greetings from the cave

hello from the cave 

whats been happening , well to be honest not a lot on the fishing front afraid have just been too busy to actually go out and fish , and my planned fish last week was put on hold due to me waking up and feeling like rubbish (?time of year for coughs and colds) but i have been busy with a ton of other stuff though and folks have been out catching some big ol girls on my flies which is great 

so top angling to jordan and ben 

jordan catches a bloody lot of fish on my flies but takes ages sending the pictures as hes never in lol 

and ben jammin had this beautiful urban trout on one of my bucktail baitfish swung down a shallow stream ,again top angling fella 

and peter damen with a beautiful dutch pike on one of my streamers (available from http://www.1000vliegen.nl/flies/mcfluffchucker-snoek-streamers.html )

so somewhat busy , i have also been working on my new website for flies and some materials , this has taken me quite sometime and is an ongoing labour of love and a big thanks to all who have bought stuff so on there so far .

now i have to say this isnt a get rich quick big i am thing , those who know me will know that i shy away from all the pro team stuff  and really just do it for the love , and well to be honest it pays for materials as i have no sponsorship by anyone , which is why i can also offer unbiased reviews of materials and the like and to be honest its nice just to have it all in one place rather than have to write hundreds  of messages i can just send a link 

so if you want to check it out you can find it here 

https://www.spanglefish.com/mcfluffchuckerflies/

ive been adding some pretty cool stuff and am updating as often as i can , you can find updates in the news section on the website so it saves you having to go through loads of pages 

predator wool

 ok so this wool is really nice for making small to medium sized baitfish flies , i like this as the material in the water is very mobile and depending on how much you use you can get some great profiles .

the 2 flies above are very fast to make and look great , folks have been having fun with these on canals and smaller venues and the big trout also love em 

short video below on tying them sorry about the shaky start still playing with new video software 

i always find it quite funny that folks in this country haven't yet really taken up swinging lager flies for big browns definitely missing a trick there  , personally i love em great for the mobile angler as well as you can get quite a few in a box .

furry worms

still really enjoying making the stoner wormz and ive now found a material to make furry wormz these look great and can be tied in loads of sizes , the mind boogles 

ive also been working alongside a great uk company called sea booms and have been enjoying making jig flies on the jig heads i still have a load to do but the first ones out the vice are looking great 

if your interested in jigheads or sea fishing stuff you can find the website here and have to say the heads and hooks are really great quality here is the link

http://www.seabooms.com/

stay tuned on this one as ive lots more to do 

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cave life  flies

hot core tied with a raspberry core 

slim baitfish , custom blended with some gold flash 

plain roach pattern with a little pearl flashbou in the belly 

roach pattern with a raspberry core and a little pearl flashabou 

basic wool baitfish on a 2/0 with a little crystal flash

baitfish on a circle hook (controversial)

pink baitfish on a circle hook 

black flies , you gotta love em i just tied up a load with different flash worked through , these are also very popular for people on lure rods as they can easily be fished with cherabuska heads  , as it dosnt really matter which way they sit up .

off course all available  on the website

https://www.spanglefish.com/mcfluffchuckerflies/ 

social media blues

 you know social media can be your friend or your worst enemy i have accounts on most of them but dear god facebook is certainly the worst for keyboard warriors and opinionated knobheads , the times ive seen some poor chap on a species dedicated page like trout , pike , perch etc and then get absolutely hammered by the fish police , you know the ones incorrect handling , incorrect way of fishing etc etc etc Jesus christ we were all beginners once , how about giving people advice rater than tearing into them for something they may not be aware of as they are new to fishing .

then you get that guy you know the one , your in a group and the only time he posts is when somebody puts up a nice pic of a fish they have caught .

where abouts is that mate (mate ? i dont even know you ) he always pops up on those pictures and if hes lucky enough to get a location he will want the time of day , the bait , the water temperature, breaking strain of line ffs just get out there and fish , learn watercraft , i dont mind helping folks out with a rough area and they can work it out themselves but jesus these guys do my head in , probably the same guys who are all over the internet come summer asking if the mackerel are in . does my head in .

but then on the flip side i have made some wonderful pals on facebook and especially since the Edinburgh anglers page started which was a page for local guys to hook up (sounds like grinder) and fish together and been able to help some folks out as well so some positives.

edinburgh anglers day out 

but i think the only negative really is that i think that blogs have suffered as a result of facebook groups which is pretty instantaneous  i have some blogs in the side menu that haven't been updated in a few years and this is a shame as they were fantastic , but i leave them there in the menu in the hope that one day they guys doing them will come back , as i see a lot of these guys still kicking around on social media sites and the the folks that are still doing them , cheers and thanks for the effort

COME ON GUYS UPDATE YOUR BLOGS WE MISS READING THEM 

small streamer funk 

i love fishing and tying small streamers , infact i get great enjoyment tying these little smallie snacks (although more trout and saltwater in this country) i just love the way they look and indeed have tons of the things in my boxes 

the problem i have is that the bucktail in this country is awful in my opinion i always struggle with finding decent bucktail , the best ive discovered so far is either orvis or veinyards  but they can be hit and miss , it would be really nice to have a regular supply i could rely on , and in fact one of the reasons there isnt a lot of buttails flies on my website as i can find consistency in them  

although not saying they dont work , indeed they do but i guess im a perfectionist 

THE KC FACTOR

without a doubt the main man for tying small streamers is brother ken from 812flyworks on instagram he actually really has a magic tough when it comes to these streamers and is a constant source of inspiration , ive seen first hand the tails he uses are superb , and of course brother ken hunts his own materials as well and is highly skilled in bow hunting 

last time i was over he showed me some of the spots up trees he hunts from which was quite cool , i guess next time im over ill be raiding his freezer for tails 

one of ken streamers he really nails the heads 

 ive spoken with ken in depth about how he tyes them and ive picked up a few tips which may help me , but finding the perfect tail is the key so watch this space but if you know somebody in the uk who can supply decent bucktail please mail me .

so what else is going down , well pretty much fly tying and sorting my cave , im planning on a return trip to vermont in the summer chasing largemouths and floating down rivers with brother ken and hopefully a catch up and fish with brother dan as well , actually really miss being there but words cant explain a connection to a fishing valhallah ill just leave this video here , those who know will know 

tight lines folks

and be good to yourselves 

hello world from the cave

BEEN A WHILE

ok so whats been happening , well quite a lot since January although not much on the fishing front as i have started a new job which consists of working 12 hour night shifts which to be honest gets in the way a little to be getting out chucking fluff around  but hey got to pay the bills and sadly my father passed away so had a lot to deal with there also so aint been easy .

but i have been also very busy in the back ground tying flies for shops around the globe and private orders from folks who incidentally are getting out and catching fish  pictures you will find further down this massive ramble but bear with me .

also i decided that it was time to have a proper (of sorts) website to sell my flies through rather than just off the blog and some predator tying materials so if you click the banner above it will take you there , now this isnt some site to make buckets of cash and have exotic holidays , far from it , its a site where i can keep everything in one place and direct enquires to the website , ultimately what it does is help me buy materials and the odd takeaway , so this has taken a while to do .

the website is an ongoing monster that ill be adding to very regularly with new patterns and fly packs for anglers around the globe so please keep checking back on it , updates will be in the news section at the top of the website page . so thanks in advance for taking a look

also the site isnt just predator flies it covers predator , saltwater , coarse and carp flies and also cover jig flies you can use on lure rods , and my fast growing stoner wormz  but more about that later .  

been fishing
so my fishing trips have been few and far between and pretty much limited to a few hour sessions very local and mostly saltwater

i started the year of with a trip with kireen to the lake of menteith which was somewhat blustery and we wernt sure if we would get out , but we decided that as we were already here we may as well , long and short of it was that we survived rain storms and wind and searched all over my favourite spots but the pike were unwilling to play ball today but i ended up with a solitary rainbow trout for our efforts but its a stunning place to fish and i always enjoy fishing there 

i spent a nice few hours fishing around newhaven in the early morning as the sun came up looking for flounders but nothing was obliging but it was nice to be out .

i also spent a nice morning with ben from Edinburgh anglers on the local canal chasing down pike and perch

i have been field testing a load of new jig flies that ive been working on furiously to be used on lrf rods now these certianly look the part and fish very well , so we spent a few hours dropping in next to boats on the crystal clear canal and we saw a lot of pike as well as tons of roach and lots of perch 

we only managed one little jack each but it kinda proved that the jigs work and to be honest it was a ball breaker of a morning with bright sunshine so not the best of conditions but the bonus is that there is a lovely little coffee barge that opens quite early so nice to sit and have a chat and a coffee , ben had an appointment late morning so the session was quite short but i actually really enjoyed it and great company and it was also great to see pike sitting midwater and try to get them to attack our jigs but they were not having it  but like i said great fun.

 granton breakwater 

granton breakwater is a much loved local fishing spot and actually a decent venue and really good to fly fish from , unfortunately it also brings out the utter idiots in summertime who think it totally acceptable to leave all there rubbish . beer bottles and associated crap all over the breakwater .

seriously i really dont know what is wrong with these people and sooner or later they are going to get the place closed down to anglers , come on people take your crap home , i have to say on a footnote that the edinburgh anglers guys regularly remove rubbish when they go down there but it really boils my piss that they have too . so just clean up after yourselves 

so when i fish the salt i usually take just a small amount of stuff in a small rucksack so i can stay mobile and i tend to use small flies also as i find this to be the most productive so pretty much all sandeel type patterns and small clousers , i also take some bigger streamers in size 4/0 should i want to live dangerously and fish in amoungst the kelp for the cod and wrasse 

the wind this afternoon was coming from my back which made casting very much a pleasure , i tend to use an intermediate line and i have been using the airflo cold water line in a 9wgt along with a bluetooth nano which i have to say is the best combo ive ever used , hell that rig seriously fires the flies out .

so as i said i like to use an intermediate line simply for the fact that i can search a lot of water depths with it and unless im fishing really shallow or ultra deep then this is the choice of line i always use and as i said when ive been using clousers it really does fire a lot of line out , very happy

so i fished in total about 3 hours which consisted of an hour before and after high tide i found that after the tide started dropping it was ripping the line away to fast so couldn't really make a good presentation and if i was at the spot i wanted to be at i could have fished longer but there was a couple of fellas there so that stuffed that up .......oh well 

i really only had one vicious hit which from the feel of it i think was a sea trout which are bloody notorious for throwing the hooks in the salt , mabey next time , but im going to fish it again on an early morning tide when theirs nobody around  and i can pick my spots 

COD LIFE 

i have a little spot 10 mins walk away that i like to fish if i have a few hours , unfortunately fly fishing is not an option there so i had to invest in a lrf outfit just for some sport in this deepwater mark and to be honest ive really enjoyed it , i fish ultra light with 6lb braid and pencil thin ultra light rods so even the smallest of cod are buckets of fun .

drop shot cod on a drop shot fly 

this outfit is also fantastic for fishing my epoxy jig flies and stoner worms but i guess im pushing the boundaries of actual fly fishing , but needs must and im having fun which what its all about i suppose    

IMAGES FROM THE CAVE

re stocking for long days and evenings in the cave 

the cave , my place of  sanctuary far away from the stress of modern life and where i spend a lot of my time . i have now rigged up a tablet and soundbar so now i can listen to tunes while i tye and invent , and as ive said i do spend a lot of time tying up orders and sometimes stores require 10 of each pattern so it good to have a comfortable space to work in \

the flies i tye commercially are pretty much exclusive to the the places i tye for so you wont find those on the website but if you click the lick here for Europe  youll find exclusive patterns through mark at http://www.1000vliegen.nl/flies/mcfluffchucker-snoek-streamers.html   so go check him out

i have recently become a complete convert to dyckers fiber  over ep fiber i have found there fiber to be far superior to ep both in cost and amount of material in a pack and it makes stunning flies and also what has always been a major headache to me availability of colours so if you tye with ep fiber i seriously suggest that you give this a try , you will not be disappointed       

just another day in the cave 

another load of flies heading out to a shop , seriously i cannot stand the larger companys who get there flies made in bloody africa , if you want great quality flies from people who actually fish for the species they tye for the have a look around on the likes of facebook fly fishing groups and ask for somebody to make them for you rather than expensive crap made in kenya support your local tiers people , i mean where do you think these company's get there ideas .

my cave is a very well thought out space , although it may not look it , i have every thing i need to hand without getting of my seat and thats pretty important especially if your doing a lot of flies no kitchen table for this guy , but not everybody has the luxury of a dedicated space and ill be ever thankful to my wonderful mrs for donating this space , she knows how to keep me happy 

well a year or so ago i bought some amazing scissors from deercreek and they have finally given up the ghost after  much abuse and have become a little blunt so ill need to see if i can get them re sharpened somewhere as they have really been a workhorse for me for synthetics and bucktail , best ive ever owned so if your in the market for some great shears then heres the link 

https://www.deercreek.co.uk/tools

i have now also started making my own pike brushes , ive been experimenting quite a lot with these and im really happy with the results if you want to see whats on offer here is the link , i shall also be adding to the range so please keep checking it out 

metalheadz pike brushes  

another day in paradise making big pike fluff with dyckers fiber 

STONER WORMZ

ok what are stoner wormz, well i originally got the idea from my last trip over to see brother ken capsey (pike picker) who showed me a rather cool bass fly and straight away i couldn't help but think how i could change it a bit for fishing not only on fly rods but i though how cool they would be if i could make them to be cast on lure rods so i played around a bit and came up with a desighn i was happy with and would incorporate everything a fishing lure needed , it needed to be attractive and annoying enough  that predators would hit it with gusto but also have the finesse of movement when fished very slowly and im so happy with what its become and theres plenty of catches being made on these .

now not only on fly and lure rods butt guys deep sea fishing have been slaying cod and pollock from boats on these fished both eddystone eel style on a long flowing trace and fishing them 3 on a trace straight over the side so yes they work and im coming up with new designs all the time on these heres the link to some patterns stoner wormz  i shall be adding more patterns this week

a straight weedless stoner on a 6/0 jig hook , this is really effective for getting down among the kelp where fish hide without getting snagged up , just cast out on a lure rod and let the weight of the hook sink it down , great natural movement 

uv stoner with an attractor bead , this had been great on canals and small waters and rivers , easily flicked across a canal just let it sink and jig it back 

black version of the above , this has been particularly good on deep water pollock marks but just as at home chasing down pike  

unbeaded version of the above and great on fly rods for salt and freshwater 

the black lug stoner worm , this has been deadly fished for north sea cod from boats and is accounting for some great catches this is a size 6/0 , you can of course fish this Carolina style on lure rods both salt and freshwater ....try something different on hard fished waters 

and remember stoner wormz are only available and made by me . watch out for fakes    

JIG FLIES

also have been playing around with lightweight synthetic beads . now these work extremely well  although they take a while to make as i have to drill out the holes to get them on the hook , but i simply tye bucktail behind the bead  and thats it , takes more time to drill the hole than actually tie the fly 

the beads are extremely light and when i tested them they sank very slowly so i was able to fish them right over the weed beds so obviously this has many advantages , i fished these on an lrf outfit with 6lb braid and was able to cast clear to the other side of my local canal , very impressed at how these work so watch this space  

the below 4 pictures are standard lead head bucktail jigs tied on savage gear jig hooks with the weight already on so just a case of  tying in the bucktail simple but effective 

EPOXY JIGS 

these ive been playing around with quite a lot and have proved to be very effective , now again you can fish these on either fly or lure rods and for lure rods you can fish them weightless just flick them out and twitch them back with deadly effect 

again these have proved deadly off the boats for cod and i had a great day out with these  and scored me a lot of cod , but equally effective for freshwater species , the pics above are tied on 4/0 jig hooks 

SYNTHETIC FLIES

and finally some recent tyes from the cave my bread and butter synthetic pike flies and a few recopies 

hook-6/0 czt 

body- white dyckers fiber

eye-12 mm silver

thread - clear dino thread

hook- 6/0 esox 2

body- mcfluffchucker fiber

eye-12 mm red

thread - clear dino thread

hook- 6/0 sakuma manta 

body- black dyckers fiber

eye- 8 mm silver hard eye

thread - clear dino thread

hook-6/0 czt 

body- black / purple dyckers fiber

eye- 8 black hard eye

thread - clear dino thread

hook- 6/0 esox 2

body- mcfluffchucker fiber

eye-12mm gold hard eye

thread - clear dino thread

coloration with permanent markers 

hook-6/0 czt 

body-white/blue dyckers fiber

eye- 8mm green hard eye

thread - clear dino thread

hook-6/0 czt 

body- black / red dyckers fiber

eye- 8mm red hard eye

thread - clear dino thread

hook- 6/0 czt 

body- mcfluffchucker fiber

eye-12mm jbm eye 

thread - clear dino thread

coloration with permanent markers 

hook- 6/0 esox 2

body- mcfluffchucker fiber

eye-12mm gold hard eye

thread - clear dino thread

coloration with permanent markers 

hook-esox 2 6/0

body-white/olive dyckers fiber

body - black / purple

eye- 8mm red hard eye

8mm - clear hard eye

thread - clear dino thread

hook-4/0 czt 

body-white/olive sybai fiber

eye- 8mm deercreek zombie eye

thread - clear dino thread

hook- 6/0 czt 

body- mcfluffchucker fiber

eye-12mm jbm eye 

thread - clear dino thread

flash - green flashabou

hook- 6/0 esox 2

body- mcfluffchucker fiber

eye-12mm jbm eye 

thread - clear dino thread

coloration with permanent markers 

red wiggle tail 

OTHER FOLKS CATCHES ON MY FLIES

and finally i may have not been getting out much but others have been killing it on my flies so thanks to those who sent pictures and trusted in my flies to do the job , you rock 

thanks all and i promise it wont be as long next time

mcfluffchucker
(a cave in scotland)