onwards and upwards

"The PIKESABER is the Pike Fly Rod that all others will be judged by. It has been specifically designed for the rigours of Pike Fly Fishing. It is made from the finest materials. From the bespoke and unique fighting butt, to the un-ground blank finish, everything has been thought of, and though about. It has now got approval from the Pike Fly Fishing Association" ,

some people just didn't get it what it was all about the ultimate pike fly rod you can quite understand there point of view something new comes onto the market making some bold claims but time is the best judge of a product and the pikesaber just goes from strength to strength and know the chaps have introduced some new fighting butts as well

PIKESABER - Black - 10 Weight 9'00" 4 Piece Specialist Pike Fly Rod


PIKESABER - Gunsmoke - 10 Weight 9'00" 4 Piece Specialist Pike Fly Rod

PIKESABER - New! Cork Butt - 10 Weight 9'00" 4 Piece Specialist Pike Fly Rod


PIKESABER - New! Duplon Butt model - 10 Weight 9'00" 4 Piece Pike Fly Rod

"The PIKESABER is the Pike Fly Rod that all others will be judged by".
That is the claim that we made for this rod when we unleashed it onto an unsuspecting market late last year. In the short time that it has been available, those claims have not only become reality, they have been surpassed.
The way that the rod has been received has been nothing short of amazing; to quote Brad Bohen, the "Afton Angler" and Musky King,
"The PIKESABER is now my all-time-favourite #1 Musky-Stick! I'm fully impressed with the full range of PIKESABER attributes....construction, cosmetics, performance - power, weight, loading, sensitivity, fish-handling you name it, it does it in spades!"
......... and this boy uses BIG flies


This rod has been designed by pike fly anglers FOR pike fly anglers, and this is evident in the look, the feel and the handling.

This pike fly rod is a delight to use. It is both light and strong and throws large pike flies with ease. The unground blank means that the rod is finished in an uncompromised, "as-manufactured" state, which retains maximum strength within the blank walls and ensures that all of the materials used in construction are doing their job properly. The spiral wrap is also unadulterated, which defies torsion building up within the blank, and so is the hard-baked resin outer coating, which maximises durability of the finish and length of life. No varnish to flake off!

To Quote Dave 'McFluffchucker' Lindsay -

"So all in all this rod has been very well thought out by pike fly anglers and they have come up with probably the best pike fly rod on the market at a great price. It really doesn't matter if you're looking for an entry level rod or stepping up to the next level this rod will be the only rod you will ever need, and at under 200 pounds UK this rod is far better than rods costing 4 times that much. I really cannot fault it in anyway , if you're a pike fly angler you really need to own one of these."

some top people who really know there stuff are praising this rod and you cant argue with that , the latest guide to feel the force is drew price from http://www.fieldandstream.com/ who is also praising the rod high praise indeed

but don't just think this is a pike and musky rod only it also makes a great carp fly rod and i used it for hauling gurglers through thick jungle for largemouth bass

if your somebody who chases big fish in either freshwater or saltwater then this is the rod for you

need to know more click the picture

tight lines and join the revolution

mcfluffchucker

(a cave in scotland)

the road to winter and outrageous in-laws

what a week its been this week i had a fairly busy week since Thursday , Friday i was called into work for a few hours and sat i started work at 12pm and finished Sunday morning at 7am which was a long shift but it pays for materials , unfortunately at this time on a Sunday morning i cant get a bus home i have to wait for an hour for the first bus to run so i nipped into McDonald's for a sausage ,cheese, and egg bagel which was pretty tasty or was it just that i was tired and i thought it tasted good mmmmmm not sure but it wasted some time before the bus came

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well i got home and had a couple of hours sleep before i had to head with the wife down to the coast of Edinburgh to my mother and father in laws ruby wedding anniversary which was being held in this beautiful and very old Dating from the 15Th Century (1441), the church is the oldest building in south Queensferry. and was built a full 50 years before America was discovered to give it some prospective

my in laws are really great people i love them all to bits unfortunately some daft sod suggested we all meet in the pub BEFORE the church service as you can see from the picture below the female members of the family were absolutely delighted about this yes these really are my wife's aunts and a cousin i can see where she gets it from now great day was had though

another bonus of Sunday was that while the customary pictures were being taken at a harbour close by i found a fantastic looking fishing spot which I'm going to be checking out soon although i feel i may have left it a bit late in the season but there may be a couple of species i can still chase from there with the fly i need to go tie up some clousers

breaking news

as we all know the lads from the development dept at piketrek are always on the look out for new products and i got this fantastic picture of uncle Greg testing out a new anti snoring device for those overnight trips where you share a car/tent with a buddy they put in 4 hours testing on this product driving around the derby bypass more updates as we have them .

THE ARTIST FORMALLY KNOWN AS KEN CAPSEY

ken is in the process of doing a prince and is changing his name so from this point on he will be known to all his Friends as LIMB you see it turns out that our brother limb has developed a new sport what you have to see how close you can cast a fly to a tree without it actually catching on a branch although from reports its seems like brother limb needs a lot more practice

on limbs blog the other day there was a fantastic step by step for a pickerel fly that incorporates a tandem rig well limb but the theory into practice and came up with pretty hot little pickerel pattern as you can see limbs fish puked up some of its lunch great photo limb

limb is getting well good with the camera theses days when i was over he showed me his cameras which was a small compact water proof camera and takes fantastic pictures even has a great big round float on it so if you drop it in the water it will float brilliant idea and some great shots like the pickerel below nice brother limb

limb with another fine pickerel caught from his secret pound i cant wait to get back across and have a couple of days after these great fighting little fish , i love the colour of the trees in the back ground winter is on its way



its crazy we all have a bit of a crazy past i think and we've all been somewhere maybe we shouldn't have or done things while we have had our beer glasses on this i think is a part of a learning curve of life but imagine if like limb below your walking across a field to you favorite fishing spot and you come across all your ex girlfriends in one place i think i too would be pulling a face like limbs


so another week starts and i have as usual a whole heap of stuff planned just depends on Scottish weather / wine drunk the night before / flies i need to tie etc etc etc so look forward to catching you all soon on what is without doubt the most random fly fishing blog out there

tight lines and see ya all in the week
mcfluffchucker
(a cave in Scotland)
out on a limb

Were all going down to the boneyard

Now the sticky subject of leaders always pops up now and again and it did just that last night when I was having a rather heated debate with one of those people who think they have been there and done that and it was always longer bigger more expensive than anything you’ve caught or own I really cant be arsed with that kind of person and your really just wasting your breath with them.

i lost the plot slightly with this Internet know it all


you see I've been there and done bought the t-shirt same with traces some guys have used wire leaders all there lives and I don’t have a problem with wire traces for leaders in fact I use them when I have to on venues that its in the rules but my preference is for 100lb fluorocarbons the reason for this is quite simple I was introduced to it through a friend many many years ago had the foresight to at least give it a try for a while and it did change the way I fished I caught and still catch a lot of fish and have never had a bite off yet ,

Steve sparton is somewhat of a legend in fly fishing and fly tying I've met him many a time in his factory near Nottingham when I used to go in to buy bulk bags of marabou Steve is the kind of guy that will call a spade a spade and he has upset a few people along the way but he was using American mason hard mono back in 92 pretty much at the birth of predator fly fishing in the UK and he’s been selling them for a good few years below is his ad from eBay although I don’t agree with everything Steve says in this advert he does make a bloody good product

one of Steve's leaders yesterday

Mr spartons eBay ad

“If you actually want to catch pike on a fly you will find in the end that a wire trace is pretty useless - it puts them and anything else that comes to look at your lure off ! It kinks and it sinks faster than you want it to and they can likely see the damned stuff as well as you can! This system actually works - the leader is 14" (like just over 30cms for the ill educated) and at one end is a size 7 swivel and at the other a size 7 spring link and swivel ! But instead of wire it is made out of American Mason Hard Nylon - and Pike cannot bite through it - we found the stuff fishing Snook in Florida and that was in 1992 just before Hurricane Andrew forced us to retreat to St Petersburg. We've used it for over 14 years and never lost a Pike on it - we also caught a whole load of Zander and Biggish Rainbows on it as well. It sinks the same speed as your leader and is clear so they can't see it ! You are bidding on a pack of 3”

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pike-Fly-Leader-Monofil-Clear-3-Traces-/110586962107?pt=UK_SportingGoods_FishingAcces_RL&hash=item19bf7f20bb

However I really wish he would change the bloody link on the swivel they really are shite I cut them off and stick on an American cross lock link instead far better ………

You can of course make your own leaders in fact it works out quite cheap search the blog and you’ll find a post about this I shan't go into it all again

HOOKS AWAY
As much an emotive subject for the fly tier as the materials that go on it I like a range of hooks for various fly patterns some guys have one hook that they swear by and that’s cool everyone to there own I've come across a couple of new patterns that I'm quite excited about the first is the ct 1 now I had a very similar hook some years ago but it was well to expensive 5 x 6/0 hooks was the same price I could get a 25 count of my favourite mustard's so I was delighted whilst going through a suppliers list of stuff he had these very hooks and at a fantastic price so looking forward to getting some meaty bait fish patterns on these ,



The ct 2
Another hook that I'm quite excited about is the hook below I think this will be quite cool for smaller baitfish , clousers etc so again it’s a hook I'm looking forward to trying out stay tuned

Getting the itch
As I write today there’s a chill in the air that chill is like a big slap in the face for me as my year so far has been OK nothing special but its going to get a whole lot better , this is because as I smell the coldness I know that the boat traffic on my local will be virtually stopped and the water will be less colored the roach will be getting nervous and the best thing is I will be able to fish all day without loads of boats going past ill also on the strength of last year get a least 3 month's fishing in before it freezes over and if last year is anything to go by then it will only be a week or so iced up a lot different to my friends in Vermont who really suffer in the winter ……………….

my local frozen

lake Champlain frozen a difference of 5ft thick ice ouch a little bit of a difference to my local

So plenty to look forward to in the coming weeks and months so stay tuned

Tight lines brothers and sisters
mcfluffchucker

fishy facts

Fishy Facts: The more sardines that are placed in a can, the greater the profit as sardine oil costs more than the sardines. don't ever say you never learn anything visiting this blog

something for the weekend sir

so still having a busy week tying flies for some Friends to try out on fall predators and something really cool is that a couple of fish made it onto the Vermont master angler programme which I'm quite chuffed about they should really have something like this in the UK any way click the link below to go take a look ,the fish wasn't harvested as it says it was set free to fight another day

http://www.vtfishandwildlife.com/masterangler_list.cfm

TULIP FABRIC PAINTS

OK I'm going to share a secret with ya now i used to use this quite a lot on flies especially foam ones for spots and stripes etc it comes in a massive range of colours and is really cheap and easy to use its like the consistency of porridge and can also be used to make your own eyes (ill do a step by step for this ) click the picture above to go check tulip out

so i was making some flies last night and decided i wanted a bit of a rubbery head on them them i remembered the tulip fabric paint so i dug out the box and even after a few years it was still usable so here's what i came up with luminous heads , I'm digging that its also worth a mention that competion trout anglers use this stuff to make flies like the one below

my flies tend to be slightly larger though

these flies I've worked the tulip into the head with my finger to spread it about a bit and have stuck the pike trek rubberized eyes on top the material I've used is piketreks pike body material
in fact as you can see I've used it in all the ties on this page

some flies will require a second coat but that's not a problem with tulip as you can put it on around the eye without worrying about it or you can add a different colour on top or even spots whatever you like the stuff being fabric paint is also waterproof so perfect for flies either for building heads or sticking on eyes , the only real down side i can find is that its best to leave it for 24 hours to fully dry but you don't need to put your flies on a rotary drier as i said before it doesn't drip

other things that are going down this week which I'm quite excited about is some new hooks I've got coming in to try so stay tuned

tight lines Friends and thanks for the ride

mcfluffchucker

(a cave in Scotland)

whos drew

i caused quite a stir with my Sunday piketrek preach yesterday all in a good way people got it and laughed along with us , one question did come up a few times and that was who is drew price

well i first came across drew last year when i was digging around for patterns for long nose gar for a client and i came across a picture of drew with a massive garfish caught on the fly nice i thought and thought no more of it then last year i found out that ken capsey also knew of him as a guide in Vermont since then I've found out that not only is he a top guide but a helluva nice guy and fly fishing all round maniac and drew really knows his stuff which why hes one of Vermont's top guides you don't get a reputation like drew has through bull i tell you

still not convinced about drew well the next thing we do is to look at Vermont's master angler programme which is all about catching specimen fish of various species drew has a staggering 28 entries to date click the picture above to go see (yours truly has a couple as well coming up) below you'll find just a few pictures of Drew's fish hes caught and all on the fly

muskie

monster brownie

this trout is a staggeringly beautiful fish just look at the colours on it you would think this came from a Scottish river and when trout grow this big they do it by not eating a strict diet of nymphs they will be chomping small fish so yes it is a predator

long nose gar

this fish was 46 inch's long a real garzilla and simply a stunning catch these fish are hard enough to catch at the best of times so to get one this size is quite simply a stunning achievement


common carp

i cant help laugh when i see Americans catching carp on the fly you see in the UK fish are named people go into mourning when they die have funerals and all sorts , you can pay thousands of pounds to join a syndicate to fish for them in America they are treated like any other sporting fish to be caught and thrown back in they are not rally highly prized in fact some people hunt them with bow and arrows can you imagine that in the UK .......

anyway fancy a few days chasing big carp on the fly its quite easy for a UK angler to do fly over get a hotel for a few days and drew will provide everything you need in the way of rods flys etc and he will take you out and catch you the carp of a lifetime and for a lot less that it would cost you to join a top syndicate over here i can tell you

bowfin

i had a couple of close encounters with bowfin when i was over there one was at 6.30 am when i was barefoot wading on sand up to my backside and a massive bow fin followed in a hooked white perch id caught i was standing staring at this fish which was staring right back at me not 6 feet away from me i actually thought i was going to lose a leg theres a reason they use boga grips on these there like a conger eel with the teeth of a great white very pleasant

common carp

another nice fly caught carp for drew , you know some people spend thousands of pounds on gear and bait and club / syndicate tickets to never catch a fish like this Drew's out there with nothing more that a canoe and a fly rod and getting fish like this booked your holidays yet chaps

freshwater drum

by all accounts quite hard fish to catch and one that ill be sticking on my list for next year along with those garfish

bowfining with drew

I'm looking forward to spending a couple of days with drew and ken next year if you cant wait then click the link below to go over and check some guiding out you wont be disappointed see you in may drew

i shall be MIA in the next week as i have quite a lot of stuff to do and I'm hoping to get a few days on the local fluff venue as there is a chill in the air the water is getting clearer and I SMELL PIKE so don't worry if you don't here from me ill be chucking flies

see ya at the weekend folks

mcfluffchucker

(a cave in scotland)

sunday service

Sunday sermon and on the seventh day Greg and Ben did create the pikesaber on this joyith day we say to you go forth with your saber onto your lakes , rivers , streams and brooks creative and castith merry hell with thy saber and catch bloodyith bigith lumps of pikeith ..............amen brothers and sisters

CHAPTER 2 THE BOOK OF DREW VERSE 1(drew pickeith up the pikesaber and rejoiced in its wonderoused lightness)

and drew price said unto picking up the pikesaber

All praise thy pikesabers! Let them chucketh big assed coneheads and hourglass eyes with ease! To put thee fly in the tightest of cover with ease and accuracy! Alloweth gargantuan flies to be flung great distances without biblical might! Le...teth the Esox faithful to picketh upeth the Pikesaber and send forth a mighty cast without making it feel like it is castingeth a wet gym sock with a pool cue! Alloweth thy users to quickly subdue and releaseth both hammer handles and great beasts with minimal effort!

Let all Pike and Musky and Predator peoples know the names of Greg and Ben for their wonderous creation- the PIKESABER!!!!

and he went forth and gotith the money shot

Oh I do wisheth I had a Saber in my canoe today!
(one day he will return in the form of ups man and deliver unto me one)

BOOK OF MCFLUFFCHUCKEREITH (NEW VERSION)
i wisheith i was back in the statesith chucking flyith from thou canoeith and hearith endith the lesson and may we have compassion on the saberless ..............

oh how we did test it to the limiteith

and on the 8th day our messiah uncle gregith along with his foot washer and sausage maker scalsey did descend from derby to giveith the final lesson on the watereith and give thanks to those enlightened ones who know the true meaning of the pikesaber

i bring to you all on this hallowed water a pikesaber so all men may fish equal

FROM THE BOOK OF ALWAYS THE LAST WORD CAPSEYEITH

I loveth thy saberith!!

and with that we all pissoffith down to the watereith and merrily chuckeith our fluffeith

AMEN BROTHERS AND SISTERS AND VERMONTERS

now go and spread into the wind like a wondrous wet fart and spred the word of pikesaber for the ultimate creation is amongst us

fire-fly fibre

had a chance today to get my head around some more fire-fly fibre from pike trek so decided to make up a few big pike / muskie flies for no other reason than it needed to be done and I'm quite into tying with it just now and I'm tying things a bit different with the synthetic fibre these days I'm tying using even less materials than I've ever used before and I'm getting a better fly every time

the new technique I'm using simply involves using the thickness of a pencil lead lengths of fire-fly fibre this means you can tie a very long fly with virtually no weight , in the fly above and below I've also Incorporated a pike trek rattle this is set behind the eye if you look carefully you see I've tied in some orange body material in short thick clumps just behind the eye and covering the rattle on top of this I've hollow tied some strips of fire-fibre again very thin pieces what this does is create a nice contrast on the head as you can see right though it so it creates a kind of hot head fly i love it , I've also enhanced the fly with a touch of orange sharpie pen hey presto a banging pike / muskie fly well i think any way but ill be doing a step by step for this next week so get you stuff ordered

a couple of perchy patterns using the fire-fly fibre many thanks to nick at www,deercreek.co.uk for the gator eyes

from piketreks website

If you are thinking that this looks just like the most popular fibre on the market, then you'd be correct; it's one and the same! We have been trying to get hold of this stuff at reasonable cost for a while now, and we have at last managed to do a deal direct with the manufacturer. This cuts out the wholesaler and affords us the opportunity to offer it to you at a hitherto impossible price!
Extremely well-known and available under a few different names, we offer "Fire-Fly" in 11" long hanks in a wide range of colours, and at a sensible cost. If there is only one material in your armoury, then this HAS to be it! Quite simply superb!
Brilliant for all "baitfish"-type patterns and all those other flies that demand a material that is not only strong and durable, but holds very little water and casts beautifully.
Very fluffy and bulky once tied-in, and an absolute pleasure to use, taking up very little space on the hook shank.
Eminently suitable for all tying styles, with nice strong colours and excellent mobility in the water.
THE BEST VALUE AVAILABLE ..............ANYWHERE!!!!!!!!!
GET MORE FLUFF FOR THE CASH!...... BUY AT PIKETREK!
SAVE APPROXIMATELY 50% ON SHOP PRICES!!!!

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and they ain't kidding

mcfluffchucker

(a cave in Scotland)

yesterday in my great city of edinburgh we had the pope arrive so as he was here and as he passed the end of my road he came round for a jam



hey sorry if i offended anyone but you know even his his holyness needs some down time

normal service will return later

piketrek muskie munchers

monster flies for big predators

these days if you look around on the net there is a massive variety of fly tying company's out there all desperate to take a dollar off you some off these company's don't have a massive range for the predator fly angler some indeed may only stock one or two items others more , this is why i always bang on about piketrek they are a small company with a lot of knowledge on pike and predator fishing and have been pike fishing for a lot of years so they know what to look for in a product , and they don't just buy and sell any product they actually test stuff to destruction before it goes on there website

so where do i come in well ill tell you i come in nowhere I'm not employed by them , i don't endorse stuff on my stuff for money and never would I've had offers before from company's but always turned them down preferring to keep and open and honest opinion on stuff that I'm sent to review and if its good ill write about it if its not ill say so simple

piketrek send me the odd packet of material or 3 to try and to be honest being on a limited budget is a god send so when i got a bag of new material to play with i was happy to do so , so whats chamaeleon fibre all about well its not the same as other ep type fibres out there in fact if you look at it closely you ll see that it has a crinkle running down the whole length of the individual fibre and it ties big flies very well and it sits better than ep when tying big 10 in flies

you can find more info on the chamaeleon range here

all the flies below are tied with piketrek products unless stated otherwise the hooks are eagle claw heavy duty 5/0 also available from the piketrek lads

so get on over to piketrek and see what they got on offer you'll be pleasantly surprised great value big packs everything the predator fly angler could want

see ya all soon

mcfluffchucker

(a cave in Scotland)