Marvellous Tuscany

Tuscany is a popular destination for its marvellous architecture, art, historic cities and glowing hills. We spent a week in Lucca. On family vacations I usually don’t bring my fishing gear but this vacation I was allowed. For this trip the rod of choice was the 70p, the fiberglass rod Chris Barclay built for me recently. The rod being ultra portable came in handy when flying with minimal fishing gear.

Before the trip I got in touch with the Italian bamboo maker Moreno Borriero and we agreed on a morning fishing together. It seems the area has had a lot of rain the previous months. The raining stopped about a week before we arrived allowing the amount of water getting back to fishable conditions. Earlier in the week we had a drink together and Moreno advised me to fish later in the week. Unfortunately Moreno had a fishing trip planned to England. However his friend Tiziano was happy to help.

Weather was gorgeous, scenery amazing, wild browns and stream that mesmerises. Due to the heat, we fished until around 1 PM. By the way, the algae on the rocks are damn slippery! I brought my rubber soled wading boots with studs and it barely held the grip. Felt soles are so much better gripping. I'll bring those next time.

We enjoyed our stay in Tuscany a lot. We'll be back soon.

A short clip shot by Tiziano on the Lima:




Drone footage I shot of the amazing medieval 'devil's bridge' called the Ponte della Maddalena near the town of Bagni di Lucca:

Finnish Fly Fair 2019

This weekend was my first visit to Finland. I was invited to tie at the Finnish Fly Fair in Tampere. The show was held for the 33rd time. The show used to be quite populair in the 1990's when it was visited by tiers like Charles Jardine, Chris Helm and Oliver Edwards.

I tied a few knots with my friends Miroslaw Senderski and Stefan Larsson which was very enjoyable, both on and off the show. Stefan was also at last year's Nordic Fly Fair.

Many thanks to the organisation of Perhomessut, for organising the show and taking care of us.

Ryan Keane's Humpy painting

Here is a work in progress by the very talented American artist called Ryan Keane who made a painting of one of my Humpy. I think Ryan's artwork has a nice mix of impressionistic and realistic look. Quite unique. Ryan sent me some pictures of the progress of the painting. The painting is 9 x 12 inches.

Ryan is very easy to work with and his pace of work is really impressive. Fully recommended! 

Thanks Ryan!

My other Humpy paintings by:

Gavin Erwin

Cindy Day

Marcel Terblanche

Darwin Atkin

The Dutch Fly Fairs during the late 1980's and early 1990's were important events for a young fly fisherman like me. It was my first opportunity to meet, watch and learn from famous deer hair fly tiers like Dave Whitlock, Chris Helm and Al Beatty. Early 1990's I also got in touch with Joe Messinger Jr and a few years ago I got reconnected with Bud Heintz after losing contact for more than 25 years.

One tier I met during those Fly Fairs and oddly didn't keep in touch was Darwin Atkin. Not a lot is written about his fly tying. Darwin Atkin was way ahead of his time with his cricket made of foam and deer hair. He passed away as recent as 2014.

A few weeks ago I acquired a unique piece of fly tying memorabilia. Darwin Atkin's most appraised flies marvellously framed (by himself). His crickets and matuka sculpins are absolutely fabulous.

'The Art of the Trout fly' has been one of the most influential books for me as a fly tier. This book triggered my fly tying as no other book has done. Rather than just slashing feathers and fur on a hook, the insights of carefully and meticulously tying a fly with the right proportions and finish.

Page 108 is devoted to Darwin Atkin and his Black & Tan Field Cricket

Tying for a new generation

Gave a tying demo at the tackle shop Traditional Hengelsport Utrecht today.
Tied some Catskill dries, Humpies and a deer hair mouse. It was over in a blink of an eye.

Almost at the end of the day there was this little guy with his dad. Tied an Alien Bug (hopper pattern) for him and he stood there for an hour afterwards. Maybe we got a new fly fishing friend here?

Diving frog step-by-step

I've been inspired by Larry Dahlberg and Dave Whitlock since the early 1990's.
Look here to read about my search for the origins of the Dahlberg diver.

Belly hair, deer strips in several colors. To get a nice natural mottling effect use colors that doesn't contrast too much

Set up a clean foundation of thread. I still use Danville Flymaster Plus.
You can get them anywhere, strong, very affordable & available in many colors

Use stiff, wide and webby hackles for the tail (legs). Often called 'bass hackle'

Add some rubber legs for some movement and joy 😀

Stack white belly hair

Foundation for the collar

Second stack for the collar

Third stack

Pull gently yet deliberately

Secure (whip finish or half hitch, a drop of super glue helps to make your stacks stronger) the steps after every
completed stack to make sure your fly doesn't explode if an accident (thread breakage) happens 😀
Make sure the upper and lower stacks are cleanly separated.

Another first of the upper stack

One of the last stacks of deer hair

All stacking deer hair done!

Don't crowd the eye!
Make sure you have enough room behind the eye to tie off

Yup, belly side looks okay 😀

First cut for the belly. Don't cut it right away to the hook shank.
Use the first cuts to check the balance of the sack being even on top.
Make sure you cut the belly to have enough hooking gap

Head of the diver. Again cut in stages for more control

I need a bath! Where's the tub? 😀

 

Add some rubber legs on the head for some tantalising action 😀

Big mess

Scissors given to me by my late friend Chris Helm

The No hackle

Wow, love this piece of history from Mike Lawson on the No-hackle.

Take a look at the picture with a natural next to the no hackle. The similarity is striking!

 

Mike shows how to tie the No hackle:

Two older video's from Jack Dennis' collection from the 1980's:

1) From Jack Dennis' video "Tying Western Dry Flies with Mike Lawson"

2) From Mike Lawson's video "Tying Flies for Spring Creeks"

Read Mike's story on the No hackle here.

These No Hackles actually fish better when the wings are all split and chewed up!😄

Mike tells why this is. By the way, watch the whole video from the start about the Henry's Fork.

 

 

Ps.
Can't believe I didn't take a picture of us two together when I visited his shop last August... 😵

Cree

Tied a Humpy yesterday evening using the new Hebert Miner Gold Cree saddle I just acquired.
Barb count is very good and the dark colors are amazing.

A more durable loop on silk fly line

I should fish with silk fly lines more often. Maybe I'm just too lazy 😀
Silk line doesn't come with a loop, so to attach a leader you either need to use a needle knot or make a loop (fold the tip of the fly line and secure the loop using tying thread). Here my friend Hiro from Japan shows how to make a more durable loop on a silk fly line using a braided loop connector.

Chris Barclay - the grip artist

Okay okay, I'll admit. I'm a grip junkie... 😁

I've known Chris Barclay for about six years now. He started his own rod building company late 2013 and he has been building quality custom fiberglass rods ever since. My first rod from Chris was the 723, his first rod model built from a proprietary blank.

Chris is building me a new 70p, arguably the last blank from his acclaimed and retired fiberglass parabolic rod series known to mankind. I requested a torpedo shaped ventilated grip. A little shorter than most would order. I just love how the grip turned out!

For me the most important part of the rod is the grip. I have very specific thoughts about proportions of a grip. Maybe it's because in fly tying proportion is the single most important detail on a well tied fly. Fortunately Chris understands my pickiness on grips 😀

About ventilated grips:
The ventilated grip was pioneered in the 1940's by South Bend Rod Company and Paul Young Rod Company. Rods from both companies had distinctive parabolic action and the segmented (ventilated) grip allowed the rod to flex all the way to the reel seat.

Update Jan 25, 2019:
Rod is finished! Looking mighty handsome.

How the brown trout made New Zealand famous

Big trophy brown trouts are the hallmarks of the New Zealand experience. Especially in the south island these trouts are all fly fishermen talk about. But how on earth did this invasive trout become the nation's number one targeted fish? There's an interesting story about how the brown trout was imported to New Zealand.

The American Museum of Fly Fishing

Did you know that the American Museum of Fly Fishing has all of its past quarterly magazine on line to be viewed for free? All issues starting from 1970 till the most recent issue! Amazing resource of information.

If you love reading about history of fly fishing you're gonna love it!

Check them out here.