Flicking feathers

  The Maruta, or pacific redfin, is a sea-run member of the dace family that return to Japan's rivers in early spring to spawn. They can be caught on nymphs and streamers for the weeks around cherry blossom time, and if you can find large schools of them they can be quite easy to catch at times. BOTM 7 The practical angler is available here: https://amzn.to/3kLyBSW Amazon UK https://amzn.to/3EZxneY Amazon.com

  Another old one from Sexyloops (Feb 2020) Some of you might remember that I decided to limit myself to fishing only traditional bucktail streamers for smallmouth bass last season. Well that season is definitely over and I'm getting ready for the 2020 smallmouth fishing to kick off soon, without the limitations of last year.  It should be obvious that this wasn't about finding out if the old streamers still work. Of course they do! Although I hear myself and others say it often enough that I have to wonder who we're trying to convince. I actually caught more smallmouth bass last season than I ever have, probably because I spent more time on them than I ever have before rather than some X factor inherent in the  bucktails.  Looking back at my notes, I do think that the experiment cost me some fish. The practical size limitation of the flies was the most common issue, it's just not feasible to tie a silver outcast 20cm long for bass that are keyed in on large ayu. Eve...

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 w...

Step by step instructions for a simple but effective subsurface bass fly. I've designed this fly to be a quick and simple tie, try them in various colors and sizes to suit the waters you're fishing for large mouth, small mouth and others.  Materials Used Hook: Tiemco 200R size 4-10 Thread: Danville's flat waxed nylon Weed guard: 20lb Mono Weight: dumbells to painted to match color scheme Tail: marabou, 2 colors Flash: Sybai new sparkle Hair Body: rear 2/3 Sybai spectra flash dubbing front 1/3 SLF Collar: Silicon legs

Detailed instructions for a simple little crayfish imitation that I've developed over the last year or two, it's a quick easy tie and well worth a place in your fly box. Try it for bass, carp and others. Materials Used Hook: TMC 200R size 4-8 Thread: 6/0 Weight. 0.035 Lead wire Tail: Rabbit zonker Body: Blend of Sybai SLF and spectra flash dubbing Rib: Medium wire Legs: Medium round rubber

Guerilla Bug Detailed instructions for a tasty little surface pattern from Australia.  The Guerilla bug is  a pretty snag proof little surface fly that works well for bass, panfish,  mangrove jacks and bream among others.  Tie some up and give them a try  in your local woodpile. Materials Used Hook: Gamakatsu B10S Thread: Flat waxed nylon Tail: Marabou Flash: Sparkle Hair Body: Spectraflash dubbing Rib: 12-15lb Nylon Head: Foam Spider body Legs: Sili legs

I've added a series of videos on deer hair work. The first one looks at the tools you'll need if you want to start tying deer hair bugs.

Busy Summer Well I've had a super busy summer so not much time to write on here, especially when instagram and twitter are so quick.  Poor substitute I know, but there's been a lot going on.  First thing is  I got an article published in the North Forty E-magazine which you can read here HERE  it's an introduction to Fly fishing for carp  with a Japanese twist. Really happy with it and hoping to have some more articles in other publications soon I've also just made Flicking feathers into an actual business, doing fly tying demos, teaching and selling custom flies which is going pretty well, but it's keeping me busy all the time.. keep your eyes peeled for a webshop coming soon-hoping to have some logo printed technical shirts and the like as well as fly tying stuff. Fishing Not been out as much as I'd like, but then I never do fish as much as I'd like.  Between work, Youtube and tying I've only managed about 1 trip a week, mostly for river ...