I was reading some Gierarch the other day and he was describing his approach to writing. After getting home from a fishing trip, he’ll often wait a few weeks before reflecting on the experience. The story—if there is one at all—should naturally bubble to the surface. It might be a story about the fishing, but it might be something else…
Tag: fly tying
Preparing for a trip
One of the things I enjoy most these days is prepping for a trip somewhere new. Unlike fishing locally, going on a destination trip means stepping into the unknown and stepping out of your comfort zone. Many hours are spent pouring over google maps scouting out potential fishing spots. More hours spent reading every bit of information the internet…
Simple flies: palmered hackle flies
Sometimes you don’t need much to make a deadly fly. Simple patterns catch fish. Some of the simplest flies (at least in theory) are palmered hackle flies. Whether they are fished dry or wet, on a dead drift or stripped, palmered hackle flies work. These flies have been around since the inception of fly fishing. Charles Cotton and Izaac Walton…
A use for a once loved beard. The beard fly.
This isn’t a fashion blog and I am definitely not a fashion blogger, so bare with me I discuss a fashion trend. The beard. Beards are cool. They are so cool in fact they have even started springing up on the faces of the decidedly uncool like myself. So revel in the beard revolution while you can, but remember it…
Its time to start keeping a fishing diary
Last season I started playing around with adding rubber tails and legs onto a bunch of my favourite nymphs and dry fly patterns. The rationale was it would add a bit of extra movement and “life” to the flies and that, at times that may make a difference. Testing went well, I caught lots of fish on those flies. The…
Late to the party? discovering articulated streamers
Fishing big articulated streamers for trout is a big part of US fly fishing culture. In general fishing big dirty streamers for trout seems to be a visible and vibrant part of American fly fishing culture, complete with die hards who fish very little else. In Australia, streamer fishing, especially with big articulated beasties, doesn’t appear to have quite…
Rubber legs and tails on dry flies
Rubber legs are a staple of bigger dry fly patterns such as hoppers and cicada patterns as well as becoming increasingly common on nymph patterns (e.g Manic Tackles wonderful rubber legged nymphs). However, they are far less common on smaller more traditional fly patterns. There are a few, mainly balloon caddis or elk hair caddis variants (e.g mini hoppers, yakcaddis…
Beginners mistakes: fantasy tying….
I am sure its a stage many new fly tiers go through… The imagination runs wild, new fantastical, weird, ugly and downright strange patterns fly off the vice one after the other. No two flies alike, the unconstrained imagination of the newly minted artist, excited at the world of possibilities now open to them. As time goes by, this revelry…
App review – Flylife flies
Just a quick post to review a free app, ‘Flylife Flies’. Released by the well-respected flylife magazine group, the app is available for free download through the app store. I downloaded the app expecting fly tying recipes, but the app is basically a game where you have to name the fly that appears on the screen. Despite being a bit…
Fly tying: UV glue curing trick
Brett put me onto a sweet little trick for quickly curing UV glues (clear cure goo in this case)…. High powered purple lasers. They set the glue faster than the blue UV lights that are usually used, the glue is rock hard in seconds (saving a few seconds). So if you ever lose your blue UV light, want a back…
Garfish gurgler
I am not much of a fly tier. I haven’t been tying my own flies for all that long, so thats not a surprise. I’m slowly improving and I can at least catch fish on flies I’ve tied myself which is enormously gratifying. While they aren’t yet pieces of art, maybe one day I’ll get there… However, in the spirit…
Fly tying for beginners
I seem to have a habit of forming hobbies quickly and with gusto. For example, I recently decided I wanted to make a coffee table, so acquired some beautiful ironbark and an electric plane and off I went. A fleeting passion? Perhaps (coffee table aint finished). But more recently, after spending some time with fellow blogger and new flyfishing convert…