Flicking feathers

 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

Another oldie from Sexy Loops   (10th Aug 2019) In my last FP (the Okinawa trip report)  I only mentioned two of the three anglers. This was because the third rod made me think a lot about what people expect and the impact it can have on a trip. He spent a lot of the time complaining about how the island wasn't very fishy or how the flat was empty, which was in complete opposition to my experience of the fishing.  I found it a bit perplexing and a little annoying.  As the week went on I was running it over in my mind, but it wasn't until a conversation later in the week that everything really clicked. The guy regularly fishes a sandbar on a closed resort island in the Maldives that might see 10 rods a year and another Okinawan island for sea bream, catching numerous fish each day- some of them almost 12 inches long! With a guide. As soon as I we spoke about that,  a lot of his comments and the way he was fishing made much more sense to me.  He'd become so accustomed to havi

 Another old one from Sexy Loops .  This one was written on 3rd of August 2019 Last week in Okinawa was a much needed break from the hectic life of Tokyo. I left on the 6 am flight on Monday, got a ferry to the island I like, had checked in to the guesthouse and made the 30 meter  walk to the flats by noon.  Wonderful stuff.  It was my fifth trip to this island and as it's all DIY fishing I've been slowly building up a picture of where fishes best when.  Pretty handy for my fishing mates as they didn't have to prospect so much. For me this island is primarily about the triggerfish, they are prolific with multiple shots available every day.  There are loads of picassos if that's your thing but there are unbelievable numbers of titan triggers and the odd pinktail. Of course trevally are always fun to catch and there are plenty of yellowspot, bluefin and brassies to cast to along with plenty of snapper, emperor and the odd tuskfish. GTs do show up from time to time (usuall

Another old one from Sexy Loops When I first came to Japan, I thought I'd really get into bass fishing the lakes nearby but it just never happened.  I tried, I really did, and despite catching a few largemouth I just couldn't really get into it. and I spent several years fishing almost exclusively for carp.  I do fish for largies now and then from my float tube but they don't do it for me the way their little cousins do. Now, I love fishing for smallmouth bass, especially in the clear rivers around Tokyo.   there's something about the way they inspect a hopper before sucking it under or smash a streamer on  the pause that's just amazing. They're a perfect fly rod fish.   Unfortunately, they're an invasive species here and we're supposed to kill them. I don't.  Pretty much everyone here releases fish, and the only killing is through the bad handling that is sadly all too frequent here.  The thing I have difficulty with is the evidence of my own observ

 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

 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.

 Head to  https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers  to support the channel, get access to the monthly zoom tying sessions and be entered into the giveaways

 To support the channel and be eligible for giveaways head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers and become a patron or support through paypal.me/flickingfeathers . November's giveaway winner is Danny McGinty- the small stillwater selection will be heading to him soon. As we're entering the festive season, I've added some extras for Christmas.  There will be 3 prizes;  1 The usual selection of flies & a signed copy of Steffan Jones' Seatrout 2 A signed copy of Steffan Jones' Seatrout & the fly matters mug 3 A Sport Fishing Asia SPF 50 long sleeve T-shirt

 This is basically a zebra/mercury midge using an ice-blue wire rib and blue pearl glass bead.  I find this fly works very well in tailwaters and stillwaters, especially in winter. To support the channel and be eligible for giveaways head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers and become a patron or support through paypal.me/flickingfeathers   Materials list  Hook: TMC 2488 size 14-24 Bead: Blue pearl lined glass bead (I found these in an accessory making shop) Thread: Uni 8/0 black Rib: Ice blue semperfli wire

Another of my articles on www.sexyloops.com   It often seems to me that as anglers we probably suffer from some kind of delusional mental illness.  Now, I think this applies to conventional anglers as well as fly anglers but possibly more so to us...again and again you can hear, read articles or see videos where people assert with absolute confidence that the fish is taking a fly/lure because it imitates X prey species. Fair enough you might say, and I'd be inclined to agree in certain situations. For example, catch a midge feeding trout on a midge pattern that is the same size and colour as the naturals and you can reasonably assume that the fish "believed" the fly was a midge. But the tendency is, to my mind, over applied. Do daphnia feeders really think fire orange blob is a giant clump of daphnia? How about great lakes musky eating a firetiger baitfish? Or do smallmouth really think a boogle bug is a giant insect? It's impossible to truly know but I'm skeptica

 Another old  one I did for www.sexyloops.com Tales of the unexpected  A couple of weeks ago, I'd never have thought of swinging streamers as a viable option for carp on fly. It's almost the opposite of everything I've learned targeting carp on the fly; fishing blind instead of sighting targets, feeling the line rip out of your fingers instead of watching the fish to hit the eat before the fish spits the fly.  But last weekend I made a discovery while fishing for maruta, a sea running species of Japanese cyprinid. The run has been a bit late this year but they eventually appeared in numbers and blasted straight up the Tamagawa to spawn. The main way of fishing for maruta is a swung fly, similar to how you'd fish for salmon.  This year I caught a grand total of zero maruta, but on 2 separate days I caught multiple carp on a red streamer being swung on a sink tip. The first fish I assumed was some kind of fluke, then 2 casts after the release the line zipped away and anot

 Another old one from www.sexyloops.com With the cherry blossoms blooming all around Tokyo signalling spring, I've been tying a lot of panfish flies as I get ready for the warmer weather. I stuck a few pics and how to videos online and the responses have been pretty mixed. I'm not surprised that some of the flies have been divisive-some of them are, frankly, pure filth but I have been a bit surprised by how many people are dismissive of panfish as a target.  Yes the can be very easy to catch, and are abundant within their range, they're aggressive but they're not always stupid and they're beautiful little and sometimes not so little fish. Yes trout are pretty -the disdain for the bluegill comes mainly from trout anglers it seems-, especially small panfish-sized ones can also be very easy to catch.  For me there's at least as much angling skill in going along a bank on foot or in my zoomy bubble boat (float tube) identifying structure, making a nice presentation

  Another old article from www.sexyloops.com Is chicken eugenics the enemy of good fishing flies? I think it is, and the fly tying fashion that is going hand in glove with "improved" genetics is creating a, possibly, vicious cycle.  The improvement in genetic dry fly hackle makes many things easier and for some flies like the Griffiths gnat or stimulator is a vast improvement on what was available before. However, I am not sure if the downside of these hackles has really been acknowledged. Yes they have longer stems that are thinner more flexible and less likely to break, but they also have a far denser count of barbs that are much stiffer and consistent than what you'll find on any Indian or Chinese hackle. On the face of it, this all seems good and makes flies look quit crisp on the vice but is it as good as it seems?  I remember a period in the late 80s or early 90s when the "trick" of trimming the underside of a dry fly seemed to be the top tip in every dry

  another old post from www.sexyloops.com I've recently spent a lot of time looking at pictures of winged termites and hoglice (sow bugs for our American friends) trying to dial in some better imitations than I've seen so far. For termites there's not a lot out there so there's a lot of messing around trying to get something that will look edible to a wild gourami. Because of Paul's input on gourami being very hard to fool and termites being a new imitation, I'm giving it much more time at the design and willing to allow the individual tie to be much longer than a trout fly would take-if my new hoglouse takes more than about 3minutes to tie, it's not acceptable when a Ray Charles will do largely the same job most of the time. So why bother? Well, it's a combination of things for me, a bit of confidence, a bit of giving them something different and just the enjoyment of spending time playing around at the vice, picking out the key features that I think wi

  This simple dry fly is a good choice for any of the small mayfly species. not only that, it's a quick easy tie and can easily be modified on stream to sit flush with the surface. To support my channel and enter the giveaways head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers and become a patron or support through paypal.me/flickingfeathers Materials list Hook: Dry fly 12-20 Thread: Uni 8/0 Tail: Coq de Leon or hackle fibers Abdomen: Superfine dubbing Hackle: blue dun cock Thorax: Superfine dubbing

Another of my early pages for sexyloops.com Recently I've been thinking a lot about how I explain things on video or while teaching. This naturally got me thinking about how fly fishing media explains stuff, and the more I read, watch or listen to the more I'm convinced that not all of it is really designed to help.  For example, I recently watched a video about streamer heads- something that is actually quite simple to understand and describe. However, the explanation given was convuluted and full of what seemed like deliberate use of technical sounding (but inaccurate) jargon. This really turned me off, and I made me think that either the "teacher" didn't really understand what he was teaching or was trying to prevent actual learning, small wonder that beginners are often intimidated when confronted with this style of instruction. Compare this to excellent streamer videos from people like Kelly Galloup or Nicklaus Bauer that are simple, matter of fact and easy t

Phantom flies are a common stillwater food source, being 2 winged flies they strongly resemble midges as adults but the larva are somewhat more transparent than bloodworm. To support my channel and enter the giveaways head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers and become a patron or support through paypal.me/flickingfeathers Materials list Hook: Fulling Mill all purpose medium or similar size 14-18 Thread: Uni 8/0 fire orange Body: Clear polythene Under body: Silver tinsel with a band of orange thread in the middle Thorax: Orange dubbing

The Tummel shrimp is a nice long tailed shrimp pattern from Ally Gowans.  The colour combination is a classic for atlantic salmon making this fly well worth having in your box. To support my channel and enter the giveaways head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers and become a patron or support through paypal.me/flickingfeathers Materials list Hook: Salmon single or double 6-14 Thread: Black 8/0 Tag: Oval silver Tail: Orange, yellow and black bucktail mixed Flash: Pearl crystal flash Body: Black floss Rib: Oval silver tinsel Hackle 1: Orange cock Hackle 2: Blue guinea fowl

This is a variant of thee Tosh or black & yellow which is a fantastic colour combination for salmon whether tied on a hook, tube or waddington. Just adjust the size to suit the river conditions. To support my channel and enter the giveaways head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers and become a patron or support through paypal.me/flickingfeathers Materials list Hook: Patriot double size 10 (Salmon singles, doubles, trebles or tubes) Thread: Black 8/0 Tag: Oval silver tinsel Tail: Black arctic runner Body: Black floss Rib: Oval silver tinsel Underwing: Yellow arctic runner Flash: Yellow crystal flash Hackle: Yellow hen Over wing: Black arctic runner

I took a guy from the office fishing.   He'd been asking to go for a while, but it took ages to get the schedules all worked out.   I always enjoy indoctrinating new acolytes.  As we live on opposite sides of Tokyo, we decided to meet at a river a couple of hours to the North of the city, with a good head of carp, bass and catfish.  Nothing too difficult on the casting front and with plenty of opportunities so he'd be in with a chance. Gerard told me he had fished before, but when we got down to the river and I handed him the rod, it quickly became clear that he had been a bit confused on the difference between fly fishing and bait fishing. We spent an hour or so on a quiet pool going through some basic casting before making our way along the river in search of willing fish. It took some time but after a while he managed a couple of decent short shots that were good enough to get an eat had they gone in first time. It was getting close.  It was great to watch help with s