Girls, Midges & Brexit

My two girls (single & 1,5 years old) were very interested in the three new arrived kinky cocks! They were particularly interested in mr. Dun Grizzly. Thanks to the Brexit and the low British pound, I ordered three beautiful Whiting midge saddles at ‪#‎Lakelandflytying‬.

To be honest, I had to put some effort in this hackle science. Saddle or Cape etcetera. The Feather Imperium is very informative. And after a lot of websites & forums: I wanted a midge saddle in my cross hairs for the micro flies. The silver grade was recommended, but I'm very happy with the Bronze saddles.

Keep Em Wet!

I'm thrilled to notice a new step in the evolution of the Catch & Release department. Its about keeping the fish UNDER WATER while Catch & Release. This is promoted by Keep Em Wet (www.keepemwet.org). I gladly discovered this in the Eat Sleep Fish issue 54.

The keepemwet principles are a universal baseline of best practices that keep fish healthier and should always be used when releasing fish. 

I support this kind of fish friendly handling and like to share this philosophy in this blog. I think it is because fish research is one of my big obsessions passions. That is about Catching, Measuring & Releasing. Because of this, the catch & release with fly fishing is logical to me. I hope for you too!!

Special Project: Fly fishers spinner

Spinner fishing was my first love...till I got infected with the fly fishing religion. Although not as effective as a few 1,7 inch shads, I occasionally cast a few spinners to perch in summer time. Making spinners is almost as much fun as tying flies.

Both worlds come together in this spinner. It's a special project in this fly fishing blog.
The hook is for tying salmon flies, the bead is for nymphs & woolly buggers and the cone head is also a salmon fly item. They make lovely spinner parts. In this case a 2,7 grams spinner. My innovations in all my modern spinner designs:

• an incorporated swivel in the eye;
• a fast lock snap instead of a (nail ruining) ring;
• I hate treble hooks and normally use single hooks with a off set point. This double salmon hook is a beautiful compromise (barbs have to be crushed).
• There is no empirical evidence that a red tag (or any tag) on a spinner hook catches more fish. Keep fluffy stuff on the hook limited because is causes air resistance while casting and can restrict your casting distance.
• My first blade choice is a Colorado blade size 2 or 3. These really move the water. But Indiana blades like these are good too.
• Like the effective Mepps Black Fury: I almost always colour the back side of the blade black (not shown here). I think that the black back is the secret of this spinner.
• And of course my line is a Stroft GTM 0,16 mm (my standard leader brand).

With these ingredients you have a perfect spinner for perch and trout!
To tie a weedless hook, have a look at my older fly tie video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4blUDS1wZ4

Just add tippet and water: enjoy!

Fire Tiger PTN?

Rivers stay cloudy as the rain keeps pouring down. Visibility of our flies is a big issue. Its a game of contrasts I believe.

I think that dry flies can give the biggest contrast and are more visible than nymphs in stained water.

As a fly fisherman I thought about de right colour of nymphs while reading this Mepps article about effective colours in stained water. What can fly fishermen perhaps learn from the colours of spinners... I don't know but I won't go that far making fire tiger PTN's!

Have a look at: Learning from colours on http://www.mepps.com/…/color-technology-what-you-see-is-…/77