back in the cave

holy mother of god

ok so this is not fly caught but its such an awesome creature i just had to share this record breaking fish ive caught these fish to mid 20s in the Persian gulf so i know how hard they fight, truly an amazing predator thanks to international fishing news for the story 

Canadian angler Christian Loranger was trolling along the sharp drop-offs surrounding Christmas Island on September 23, 2012, when his musky plug was inhaled by a massive fish that tested both his tackle and wits for nearly two hours. A 39.55 kg (87 lb 3 oz) great barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda), and potential new All-Tackle record, was the result of Loranger’s two hour battle. The current IGFA record for this toothy species stands at 38.55 kg (85 lb 0 oz).

THE PIKESABER STRIKES BACK

ok so ive had these rods for nearly 3 years now and ive still to be convinced to change to it something else , you know i got slatted by another pike blog at the it time a mr know it all who said basically how can you tell what its like and give it a glowing review after using just a few times well heres the original review this http://mcfluffchucker.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/pikesaber-review.html

now i went on after the ice had melted to catch a shed load of fish on it (he must off missed those blog posts) and to this day its still going great , now the thing is im not mr technical im not going to give you a load of garbage about how the rod is made from the latest award winning material found on mars or the fact that it has a snazzy name and is a flys ball weight lighter than the model they put out 3 weeks ago , no thats not what im about i use what i like and if it aint broken well it dont need fixed .

ive been doing this long enough to know a good product i knew as soon as i got it out the tube and i still stand by that original review and the fact that im still using the things a little over 3 years later should speak volumes and below is a couple of very well known faces who also use them 

legendary muskie hunter and record holder brad bohen from http://www.muskycountryoutfitters.com uses them and features in his dvd 

vermont legendary guide drew price (yes he was on the telly with jeremy wade) also praises them highly heres his review http://dponthefly.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/pike-saber.html

 and course the man with the green skin vermont fly guys legend ken capsey never goes out 

on the big lake without his .

but you know its all down to personal choice what one guy likes another may not but im still loving it hey if you don't dig it that's cool but at least give it a try and don't knock a product till you've tried it ...........

life goes on 

ive had a real clusterfeck of a week this week to be honest im heading to turkey soon on a family holiday and my wife insisted i take a couple of fly rods ( how cool is she) i have already scoped out every bit of info i can find about the place im going so im looking to some mini species on the 3wgt ......but i digress somewhat 

my planned trip this week was scuppered due to my son not having the correct birth certificate for his first passport so i had to get the first appointment i could which was at 4.50pm the day before my wife had to go through to the passport office in Glasgow on the Friday to hand in the documents we got it done and the wife and kids should have them next week and if they don't well hell im still going fishing ..........(the saga of the documentation has been shortened greatly but it was somewhat stressful)

a massive shout out goes out to my boat partner the destroyer 

for being so cool about the whole thing next week pal

a little time on my hands

hit the vice for a couple of hours in between visits to various government offices of course so heres what came out of the cave 

small 3 inch bucktail baitfish with deercreeks new eyes epoxied heads , a very simple little fly but really quite devestating this one in a classic red / white combo with a little flash on the sides or top

and another favorite off mine an olive green with just a couple of chartreuse bucktail in the middle and a white belly topped with a lateral line of gold magnum flashbou , deadly and will catch anything that swims in fresh or salt water ........i feel a video coming on 

stop press

*today the 10th june i took up some red and white samples to a friend of mine and bugger me he sent me a text saying he tried one and caught 5 pike and 2 trout in 20 mins one of the fish took it as it hit the surface ...............well id call that a result 

i also had time to start getting a customer order together for his trip to lake of the woods for muskies, all he wants is topwater stuff more than happy to oblige on that one subbugs can take a while to make but i always get an immense hell yea feeling when ive done one they just rock , this one is 9 inchs of fast food for greens 

the head is really wheres it at with subbugs and the use of epoxy and heavy eyes is what give it the deadly action it has 

of course you really need a good pair of very sharp scissors to trim the heads , there are folks that use razor blades for trimming hair in fact i once bought a stonefly hair trimmer its was a curved bit of plastic that the blade fits into better than slicing your fingers open , myself i prefer to use scissors i find i have better control over the cut , but i think the blade would be really great for trout muddlers 

of course i do use blades as i have done for this monster muskie topwater fly you just cant cut big foam heads with scissors so i use a Stanley knife blade gets a good clean straight cut this fly really im going to do some smaller versions for pike soon these are killer

and an orange and yellow version with some gliss and glint in the back body , these flies are quite long at nine inches plus the material uses the action of the popper head to give the body a swaying motion and the back end witch also sink slowly when stopped a really great "action"fly 

you looking at me 

back in the cave and churning em out life is starting to get back to normal now and ive a few trips planned and projects on the go and im getting reports that one of my favorite saltwater spots is starting to produce so things are looking up could it be that summer is finally here .

big bad topwater musky annoyers job done 

a small review

ive seen advertised around lately dyed tip buckltail so i broke open my wife's credit card and ordered a couple just to see basically what they were like and they came in at a couple of pounds more expensive that normal bucktail , but the bucktail is actually really good quality so i didn't mind so much , im into small bucktail baitfish at the moment so i whipped up a couple of my favorites at the min , these are tied on 2/0 dai reki hooks

no heres the thing is it worth the extra money well actually no its not because although its a nice idea you could actually achieve the same thing with a permanent marker and the one thing i really didn't like was after i got it wet for the picture above the red stained my kitchen work top so id imagine it would do the same to a fly box or flies that were leaning against it in the box , not sure what the problem is but ill be keeping them well separate from other flies probably the last time ill buy it i think in future ill use permanent marker as this i know dosnt bleed .............

the musky wall of death

right the musky wall  is filling up nicely , i have a rather large order to do so id better get on with it ....later folks

mcfluffchucker

(a cave in scotland)