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The Other, Bonefish Fly

Being off work for a few days I've been able to get on with some more tying videos.  Here's one of a bonefish fly I designed for skinny water finicky fish.  Like this one. You can see the fly hanging from its jaw. Here's the video, enjoy.  I hope it catches you  a few fish.

Getting a newbie started

A new Junkie... Last week I took out David, an experienced angler, but a new comer to the sport of fly fishing.  Since coming to Japan he's been struggling to catch fish of any kind, so found us through the  TFFC  Facebook page  and decided to buy am 8 weight set up to get started. After having a chat about flies and gear etc. we arranged a Monday on a target rich little river near me.  However, these targets are carp, but given the choice of fishery and the time constraints it seemed like the best option. At the start of march it's still a bit chilly in the morning, so no need for early rises, we met at the station around 9.30 and made our way up to the river.  David was amazed at the number of fish we were seeing and it was pretty hard to convince him to wait till we got to the top so we could work our way back down stream. By the time we got to the weir that marks the top of the stretch, David was champing at the bit to get started.  Having watched a few of my

Slow start to 2015.

After the disasterous trip to Okinawa, it took me a while to work up the motivation to get out again.  Actually it was about 5 weeks, I had been using the weather as an excuse, but really my head just wasn't there.. I firmly believe that fishing is at least 90% mental and if you can't get motivated, you're not going to perform.  Around the third weekend in January I convinced myself I'd have a good day if I went out to the river.  The Monday was the third successively warmer day in a row with non of the nights falling below freezing, if you can get this kind of pattern falling on your winter day off, it's usually a sign you'll have a good day. So I set of for the river around 9.30 after giving the sun a chance to get up.. What I found when I arrived at the river ten minutes later was not a pretty sight.. the river bank had been totally shorn of all the trees and under growth for a good mile of the best stretch.. This used to be covered in 4ft high grass, m

The failed GT quest of 2014

Last year I made several plans to go and fish an island in southern Japan, with the hope of getting my first Giant Trevally on the fly as well as ticking a few other species off the list.   It started when I was looking around on Google earth at some holiday destinations and spotted Kuroshima island  at the extreme Southern end of the Okinawan archipelago. Kuroshima Island It looked great and had good reports of quality GTs, bluefin trevally and both titan and yellow margin triggerfish.  I had to go, the first plan was for August, but that had to be put off because all 14 rooms on the island were fully booked by SCUBA divers.  No problem, I thought and took some leave at the end of September, being only a 4 hour flight from Tokyo makes it possible to go for a long weekend. So I got a box of GT flies and a collection of flats flies tied up and got ready to go. GT brush flies NYAPs and poppers GT profile fly And some triggerfish crabs and

Been a while

Well I've not posted on here for a while.   The super hot summer days really curbed my urge to get on the river, and the days I did get out didn't last too long as it was just too hot 37 degrees Celsius in the shade is no fun at all. Salty Fun While I wasn't carping I did do a few salt water trips where the breeze helps a bit.  I even managed a Dolphin from the shore in Southern Chiba Apologies for the moobs, but it was definitely tops off weather that day.  I caught it on a silicon fat boy like this. As the weather cooled a bit I did a bit of bass  fishing in the lakes but not on fly so it won't feature here. Looking Forward Now that the weather has cooled off and the typhoon season is coming to a close, I'll be spending more time out on the river chasing carp. I still expect a few really good days before the end of the year to round out what has been my most successful season of fly carping yet.  

Freestone sculpins craws and ornmentals

Last week I was lucky enough to have a free slot in my schedule and managed to get out to a new river with recent carp convert Hideto.  Actually Hide had fished the river once before and suggested we go.  after a quick train ride we were at the venue in the outskirts of Tokyo.  The Yanase river is a beautifully clear freestone river running between Tokyo and Saitama prefectures.   Hide was keen to show me the whole of the stretch we were going to fish before fishing it, which to be honest I found difficult.  There were just so many positive switched on fish feeding in the gin clear water I hated passing them by.  I think Hide's trout stream background maybe still has a grip as he seems to favour and upstream approach - so he didn't mind walking down past the fish to come back up at them.  I think with time I can turn him. I almost never want to present up stream to a carp as it just makes it far too easy to line them.  I mush prefer to cast down and across to almost square