Downsize
so I got a trip coming up and im
not in a boat for a change, so my whole set up has to change for this
trip my boat box below has pretty much every fly line and every fly
in every colour you can think of , id be happy to get in a boat in
any part of the county and be confident of having the right fly for
the job predator wise so when I have to scale thing back for a non
boat trip I really have to think about what im taking and to take
flies that will cover most situations I will come across and that can
mean taking a whole heap of one colour in different sizes or a whole
heap of mixed flies depends where im going ….
so for this trip and really for
most trips I do in this country I will have had some prior knowledge
of the venue or as in most cases it will be a venue that ive fished
before at least once in the past so usually ill know what the main
baitfish is so I can take flies to match but when im going through
the boxes of flies it just ain’t that easy OK so ill take the flies
I really need but then ill think oh id better take this and that fly
and before you know it ive got loads its a nightmare choosing flies
sometimes but most of the time ill get it right .
So this below is believe it or
not my lightweight bag that I take if im wandering around lochs or
canals
I love this bag it has loads of
great features unfortunately as far as im aware its not available any
more so id better take care of it , it has a very nice zip pocket on
the top here I keep leader material clips etc. and a small first aid
kit , dont know how many people actually carry a first aid kit when
fishing but carrying one can make things a whole lot more comfortable
if you cut yourself or get chewed by a bug
the main compartment is large
enough carry 4 of my big plastic cases and the big finsport wallet
and my leader wallet , the side pockets take 2 more smaller boxes and
the front pocket carrys another small box and glasses and unhooking
gear , I can of course also fit in a bottle of water and some food in
the main compartment , the small camo patch you can see is a small
pocket which is ideal for keys cash or a mobile phone , although I
tend to have my phone in the top compartment with my leader. nice bag
from the vice this week smaller patterns
thread - clear mono
hook - 2/0 dai reki
body - icelandic sheep hair
flash - deercreek crystal flash
eye - green piketrek 8mm rubberized
thread - clear mono
hook - dai reki 2/0
belly - yellow ep fiber
back - black ep fiber
eye - hard eyez from hook eye and fly
hook - dai reki 2/0
belly - white icelandic sheep hair
back - olive icelandic sheep hair
flash - deercreek crystal flash
sidestripe - grizzed hackle
eye - piketrek 8mm red eye
follow the leader
OK so im going to say this now I
don’t like to complicate my set up with complicated leader set ups
the set up below ive used and abused and its always served me well
there is really no need to go down the tapered leaders for turning
over big flies my biggest of flies turn over nicely thank you very
much , the thing is with guys coming into the sport from a trout
fishing angle will bring there own leader ideas with them which if it
works for them great but its really not needed in my opinion this is
a big bad ass predator we are chasing, not trout on a chalk stream
the thing is to get the fly in the water and that’s half the battle
done , I know people will have there own ideas on leaders im not
saying your wrong im just saying how I do it and its never failed me
in 30+ years so here it is a bog standard one size fits all leader
for pike
I use seaguar flurocarbon for my
leaders simply because its never let me down ok its quite expensive
but youll get your moneys worth out of a 50m spool and its a lot
cheaper that buying those ready made leaders so it makes sense to
make your own
1 – the loop
I make a simple loop in each end
like above , make sure you wet the knot before pulling it tight and
once pulled tight clip the tag end close to the knot , for a bog
standard leader on an intermediate line ill use a 5 foot leader the
pike arnt line shy once they focus on the fly thats its there on it.
loop to loop on the fly line
once ive looped both ends of the
leader I attach one to the fly line and gently pull until is a snug
fit
then I attach the other end to
my trace material (authanic wire) again with a loop to loop, authanic
is very easy to loop unlike stiffer wires and that is pretty much it
a very easy and effective leader set up , nothing complicated and has
done me well over many years and the most important thing is its
never let me down as I said before this isn’t about finesse and
presentation on the water we are fishing for a predator so delicate
dosnt apply ….
a long day on the loch
today was the last day of boat
fishing on the loch so myself and conan decided to have a major crack
at it with a dawn till dusk session and cover the areas I call my
sweet spots so I arranged for a 6.30am pick up and we would be there
just as dawn was breaking , unfortunately conan decided his lovely
warm bed was worth staying in an extra half hour so we arrived
slightly later than anticipated but only by half an hour so wasn’t
that bad .
When we got there it was chilly
a most defiantly a nip in the air the fact I was wearing long
trousers instead of shorts proved that it was certainly getting into
winter but never the less this time of year can be great for the fly
fisher and as the leaves turn a golden brown a lot of people start
thinking pike but keep those fly rods out there’s still plenty of
action to be had despite the cold weather
a great time of year to be out
on the water loads of cool colours on the trees the water was still a
bit green but this would be too much of a problem being out there and
getting a fly wet is the most important thing , so we cruised up to a
couple of my honey spots but things were a bit slow so we headed to
the other side of the loch where if you get the right wind you can
have a fantastic drift right down one shoreline and over a couple of
sweet spots if you get the right drift so we got over there and it
wasn’t quite a perfect drift but it was good enough , as we
approached one sweet spot on the drift conans rod buckled over with
what was obviously a very large fish that stayed down deep and moved
off taking a few yards of line , I started to bring my line in so as
not to get in the way when it got near the boat and to give a clear
shot of netting it , the conan muttered those words you never want to
hear “its off” I was gutted for him as it was obviously a large
fish and without a shadow of a doubt his new pb but these things
happen sometimes a fish can be lightly hooked and any pressure will
see the hook just popping out nothing you can do about it , but to
give him his credit he just got back on with it and carried on
fishing …....mabey next later .
Poundage of green torpedo
we carried on fishing the drift
then went back up to the top of the drift again for a second run at
it , this time I had put on a pretty basic but deadly fly a simple
marabou pattern id tied up a couple of these as I do these days 2 of
everything so if it does work then I can give one to conan well
actually his lost fish came on the fly so I stuck my one on for the
second drift and as we fished down the bank I cast into the shore and
after a couple of casts towards the bank my rod thumped over as 12lbs
of angry esox comped down on the maribou streamer , now these fish in
this loch are really turbo charged and outstanding sport on a fly rod
this one stayed down and actually went round the boat a few times
before finally slipping into the net I just love that moment when
they break surface and give you the eye cant beat it .
my biggest pike on the fly so
far is a fish of 25lbs from an English river and back then as ive
spoken about before the only materials we had back then were maribou
feathers and bucktail synthetic materials had only just started
making an apperance in this country with e.p fiber so that fish fell
pretty much to the same type of fly as this one a basic streamer fly
, I do however recommend you get a decent maribou feather because you
need it to have lots of movement and long plums for maximum pulse I
exclusively use the feathers from deercreek because they are Hand
picked at DC HQ and dyed by the best in the business. These feathers
are probably the best ive ever seen. 10 great feathers per pkt Price:
£1.69 you cant go wrong heres the link
http://www.deercreek.co.uk/FEATHERS.html
if your a bit of a feather junky
then its worth having a look at there other feathers as well as they
have some very nice stuff . The hook was one of hook eye and flies
esox 2 streamer hook heres the link and they have a buy a pack get a
pack free offer on
But as I was saying that fish
took a maribou feather so mabey its time to knock a few out again if
your not sure how to make one heres a video I did a while ago , in
the video I glue on eyes but if you want to use dunbells like the fly
above then just tie that in first behind the eye on top of the hook
so it swims hook up
lunch is served
well you got to face it theres
nothing worse than being out for the day and having rubbish food ok
fisherman’s food is usually a couple of pies or something and
there’s nothing worse than being hungry when your out fishing so we
tend to take a good feed out with us and to be honest you cant beat
sitting in a boat on a pretty loch having a good feed and we
certainly do that although I draw the line at eating his left overs
from the night before …....................
a float around
we had a float around after
lunch and came in contact with a few more smaller fish nothing
exciting there you may think but I actually caught them on my pimped
bunny bugs now ive got history of failing miserably with bunny bugs
so this is indeed a dramatic turn around for me as ive not been able
to catch on the things for at least 15 years so this has given a
massive boost (ernie firth will be laughing his head off) seriously I
just had no luck with things at all ,
most of the action shots you see
on the blog are taken by conan with his monster big posh camera and
although he doesn’t think so I absolutely love his pictures and he
pulls out a great action shot so this picture above is one of my
favourites bunny out the mouth gills flaring brilliance conan is also
available for weddings , party’s etc and will work for chocolate
close encounters of the R.A.F
kind
we had a close encounter with an
R.A.F Hercules which buzzed very low over the loch by the time I had
seen it coming and got my camera it was just about out of view but as
it passed I swear it was so close I could see the pilots , I remember
some years ago when I was fishing a loch in the north of scotland
and a tornado jet came screaming up the loch just above the water in
fact it was so low it actually left a wake on the water which was
quite a cool site but what was cooler was another jet that appeared a
few minutes later chasing it now that was cool , the things you see
when your fishing
over and out
so with the end of the boat
season on the loch I go to say ive fished with a lot of people and
taught a lot of people to pike fly fish but its been a real honour
and a pleasure and dare I say a bloody great laugh with conan these
past few months and the speed he’s picked it up has been incredible
and bearing in mind hes come from a trout fishing background he’s
actually bought none of his trouting habits with him and just gone
with the flow which is incredible rare for someone coming from one
arm of the sport to another so again hats of to ya buddy and look
forward to loads more adventures and species chasing in the future
(we got plans people)
up the fluff
get some of the best pike fly
fishing in Scotland
so there’s an opportunity come
up if you fancy having a crack at this fantastic water I fish in
stunning countryside and fish that are turbo charged and never give
up the fight then there’s some bank fishing tickets available heres
the detals and hopefully ill see you on the loch
Pike fly fishing opportunities
available on a private loch just 20 miles
from Edinburgh.
This
is a first class facility with all you need for great pike fly
fishing.
The fishing has been strictly controlled on the loch so
the pike have not been over fished.
There is limited
availability.
Call Steve on. 07423356510 (uk number)
till next time
mcfluffchucker
(a cave in scotland)