Flicking feathers

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 a...

 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 ti...

Another old one from Sexy loops For various reasons not been fishing for almost a month.  I've made it out for some lawn casting, but as this year's rainy season has already dragged on weeks longer than is normal and the rivers are blown, I'm developing acute cabin fever, and am much less keen on the season than I used to be.  Luckily its already sunny in Okinawa and I'm heading down there on Sunday for some DIY flats fishing. I've been to the island I'm visiting 3 times so far but this is my first mid summer trip.  There are no guides but as this island is more remote than most, the inshore fishery is not as depleted as that in much of the rest of Japan. I'm going with high hopes, I've always seen a lot of triggerfish there, although the reef structure makes converting hooked fish to landed fish somewhat tricky to say the least. We've also started to work out where the GTs are so there's a decent chance of one of them along with the bluefins, ye...

Heading back to Okinawa in search of triggerfish and GTs, I'm tying up some reach around crabs as they seemed to be the most effective pattern on the local triggers with several eats resulting in destroyed flies but none landed. This trip I'm using different hooks and hoping for better results. Step by step instructions for the "Reach Around" Crab.  I believe this pattern originates from the guys at Fly Castaway and is a very effective pattern for trigger fish and others.  It's thin, compact and quite easy casting which makes it great on windier days too. follow me on twitter or instagram @flickinfeathers for more fishing content https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5456726 Materials Used Hook: SL11-3H Gamakatsu Thread: Any Keel: tungsten beads on 20lb mono Flash: UV flash Claws: cock hackle Mouth parts: Cock hackle Legs: rubber legs Body: Velcro cut to shape Glue: 5 minute epoxy Weed guard: 20lb Mono

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 tr...