Flicking feathers

  Music by Morlais https://music.apple.com/jp/artist/morlais/1018522954?l=en The Maruta, or pacific redfin, is a sea-run member of the dace family that return to spawn in Japanese rivers in early spring. Unlike salmon, they continue to feed in fresh water and are easy to catch on nymphs, or streamers. When they are fresh in the river from the ocean, they are very powerful for their size. After a few weeks in the rivers they lose some of that strength but still fight well. 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

  The Dyret is a great caddis imitation from Norway, it's a great choice for trout and grayling. This olive version is ideal for for situations where you want something buoyant enough to fish with a small dropper nymph 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 10-18 Thread: Uni 8/0 grey Tail/head: Deer hair Body: Olive superfine dubbing Hackle: Grizzly dyed olive

  The Nymphs & The Trout https://amzn.to/3Ty9mUf Frank Sawyer's pheasant tail nymph is a truly fantastic fly that everyone should have in their fly box. It's simple, and easy to tie once you know how and really works just as well as modern variations with more going on. 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. Material list. Hook: Nymph 14-20 Thread: XS copper wire Tail: Peasant tail Body: pheasant tail

An old post I wrote for www.sexloops.com   I've been checking a few new-to-me shore locations around Tokyo bay over the last few weeks. Some of them are right in the city, like down by the Olympic village. Others are thankfully a bit out of the way. It's been fun, even if it has meant fewer fish than I might usually expect. This is the kind of situation where I don't mind blanking though. Each visit to a mark helps to build a picture of the area and what it's like at different tides. Of course fish are welcome, but I'm OK with some slow sessions if it means I can manage some more consistent success in future. This week I've been to a promising place, a nice esturine area with a couple of islands, some nice channels and other manmade structure. The first visit I went down during the day without the rod and just had a walk around, at low tide to see what was what. I like to do this where possible as I'll often be fishing at night and it's a good idea to ha...

  Perdigon style flies are well established as excellent fish catchers the world over. The butano version is a great attractor that will catch, trout grayling and other species year round. To support the channel, get access to the monthly tying classes and enter the givaways head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers or https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/flickingfeathers and sign up. I strongly recommend a salon style UV lamp to give these and all your UV resin flies a final cure for a hard, clear tack free finish regardless of the brand resin you use Amazon https://amzn.to/3qTXqiH Amazon UK https://amzn.to/3fSw9qM Material list. Hook: Nymph or jig hook size 14-22 Weight: Silver tungsten bead Thread: Fluoro. orange Tail: Coq de Leon Body: Hends perdigon body, FB06 Collar: Black thread Coating: Thin UV resin or Varnish

  What was originally supposed to be a video about the Sexyloops HT8 https://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/w... turned out to be more a video about giant snakehead and elephants :)) Some nice fishing moments here in the jungle.

  This easy little crippled emerger is deadly for fussy fish that want something low in the surface film. It can be tied to imitate mayfly species from the smallest BWOs to the largest Danicas. 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. Materials list Hook: TMC 100 or similar, size 8-22 Thread: 70 denier to match colour Shuck: Antron Rib: Fine gold Wire Abdomen: Pheasant tail Thorax: Snow shoe hare yellow/olive/cream/natural Emergent wing: Snow shoe hare light or dark dun to suit

 Another oldie from www.sexyloops.com After a blackout on the train caused an unwelcome surprise break from everything, I'm starting to get back to some kind of normalcy. I even went out fishing on Monday night, which annoyed/worried my wife but made me feel better about a lot of things. It's peak time for big seabass and Chuck came down from Tochigi to try and get into his first bass. I got him set up with the ubiquitous rubber candy and we e started of at an inshore point and I got into a fish pretty quickly off of a dock light. I hooked and dropped another better fish immediately after while Chuck was getting eats but couldn't help but trout set on them. A couple of moves later and he got into the swing of things, spookily catching a blackfin seabass or Hirasuzuki for his first ever seabass. In my years of living in Japan I've only ever caught 2 of them. Later we went looking for bigger fish, and although we saw a spin fisherman in another boat catching an absolute t...

  This simple little pattern is absolutely deadly for fish that are focused on emerging and egg laying caddis. It can be dressed more heavily so it can be skated and skittered or more sparsely to suit. Tied large it is a great pattern for stillwater fish too, especially for great red sedge or murroughs. 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. Materials list Hook: TMC2487 or equivalent size 8-18 Thread: Uni 8/0 to match body colour Abdomen: Hareline dubbing or other natural dubbing Thorax: Fox squirrel or similar Legs: Brown partridge Wing: Deer hair

  This deadly little streamer was devised by Martin Smith of England for targeting trout, but it has since proved itself for a range of other species including bass, zander, perch and pike. It'll certainly catch other species too, and is definitely worth trying for any predatory gamefish. You'll see plenty of variants with different additions, but I don't think they work better than the original. 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. I strongly recommend a salon style UV lamp to give these and all your UV resin flies a final cure for a hard, clear tack free finish regardless of the brand resin you use Amazon https://amzn.to/3qTXqiH Amazon UK https://amzn.to/3fSw9qM Material list Hook: Ahrex FW550 Weight: Tungsten bead Thread: 140 denier of your choice Body: Congo hair/EP ( Use stiffer material for bigg...

  The other day I shared a photo of a well chewed billfish tube that I had tied for Juan Wei to use on the Rompin sails. It's nothing particularly special but I had given it a core of body tubing to keep the feathers from collapsing against the tube, much like the fatboy mullet which uses EZ body to give the wing fibers shape and volume. The result is a fly that is almost as wide as my hand and will stay that size in the water. The idea being that the fly would be much easier to both see and feel/hear because of its significantly larger profile yet still be quick on the delivery as there isn't much real bulk in the fly. I'm sure other people have done this, but it's the first I've seen it on a billfish fly. A surprising number of people started telling me I should be giving credit to Blane Chocklett or even that I was ripping him off. I was a bit taken aback at first, I mean reversed tubing bodies have been around since before I started tying flies almost 30 years a...

  This deadly little streamer was devised by Martin Smith of England for targeting trout, but it has since proved itself for a range of other species including bass, zander, perch and pike. It'll certainly catch other species too, and is definitely worth trying for any predatory gamefish. You'll see plenty of variants with different additions, but I don't think they work better than the original. 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. I strongly recommend a salon style UV lamp to give these and all your UV resin flies a final cure for a hard, clear tack free finish regardless of the brand resin you use Amazon https://amzn.to/3qTXqiH Amazon UK https://amzn.to/3fSw9qM Material list Hook: Ahrex FW550 Weight: Tungsten bead Thread: 140 denier of your choice Body: Congo hair/EP ( Use stiffer material for bigg...

  This deadly little streamer was devised by Martin Smith of England for targeting trout, but it has since proved itself for a range of other species including bass, zander, perch and pike. It'll certainly catch other species too, and is definitely worth trying for any predatory gamefish. You'll see plenty of variants with different additions, but I don't think they work better than the original. 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. I strongly recommend a salon style UV lamp to give these and all your UV resin flies a final cure for a hard, clear tack free finish regardless of the brand resin you use Amazon https://amzn.to/3qTXqiH Amazon UK https://amzn.to/3fSw9qM Material list Hook: Ahrex FW550 Weight: Tungsten bead Thread: 140 denier of your choice Body: Congo hair/EP ( Use stiffer material for bigg...

  This is a chat with Phil Blackmar about golf, coaching, commentating and of course flycasting. I think many of you will find this very interesting in many levels. Thanks Phil!

 

  This is the “grip shift” for Gary and a Board discussion. Please don’t get too hung up on it because it’s really quite an advanced technique where many other things need to be in place first. But if you are 170ing or throwing stopless and we’re wondering how to make the transitions between strokes then this is certainly one way.

 Repost from www.sexyloops.com Not much been going on here this week. We're settling in to winter and the seabass fishing is getting good. Fishing was good on Monday and although I've not had any really big fish yet, they're starting to show up in reports. Encouraging! There are some new shore marks I'm keen to explore too, and revisit the area where the Olympic village was built, a lot of it was closed off during construction and the games so this is the first winter these spots will be open for a few years. There are new structures that will attract bait and of course bass, so a few trips at different tides will be in order to get to grips with the spots. I'm sure I'll not be the only one looking to get in there, but luckily I'll be going on Mondays so I'll probably not have to contend with other anglers. In other news teleworking has come to an end. Being back in the office I can't go down my local river before work any more and doing much less ty...

 Another repost from www.sexyloops.com Japanese people often seem obsessed with seasonality, you'd be amazed how often people tell me that Japan has 4 seasons. Sometimes they even say it's a unique feature of Japan's weather! The thing is, it doesn't. It has 2; Hot/wet and cold/dry. There are about 2-3 days between them. Temperatures have been down towards single digits from up in the thirties last week. Which despite being a bit of a shock to the system, is good. The seabass fishing can really get going now and I took my pal John out for his first ever fishing trip on Monday. He had recently got himself kitted out with a spinning set up and assured me he had been practising casting a little dummy plug down the river. So out we went, it was a cool 8 degrees and a little windy with clear skies. The slightly stained water made for excellent conditions. I fully expected John to get a fish or a few. We arrived at the first spot to see a few bass smashing bait near a large f...

  This easy little baitfish can be tied with or without a rattle and in various sizes and colours to target all kinds of game-fish in fresh and salt waters. Regardless of the forage species being imitated they all feature a strongly fluorescent core material which can be a fantastic attractor. 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. I strongly recommend a salon style UV lamp to give these and all your UV resin flies a final cure for a hard, clear tack free finish regardless of the brand resin you use Amazon https://amzn.to/3qTXqiH Amazon UK https://amzn.to/3fSw9qM Material list Hook: Gamakatsu B10S size 4 -2/0 Thread: Fluoro to match core colour & fine clear mono Core: Laser dub, egg yarn or predator dubbing Body: SF blend, flash & slinky or similar Eyes: 3D eyes to suit Finish: UV resin Optional rattle s...

Rattles can be a great addition to predator flies. This is one of the best methods for attaching them to you hooks before tying you flies. It's easy and offers a durable solution that provides some protection even for glass rattles. It has the added advantage of creating an anti foul effect similar to a mono loop, and shrink tube is available in a range of colours allowing you to incorporate it as a hotspot in your flies too. To support the channel, get access to the online fly tying classes and enter the giveaways, head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers or https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/flickingfeathers and sign up.  

  The Kobberbassen is the easiest of flies to tie, but it makes a great gammarus imitation for coastal seatrout. If you target any species of salmonid in the salt, you should probably have some of these in your box, they just catch fish! 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. Materials List Hook: Ahrex Curved Gammarus 6-10 Thread: Fluo. red 140 denier Danville's Body: Copper litebrite or similar dubbing Rib: Copper Wire Amazon UK Hugh Falkus Seatrout Fishing: https://amzn.to/3rnRyxQ Seatrout Nights (John Gray): https://amzn.to/3RwiJRw Seatrout Books: https://amzn.to/3CouFjY Loctite gel: https://amzn.to/3bIw4qC Applicator: https://amzn.to/3AvHF6I Amazon.com Renzetti vise: https://amzn.to/3NQuvEq Tiemco ceramic bobbin holder: https://amzn.to/3IkDOeP Renomed scissors: https://amzn.to/3NL5oCT Loctite gel: http...

 Another old one I wrote for www.sexyloops.com Although I fish for carp year round, I usually expect things to have slowed down quite a bitby mid October. Certainly as the days get shorter the amount of good light is reduced which limits the sight fishing. Temperatures have usually dropped too, moving the carp to different parts of the river and slowing their metabolism. Not so this year. The ridiculous temperatures are keeping them active-it had already gone above 30 degrees by 11am on Monday! This week, after an earthquake left me stuck on a train for most of the night I didn't feel like going far so walked up my local stream after a lazy morning. I walked a few miles upstream and started at a weirpool that reliably holds fish year round. I got rigged up and immediately hooked a little fish on a backstabber. Moving downstream I started seeing a lot of fish moving near the surface and eating off the top. In October! The local council haven't been as aggressive in cutting the b...

The Baltic Special is a straightforward tie that became popular in Ireland for estuary seatrout fishing around the early 1990s. Possibly inspired by patterns fished on the Baltic coast, it is a decent imitation of a small herring and is very effective on its day. 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. Materials List Hook: Tiemco 777sp Thread: Fluo. red 140 denier Danville's Body: Pearl ice yarn or tinsel Wing: Ripple ice fiber; minnow mix topped with smolt blue Amazon UK Hugh Falkus Seatrout Fishing: https://amzn.to/3rnRyxQ Seatrout Nights (John Gray): https://amzn.to/3RwiJRw Seatrout Books: https://amzn.to/3CouFjY Loctite gel: https://amzn.to/3bIw4qC Applicator: https://amzn.to/3AvHF6I Amazon.com Renzetti vise: https://amzn.to/3NQuvEq Tiemco ceramic bobbin holder: https://amzn.to/3IkDOeP Renomed scissors...

  This simple pattern devised by Allan Overgaard is absolutely deadly for searun trout and other inshore saltwater species around the world. It's full of movement and suggests any number of small baitfish. 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. Materials List Hook: Ahrex trout predator light 4-1 Thread: Tan/brown Uni 6/0 Tail: Grizzly craft fur Body (rear): Arizona simi seal in gold shiner or similar Body (front): Grizzly craft fur Amazon UK Hugh Falkus Seatrout Fishing: https://amzn.to/3rnRyxQ Seatrout Nights (John Gray): https://amzn.to/3RwiJRw Seatrout Books: https://amzn.to/3CouFjY Loctite gel: https://amzn.to/3bIw4qC Applicator: https://amzn.to/3AvHF6I Amazon.com Renzetti vise: https://amzn.to/3NQuvEq Tiemco ceramic bobbin holder: https://amzn.to/3IkDOeP Renomed scissors: https://amzn.to/3NL5oCT Loc...

  This simple pattern is absolutely deadly for searun trout and other cold saltwater species. An out an out attractor pattern it pushes water and offers a solid silhouette making it easy for fish to locate it and eat it, alternatively it can be fished in conjunction with something more natural like a gammarus or kopperbassen in the hope that the fish will come to investigate the Mulkkis before eating the other fly. 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. Materials List Hook: Partridge attitude extra size 2 Tail: Rabbit fur Flash: Crystal flash Eyes: Easy shrimp eyes Body: Cactus chenille Amazon UK Hugh Falkus Seatrout Fishing: https://amzn.to/3rnRyxQ Seatrout Nights (John Gray): https://amzn.to/3RwiJRw Seatrout Books: https://amzn.to/3CouFjY Loctite gel: https://amzn.to/3bIw4qC Applicator: https://amzn.to/3AvHF...

 Another oldie from www.sexyloops.com I blanked on Monday. Not because I had made some choice to try and target a specimen fish to the exclusion of more available targets or anything like that. It was just a pure, unjustifiable blank. Yes, yes there are all the cliches about "just getting out" or"it's fishing not catching", but in normal circumstances I expect to catch. Especially when I'm fishing for carp or smallies.. Which I was. Blanks aren't the end of the world and can often teach you something, sometimes they're actually a greater learning opportunity than success. This week I learned about not finding smallies. The river I was fishing is essentially a tailwater dammed every few kilometers, it's very clear and you can almost always see the fish you catch. Being october and they days getting shorter I was expecting to find the bass starting to move away from the faster shallower water into the deeper, slower pools. If they were I couldn...

  Leeches are fantastic for all freshwater species and this highly mobile pattern is no exception. I've tied this one for carp, but it works great as a bead head or balanced pattern for indicator fishing. 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. Materials List Hook: Kamasan B200 size 10-14 Thread: Black 8/0 uni Weight: 0.035 lead wire Tail: Marabou Body: Marabou & spectraflash dubbing mix Wing: Marabou Using the amazon links will help support the channel Amazon.com Orvis guide to Carp Flies https://amzn.to/3SPMX3K Orvis Guide to Carp Fishing https://amzn.to/3doWfDI Carp on the Fly https://amzn.to/3SYLb0u Renzetti vise: https://amzn.to/3NQuvEq Tiemco ceramic bobbin holder: https://amzn.to/3IkDOeP Renomed scissors: https://amzn.to/3NL5oCT Loctite gel: https://amzn.to/3OYmrCG Cement applicator: https://amzn...

  The Scruff is a super simple pattern that is a staple in my carp box. Tie it in natural tones, with a hot spot or, as I'm doing here, in all fluoro colours. The bright flies really come into their own in winter as the carp slow down and lose some visual acuity as the water drops towards freezing. 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. Materials List Hook: Owner C-5 size 4 or 6 (and short boilie hook) Thread: 6/0 to suit Weight: Bead chain or dumbbells Tail: Marabou Body: Long fibre dubbing like seal fur, well scrubbed out Using the amazon links will help support the channel Amazon.com Orvis guide to Carp Flies https://amzn.to/3SPMX3K Orvis Guide to Carp Fishing https://amzn.to/3doWfDI Carp on the Fly https://amzn.to/3SYLb0u Renzetti vise: https://amzn.to/3NQuvEq Tiemco ceramic bobbin holder: https://amzn.to...

  The second part of conversation with Bernt Johansson covering flycasting sport, fishing and the World Championships.

Another oldie from www.sexyloops.com   Aside from getting the last of my wet wading chasing smallies, I've been tying a load of tarpon flies for a friend recently, he fishes for tarpon quite a lot around the Yucatan. I'm jealous, I'd love to get back down there, but it certainly won't be a possibility for at least three years I reckon. Something I like about tarpon patterns is how simple they are, well most of them anyway. Keys style flies, ideal for clear water fishing are essentially just a hook, thread and a few feathers. Yes you can tie and fish more complicated patterns, but there's something elegant about the simplicity of these patterns that really appeals to me. They appeal to tarpon too, among other species in both fresh and salt waters. I've always liked simple flies, even as a kid I found something more appealing in plan thread buzzers than cat's whiskers. When tying flies for myself, I like to try to keep tying time down. Trout flies I think 5 mi...

  After getting some requests, I'm sharing the fly I use for kurodai or black snapper/bream here in Japan. It's a very simple tie but it works a treat and I'm sure it'll work for bream and other species in different parts of the world. 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. Materials List Hook: Gamakatsu chinu ring eye size 6 Weight: XS or micro lead dumbbell eyes Thread: Fluo fire orange 140 Tail: Craft fur Fash: Fluo orange crystal flash Body: Dubbed Craft fur Legs: Tan Spanflex Weed guar: 20lb hard mono Amazon.com Renzetti vise: https://amzn.to/3NQuvEq Tiemco ceramic bobbin holder: https://amzn.to/3IkDOeP Renomed scissors: https://amzn.to/3NL5oCT Loctite gel: https://amzn.to/3OYmrCG Cement applicator: https://amzn.to/3OT4ENx