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We need creative & inspiring moviemakers!

As much as I enjoy watching these destination videos with amazing scenery and gin clear rivers, I always wonder why these videos all look the same? Why can't anyone come up with a new interesting format to cover this item? Is it the limitation of the subject, film equipment or the lack of creativity of the makers?

I've seen documentaries on BBC, Discovery Channel etc. how they follow the flight of an albatross (or was it a bee?) REALLY close. It's like flying on the back of a fellow bird/insect. They can even capture the natural habitat of a termite in its dungeons deep under the ground. So it's not the lack of technique that's limiting us from making innovative movies.

Why are fly fishing videos still using stone age scripts and techniques? For example, I don't like the parts where they play the fish. One or two takes of a big fish showing off while hooked is okay. I don't need to see more of them, especially when the fish are small. The presentation of the fly, close view drift of the fly to the fish and the take (both above and under the water!) are much more interesting. What about following a fish in its natural habitat, watching the fisherman from the fishes view and how it gets fooled by the fly? How about satellite overview of the river or stretch and zooming in on a certain spot or stretch. A view of the fisherman from a birds eye view?

The publishers / moviemakers of fly fishing videos need to take the next step in innovation.
Anyone in the business care to join the discussion?

New DVDs: Gmundner Traun & Henry's Fork

The long winter evenings are here, so time to enjoy some new DVDs on nice destinations! I recently bought two new DVDs on the Austrian Gmundner Traun and the Henry's Fork in the USA. The company who publishes them also has three other DVDs on Silver Creek / Madison, Green river and Cayo Largo (Cuba). I'm sure there are more nice destinations coming soon.

The Gmundner Traun is one of the most famous Austrian rivers, well known for its grayling population. I've fished it once so far and didn't have much success due to high water levels. One thing I noticed during that day was how difficult it was to follow the river from the road. The river is hardly visible from the road making it very difficult to look for nice stretches to fish. The steep and high banks along the river made river access pretty impossible.

This video shows how diverse the Gmundner Traun is during its course from the Gmundner lake to the downstream stretches. Rudi Heger, who managed the river for many years, tells us what makes the Gmundner Traun such a special river as well as how they improved the fishery the past years after a period when the river was in a bad condition. After watching this video I'm sure I'll give it another go soon. By the way, the tickets for this river are no give away either. I paid about 75 Euros (about 90-95 USD) back in 2004...

The Henry's Fork needs no introduction. This is without doubt one of the most famous rivers in the world. I remember reading about it when back in the 1980's. This huge spring creek is famous for its highly educated rainbows and the hatches of mayfly and caddis spieces. Who hasn't seen the wonderful scenery of the Harriman Ranch area of the Henry's Fork? I've visited the Rocky Mountain area about 5 times now, but I've never fished the Henry's Fork. It's still on my To Do-list.

As a reference for a trip preparation these DVDs will not be enough. You will still need to do your own research on your destination on the internet. But as a hint what can be expected, it's nice. These DVDs can be bought at the site of the makers Destination Mouche. Maybe your local fly shop has some copies on the shelf.


Update Dec 16, 2019:
I finally visited the Henry's Fork in the summer of 2018.
Here is part 1, part 2 & part 3 of my (way too short) visit to the Henry's Fork.

The art of wood carving

Ed Felker of the Flyfishin' blog really liked the brook trout I caught in Austria last month that he made it picture of the week on his site. Besides running a nice blog, Ed is a very talented wood carver too. Check out the carving Ed made of the picture. WOW! I think it's amazing how Ed captured just the essential contours of the picture.

Although I try to take pictures that follows some sort of 'picture taking rules' I see in fly fishing magazines and books, I never thought that one of my pictures would end up as art! It sounds weird but I'm kinda proud now. Thanks Ed!

I'm not sure how much a print made from one of Ed's wood carvings cost. I'm sure he will make a marvelous wood carving of your favorite picture (assuming that the picture is 'carvable') for you. Get in touch with Ed to get the answer and price. I'm waiting to see how a print made of the block turns out.


Update 20 dec 2006
Ed just made the first print of the wooden plate he carved out. These prints cost $50 and $65 if matted. Check out Ed's blog to read more about his prints.

Update 17 jan 2007
The print arrived today! I'll get it framed soon. Should look nice on the wall in the attic of our new house. Thanks Ed!

Powerfibers

Here is a picture of a slice from a bamboo culm I received from a buddy. Check out the dense powerfibers. Powerfibers are located on the outer part of the bamboo giving this living material its unique strength, flexibility and durability. I'm told that this is a slice taken from one of the thinner culms, showing at least 4 mm of powerfibers.

The quality of bamboo rod builders look for making bamboo fly rods are straightness, no (or hardly any) damages by insect bites, watermarks, etc. I'm sure these culms will end up as excellent bamboo fly rods!

Lanyard massacre

After my trip to the Czech Republic, I came up with the idea to make our own lanyards at our fly fishing club. These ' minimalist-vests' have been around for about 5 years now and they are getting more and more popular as a vest replacement. Sometimes it's just too hot for a fully loaded vest or just plain awkward (like on the bonefish flats). All you need are a clipper, a thermostat and some spools of tippet-material. Maybe a bottle of fly floatant. Fly boxes can go in the shirt pockets. Ready to fish!

Sure, you can buy them at your fly shop (like the one in the middle from Mountain River Lanyards), but it's quite easy to make one yourself. And it's a lot of fun too! We sure had a ton of fun at the club while making our lanyards. Ever seen 25 grown ups fumbling with beads and screaming for another colored bead?

Okay, what do we need to make a lanyard? About 1 meter of 3 mm rope (I bought them at the local outdoors shop), about 30 cm of 2 mm rope, lots of colorful wooden beads (do check with the size of the hole needed to get the rope through!), a clip (snap it to your shirt to prevent the lanyard from dangling), some large swivels, a piece of PVC tube, a piece of foam rubber tube and a line stopper. Check out the picture to see what the items are.

Some details you need to take a closer look at are the tippet spool holder, the line stopper (to get rid of the lanyard if you get caught with your lanyard in a dangerous situation), the collar tube to cushion the load on your neck and the foam rubber tubes to let your flies dry. Put 2-3 beads between each swivel to avoid the tools from getting tangled.

All you need to make your own lanyard is to call up some buddies, beverages and general tools like a scissors. To make your own personal version choose different style of wooden beads in different patterns.

November Graylings

So I had this mad idea about heading to Austria to do some fishing in November. Most fishing in Germany and Austria ends around the end of October. Only a few rivers and streams are known to stay open till the end of the year, I couldn't come up with one that was worth a long drive. Then my thoughts went to those big graylings in the river Möll in Austria some 15 years ago. Mmm... I haven't seen those for many many years.

After a few phone calls I headed for a three days trip to the town of Bad Ischl. Bad Ischl is known as the summer destination of the famous Austrian empress Sissi and her Franz Josef. Well anyway, Bad Ischl is some 50km south of Salzburg, which is just near the German/Austrian border. The main river is the Ischler Traun which is formed by the Goiserer Traun (which runs through the town of Bad Goisern), the Ischler Ache and several other smaller tributaries. Since I only planned three days, I decided to go for the two bigger rivers, the Goiserer and Ischler Traun. And these rivers hold some wonderful fishing, especially big graylings!

I don't know what game the weather is playing in Europe. It has been much too warm in Europe for late November. My first day in Bad Ischl was quite cold (2 C / 35 F), drizzling all day and just plain grey. The higher elevations had some snow as you can see in the pictures. The second and third day the weather cleared up considerably and it was quite warm (10 C / 50 F) and sunny. Not sure what this change does for fishing, but it sure was nice to be outside. The low sun did make seeing my fly or indicator quite a challenge. How about trying to avoid my long shadow spooking the fish in the crystal clear, slightly teal colored, water!

Back to the graylings. Graylings used to be quite common in the European waters, but due to the increasing numbers of cormorants, many rivers are having problems with decreasing numbers of graylings. Big graylings are getting more and more difficult to catch simply because the smaller ones don't get the chance to grow big and handsome. And boy, are those big graylings a magnificent fish to look at. The big graylings are quite strong too, especially when they manage to use the current to their advantage using the big dorsal fin. It may be a surprise to most, but big graylings like to jump when hooked! The ones I caught were all pleasantly nice, most being in the 16 - 20 inch range. Graylings can grow as large as 60 cm (almost 24 inches!), but these are obviously pretty rare.

The Ischler Traun and the Goiserer Traun differ quite a bit in characteristics. While the Goiserer Traun being a tad smaller in size meanders through the lower valleys of the Salzburgerland hills, the Ischler Traun is a much larger river that takes possession of the area. The Goiserer Traun starts on the estuary of the Hallstätter Lake. During its course the Goiserer Traun changes from nasty raging river to a very wadable riffle with neat structures like bends, rocky bottoms with nice pools. Then again to change into a slow moving and very deep river. I really liked the Goiserer Traun for its ever changing face, so it's a very interesting river to fish.

The Ischler Traun initially looks kinda boring compared to the Goiserer Traun. The large straight path of the Ischler makes it very intimidating when you first encounter the river. One might feel a bit lost at first sight, but soon you will see that the part where the low running river gets deeper the structure of the bottom changes. The pebbly stoney bottom becomes a rocky bottom with small boulders and weed filled pools. This is where I caught most of my fish. But don't forget to fish the lower stretches too! Here in a stretch of just 20 inches of water I caught the largest grayling of the trip.

These rivers hold some very nice spices of fish making fishing quite interesting. I've caught rainbows, brown trouts, graylings and brook trouts. One might even run into a nice barbel. I have fished mainly with heavily weighted bead head nymphs, sometimes doubled with a bead head prince or small pheasant tail. Just for the sake of it, I did tie on an Elk hair caddis. Although the water was quite cold, the eagerness to get the dry fly was nothing short of enthusiasm. The takes when fishing nymphs were quite diverse. The (smaller) rainbows took the nymph so hard and fast that the indicator just jumped. The graylings are the gentle takers, just pulling the indicator almost without notice.

So, what's the verdict of this trip? EXPENSIVE, amazing scenery and beautiful graylings. Since you get to fish three rivers (I didn't spend enough time on the Ischler Ache to get a real idea of this stream), it's really fun to fish a different river every few days. I stayed at hotel Stadt Salzburg (hotel has a new owner now with less focus on fly fishing unfortunately). This hotel issues the tickets to the rivers mentioned. Walter is a very nice host as well as an avid fly fisher. The last morning I stayed at the hotel, I ran into a group of fly fishermen from Germany and Sweden. They were in for a real treat because the weather was getting even better with temps up to 15 C (60 F)!

As mentioned earlier, the day tickets for these rivers are really expensive. The day ticket prices range from 60 to 90 Euro's (around 80-120 USD!). This is just too much. In fact, I don't think I'll come back here unless I feel the heart breaking urge to catch some nice big graylings. I know that the ticket prices are the result of the state licensing to the leaseholders, but with prices like this fishing is only feasible to the most wealthy fly fishermen. The people responsible for the licensing might consider rethinking how to finance the whole system. I'm sure putting reasonable prices for the tickets together with limiting numbers of tickets given per day would ensure the quality of the fishing resources as well as help the tourism to the areas.


A word on the equipment used:
I used a 9ft #5 rod. A #4 rod would be okay if you're fishing with dries a lot, but using heavily weighted nymphs needed to get them to the bottom might make a #4 rod probably too light.



Update 10 okt 2007:
Here's a nice videoclip on fishing on the Goiserer Traun.

Chilly bamboo afternoon

Today I got together with Christian and Wolfhard to talk about bamboo, fishing and Pizza. Although this November afternoon was wet and chilly we had a great time. It's nice to see these two bamboo enthusiasts talk about their favorite rod building material, the Arundinaria amabilis. I'm nowhere an expert as these guys. And let me tell you, these guys eat and breath bamboo! Okay, I found out they appreciate a good pizza as well...

Our friend Wolfhard decided to start building (and restoring) his own rods and he is improving VERY rapidly indeed! He took several classes from the well known German bamboo rod maker Rolf Baginski to soak up the basics of bamboo rod making. Wolfhard showed us his new bamboo studio where he has spent (and will be spending) many hours working on his many bamboo projects.

Seeing all the equipment needed to build a bamboo fly rod is just fascinating. It's really interesting to see how systematically Wolfhard arranged his studio to work on his bamboo rods. He makes everything from scratch: ferrules, hardware and the bamboo blanks. And his 'office' is as clean as an operation room!

Before and after the lunch we decided to do some inevitable casting of several project rods as well as newly (to be) acquired rods. Wolfram Schott seems to be Christian's new hero. The demo 'rods' Christian brought were looking promising. Not sure how this builder's finished rods look like, but I'm told that it's one of the best Christian has ever seen. The two rods from Schott were parabolic rods, which were slightly too soft for my taste. Wolfhard showed us a three piece rod he is building for a guy to try in New Zealand. Boy, this rod is a real cannon! Beautiful flaming marks too.

This afternoon brought us back to what makes bamboo such an interesting material. The many different tapers that can result in totally different rod action, it's simply astounding! Not to mention the different cosmetics that makes the rod the eye candy it can be. Now, this is a personal thing of course.

The nice thing about such a get together is the lazy pace and learning from each others experience. We talked about details on building bamboo rods, how to get the best taper by trial-and-error as well as how women see men as parquet (once laid, they just walk over them for well over 40 years! *grin*).

Fishing in November?

I got a few days off during the second half of November! How about some end of year fishing? Nearly all rivers are closed in Germany now. I'm looking up for possibilities to fish a few days in Austria. There seems to be some rivers in Austria that are still open until the end of the year. I'll have to find my cold weather clothing to keep me warm. It sounds weird but I hope to see some snow during the fishing. That should deliver some nice pictures. We'll see...


Update 11 november
There are indeed some rivers in Austria still open until the end of the year. These rivers like the Salza, Salzach, Goiserer Traun are pretty amazing both in beauty and price. Daily tickets are 50-87 euros (about 64-110 USD). Ouch... But some rivers are 'on sale' during the winter months, so I'll try to see what bargains I can get. But as you can see these rivers are amazing. Here are some pictures of the Salza. Mmm....

Catskill dry flies (II) - The Dettes

Although Theodore Gordon is considered to be the founder of the (Catskill style) dry fly fishing, the public awareness of the Catskill flies has been broadend for a great deal thanks to the Dette family.

This family of fly tiers have thus influenced an important part to the American fly fishing history. During the harsh times of the early 1930's Walt Dette and his family tried to make a living selling flies through their catalog and later from their tiny fly shop (and home) in Roscoe, New York (update: fly shop moved to Livingston Manor).

Today the family business is still in operation (the longest still running fly shop in the world) as it's run by Walt's daughter Mary (update: now her grandson Joe Fox is running the shop).

Eric Leiser wrote a book about the Dettes and their flies. It's a very interesting book as it tells the story of a family's choices to combine their love for the art of tying while trying to make a living just like every one else.

Anyone who has the chance to visit the Catskill area, a visit to the Dette Trout Flies is a must. I for one haven't had the opportunity yet, but I for sure will try to visit the birthplace of the Catskill flies one day. Oh by the way, there's a waiting time of over a year if you want to buy a fly tied by Mary Dette... (update: probably impossible now since Mary retired)

A must read about the Dettes is this whole issue of the journal of the American Museum of Fly Fishing.

Update May 2022:

Here is my collection of Dette flies I got nicely framed

Fly fishing music video

There is an increasing amount of DVDs available on fly fishing and fly tying these days. You've probably seen at least half a dozen DVDs on fishing exotic destinations. Many are directed using National Geographic scripts trying to give the viewer a valuable view on what the visitor can expect there.

Then there is AEG Media's Trout Bum Diaries. This is a compilation of a six month journey by a group of friends in to the Argentinean Patagonia region. This first volume of their Trout Bum Diaries has more resemblance to a music video clip or an episode of MTV's Jack Ass than the carefully edited DVDs mentioned earlier. The pace is sometimes fast, frantic and full of adrenaline while other parts it takes you in a dreamy flow. The speed of the action on screen is accompanied by corresponding music. This is 90 minutes entertainment captured in Patagonia's trout filled heaven.

Fly fishing can be so much more than just poetic casting with the snow packed mountains on the background. Like the explosive rises to the Chernobyl ants! Here's a trailer that gives you an idea of the 'MTV fly fishing'. You can order the DVD directly from AEG Media (Update: they are no longer in business).

The guys at AEG are now finishing up the final edits of their next journey to New Zealand and this episode looks like another 90 minutes of fast paced monster trouts galore. Their Kiwi trailer is here.

If you want to be entertained on some amazing fishing during the long winter evenings with friends, check this out! If you're looking for a 'how to' DVD, move on to the next shelf...

Catskill dry flies (I) - warming up

I haven't had the time nor the patience to sit down and tie a decent fly the past months. As I wrote earlier I have had this idea of tying some of the classic patterns called Catskill dry flies (like the Hendrickson) and get them framed. This evening I finally picked up the vice and tied an American March Brown. It turned out okay as a 'warming up fly', but still much improvements are to be made.

I ordered some 50 of the finest lemon woodduck flank feathers I could get my hands on. I just love the delicate structure of these feathers as well as the fine barring on them. Wooduck flank feathers are one of the essentials for many Catskill dries (e.g. Light Cahill, Hendrickson, American March Brown).

Another item that is hard to come by these days are LONG, STRAIGHT and STIFF spade hackles for tailing. The improvements made for hackling has been exceptional, but improvements of spade hackles for tailing are almost non exsistent. The ones you find in the upper parts (larger feathers) of a cape are too short and/or too curvey. By the way, the best spade hackles are said to be found in more cheaper chinese capes. If anyone still has some excellent spade hackles for tailing, PLEASE LET ME KNOW! These days the only thing that comes close are Coq the Leon hackles.

There are some things I need to consider when tying the flies:

* Tie on a straight eye hook (like the TMC 101) or a regular down eye hook? I kinda like the straight eye hooks for my dries: the fly looks much 'cleaner'.
* Tie off the head RIGHT BEHIND the hook eye or keep a little bare hook from to the eye to make room for a Turle knot?
* Use ALL the original materials or use substitutes (like dubbing, color, Darbee hackles etc.)?
* Absolute spot-on proportions, although personal preferences are allowed.
* Sparseness vs robustness. This is an interesting question. I'm going to experiment to see what looks best.

The pictures are taken with my Fujifilm E550 digital camera. I'm no way near as well equiped (especially good lighting!) as Hans so the quality isn't really great. Until I get to take the final flies to Hans we'll have to do it with this quality. I need to pick out which materials I have at this moment, try out different colors and types of materials to see which combination comes the most close to the original Catskill patterns. Well, we'll see what happens the next couple of weeks....


Update 3 november 2006
Here is the list of flies I will be tying:
* Adams
* Light Cahill
* Hendrickson
* American March Brown
* Red Quill
* . . . . . . (any suggestions?)

Casting illusions

Ever wondered why fly casting is so gracious? The fluid motion of the fly rod, the perfectly formed loop of the fly line and the slipping sound of the fly line through the guides. Most people wonder what makes a good cast a beautiful cast. It's the balanced equipment and C O N T R O L. Control of the fly rod, control of your casting motion and control of the whole casting process in your HEAD!

I've read and watched quite some books and videos on fly casting (Lefty Kreh, Joan Wulff, Ed Jawarowski, Doug Swisher, Mel Krieger). They all have one thing common: casting is approached as a physical movement of the casting arm. This sounds quite logical, but the thing is, casting (or any other physical activity) isn't just a physical movement but more of a translation of a mental setting.

Try this: try to walk on a one-brick wide side of the pavement while looking down. You'll notice that because you're focussing on the walking (one foot in front of the other), the whole walk looks wobbly. Now look far ahead and walk. The whole movement is much smoother. That's because your mind is set to go to the point you're looking at. Visualization is the name of this game.

This new, at least for me, approach of casting is an eye opener. After reading Jason Borger's book "Nature of fly casting" I got this "ahah!" moment. I never thought about casting this way, but I noticed that often I was 'practicing' the casting motion without holding a fly rod: visualization of the casting motion. The other innovative approach of Jason's book is to split the whole movement of a casting stroke in to modules. At first sight this looks like an over-scientification of the art of casting, but in fact it shows you the building blocks of a complex casting stroke. It's surprising to see how completely different casts share the same modules in certain phases of the casting stroke.

I think this book isn't a book for beginners, it's not a book just for casting experts either. But if you want to understand the fundamental reasons behind a perfectly executed cast, go have a look.

Genetic hackles

Every time I order a new cape or saddle I'm amazed how the hackle quality is ever improving. I recently ordered two rooster capes. A Pro grade Grizzly Variant from the Hebert Miner line and barred Ginger from the Whiting line. Both capes are from Whiting Farms. Without doubt the best hackles come from Whiting Farms*.

I still remember buying cheap indian capes in the 1980's as I couldn't believe the price one had to pay for a high quality Metz cape. Of course tying dry flies with those cheap indian hackles was nothing short of frustration. The sweet spot (if ever) on a hackle was barely an inch. The barb density was of course laughable! One of my friends showed me a Metz cape (I think it was a grade #2) and I understood that tying nice dry flies without a quality cape was impossible. Back then Metz (bought by Umpqua) was the best thing since sliced bread. I don't think I heard about the amazing quality of Hoffman hackles until the early 1990's.

It wasn't until my first visit to the US to fish in 1992 that I saw this legendary Hoffman saddle for the first time. This was amazing! A saddle hackle was at least 8 to 10 inches long and the sweet spot was almost as long as the whole hackle! The barb density was really out of this world: one could easily tie several dry flies from one hackle. It's hard to stay calm when one encounters so many different colors and types of Hoffman capes and saddles in a fly shop.

The Hebert hackle is said to have excellent coloration in natural colors brown, ginger and cream. Especially exceptional are the natural Duns, far better than the ones Hoffman had (now Whiting Farms). Here is an excellent article on the history of hackles and their originators. Very interesting!

I'll be tying some Catskill dry flies soon. I'm thinking about getting a bunch of classic Catskill dry flies framed. Maybe for myself or to give away to someone dear. Anyway, I need to gather the finest materials I need to end up with the best dry flies I can possibly tie. Keep posted!

Here is an excellent article about selecting the right hackle when tying dry flies (thank you Global Flyfisher).

Update June 2022:

* Obviously this is not the whole truth. Yes, Whiting has upped certain qualities of hackle to insane levels. Things like high barb count, length of the sweet spot and crazy small hackle sizes.

But some essential characteristics of good hackle are lost along the way. Gone are the feathers around the 'sweet spot area' of capes with good amount of sizes 12' and 10's (and even 8's), the structure of the barbules are often disappointing (soft and curved) and even greasy feathers with barbules matting!

Spanish heritage and Boquerones

Just returned from a week trip to Spain with my girlfriend. Spain is for most people just sun and beach. Maybe a bit of Paella, but there is so much more to Spain. We made a little round trip to a couple of cities in the province of Andalusia. To be more specific to the cities Granada, Cordoba and Sevilla. Besides having some plain nice time and eating tasty Spanish food, we wanted to see a couple of the world famous Moorish temples like the Alhambra and Mezquita.

This Mezquita is one strange temple. It was built by the Moors as a Mosque in the 10th century, but the catholics built a catholic cathedral INSIDE the mosque three centuries later! The atmosphere in the temple is therefore quite confusing. These remains of the Moorish period are one of the most remarkable heritages of Spain.

Of course I looked around whether there were any fly fishing opportunities during our travel from one city to the other. The hills were filled with acres and acres of olive tree fields and the rivers running through them were nearly dried up. The few rivers which still had water running were very murky. Not really trout country. Well, I didn't expect anything else either...

We ended our trip on the beach of Torremolinos. Have a couple of Tapas: Boquerones (fried anchovies), fried squids and grilled prawns. Of course you won't forget the tasty Serrano ham! If you ever visit Cordoba, try this place called Bar Moriles (Antonio Maura 21-23, Cordoba). They serve the tastiest Serrano ham I've tasted so far. Adios!

24 inch iMac!

Apple launched today another update of the iMac. Now the biggest iMac is a whopping 24 inch version! I mean this is BIG! 1920x1200 wide screen real estate means you never need to move a window to make room for another application or window. This thing should be amazing for video editing, watching DVDs and making HUGE Excel spreadsheets. Who needs browser tabbing if you can browse 2 web pages next to each other now!

My G4 iMac is about 4 years now. It's still running great but with all the yummy features, the Intel CPU (Macs run the world's most advanced operating system OS X and yes, you CAN run Microsoft WIndows native on this Mac too), built-in iSight webcam, airport (= wifi), Bluetooth, Double Layer 8x SuperDrive and the huge speed increase I'm pretty sure I will be getting the new iMac early next year. I bet watching a DVD on this huge screen must be really something else! Can't wait to see the new 24 inch iMac in the Apple Stores.

Your FTFE?

How many days in a year do you fish? In other words: what's your FTFE (Full Time Fishing Equivalent)?

I know guys at our fly fishing club who fish almost every couple of days as well as the whole weekend. Don't ask me how he gets away with his wife & family! That must be at least 100-150 FTFE's a year? I think in the past 10 years my fishing days has decreased to about 20-25 FTFE's a year. This is made up of usually 2-3 long weekend trips during spring / fall and a week trip during the summer. Every other two years or so I'll treat myself with a two weeks trip to the USA /Canada. Such a year will be 30 FTFE.

Funny thing is I prefer to fish 3-4 days straight every once in a while rather than running around a full week chasing fish. After 3-4 days, my hunger to fish is satisfied and start feeling overfed. That's like going to a nice dinner with a full stomach. I'd rather wait for my 'fish hunger' after a fish-less period. One might say I prefer quality time rather than quantity days. By the way, looking at such nice pictures as the one on top really makes me hungry any day!

So, what is YOUR FTFE?

Silk lines

After reading many ravings about fishing a bamboo fly rod with a silk line, I decided to get one. These days silk lines are rarely if ever used on modern graphite rods. Surprisingly there are still a few manufacturers of silk lines. The best known is Phoenix, followed by Thebault. Terenzio is another Italian manufacturer of silk lines. Terenzio also makes artificial 'silk' lines which means they need a lot less maintenance. Very interesting. There are also a few Japanese manufacturers, Yano being the best known.

I always thought silk fly lines were for the sentimental old fools who refuse to admit it's the space age rather than the Victorian period. One of the most interesting thing about fishing with silk lines is that since the silk is heavier than PVC, the silk lines are much thinner than PVC lines. So, silk lines cuts into the wind like a warm knife through butter. Quite an eye opener... Here's a nice article on how silk lines does has its advantages over modern PVC lines. Silk lines are more expensive than PVC lines. In fact I had to scratch my head before taking the plunge, but if taken well care of silk lines will last for lifetime. More info on silk lines can be found here.

I bought the Phoenix line because I heard it is fishable right out of the box, while other lines needed to be 'broken in' (the stiffness of the woven structure will soften over use). I think they mean that the line is very stiff and needed to be softened using the red Mucilin and cast some time before heading for the trouts. By the way, I needed a #4 line but bought a DT5 as people who fished with a DT4 from Phoenix said that it felt like a #3.5 rather than a #4. I haven't fished my Phoenix line yet. I'll keep it in the box until my Jennings rod arrives.


The myth of the DT line
The myth that one might cast more delicately with a DT line than with a WF line is just rubbish. The Double Taper is an heritage from the silk line as one can turn over the line to fish the fresh part when the front part is water logged and won't float anymore (usually after 3-4 hours). This way you can fish all day long. Both modern DT and WF lines (we are talking about models available in both DT and WF) have the same taper in the first 9 meters/30 feet. So, people telling you that a DT fishes more delicately better need to check their casting capabilities...

Maintenance of silk lines
Silk lines are always intermediate lines, meaning they will slowly sink when untreated. After treating the line with Mucilin it will float. The maintenance that comes with silk lines seems to be much exaggerated by most. I think it's a bit more work than a PVC line, but since I also clean & treat them with line dressing every evening after fishing I guess that's not much more work. Most important thing to do when fishing silk lines is that you need to DRY them completely in large loose coils after fishing. If not taken care of, silk lines can get tacky (sticky). Storing the line in the winter you'll need to keep it DRY and COOL and wrapped around in large coils. Using some of those moist wicking bags often found in medicine bottles is probably a good idea.


Update 2018:
Red Mucilin has been traditionally the recommended line treatment for silk lines. Recently a new line dressing called the Otter Butter was introduced by an online shop in the USA. Many fishermen prefer Otter Butter over Mucilin these days as the finish on the line feels less tacky and keeps the silk line float longer.

Sage's new Z-Axis (or what ever...)

Sage is replacing their XP rod series with a new series called Z-Axis. Since Orvis called their newest rods the Zero Gravity (replaced by Helios, dec 2009), the letter 'Z' seems to be the buzz-word. 

 Back to the Z-Axis. Talk about an UGLY color! It looks like an algae green and if the other recent rod series like the Fli and TXL are an example how Sage want their blanks to look like, it will also be an algae 'solid' green! Man, those guys at Sage need to re-hire the make-up artist they fired after the SP series! Those days the rods looked handsome: translucent racing green blanks with nice cosmetics like the swelled butt.

The new rod sounds like a new rocket the Nasa will launch next week to a near by galaxy: Generation 5 Technology, Utilize Aligned Fiber Technology, Proprietary Resin and Modulus Positioning System? One needs an engineering degree to understand what this means. I hope it's not another even faster rod like the Sage TCR. Winston (BIIx series) and Scott (G2 series) seems to make a small U-turn with their newest rod series incorporating slightly softer actioned rods. The ever faster rods of the last couple of years have turned casting into an olympic sport. Sure they cast a zillion miles, but are these rods fun to play a nice fish too?

Hmm... all's well, we'll report after casting a few of these new rods the coming months.

Update 20 dec 2021

After more than 15 years the Z-Axis 490 came home. My Romanian friend & rod builder George Minculete got one returned unused. I always thought it was one of the nicest Sage build by George. He shortened the grip to my preference length (6 inch), new rod bag and tube. A very brief cast with the rod and it feels a bit faster than I had in my memories. The Z-Axis was positioned by Sage as a fast action rod after all. It's probably a killer rod for fishing with a slightly heavier #4 line like the SA MPX.

Update 11 nov 2006

I held the Z-Axis 490 today in my hands. The color was much darker green than the picture here. Pretty much like the dark green of the XP, maybe a tad lighter. From the 'wiggle test' I didn't feel much difference from the XP series. The tip looked a bit more flexible. I could have taken the rod outside for a cast, but I didn't because I wanted to cast more sizes rather than the only 490 Z-Axis. 

Update 6 jan 2007

I've cast the 490 Z-Axis today. What can I say? This rod casts as smooth as a rod can be, both close and far. The rod doesn't feel stiff like the XP at all. Incredibly light and I just loved how the rod managed to lay out the line without a hick up. It's only a 4 weight, so LOOONG casts aren't really the trademark of these delicate rods, but I had no problem casting tight loops up to around 55 foot. Beyond that the rod started to collapse a bit.

The cosmetics I'm still not impressed. In fact I think it looks very dull. The color of the blank looks cheap, the printing of the word 'Z-Axis' is in my view too big making it look cheap and the hardware used are just basic (Struble?). I think Sage should have dressed up their top rod series.

Czech Republic in July

During the third week of July I went for a weeks fishing in the Czech Republic. To be more precise the Liberec Region, which is about 100 km north of Prague. Our destiny was Navarov, near the town of Zelezny Brod. Although it sounds a lot further, it's only a 9 hour drive. About the same distance to the Weisse Traun in Southern Germany. The pension Rusalka where we stayed is run by a Dutch(!) couple Bart & Borrie.

The summary of fishing in mid July is: hot and low waters. The hot and humid conditions made fishing during the day quite a tiring activity. The heat of the summer caused the main river, the Jizera, to run very low. In fact the fishing in the Jizera came to a grinding stop. We had to look for our fishing in the tributary, the Kamenice. The lower stretches of the Kamenice is a typical hillside stream with small riffles after every other bend. The upper stretches are more challenging turning the stream into a pocket water stream. The surrounding trees made the fishing a bit more bearable as well as keeping the water temperatures a lot cooler than the Jizera.

The fishing consisted of mainly browns and graylings with the occasional rainbow and even a brookie. The size of the fish were pretty small, averaging 8-10 inches with the 12-13 inch range for the 'big boss' hiding in a nice pool. We did see bigger fish, probably grayling, in the really deep and fast moving pools but typically they were not interested in our offerings.

Fishing almost 6 consecutive days on the Kemenice really tested our eagerness to fish, at least it did for me. After 3-4 days I found it becoming a bit repetitive. Good thing the company was great as well as the surroundings. The prices in the Czech Republic are dead cheap compared to other parts of Europe (but for how long?). Not surprisingly we ran into a lot of fellow dutch people taking a vacation in the Czech Republic.

For the best fishing with lots of nice sized graylings (my friends Jan and Martin were here last fall when the conditions were considerably better), the later part of the summer or fall (September) should be considered. July is just too hot causing the rivers run too low. However, the fishing pressure is low compared to the more common destinations as well as the overall pricing. That might make it a nice destination for people looking for solitude as well as on a tight budget.

Jan & Martin:
Thanks for a very nice week! We need to do this more often!

A word on the equipment used:
I used a 7.6ft #3 rod (Orvis Tippet) using a bead head with a small pheasant tail or Prince dropper. The fish here seems to be reluctant to look up for a dry fly. My buddy Martin who prefers to fish with dries had no luck pursuing the fish to sip his dries.

Warm weather footwear

Surely you have seen those sandals before on the street. Some called them 'Jesus Nikes' or Sport sandals. These sandals are great footwear during warm periods as well as when you are near / on water like walking along the beach or fly fishing!

Mine are made by Teva and I believe they are the original and still the best. Keen (Simms' sandals are made by Keen) also makes similar ones too. It's really amazing how comfortable these sandals are as well as durable. Did I mention light? I bought the ones with rubber inner soles since they will get wet often. The street versions have suede inner soles which are said to be more comfortable, but handle water badly since untreated leather will crack eventually.

Obviously these sandals are great for wet wading (not the really tricky river situations though, just for rock hopping style of fishing) as well as wading in tropical saltwater fishing.

Check them out at your local outdoors or sports outlet.

World Cup 2006 (IV) - the verdict

Italy wins the World Cup 2006 after taking penalties.

So, what's my verdict of the World Cup? The commercial pressure is dominating football and that's not a good thing. Teams are formed with big names even though they aren't in their best shape. Again, the big bucks involved in these players seems to play a huge influence who plays or who doesn't. The long football season with all those matches, both league as well as the European Cup tournaments like the Champions League, have exhausted these players. They just can't rev up for another month for such an event as the World Cup.

I think these football associations need to rethink what football is all about. Now, it looks like football is on second plan behind the big bucks...


Now, let's talk about fly fishing again!

World Cup 2006 (III) - conclusions 1st round

So, the first round is wrapped up... Jeez, this tournament is a mixed bag indeed. The entertainment we expected hasn't been delivered. The gap between the 'smaller countries' (asian and african countries) and the european football is smaller again in terms of individual quality of the players. In terms of team play and tactics, there still is a considerable gap. Since many european countries showed poor play, the matches were hardly worth a mention in football history.

Big disappointments for me are: Sweden, France (big time!), Brazil, England, Holland (yep, tough but true...) and Croatia. Countries that surprised me are: Aussies with their huge mentality and, I hate to say this, Germany. I don't know if this Dutch manager Guus really has magic hands but he some how manages to get these very average players to play football. Their physical game and never ending mental power make the Aussies a tough team to play against. And Germany? Well, Germany seems to be made for tournament play. No matter how average the individual quality is, as a team they manage to improve their game along the way.

What about our Dutch team? The manager Marco van Basten always said that he wanted to play an attractive game with the typical Dutch wing attackers. During the qualification for the World Cup the Dutch team were never brilliant but picked up the points quite easily. Now at the World Cup, the intentions of the manager never really picked up. In fact, the Dutch team plays an 'unDutch' way: very defensive, slow and boring. Many key players seems to have problems with their physique and too many players are playing way below their usual level. Together with a very vulnerable midfield, it's looking like the Dutch team is having trouble to form a balanced team.

Our next match is against Portugal. The Portuguese team hasn't changed much since the last big tournament. This seems to result in a very well oiled team. We got our ass kicked at the last European Championship by Portugal, so we do have some revenge feelings. But with the condition of the current Dutch team, I'm not sure we will repay the debt...