Flicking feathers

 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 Here's another from Sexy Loops I like tying flies, I like seeing nice flies tied by other people which social media is great for. However I am not so enamoured about the number of people who proudly declare that their flies catch fish, not fishermen. It's an attitude that worries me and I'm sure that it's not isolated to flytying -what percentage of fly anglers actually practise casting? Often, when I run a tying class on trout flies I have to make the point that scruffy and buggy doesn't mean badly tied.  Practising and improving will allow the tier to make the decision about how rough-or not- the fly on their vice is going to be.   Obviously there are other advantages to being able to tie more than your shoe laces, not least consistency. If I tie 10 or 100 of the same pattern I want them all to look exactly the

  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. Here's another old one I wrote for sexyloops Golden Oldies I've recently been spending a lot of time looking through old tying and fishing books which has been thoroughly enjoyable.  One think it's made me do is start thinking about older fly patterns and how the profiles and materials have changed.   I like a lot of aspects of the old school streamer patterns, not least the simplicity of many of them.  Although many old flies like the Mickey Finn have fallen from favour with most anglers nowadays they still work.  The problem I think, is that they don't look as natural in form as some more modern patterns and don't have the modern mobile materials that have replaced bucktail for many.  The first one I think is a legitimate  issue with these flies , stacked wings, clean cut tails and prominent black thread head

 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 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

  The peeping caddis needs no introduction, here I've tied my version using an instajig or offset tungsten bead which gives a hook up presentation but allows you to use a longer hook shank than a typical jig hook and slotted bead, which I think gives a better cased caddis. 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: 1x or 2x long nymph hook (I used TMC 3761) Weight: Offset tungsten bead Thread: Rusty dun 8/0 Uni Peeping grub: Fl chartreuse ice dub Legs: Partridge or hen hackle fibers Case: Natural hare's ear or similar

  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

An early article of mine from sexyloops.com "How do I get better at tying flies?" Practise! Probably the most common question I get asked when tying at club nights, shows or through the YouTube channel.  Unfortunately, my answer is rarely what the questioner is looking for.  There aren't really any shortcuts-you need to practise, pay attention to what you're practising and be critical of your work. "But I tie lots of flies, I'm practising all the time!"  That's not really practising. If you really want to improve something in your tying work on that. When I started learning to tie flies and I wanted to learn a technique, say slip wings for dries or elk hair caddis wings, I would tie sets of wings down a long shank 8, cut them off and start again until I was happy they were all good enough. Then I'd tie some split wing dries for my box and they'd all be good enough.  There are any number of videos and images around the internet for you to use

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

Step by step instructions for Moore's Agent Orange bonefish fly.  Although it may seem a bit simple by modern standards it is reputedly a killer in the Yucatan and Belize. To enter the giveaways and get access to members only content head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers and support the channel. Materials Hook: SL11-3H size 4-8 or equivalent Thread: FL orange flat waxed nylon Body:  Orange chenille Wing: Orange craft fur flanked with 2 grizzly hackle tips

The Francis is truly one of the most effective salmon flies. Tie them on tiny hooks to large tubes, they all work. To enter the giveaways  and support the channel head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers and become a patron Materials Used Tube: 1 inch copper Thread: 8/0 uni Tail: Calf tail Feelers: Stripped hackle stems Hackle: Red game Body: Red wool Rib: oval gold

The General Practitioner has fallen from favour a bit in recent years but is still well worth a place in your box. To enter the giveaways head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers and become a patron Materials list Hook: Single, double or treble of your choice Thread: 8/0 uni fire orange Tag: Oval gold tinsel Tail: orange bucktail,          pig bristle (optinal),         orange crystal flash (optional)        golden pheasant tippet        golden pheasant breast feather. Body: Hot orange seal fur Rib: Oval gold tinsel Hackle: Orange chinese cock hackle Wings: Golden pheasant tippet with a red breast feather over

Step by step instructions for Barr's Meat Whistle, an excellent bass fly that fills the niche of the conventional anlger's jig for the fly fisherman. https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers Twitter/instagram @flickinfeathers https://www.facebook.com/Thefeatherflicker/ Materials List Hook: 90 degree jig hook Weight: tungsten cone Thread: 8/0 Body: sparkle braid or similar Rib: nylon or wire Wing/tail: Rabbit zonker Flash: Flashabou Legs: silli legs in a contrasting colour Collar: marabou

It's getting to be rainy season here in Tokyo, which means overcast to heavily cloudy days, warm stable weather and plenty of water to keep the rivers nicely topped up.  I love this time of year in Japan because the freshwater fishing is excellent.  As the humidity started ramping up I  decided to visit a river I had been leaving alone after some major construction work had ruined large sections about 3 years ago. I am glad I did!  As it always does, nature had taken its course and  the floods of the last few rainy seasons had carved out new pools where there had been flat canalised sections, the weedgrowth and insect life had recovered. I found the river teeming with life, huge shoals of this year's fry, minnows and dace were in the shallows with bass, carp and barbel capitalising on this protein rich buffet. Most of the time, I sight fish the rivers around here as they are so clear and I would rather see 3 fish eat then catch 10 blind casting.  But I wanted to move quite q

step by step instructions for the Polar Magnus coatal seatrout fly. https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers Materials list Hook: Your choice of saltwater safe hook (I used a gamakatsu B10S but ahrex or partridge are also very good) Thread: Red 6/0 Eyes: bead chain Tail: Grizzly marabou Rib :5lb Mono Body: Pearl angel dubbing/ Ice dubb or similar Body hackle: Grizzly cock hackle  Throat hackle: Fl. magenta cock hackle Head:(optional) Hare-e ice dub in grey or body dubbing