus on fly fishing, with maybe some deviation from pike fishing to carp fly fishing. Let's see how that goes.

One more prototype

Still experimenting with mixing naturals and synthetics - maybe I'm reinventing existing patterns. This fly is tied on 4/0 hook, I started with some pearl flashabou, 4 white strung hackles, pencil thick white buck tail spun round the hook shank, some peacock herl for the back, marabou palmered around the hook shank, the head was build out of tan/white EP fibre and plastic EP eyes 9mm.

I just realized that it is only 2 weeks until the season opens here in the Netherlands - wow! I don't actually now if I'm going to be here, maybe I will go to Poland for two weeks to visit my parents, all depends on some projects at work. I think the two weeks will go by in a moment because... Diablo 3 is going to be released on May 15th, I'm a big fan of D1 and D2, I was even in a clan :-). I hope it will not conflict with my fishing.

Prototype flies

I'm exploring blending natural materials and synthetics. Both flies are similar, made out of few blends of EP fibre, peacock herl, grizzly hackles, some flashabou and EP eyes 9mm, tied on4/0 hooks. First fly has the feathers tied alongside the main body, the second one has the feathers tied outwards and I added some silly legs. Both flies are extremely lightweight and I'm looking forward to try them out once the season starts.

Mylar and rattle baitfish

I found and interesting fly design and tried to tie it myself. Mylar used in this fly is not tied directly on the hook shank, but it is sort of extension of the hook. The mylar is tied off at the end, wit addition of some glue. Inside the mylar there is a glass rattle that slides back and forth. For the main body I used white/two shades of tan/grey EP fibre. The gills are made of red craft fur. Finished with 10mm eyes and UV resin.

More pike flies

My first carp adventures didn't go very well, since my last post I went out fishing only twice, the weather still not allows sight fishing. To kill off the time I started to tie flies for my annual trip to Poland. I found an interesting tutorial how to tie hollow fly using a foam head. This fly is absolutely lightweight, the foam head will push a lot of water. I can't wait to try this on the intermediate line.

Another experiment I tried is the raccoon bunny fly, tied on 4/0 hook. From the back: piece of magnum flashabou, 5cm raccoon zonker strip, pencil thick bucktail clamp, some marabou palmered around the hook shank, finished with deer hair diver style collar and head plus eyes glued with hot glue gun.