Flicking feathers

  Some more carp on fly action from a small stream in East Japan. The average size of the fish in this small stream isn't very big, but it does occasionally turn up fish into low to mid double figures. What it does have going for it is the sheer number of fish, there are loads and I expect plenty of shots even during short sessions. On this trip, it was unusually hot for the time of year which caused the carp to be highly active. There were a lot of fish feeding on things dropping from the bankside vegetation, and were responding to the fly plopping into the water, so a slightly heavy presentation tight to the far bank seemed to be the go for much of the day. Later I switched to the dumbbell eyed worm and picked up another fish on the way home. You can find fly tying videos for all the flies I used today can be found on my channel. Clouser crayfish https://youtu.be/jGkhlmeV7vQ Carp worm https://youtu.be/owtGI7AeAdA Backstabber https://youtu.be/kXRBAtmEyio To support the

 Another old one from www.sexyloops.com I was planning to head up into the mountains in search of a mayfly hatch this week, but due to a sketchy forecast I decided to stay local instead of travelling for 2 hours plus. It was nice as I was able to have a bit of a lie in before walking down the river for a crack at some of the local carp. The weather actually turned out better than forecast; 27-29 degrees with a very thin high overcast and spells of clear skies made for great visibility. The carp well well on the feed too and there were plenty of shots to be had. Which was good because I've spent a while turning these fish into spooky pricks. During the first lockdown, I was fishing them near daily once the outdoor exercise allowance came in and I'd been pestering them pretty regularly for years before. One of the main difficulties I've been having is that they seemed to be fairly immune to the otherwise reliable drag and drop presentation. My first work around was long leads

  After a suggestion from a viewer I decided to do this video where I tie a fly then go out and film myself catching fish on it. The flies I tied were a simple worm and an improved spork. A couple of days later I took them to a local river for some small stream fly carpin'. Conditions were OK but rain the previous days had made the water a bit dirty, which made seeing fish difficult at times, but I still managed to catch on both flies, getting several eats on each of them. To support the channel, get access to the monthly fly tying classes and enter the giveaways head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers and sign up or donate at https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/flickingfeathers BOTM 7 The practical angler is available here: https://amzn.to/3kLyBSW Amazon UK https://amzn.to/3EZxneY Amazon.com My bobbin holder https://amzn.to/3BepRut

Another old one from www.sexyloops.com Over the summer I heard a podcast about using a dropper fly while sight fishing carp. My initial thought was that I didn't like the idea. But I tried it as I don't like just dismissing things if I haven't tried them. After deciding to try droppers, I fished them a lot over the last few months. I was out several times a week, on the river as with the teleworking and adjusted schedule I was able to get a few hours in before work when the weather allowed. So I feel I've given them a good testing, I'm still not sure it's a great idea most of the time.  I did catch fish on the dropper fly, but I also spooked enough that I considered going back to the single fly exclusively. Maybe I would have spooked some of those fish without the dropper but I'm fairly certain I wouldn't have spooked all of them-the question is the balance of fish gained vs opportunities squandered. The rationale for the dropper seems primarily to be pu

On Monday I braved the heat to hit a river outside Tokyo for a few hours.  Conditions were pretty good early on, although it was incredibly hot there was nice, high, even cloud cover giving fairly decent light for spotting fish.  As I approached the river, the banks were alive with grasshoppers chirping in the long grass and cicadas screeching in the trees.  Things were looking good. I set up and watched a couple of unlucky terrestrials land on the water's surface, only to be quickly sucked down by waiting carp as they struggled in the surface film. Working my way a long the river I saw so may tailing carp that I almost took of my foam hopper but, stuck with  it until a few refusals demanded a fly change.  I stayed on the surface, switching to a size 6 Carl's cicada.  It proved to be a good choice. Carl's Cicada The switch was immediately rewarded with a nice common carp around 12lb that sucked the dry  down in slack water below a tree, almost in slow motion.  Ove

Detailed instructions for a nice little carp bug that's ideal for waters where the fish prefer a smaller fly.  I like small beadhead bugs for carp but wanted something that would fish hook up while still maintaining the small profile. Tie them in a range of weights and colours to suit where you're fishing. Materials used Hook: Owner C5 boilie hook size 4 Thread: Veevus 10/0 Weight: tungsten bead mounted on 20lb mono Legs: black and white barred sillileg Tail: Chickabou Body: Semperfli straggle string Hackle: Whiting Brahma hen

Step by step instructions for a basic Wooly Bugger.  This classic streamer is a great pattern for beginner tyers and can be used as a jumping off point for other streamers and variations. Materials Used Hook: Long shank streamer Thread: 6/0 Tail: Marabou Flash: Crystal flash or similar Rib: Wire Body: wooly bugger chenille Hackle: Cock Saddle hackle

My first trip to Mexico is  coming soon, almost ready on the gear front, just need to pick up some new leader material and make sure my shots are up to date.  The fly tying is almost done too, still a few more crabs and stuff to tie for the permit, but bones and tarpon are taken care of.  Might stick a few sundries in for jacks and cudas . Getting excited.  

Busy Summer Well I've had a super busy summer so not much time to write on here, especially when instagram and twitter are so quick.  Poor substitute I know, but there's been a lot going on.  First thing is  I got an article published in the North Forty E-magazine which you can read here HERE  it's an introduction to Fly fishing for carp  with a Japanese twist. Really happy with it and hoping to have some more articles in other publications soon I've also just made Flicking feathers into an actual business, doing fly tying demos, teaching and selling custom flies which is going pretty well, but it's keeping me busy all the time.. keep your eyes peeled for a webshop coming soon-hoping to have some logo printed technical shirts and the like as well as fly tying stuff. Fishing Not been out as much as I'd like, but then I never do fish as much as I'd like.  Between work, Youtube and tying I've only managed about 1 trip a week, mostly for river

Last Monday I took my buddy Hideto from  the Tokyo flyfishing blog   out to show him the ropes. He'd been carping before but like most he'd struggled and never really got in to it.  Eventually I convinced him that carp were worth chasing and he asked to come along. I took him to a small river near my apartment, it doesn't have many big fish but it has a lot of fish so I was confident he'd get a fish or two.  After a quick coffee and explanation about the river, flies and presentation we headed up to the water. It took Hide a little while to get to grips with the presentation and reading the fish, although identifying takers is going to take more than one session to pin down. Any way we eventually got him a small fish about 20 inches or so after which his confidence started to grow along side a healthy respect for the carp as a fly fishing target. As the day wore on he picked up a few fish finishing with 5 or 6 nice little commons.  I didn't fish that hard as I

There's a lot written all over the internet about leaders and connections and some of it is good, some of it on the other hand is rubbish.  Anyway I thought I'd add add my tuppen'worth.  Today I changed over to my summer line on the carp set up. I use a WF 8 Rio Smallmouth Bass, in the summer here as it's just too hot for a cold water formula line.  Since I was changing back, I replaced the connections. I start by attaching  a length of 30lb fluorocarbon to make the butt section.  I use a modified Albright Knot for this.  Basically I tie an Albright, but leave the waste end of the fluorocarbon the same length as the end you would normally leave.  If you don't know the Albright you can find out how to tie it   here , just remember don't trim the waste like the standard knot. The next thing I do is furl the two ends together to make a single butt piece.  To avoid putting a ton of twist in the fly line I tighten the drag on the reel and pick up the whole ri