Spanish Pyrenees 2022

So after my previous trip to the Spanish Pyrenees in 2019 my fishing activities came to an abrupt halt due to Covid. A few days ago I finally got to wet my lines again. I chose the Spanish Pyrenees over my usual fishing destinations in the Alps, around the Southern Germany & Austrian border.

Due to the recent crazy gas prices driving to the alps sounded all the sudden a reason to reconsider. Yes I love the alps, but after almost 20 years fishing the streams and rivers of the Alps, Covid and high gas prices I felt this is the time to look for other destinations.

Looking back to my trip in 2019, my choice was easy. A two hour flight to Barcelona and I was picked up my buddy Norman at the airport for an enjoyable 3.5 hour drive to the Pyrenees. The Pyrenees is a huge mountain range going from east to west at the border of France and Spain. Basically it’s The Rocky Mountains of Spain & France. Due to the heat of my last trip to the Pyrenees I headed about four weeks earlier than the previous trip. Only to see that Iberian peninsula was in the midst of a heat wave... Oh what an irony!

Albeit not as hot as in July, the temps were still at a toasty mid 80's. Clear blue skies, small towns with historic buildings along the high way and we're back in business. As usual I picked out the rods matching the waters I wanted to fish, native browns in small streams. Two bamboo and two fiberglass rods, all travel friendly, were packed. Travel light so no vest but just a small hip pack made by the wife of my friend Mark in Bozeman Montana, my trusty breathable hippers and just one box of dries.

During the three days we fished several streams in the area. Ranging from gin clear boulder covered mountain streams to a more meadowy spring creek like stream. The scenery is breathtaking, my company is amazing and the Spanish cuisine is superb. The mediterranean streams are filled with wild brown trouts, locally known as zebra trouts. This strain of brown trouts have the typical vertical barring along the side.

Late afternoon on the second day the dark clouds packed around the mountains and it rained for almost 9 hours straight. We were doomed... But the next morning the dark clouds were gone and the streams were in surprisingly excellent shape. Game on!

We drove back to Barcelona after a wonderful three days of fishing. It's a huge contrast to the scenery that was etched into my mind. Spanish rhythm of life is typically mediterranean. Eating out with friends in a tiny local restaurant at almost midnight is something we northern European need to adjust, but it's easy once immersed during the three wonderful days. 

My next visit to the Spanish Pyrenees is most definitely fall next year.
Enjoy the pictures. Thanks Norman for the amazing days!

The Rocky Mountain Fly Highway

A very well made documentary with Tom Skerritt (the 'dad' in the movie A River Runs Through It)

Flooding of Yellowstone National Park area

Heavy rainfall this past weekend and rising of temperatures to melt the heavy snow pack of the winter and spring caused the Yellowstone area to flood to devastating proportions. It looks like the whole area will have major infrastructure reconstructions for quite a long time.

Pat Cohen tying bass bugs

Quality of hackle

This is a subject I’ve been a bit hesitant to discuss but I think it’s time. It’s about the quality of hackle. 

Hackle quality for me isn’t about ‘high barb count’ or how many flies one can tie with one feather and not even the color or shade. Foremost it’s the characteristics of the hackle barbs and the stem (rachis).

I often see hackle that has barbs that’s not stiff but rather soft. Sometimes it’s just the type of bird that just doesn’t have really stiff barbs (like most grizzly hackles from the Plymouth Rock breed). 

Sometimes I run into hackle that is so greasy the barbs are sloppy and matted. Hackle with greasy barbs are in my view unusable for tying well floating dry flies.

Another characteristic is barbs not being straight but having a curve. Barbs that aren’t straight is probably a minor ‘problem’, but still an aspect that defines a high quality hackle rather than a mediocre hackle. Hackle collars for for instance traditional Catskill style dry flies, a hackle wrapped with curved barbs is just ‘not done’. Maybe the least of an issue it’s still usable on parachute hackles.

Lastly but certainly not the least important is the flexibility of the stem. Thick and stiff stems makes nice touching hackle wraps more challenging. If the stem is really stiff and thick, it is even unusable for anything else than as wings on streamers and bass bugs.

I'll end this subject with the so called 'cupping'. It's not a feature or even a 'problem' but if you just look at the structure of the feather it's basically a technical error. Mostly cupping occurs with saddle feathers. I've seen extreme cupping with several colors like ginger, grizzly and cream. So I doubt it's exclusive to a certain breed of birds.

I've got a saddle that has dozens of cupped feathers. As you can see the whole feather has bent barbs in a V-shape at the stem. If such a feather is wrapped, the sharp bend of the barbs results in a hackle collar (or wrapped parachute style) with the barbs angled depending on the direction of the feather tied in.

Are cupped hackles rubbish? I don't think so, but for certain flies I won't use them. If I have the choice I prefer just 'flat' feathers. Buying hackle on the internet makes it impossible to check all the mentioned characteristics, unless you can let the seller know exactly what you don't want.

Parachute TMG

This is the parachute version of the regular Catskill style dry fly TMG (Teal Macaw & Ginger)

Harry G. McClelland

This book is probably the most unusual book I own. And it’s not just the minute size of the book. 

Under the pseudonym 'Athenian' Harry G. McClelland, basically a teenager, wrote many articles on fly tying in the Fishing Gazette. After passing at just 21 years of age, his articles were bundled in this book with the very unusual title 'The Trout Fly Dresser's Cabinet of Sevices or How to Tie Flies for Trout and Grayling fishing'.

This book (first published in 1898!) was highly regarded by Theodore Gordon, Dettes and Harry Darbee. It's quite remarkable how much knowledge he had on fly tying. Many ideas, which got common many years later, that was considered new back then was already covered by McClelland: using stripped quill for segmented bodies, using rooster hackle for wrapping hackle and various wings. 

Art Flick who is credited with the Red Quill using a stripped Rhode Island rooster hackle feather, but Harry already wrote (page 38):

“Another kind of quill is that obtained by stripping a long hackle or saddle feather

of its plume on either side. It makes a very natural looking body, which, so to speak, tapers

itself automatically in the forming; the quill used being tapered, and so the joints of the body

becoming wider and thicker as the winding proceeds from tail to shoulder. A friend, to

whom my first acquaintance with this material was due, makes a very beautiful red spinner

of the shaft of the saddle feather of a dark red game cock.”

Due to the age of the book it seems to be free of copyright. This book can be downloaded here.

Betsy Cross

Betsy Cross, named as one of the ‘effective patterns’ by Reuben Cross in his book.

Making of the Dette fly frame (III)

Getting my Catskill dry flies tied by the Dette's framed is finally done!

André did a fabulous job. Thanks André!

Part I of the story

Part II of the story

Colors

Loving the colors of this March Brown!

Nordic Fly Fair 2022

Four years have past since my last visit to the Nordic Fly Fair. The whole pandemic seems to have played tricks with time. A while ago, bamboo rod maker Marc Aroner wrote these striking words in one of his newsletter: “It's amazing that we're almost to August. I'm not quite sure how living under quarantine can make the time go by fast and slow simultaneously, but it has.”

For many years the venue of the Nordic Fly Fair has been the wonderful Norwegian Forestry museum in Elverum. Just like in 2018, before the show started I took a look in the museum again. It's great to have the whole museum for yourself! 😀

The list of invited tiers again consist of tiers from Scandinavia, and me being the only non-Scandinavian tier. During the two days we were taken care of as well as one might hope with nice lunches and dinner (moose BBQ!) after the first day.

It was so nice to see my Scandinavian friends again and meet new friends. This time, the new cats at Roger's home and my cat allergie, I decided to stay at a cabin along the banks of the river Glomma at the local camp ground practically next to the museum with three other tiers. Waking up with the sun rising above the Glomma is priceless...

Here are a few impressions of the Nordic Fly Fair 2022 this past weekend.

Thanks all, it was amazing. Hope to be back in the near future again.

After the show I stayed a night at Roger's house because my flight back home was on monday afternoon. After a nice dinner we did some lawn casting with several vintage rods at the back yard. What a nice way to end a wonderful weekend!

Off to Norway

I'm away this weekend to attend the Nordic Fly Fair in Elverum, Norway. I was there back in 2018. Due to the pandemic it was cancelled the past two years. I'm glad it's back. The Nordic Fly Fair is a great fly fishing show with a very 'homey atmosphere'. I'll report back when I'm back.

Swamp fishing in Patagonia

Another great video by the Jensens on their recent trip to Patagonia. This time they fished a swampy tiny spring creek they have been seeing while driving. You'll need a good shower after such a day...

Jack Dennis

Jack Dennis shipped the Humpy's he tied for me in June 2021. I followed the tracking information and I saw the shipment arriving in The Netherlands but somehow it was returned back to Jack in North Carolina!..

This week the Humpy's and some add ons by Jack finally arrived. Jack also included the book Western Trout Fly Tying Manual, a bunch of DVDs and prints of tying the Royal Humpy with hand written notes. Thank you Jack!

Update April 19, 2022:

Jack wrote me back today:

"it sure took a while to get to you that I'm happy that you now have some originals, like many flies they have a sordid history especially if the fly is successful like the humpy. I could fill a book with all the people who thought they invented the fly but I give Jack Horner the nod for creating the Horner deer fly probably one of the first humpy style patterns.

The Goofus Bug name and style came from Montana and was actually tied quite differently in the early days. near as I can tell the humpy name came from Wyoming to many different anglers including a local Jackson hole fishing guide boots Allen who had signs on his building the home of the humpy. 

My contribution to the humpy was to add the Moose tail which I learned from Dan Bailey has a great tailing material. I believe the Royal humpy which I gave the name to the creation offer a more modern use of the humpy because of its visibility. it was a favorite of Lee Wulff's the marrying of two great flies. Originally the fly was tied with different colors such as badger Creek and others some with a mixture of grisly and Brown the true pattern was tied with grizzly saddles which were tough to get what it didn't do was a demand was so high for the fly it pushed hackle entrepreneurs's such as Henry Hoffman to develop strains of roosters that would produce incredible saddle hackle fly needed hackle to float properly. 

Hopefully this adds more to the legend. Jay humpy's for some of the best I've ever same kind is a true modern-day master. At 75 my skills are starting to leave me and am in awe of the newer tyers"

Fiddling with Humpy's

It has been a while I've fiddled with some Humpy's. Felt a bit rusty...

Salmon Fly Tying workshop

A lengthy (3 hours!) recording of a classic Salmon Fly Tying workshop that was held by a group of enthusiasts in the small town of Montagu, South Africa in 2017.

The video quality isn't great but the information shown is probably very interesting for anyone interested in tying full dressed salmon flies.

Adams Irresistible

I forgot what a pain in the behind tying an Adams Irresistible aka Rat Faced McDougall is 😆