Cuthroats and hoppers

Fishing for cutthroats on hoppers. One of my favourite way of fishing. Do you have your own nice memories of fishing for cutts with hoppers? Which pattern did you use?

Here's a great video of two guys catching some serious nice cutts on hoppers somewhere in Yellowstone country.

Building a bamboo fly rod by Garrison

A unique film of Everett Garrison (1973) about how he built his bamboo rod documented by Hoagy B. Carmichael. This is the only film in existence of one of fly fishing's classic rodmakers.

Hoagy Carmichael wrote the book 'A Masters's guide to building a bamboo fly rod' together with Garrison. This book opened up the knowledge of making a bamboo fly rod which was kept secret by rod makers until the book was published in 1977. Rod makers simply call this book 'The Bible'. Unfortunately Garrison never saw the book as he passed before the book was published...




Hoagy acquired Garrison's rod shop after Garrison's passing and in 2014 Hoagy donated the rod shop to the Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum. Here's a nice video of Hoagy explaining why he did that.

Father day

I received a great bag for father day 😀

Podcast with Tom Whiting

Another great podcast from Wet Fly Swing, this time with Tom Whiting of Whiting Farms.

A few interesting things I picked up from the podcast:

1) Henry Hoffman is still alive & kicking

2) Umpqua Feather Merchants currently has a Dutch owner

3) The CDL (coq de leon) capes have great larger size (up to size 4?) dry fly hackles

Fishing for Tanago - Tradition and respect

Fishing for Tanago is a Japanese tradition fishing for very small bitterlings in tiny ditches with 'microscopic' small hooks. Everything is tiny here. From the gear, the fish and equipment needed to fish. As usual in Japan it's where respect is one of the main aspects, both to the fish as well as to fellow fishermen. Watch and get inspired.

The complete fisherman

A Humpy trade with Charlie Craven

Charlie Craven is one of the best fly tiers in the world. He also owns the fly shop called Charlie's Fly Box in Arvada, Colorado.

A few weeks I asked Charlie to order a large piece of cow elk hair from Nature's Spirit. Cow elk has a finer structure (less coarse) than bull elk and it also has nice even tips which is needed for wings on a Humpy or elk hair caddis. Its structure is tougher than deer hair so it doesn't break as easily under tight thread wraps as deer hair. Yearling elk is also a good choice as it has short even tips and also less delicate than deer hair.

I have seen many humpies in my life. Charlie is in my opinion one of the very few tiers that ties a good looking Humpy. When he messaged me that the hair was in I quickly asked him to look for a Humpy in his fly box and toss one in with the hair before shipping. Here's the Humpy (with the straight eyed hook) I shipped to Charlie (of course I used Cow elk hair here).

This is the best video of tying a Humpy by Charlie. The way Charlie ties here, wings first, was done by the late André Puyans. In this video he ties the wings first and uses the butt section of the hair for the hump. This is an easier way to tie a more consistent wing length than the traditional way. I'm so used to the traditional way I'll keep on tying that way. Especially pay attention on the proportions, which makes or breaks this fly.

Update May 28, 2020:
Charlie's Humpy (2) arrived today, together with the Cow elk hair and some nice stickers. Thanks Charlie!

New Zealand - are we being deluded?...

I have (had) this idyllic view of New Zealand. Fishing in solitude in a vast landscape looking like the back drop of Lord of the Rings with huge fish in gin clear rivers.

A gorgeous country like this demands to be taken care of. I mean it doesn't look beautiful if you make a mess does it?...

Then this wake up call came... Read here that reality is very different.

Inconsistency of casting instruction

Here's something I've wanted to write about for some time. The inconsistency of casting instruction and many (if any?) instructors don't know it's there... Recently I ran into this video that contains the footages I have been looking for. By the way, I love the setting in Patagonia and the instructor is great.




1) Instructor demonstrating the basic casting stroke
The instructor demonstrates how to make a nice tight loop cast (starting around 5:30). His casting stroke is smooth, compact (no 'large movements') & elegant. Look at his casting style: (almost) vertical casting stroke (aka San Fransisco's Golden Gate casting club style) using his shoulder and (mainly) lower arm, all moving in one plane. Similar to how you move your arms when you run. This casting movement (a '2D' movement') is quite easy to get it, especially for beginners.

2) Inconsistency of instruction
Later on, while helping a student he holds the student's hand and shows the casting movement (around 8:55). The instructor's casting movement is the same vertical casting style while the student is 'forced' into the side arm (like when you raise your arms after 'hands up!') casting stroke with his lower and upper arm to the side in a 90 degree position making casting movement very awkward. This position also puts lots of stress on the shoulder.

This side arm (using predominately your elbow) casting movement is a much more complex '3D' movement as it involves your elbow, upper arm and a bit of your shoulder joints (3 joints!) all moving in different directions. This is quite confusing for beginner. Try casting using this movement with your non casting arm and you know what I mean 😀.

I know it's not easy to stand next to each other and positioning both arms symmetrically. However if you want to teach the student the casting stroke you promote, the movement of the instructor needs to position the student in the casting 'path' you want to instruct, otherwise you're confusing the student (and the student is probably not even aware that he is confused!). This inconsistency will result in the student learning the 'wrong' casting stroke. See the student's casting style that he is trying to master around 8:40, look at the student in the pink sweater next to him too, same casting movement.

Ps.
Casting styles is a whole different subject on its own. Different casting styles can be used depending on the type of fishing (for instance with weighted flies), conditions (wind) and/or target (under a branch). One style isn't better than the other, just be aware that when teaching students one needs to be consistent and not mix casting styles in the instruction.

Here's an article about different casting styles.

When Harry met Gordon

Harry Darbee meets Quill Gordon

Chasing the Taper

The documentary Chasing the Taper (almost 1.30 hour long) is finally out on Vimeo as 'Video-on-demand'. I watched a part yesterday evening. I stopped after Per Brandin broke a new built rod in half because it did not have the action he liked... 😵

Love the pace of the documentary and in-depth of several of the highest regarded bamboo rod makers' thoughts about their passion. The DVD of this great documentary can also be be ordered here.

Update 22 Jan 2023:

The Q&A with Per Brandin is up!

Update 14 Jan 2023:

I watched this documentary again this evening. This documentary is like a time capsule. It is a must watch for anyone interested in the history of bamboo fly rod making!

I also watched it again because I wanted to see and hear again what Per Brandin said about his work as a bamboo rod maker. I recently got in touch with Per. More to come in the future about my contact with Per.

Callibaetis Flymph

Love the speckled look of the Coq de Leon hen hackle!

A variation with a Dark barred ginger hen hackle

Dark barred ginger tail & Coq de Leon hackle

Here's a nice article about V.S. 'Pete' Hidy, together with James Leisenring two most influential fishermen on tying & fishing with the Flymph.

Firehole Number One

This was the last fly of yesterday evening.
Found this fly in Mike Valla's book 'Tying the Founding Flies'. What a neat looking Catskill dry fly!

Vintage Mustad 94842 size 12
Teal wings
Fox fur body
Hackle is mix of Hebert Miner Grizzly and Collins black cape
Veevus 16/0 grey thread

Quill Adams

Vintage Mustad 94842 size 12

Grizzly hackle tip wings

Stripped peacock quill body

Hackle is mix of Hebert Miner Cree and Collins brown cape

Veevus 16/0 grey thread

Update:
The Whitcraft, an Adams with a Macaw quill body developed by Don Martinez in the 1940's, was also called Quill Adams (Founding Flies by Mike Valla, page 258).
So guess that means this fly is merely a Quilled Adams 😁

Threads

Charlie Craven's article on tying threads is a great reference on what thread is best for which application.

Check it out here

Dark Hendrickson

April Vokey shows how to tie a tube fly

April Vokey shows how to tie a tube fly. I really like the easy to understand steps April shows here.

Also check out April's new website Anchored Outdoors, a spin-off of her Anchored podcasts.

The Pink Lady

The ingredients:

Vintage Mustad 94842 size 12
Double slip mallard wings
Pink floss body
Silver tinsel
Hebert Miner Medium Ginger cape
Veevus 16/0 tan thread

March Brown

Tied another Catskill dry fly this evening, the March Brown.
I used a vintage Mustad 94842 hook this time. The hook shank is maybe slightly on the shorter side compared to the Mustad 94840 but I really like the up eye of the 94842.

Hook: Mustad 94842, size 12

Thread: Veevus 16/0, color tan
Wings: Wooduck flank feathers

Body:  Tan colored fox dubbing

Hackle: Hebert Miner grizzly & Collins brown mixed

Update 15 Jan 2022:

The Catskill Fly Tyers Guild made a video about the history of the guild. All the sudden I recognised my March Brown (around 12:57)!

Adams (Catskill style) again

The ingredients:

Vintage Mustad 94842 size 12
Vintage Harry Darbee grizzly hen hackle tips for the wings
Hebert Miner Cree cape
Veevus 16/0 gray thread
(vintage) Upstream medium gray superfine dubbing

State of modern Fly fishing

Many of the issues I see happening in fly fishing are described here.
Time to look in the mirror...

I posted a similar post back in 2015.

Silver Doctor

A fine full dressed salmon fly is a work of art, but is also looked at with fear.
Here's a tutorial how to tie a Silver Doctor that takes it as easy as it can get.