Wednesday 28 December 2011

bye bye 2011

ANOTHER YEAR PASSES IN THE CAVE





(Adventures of a hairy fly fisher and fly tier)
So a whole year has passed already and not all plans have gone as I wanted and some have gone way better than expected, its been a funny old year right enough and I have lots of new stuff going down for next year so I guess this year has been a pre curser for the fluff chucking and tying extravaganza and the odd black Sabbath show thrown in for good measure in June.
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So back to the year just past, well I did a fair bit of fishing but not as much as I had wanted really due to my wife starting teacher training at university and me working weekends but this won’t be a problem next year I did however when I did get out caught some bloody nice fish and quite a few as well




Off course predators are always top of my list and I had some very memorable days with some very hard fighting fish and also so bloody frustrating days like the day below , where it was blowing a bloody hurricane and I struggled to find somewhere out the wind when I did I caught fish , but the wind kept changing direction so I had to keep changing spots , as even an anchor wasn’t holding and I must of missed at least 20 odd fish on the surface to subbugs because of the wind towing my line bloody heart breaking but a real adrenaline rush all at the same time and this was in bloody November in Scotland craziness



BLACK IS THE NEW BLACK
I did very very well on blackflies this year and variations off it, the best results came from black subbugs with some silver flashbou running through it this was a friggin killer and the pike attacked them full on aggressive style, the takes were very fast and very furious this is a fly ill be running with a lot next year along with some of my medium flashbou patterns which the fish also seem to love , the only trouble with those ones is that suicidal trout also love them but sometimes that can break a slow day with a bit of excitement

I also took some time out to do some rainbow trout fishing , now stocky bashing isn’t really my thing but I do love to eat rainbow trout , and grilled with black pepper it is awesome , I won’t however go and buy it from the supermarket as I don’t know where it has come from , or even when it was dispatched from this mortal coil , so I much prefer to get a 6wgt out and go and catch them myself and I always cook them as soon as I get home , so pretty much ensuring a great fresh flavour I intend to do a whole lot more trout fishing in the summer but not for the reasons you may think more on that in summer .

FLY TYING GEAR OF THE YEAR
The biggest thing to hit the shelves this year is without doubt diamond hard uv resin from deercreek (click the pic) this has overtaken another major but tacky product that’s on the market in the uk as the best for the fly tier , and actually kits start at 20 pounds uk , people are cottoning on to this and trying it and are starting to get very happy with the results , other uv resins claim to be tack free and at 50 quid a kit you would expect the best but from forum discussions ive seen it is curing tacky so people are switching to this in droves and to be honest I can’t blame them for 20 quid a kit and it cures non tacky …….check there site some top tiers are using it now

The other thing that’s taking the predator fly fishing world by storm is Authanic wire from predator bite here in the uk (click the pic) this stuff is amazing it really is and its changed my leader set up for the better if you haven’t tried then get yourself over to the site and buy a spool completely knowable and tooth proof, so if you’re a pike fly angler then you’ve really got to get your hands on some of this , I used to use titanium wire a few years ago but have knocked that completely on the head as I discovered that the stuff is like cheese wire and if a fish gets deep hooked then you can do some series damage to a fishes mouth I’ve know seen this first hand and won’t use it again .




The thing is I can no longer see the point of fiddling around with clips and crimps etc when you can just knot this stuff in seconds check the video below to see how easy it is


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GRAB AND GO KITS
I’ve also teamed up this year with predator bite to supply some very handy grab and go fly kits (click the picture) these kits are fantastic for those who don’t have the time to tie their own or are new to the sport , the best seller is my streamer kit which contains fly’s for pretty much any occasion and can also be used in saltwater, in fact this kit is proving popular with those going off on holiday to warmer climes as you get the box 8 great proven patterns and a spool of Authanic wire , so all you need is a 3 or 4 piece rod and a reel to go in your luggage and you off these flies will catch you fish anywhere in the world
BUNNY BUGS ARE BOLLOX



Ohhhhhh ok shock horror from lots of you on that statement but you know no matter how hard I try I can’t bloody catch fish on the things





I shall preserver though maybe next year, no idea why I can’t they look great they fish great hell id even eat them what am I doing wrong , I really haven’t a clue maybe I’ll go back and just do a simple plain Barry Reynolds type bunny bug and not do all the flashy stuff with them , maybe it’s just a fly that doesn’t need jazzing up


MONSTER FLIES



I do like to fish big flies sometimes and I had neglected making them for a while as id been concentrating on the smaller baitfish patterns in synthetics so when piking brother ken capsey over at pike adventures posted some of his big musky patterns (think they were called bettys) but anyway decided to add my own touch to them and I called them muskie busters , if you want the full recipe you can find it here
http://www.spanglefish.com/pikeandpredatorfishingflies/index.asp?pageid=296366
And there’s loads of other recipes on my site so please go check it out .
Ive fished with these at the of the season and they were bloody brilliant I actually had a pike hit the thing right under my feet but try as I might I could connect with the bloody thing check out the video below for my attempts



THE GLISS N GLINT PLUS PROJECT




EP FIBER





I’ve fallen a bit out of love with ep fibre lately as I’ve had so many new fibres to play with I’ve kind of left it on the back burner, not that ep isn’t a great material it’s the first synthetic I used all those many years ago when I had to get it from the states as nobody in the uk stocked it and for many a year I tied with it favouring it over my big natural flies of marabou and bucktail and this was the case for many years until new synthetics appeared , of course there was synthetics around but they were more aimed at the trout fisher and to be honest there wasn’t much in the way of material in the packs , so you’d end up spending 15 pounds on enough to make a pike fly , so importing it was the only really way to go .
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Off course these days there’s a massive choice out there for us pike fly tiers mostly aimed at the saltwater fly fisher overseas but can be easily used for pike flies , of course there is company’s in the uk springing up specifically for the uk pike fly tier and fly fisher ill list these later , as to ep well Im going to revisit it next year I have some ideas I’m going to try as I do like the colour range , the thing I don’t like is the price of the stuff in the uk , but now that I can mix it with other stuff i.e gliss n glint plus I can see some funky stuff going down with it in new ties ….


SUBBUGS






Ahhh the subbug (no its still not and never has been a dhalberg diver) has a large space in my fly boxes I always take at least a box of them with me when I go fishing and next year will be no different indeed not , if anything ill have more of them in different sizes and colours it’s a great fly and if you wanna see more check out the subbuggin site
http://www.spanglefish.com/subbuggin/
ADVENTURES FAR FROM THE CAVE


Ive got some outstanding adventures planned for next year including a trip to some pretty remote places where the fish have never seen a fly before including a 3 day trip that will see me and a buddy chasing some saltwater bass and remote trout in hill lochs in the evenings lets me tell ya folks that is going to be a stunning adventure in late summer
Ok those sites I promised you earlier in no particular order





so with the year drawing to a close I look forward to the new year with fresh challenges new friends and plenty of fishing and let me tell you there will be plenty of craziness going on , again thanks to all those who visit and follow every single one of you is appreciated



mcfluffchucker
Signing off for 2011
(a cave in Scotland)

Thursday 22 December 2011

merry christmas folks

MERRY CHRISTMAS

TO ALL MY VISITORS AND FOLLOWERS


its been a helluva year to be honest and I'm gearing up for next year all ready as i have lots of cool stuff going on , but id really like to say thanks to all who follow me on here and facebook and twitter i really do appreciate all the comments and mails i get from you folks its what keeps me going sometimes so merry Christmas to ya all and an extra big merry Christmas to my second family "the capseys" in Vermont and all my Friends who live in the state of Vermont

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off course with the Christmas season upon us its nice to see my TV provider is putting on lots of family friendly festive programmes cant wait for that one over Christmas drinks




another extra special thanks go out to old Friend ad swier who sent me a lovely signed edition of his book which is also a fantastic read check out amazon or other sites for it , its called
Passion for Pike: The Challenge and Mystery of Fly-Fishing for Pike by ad swier really good read and thanks again pal for the package and a merry Christmas to you over in Holland


so with my fishing done now till February weather pending , and the weather in Scotland over the past few weeks being horrendous and putting paid to any planned trips i thought i may as well do some sorting out and maintenance on some gear and sort some boxes out ,
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so first job is to make sure to slacken all the drags off your reels especially if you have cork drag rings , you should really do this after every trip , check your fly lies also for cracking and weak or damaged spots , worth checking your rods at this point make sure there is no grits in the sections etc and wipe them down with a damp warm cloth to get rid of mud and dirt etc .

i have quite a few different bags and boxes i have boat boxes , bank boxes light ,gear snatch boxes , species specific kit , etc etc so i need to sort all these out before next season so today I'm moving my day bag stuff back into my boat box , as if i do manage a quick trip out i can grab anything i need from the boat box and stick into my day bag .
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so below is my below is my boat box i had to take a load of stuff out for a trip that i was walking the banks so didn't need and really didn't want to take a big box with me

this is my light bank /boat bag from my last trip the green bag on top has a load of leader type stuff , pre made leaders, traces , lead core etc along with some fly boxes the pockets of the bag has a couple of reels and some water bottles as well as unhooking gear


getting stuff out the box and bag ready for repacking and a box of clousers that i take absolutely everywhere with me


OK so all the flies are checked for faults and hook damage and put on the foam board in the lid of the box , these are patterns that i use quite a lot so will have a few handy for quick changeover and means i don't have to dig around in boxes for patterns when I'm on the water , i guess from this picture you can tell what my favorite colours of last season where


done and dusted


so that the box sorted ready for the new season , i still have a lot tying wise to keep me busy till then and I'm really hoping i can get out before then though , so I'm going to take a little blogging break till the start of the new year , what with the festive period and having my daughter staying over and working on new years eve and I'm also helping out serving Christmas dinner to some homeless people in Edinburgh (giving a little back) i wont have much time to do anything till new year

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so with that I'm going to wish you all a great Christmas and a safe new year to every single one of you folks around the world


Dave Lindsay

(mcfluffchucker)

a cave in Scotland

Wednesday 21 December 2011

small fly stuff

OK so I'm pretty much known for my love of pike and predator fishing and fly tying , but it may surprise you to know that i do actually fish for other species as well perch , carp , trout species pretty much anything that swims and as much as i love tying flies my tying schedule for the predator stuff doesn't leave me a whole heap of time to make small stuff so that's were fast flies comes in ...
fast flies is a company i use when i need flies fast and cheap (well I'm Scottish) and these really do the job

these are a favorite for summer roach and carp that are digging in the mud
3 for 0.99 pence
and of course the dog nobblers , a classic pattern and a flie that perch absolutely love and i know a few monster big that have been taken on these as well and a bargain price of 0.99 pence for 3 that's value for money

so if you need some flies fast then check out the range from fast flies click on any picture



(please note i do not receive payment from fast flies as always i promote stuff that i know and use)

Wednesday 14 December 2011

monster blog post alert

The pat Cohen school of deer hair craziness




If you browse the internet looking around at flies you’ll have come across the name of fellow fly tying enthusiast pat cohen .well pat does some really crazy and cool deer hair patterns in fact he’s one of the masters of the art of deer hair so today I had a bit off spare time to play at the vice , which to be honest is a bit of a rarity these days as I’m usually doing flies for others , so I just thought well I may as well indulge myself so ahh hell let’s have a blast at a crazy cohen punk type pattern


These are great fun to make although you can’t hurry them; your own imagination is really the only limitation on what colours or even material you could use , half the fun of these is when you start doing the trimming , I usually like to use scissors when I’m trimming but with this one I started with a razor blade but switched back to the scissors for the fine trimming , you really have to concentrate one slip and it could be disaster not a thing to be doing after you’ve had a few beers

So a bit more trimming and a bit more cutting you can’t hurry this so if you have little patience then you’d probably best not bother as you may well end up throwing the thing in the corning to be done at a later time . as I got to the stage on this when that I was clipping single hairs in between the peacock herl again I enjoyed doing this and found it quite relaxing but it took bloody ages to do, can’t complain though good fun

so the finished product a mix of deer hair , guinne fowl , bucktail , dyed ostrich herl from www.deercreek.com and tied on an orvis 6/0 pike / musky hook , I do like this hook for subbugs and deerhair patterns plenty of shank length and strong and sharp as buggery
I love tying with naturals just don’t seem to do a lot with them as I’m usually tying with synthetics these days but I’m going to make a point of tying more with them I’m probably going to do a load more of these pat cohen type flies just for fun . so cheers for the inspiration pat

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mcfluffchucker gets technical in the cave

what a week its been , yea yea no blog posts i know but sometimes lifes like that , so it started off with my oldest daughter who lives south of the border had a birthday and wanted one of those blackberry things so she got one well she had done well at scholl and stuff so she deserved it , i then dicovered that you have this free messaging thing on BBM aperently , so she says dad you should get one then we could talk all the time , well i thought about it and realised that it would actuallybe cheaper getting one than me keep getting credit for my phone and texting her all the time so i also got one and yes it does work out cheaper.

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so being a bit of a technophobe i got the thing and then realised that actually it quite a cool thing as not only can i do all my email and tweets on it as well as being able to upload pics when im fishing so thats cool , the other thing i did do was do was try out a weather app , so i dowloaded one and so far it has been bang on in predicting hour by hour weather , which for an angler is a very usefull tool , so all i need to do now it try and not drop the thing in the river ....


vermont guys go global
they have some great offers on just now

Tis the Season and VFG are getting into the holiday spirit. Now through Jan 1st, we are offering 50% off all in stock flies, AND all custom orders put in before the 1st will also be granted the 50% off discount with coupon code. New stuff is being added! Still free shipping in the USA and bonus flies with every order! Cheers~
50% off coupon code: FISHON
http://www.etsy.com/shop/VermontFlyGuys


the guys really know there stuff and if your a trout angler brian does some fantastic trout patterns i actually have a couple in my box as well and as for kens flies well no indroduction needed you know those catch preds

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back to all things all things flytying

i supply a local company http://www.predatorbite.com/ with pike flies and the kits i provide sell very very well for him especially the streamer kits well the things catch fish when things catch fish people sit up and take notice and of course buy the kits .

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These kits really are the dogs both for the beginner or the seasoned pike fly fisher and are made simply to catch fish in pretty much any conditions on any water, but it doesn’t stop there this streamer although designed for pike is just as effective for pretty much anything that swims in warm water both fresh and saltwater (with the exception of bonefish). so if you’re looking for a grab box of flies to stick in the boot of your car for after work sessions or just a kit to stick in with your other tackle for when the goings slow , or maybe you’re looking for a Christmas present for a fishing pal then this is it , click the picture above to go and check the kits out there is something for all budgets and keep checking back with them as there will be more kits added all the time , plus a load of dedicated kits for saltwater species around the up coast line

ok so that was a shameless bit of self promotion but they really are quite good kits


“scream for me fly tiers”

You know when I’m in the cave churning out flies I like to have some sounds on, and I without fail have planet rock on there’s nothing better than some good ol riffing music when your needing a lift to get stuff done , sometimes , especially when I’m designing stuff I like to have it on and believe it or not even when listening to the likes of Sabbath or priest it really does help me concentrate and if I’m doing a fairly simple pattern then I’ll stick on some old school thrash metal then I can really churn em out fast , off course if loud raucous rock n roll music isn’t your thing then just tune in to what you like , just seems to me a lot of the people I know seem to a bit off rock n roll .


So with the old tunes steaming I long at full pelt I got the 150 flies done without scrimping on quality , you see the other thing is people know they are getting a quality fly because I make each and every one myself so I can stand by everyone that comes out of the cave , this is another reason I only tie for a couple of company’s and don’t farm them out , I mean the thing is if you put any of the flies either myself or ken capsey over at Vermont fly guys up against some African tying house shite then I tell you one thing the home made flies will still be fishing long after the mass produced flies have fallen apart and catching fish this I know to be oh so very true from what people have told me , in fact I have one guy who has a pattern that is pretty much a magnet for big fish for him and he refuses to tell anybody where he gets the flies from and my lips as well as the pattern are sealed up in my head , sure his buddies have tried to copy it by taking pictures of it and getting tiers to make them but they don’t work because there Is one very important element they are leaving out which again I can’t mention but this fly still continues to catch him fish , and let me tell you I don’t have even have one …….but the pattern is secure in my head ….lol , I guess what I’m trying to say is track down the local guy who ties and fishes he will have the knowledge and the know how to get you fish on the hook without the worry of a poorly tied African fly

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PORTMORE LIGHTNING THE NEXT HATCH



The portmore lightning has been making waves and has been catching a lot of fish , just one of those flies that sometimes tick all the boxes , the streamer kit from http://www.predatorbite.com/ has 3 different colours of lightning in it and I’m working on some new colours the one above is a classic black pattern but with fluro eyes the main body is made from synthetic fur kinda looks like and feels a bit like polor fibre looks good though think it will fish its socks off in this colour in low visibility water conditions yea digging it and I have a load of new colours that ill be launching next year so watch out for them over at the bites site

love the lightning



gliss n glint plusing again



Everybody who knows me , will know that I champion gliss n glint plus it’s a fantastic material and makes some wonderful patterns that really do look realistic in the water giving out some lovely pulsey flash as you strip pause it , so just for no reason than I wanted another one in my ever increasing gliss and glint plus box of baitfish but hey can you really ever have enough flies so I used the old classic red and white pattern , the main bulk of the body is white gliss n glint plus the head is done with plain old red angel hair laid on then folded back , simple fly but deadly for loads of species .

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Custom uv tool
(oops product placement alert)


I hate it when you get to the last dregs of a bottle of something and my uv bottles are no different Im forever having to lean the bottle upside down against things so I get the last drips out (well I am Scottish) so in a moment of shear daftness while making a fly my eyes came to rest in a long forgotten corner of my tying desk ,you will all have a corner you know the sort of thing mmmm there a 2mm bit of flashabou that will come in handy ill stick it over there along with a pile of other bits and pieces that ill use one day and so I spotted a long since dumped wooden hair stacker and then the penny clicked , the light build went on and a new use was found for it as you can see above . Ok so it may not be the greatest invention but it solves a problem for me

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THE KNOBULATOR



The knobulator ok so it’s a bit of a crackpot fly from me it’s just one of those things that I made for no reason at all except that I could, I was sitting tying up some streamers and my eyes spotted a popper head sitting on a hook from a project that id started ages ago but never got round to finishing, I decided that it looked like the family jewels so I decided I would make a fly from it and this is what I made , it is off course fully fishable and I will be using it when the weather warms ups it measures 8 inches and is tied on a 6/0 Orvis pike and musky hook the action of this fly will be like a glide bait strip and pause will see it glide left to right I really don’t know why I made this it was just one of those things and to be honest when I look at it sitting on my desk it does make me laugh, maybe I can use it as a booby prize for the next pffa completion…. Thankfully you won’t be seeing a whole range of knobulators in different sizes and colours in the near future.

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Redneck tying lessons
(sorry if the picture puts you off your breakfast)


Was throwing a few ideas round with brother ken in vt via skype the other day and he showed me a very cool fly that he had used a flexible glue on , I asked him for a quick look at the glue and bugger me it’s something that I had seen in my local orvis but wasn’t ever sure A- what is was or B- what I could use it for, so was delighted when I saw what ken used it for , however what did piss me off was the fact that ken buys this in his local craft store for a few dollors but mine orvis sells the same stuff for like 8.99 uk how can they get away with that because it’s for fly tiers they can add a massive mark up on it just shows shop around folks , there’s bargains to be had .

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So with the weather being so bloody awful the last few weeks with howling winds storms sleet and snow and pretty much everything else except plague’s , locusts and the black death being thrown at us the idea of going chucking great big pike flies around didn’t really appeal to me I don’t mind if I’m already out and it starts up but to actively head out when its blowing chunks really isn’t an option for me I’m afraid so not quite sure when ill get out again but in the meantime I’ve always got the vice and I have a few winter jobs to do with my gear so that will just have to do ……and I also have lots of saltwater fly kits to do so never a dull moment

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Tight lines if you are out and stay safe
Mcfluffchucker

(a cave in scotland)

Saturday 3 December 2011

fame i wanna live forever ................

just done a nice little interview with master class guiding services drew price you'll find the interview by clicking the pic below



i don't usually do this kind of stuff but drews such a nice guy and a hellava angler so i thought yea why not the questions were very interesting so go check it out and have dip inside my crazy head

Wednesday 30 November 2011

i smell bait fish

sili squid skin

nick over at http://www.deercreek.co.uk/ sent me some of his new sili squid skin to try out and see what i could come up with never one to step down from a challenge i got to thinking what i could do with it , so i didn't dive straight in with knocking out some designs instead i thought about what i could do with it . the skin itself is really nice and quite thick as well and you get a really nice strip of 7x2 for £3.99 id say compared to a similar version on the market id call that a great deal


of course most of the ideas you'll see with this kind of material is gummy minnows and although i was going to make some i decided to try something a little different so i cut out a foam head then cut out a slightly bigger square of sili squid skin and wrap it around the foam then using the infamous croc glue on the back of the foam hold it in place until it dries add a couple of gator eyes and you have a very nice looking bait fish if i say so myself , although the picture doesn't do the head justice

OK so that worked out good but i wanted to do something a bit different so i grabbed a 6/0 hook and did a pike sized gummy minnow hell why not i reckon this will be a killer on my local and it catches the light quite superb

pictured below is 3 minnows i have done with sili squid skin and the 2 flies at the bottom are tied using some new hooks deer creek are doing (bloody sharp) and you can see the difference in size to the 6/0 minnow at the top

the small minnow below has a few strands of flash through it and some yellow pro marker on the flanks

just a little silver minnow i did first off although i think i should have added a tail but i still like it and it will catch fish


the picture below shows how light catches the sili squid ,I've not used a flash on this shot very impressed with it and I'm sure these will catch big time , I'm not sure if anybodies used these for pike before but cant see any reason why they wouldn't work especially when there feeding on sticklebacks or small silver fish , and i guess they would take a load of saltwater species as well



OK so if you want to check it out here's the lowdown




SQUID SKIN KIT
Everything you need to make squid minnows. A full sheet of Squid Skin 3 strips of foil. !0 assorted hooks & 10 Pairs of Crystal eyes.

Price: £9.99


or buy it in sheets


SILI SQUID SKIN

Squid Skin is the newest & most revolutionary salt water fly tying material.
Available in 3 styles. Coupled with our Squid foils and Crystal Eyes you can create the ultimate life like bait-fish.
1mm thick
The only limits are your imagination.

Sheet size 7"x2"

Price: £3.99


http://www.deercreek.co.uk/Deer-Creek-fly-tying-materials.html