Flicking feathers

  Fry time is when you stand arguably the best chance of catching specimen trout from still waters and although subsurface flies like the minkie are deadly, there's nothing better than catching fish off the top. Enter the floating fry, or spondoolie as it's sometimes called. This deer hair pattern is a bit more time consuming to tie than a foam fry, but it makes up for it in effectiveness. It offers a more natural shape and sits lower in the water better mimicking a stunned fry and being less buoyant than foam with no stiff material behind the hook will get fewer missed takes and result in more positive hook-ups. To support the channel, join the monthly tying classes and enter the giveaways, head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers or https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/flickingfeathers and sign up Materials list Hook: Tiemco 5263 or equivalent 3-4x long streamer hook size 2-8 Thread: White gsp 100 Tail: Orange rabbit or marabou Body: White deer belly hair spun &

Another old one from www.sexyloops.com   I lost an enormous carp last week. Enormous. It would easily have been my PB had I landed it, but I didn't. It's hard not to feel bad when things like that happen, but the questions that come of it can be useful or the answers can be at least. I had been a pretty slow day, I started fishing some bouldery pockets below a dam looking for bass but only picked up one little guy and saw nothing else but carp for hours. Eventually I decided to switch over and start targeting the carp. I should have done it earlier than I did, but sometimes I can be too stubborn for my own good. Anyway it didn't take too long to get an eat which even though the fish wasn't very big, was a bit of a day saver. Then I came round a bend where the riffle between the pools dumps into a deep pocket with a concrete diversion and tetrapods turning the river and creating a big slack backwater behind the eddy. There were about 12 fish, all big, and the biggest, we

  This is a Crab that is on most Yucatan and Belizean lodges fly lists, and for good reason it has accounted for hundreds of permit and bonefish. It can be tied in any colour and in a range of sizes to suit every flats location or target species. Material list Hook: Gamakatsu SL11-3H size 6-1/0 Thread: Danville's Flymaster Weight: Lead, brass or tungsten dumbbells Claws: Marabou flanked by hackle tips Antenna: Crystal flash Legs: Medium round rubber Body: Wool or Mcfly foam glued together. To support the channel, get access to the monthly online tying meetings and enter the giveaways, head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers or https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/flickingfeathers and sign up.

The Gotcha needs no introduction as a bonefih fly, this rubber legged variant just provides a bit more movement at rest which often helps tempt more finicky fish. Materials list Hook: Gamkatsu SL11-3H Size 8-4 Thread: Fl. pink Danville's 140 Weight: Beadchain or dumbbells to suit Tail: Pearl crystal flash Body: Pearl flatbraid Wing: Sand craft fur Legs: Barred silileg (small) Weedguard: hard mono To support the channel, get access to the monthly tying classes and enter the giveaways head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers and sign up. DIY Bonefishing https://amzn.to/3AvD81Y Book of the Month 9: A Perfect Fish This beautifully illustrated book is quite hard to come by but you'll probably be able to find a copy by following my amazon links. Amazon .com https://amzn.to/3DKxadM Amazon UK https://amzn.to/31BKYul Using the link will help support my channel at no extra cost to you. Alternatively it can sometimes be found on ebay https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html_from=R

Kenny Abrames' A perfect fish is a fantastic text on fly tying and fly fishing. Its main focus is on flat wing style flies and striped bass, but the lessons can be applied anywhere. This beautifully illustrated book is quite hard to come by but you'll probably be able to find a copy by following my amazon links. Amazon .com https://amzn.to/3DKxadM Amazon UK https://amzn.to/31BKYul Alternatively it can sometimes be found on ebay https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=a+perfect+fish&_sacat=0 Wherever you can track it down, this is a great book and well worth adding to your collection. To support the channel, get access to the monthly tying classes and enter the giveaways head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers or https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/flickingfeathers and sign up. Book of the Month 8: Strip-Set is available here Amazon.com https://amzn.to/3kizn9F Amazon.co.uk https://amzn.to/3wvglSo Using the link will help suppo

  Long time supporter Joe Andrezik is the winner of November's flies. The Christmas prizes are currently a box of flies, 2 materials packs and 2 signed copies of "At The End Of The Line" by George Barron. I might add some more over the next week if I can. To enter the giveaways, get access to the monthly zoom tying classes and support the channel, head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers or https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/flickingfeathers an sign up. #flyfishing #giveaway #flytying

Another old one from www.sexyloops.com   With the spawning over I'm back on the water again and because of the current restrictions, I'm staying local so had my first float tube session of the year on Monday. The local lake has a decent population of largemouth bass although it's fairly featureless which can make them hard to find. More interestingly, it has a thriving snakehead population which keeps the bass fishermen away most of the summer. Fishing was slow after an overnight temperature drop from the mid twenties down to single digits. In fact, under normal circumstances I'd have changed my plans and went looking for a quarry more tolerant of cooler temperatures than largemouth. There was certainly no chance of any topwater action and all I managed was a half hearted pick up on a bottom dragged worm fly. So I basically used the day to explore and refamiliarise myself with parts of the local lake. I've certainly identified a few places to hit when it's warme

 An old one I wrote for www.sexyloops.com I'm terrible at naming flies. Or at least, terrible at it most of the time, when I actually come up with a fly that's reasonably original I can come up with something. It's probably because, I don't really think most patterns warrant a new name. We're probably stuck with the old style naming where there essentially only a few different flies, but loads of names for what are essentially just colour different colour combinations. I mean, look at the Kate Mclaren for example, is it really anything other than a black & brown bumble? No it isn't. And that's by no means unusual. Almost everyone calls hedgehogs sedgehogs now,  because Stan Headley renamed it after putting a hackle on it.  I think the hackled version didn't need a new name, even if sedgehog is probably better branding.  The thing about names though, they have some kind of power. I've noticed this several times recently. Folk raving about the blac

  There are several advantages to making your own leader mud and it's a quick, easy process. Most importantly, home made fuller's earth mix is much better at sinking your leader than any of the commercially produced leader degreasers. It also has a much better consistency, and you can adjust the mix to your liking. If you make up a tub once or twice a year you know that its fresh and not dried out to a hard cake (like the loon mud I bought a week before filming to show the difference) Even though leader sinkants aren't that expensive, it's also much cheaper to make your own than to buy it- by a considerable margin. All you need is some fuller's earth powder, dish washing liquid, some liquid glycerin and a small, airtight container. If you decide to make your own, consider using my links to get the ingredients. Fuller's earth Amazon.co.uk https://amzn.to/3zvb4v3 Amazon.com https://amzn.to/3gGfw1t Glycerin Amazon.co.uk https://amzn.to/2TCM4Sc Amazon.

  Gorrel's Hackle Shrimp is a seriously underrated shallow water bonefish fly. It's incredibly effective, especially on broken coral bottoms or sand with sparse grass, I have supreme confidence in the pattern and it's accounted for hundreds of bones for me in several locations. Materials List Hook: Gamakatsu SL11-3H or similar Thread: Tan, olive, pink or cream 140 denier Weight: Bead chain Antennae: crystal flash Body:Saddle hackle( grizzle, tan or grizzly olive are good) Belly: Crystal flash Book of the Month 8: Strip-Set is available here Amazon.com https://amzn.to/3kizn9F Amazon.co.uk https://amzn.to/3wvglSo Using the link will help support my channel at no extra cost to you. To support the channel, get access to the monthly tying classes and enter the giveaways head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers and sign up.

Another old one I wrote for www.sexyloops.com   The cherry blossoms are coming into bloom and spring is definitely on the way here, which means that the maruta are arriving in the rivers here in Japan. I imagine that if you've heard of the maruta at all, it's been in an FP I've written and mentioned them in passing. The maruta is an anadromous member of the dace family, native to mainland Japan. They look cool with lateral stripes of black, orange and white.  Unlike European dace, they get fairly big averaging probably 60cm fork length when they return to spawn. The best rivers for them are the main arteries running into Tokyo bay, and the weekends will see some very busy riverbanks as the locals, and visiting anglers from around the country rush to take advantage. When I first started fishing for them it was often a bit of a struggle, most people were swinging small streamers. It did work, but didn't really feel like the catch rate was in keeping with the numbers of fi

  A short video of a short 2 hour-ish fly carping session on my local river in Kashiwa, Japan. I didn't think I'd get any fishing done today so was pleased to get out. Despite the tough conditions I managed to catch 2 small carp around the 3-4lb mark; one on an orange glo-bug/egg and the other on a hybrid.

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

  This month's BOTM is available here Amazon.com https://amzn.to/3vMvYmp Amazon.co.uk https://amzn.to/3wVW6fK Rod Harrison's DIY Bonefishing is a fantastic resource for anyone who likes to walk the flats in search of tailing fish of any species. I refer to this book regularly before trips as it's full of useful information & reviewing it really helps fix things in my mind. Don't think it's just for the DIY angler either, there's lots in here that will make you do better when fishing with a guide. Last month's BOTM Amazon.com https://amzn.to/3pcwPuH Amazon.co.uk https://amzn.to/3g1KvES BOTM 1, Smallmouth is available here https://amzn.to/3wSaJAC https://amzn.to/3vHUANX BOTM 2, Irish Mayflies is available here https://amzn.to/3i73Y9T

 The Winner of May's selection is  Stevie Gardiner. To supporth the channel, get access to the monthly tying sessions and enter the giveaways head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers and sign up or donate through https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/flickingfeathers Book of the month for June is Modern Terrestrials, it's available here Amazon.com https://amzn.to/3pcwPuH   Amazon.co.uk https://amzn.to/3g1KvES BOTM 1, Smallmouth is available here https://amzn.to/3wSaJAC https://amzn.to/3vHUANX BOTM 2, Irish Mayflies is available here https://amzn.to/3i73Y9T

  To support my channel,get access to the monthly online tying sessions and enter the giveaways head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers   and become a patron or support through paypal https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/flickingfeathers   Book of the month Irish Mayflies    https://amzn.to/3uDLW2f Smallmouth  Amazon UK        https://amzn.to/3o7sVmh Amazon.com    https://amzn.to/3xUWlbU

 To support my channel,get access to the monthly online tying sessions and enter the giveaways head to  https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers  and become a patron or support through  paypal.me/flickingfeathers

 To support my channel,get access to the monthly online tying sessions and enter the giveaways head to  https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers  and become a patron or support through  paypal.me/flickingfeathers

 To support my channel,get access to the monthly online tying sessions and enter the giveaways head to  https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers  and become a patron or support through  paypal.me/flickingfeathers

 To support the channel and get access to the online tying sessions, as well as being entered into the giveaways head to  https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers  and sign up