CHANGING TIMES
well 2017 already cant believe it , and now all the festivities are thankfully past i can get back to tying and fishing , well i really didn't do that much fishing last year due to moving house and work patterns , but this year is going to be a bit different as i will have some more downtime now i have settled and indeed my trip of the year has been booked , two days on this amazing highland venue with the wild loch group chasing pike trout and perch
now there's a few of us going and a few different methods being employed i shall of course be chucking the fluff so looking forward to this greatly , not only for the stunning views and remoteness but with a great bunch of guys whom im lucky enough to call my friends.
talking about fluff i actually need to tye some specific patterns for this as im going with my smaller fried alive patterns as there is also trout and perch in here so im kinda hedging my bets as this time of year we never know what the weather will be like so with my fried alives i only insist on the very best hooks for em as i usually multiple fish on em so the have to stand up to the job so of course with my busy lifestyle with with work i realize i needed to order some hooks (im pretty sure i had run out).
so i decided to try out my phone to see if i could work out how to order online via a mobile (i was on a lunch break honest and sat on the toilet in case my manager reads this) and im not the most tech savy so i headed over to deercreek.co.uk and found they have a really nice mobile version of there website .
so typed in the address and the rather nice homepage came up as above with a front page telling you what the best sellers are (diamond uv products) no surprise there great stuff
so i clicked on the menu tab at the top and got a drop down menu and found very easily the hooks section
within a few seconds this bought me to the page of the hooks they do so scrolled down without any freezing and found what i was looking for and it gave me the option to click on the hook for more info
so clicked on that and i pretty much got all the info i needed and simply added it to my cart in one click , i then needed to go and buy some dna fiber so back to the menu scroll down found it and made the 2 color choices i needed added to the basket and that was it , i was then able to check out with paypal very easily and to be honest the whole thing too around 5 mins tops , to say i was impressed is an understatement , and to make things even better i got my stuff very quickly bonus.
this for me is great because in this day and age i often get orders mailed to me and if im at work and find myself needing materials i can order there and then and im off and ready to tie within a day or so , so great work deercreek on a very easy to use system even for an old spangle like me a full 10/10 if i can do it anybody can .
time well spent
time well spent indeed , i love having vice time and sometimes the ideas just flow , well it was like that last week we i went nits with blending materials to come up with lots of wonderful fluff and you know the thing is i look at a fly and think yup thats going to catch but buggered if ill have enough time in my life time to fish all the flies i tie but hey ho still time well spent
i love playing around with colors and materials of course im still a total convert to gliss n glint plus and im finding i can do more and more with it especially with smaller fly funk , there has been ive noticed especially in this country a shift towards smaller patterns around 4 inchs and smaller , now most of the fish ive caught have been on smaller flies , now i really dont know if that because the pike are predating on smaller baitfish or if i would have caught the same fish if i had been using a bigger fly at the same spot and time but there is a lot of bigger fish coming to smaller flies and there always the chance of bonus species as well .
i have to say at this point im still not a convert to those big flies with the wiggly tails to me it just seems a lot of effort in tying them when the more traditional flies still catch as many fish , ive watched loads of videos on line , mostly bonkers swedes fishing these big flies and i watch with interest and wonder if they would have caught those same fish with normal flies , but again its one of those things that everybody jumps on the band wagon and wants the latest thing to drain your wallet and if you dont have it well you not a proper fly angler , well er bollocks ive never and never will follow fads im quite happy with what i do and indeed the folks who but my flies are also happy with the flies i tie and dont even ask me to tie them as they still catch lots of fish , i mean remember a few years ago when dan blantons flash tail whistler was all the rage and people said that was the only fly that caught fish well i had already had them in my box long before that bollocks from fulling mill picked them up and started selling hundreds of crap African tied phish to gullible anglers and these day you hardly hear of people fishing them its all those big rubber tailed monstrosities , stick to the flies that catch you fish dont jump on the bandwagon circus of the next must have thing your wasting your money .
now im not saying there rubbish flies far from it its always good to chop and change but i wonder what will be next and these rubber tailed beasts will be long forgotten in the bottom of your fly boxes along with the flashtails and other 10 min wonders but im guessing you know where im coming from
been doing some weedless flies and a lot of people struggle with the fact that the hookpoint is covered with material , well yea i see where there coming from but with synthetics and the way there tied it really has zero problem , the material is tied very sparsely although it looks like a lot its actually not so you can get in among the weeds without fouling up and if a fish hits it will hook without issue as the point is just under the material , and actually its a killer way to fish in the summer when a lot of pike are down in among it , i think they look kinda neat as well
well broke out the gliss yet again and produced a little trout pattern although the picture dosnt do it justice really well im crap with a camera to be honest but enjoyed breaking out the marker pens for this one , be a shame to see it go but at least its staying in scotland
been tying a lot of flies tarpon style lately and have been asked several times why i do this well there's a couple of reasons one i believe the fly is far more mobile in the water , when i fish these there is a clear difference in the action in the water tying like this , and to be honest setting the fly so far back isn't an issue when it comes to hook ups as you'll find 9 times out of ten the fly will be engulfed by the pike and strangely enough a lot are lip hooked as well , and of course tying like this means that you can easily catch hold of the shank with pliers and not destroy materials , this is a great way to tie and especially on smaller patterns , bellow you'll see a few examples of different colors and materials using this technique
you'll notice that most of my flies these days have my name on well im not being vane again far from it , i joined pintrest a while ago which is a great ideas sharing site but found people were saving the pics they liked (no problem with that) but it looked like when they saved them it was in there own albums so looked like they had tied it , so its basically like a thumbs up to the person who tied it
of course the other thing is to protect against African tiers who freely steal peoples pictures and claim that they are there own and offer you them for sale , ive been over the African thing many times before but if you use facebook id advise you check if you have any of these people on your friends list then bounce them all they are after is your contacts and pictures , im still surprised that some well known tiers have these people as friends get rid of them folks aint nothing but trouble
brother ken musky man
my brother from another mother ken capsey has been very quiet lately on the social media side of things and even quieter on his blog which is a shame as i really enjoyed reading his crazy red neck antics , but although he took himself off facebook because like me he couldn't be bothered with all the crap that goes on and like me he tends to tell it like it is , he is still very much alive and well over on instagram and he has been slaying the muskys like crazy this year so if you have an account head on over and look him up
ken now runs wet sock fly fishing and for you guys in the states chasing pike and predators then ken is really your man , i talk to him quite often and he reads the blog so if your looking for some kick ass musky fluff then hit him up for some crazy flies his mail is on the card below
so although he is quiet he is still very much active and ill probably continue to post his catches on my blog from stateside , keep at it broski
drop shot flies
still at it with the drop shot flies cant make enough just now must be doing something right lol yes flies you can use on a drop shot rod taking a fair amount of perch apparently im good with that
PIKE SABER ON SALE
ok most of my readers are well aware im a massive pikesaber fan and out of all the rods i have owned this has proved to be the best work horse ive ever had, ive had one now for well over (7 years i believe) and its never let me down yet and im delighted to be taking it into another season with me .
so your in luck the guys over at pike trek have reduced the price in there January sale of this mighty rod so its a perfect chance to grab one for a fantastic price believe me ive used it long enough to know a good bit of kit hit the link below to go straight to the website and yes they do world wide shipping as well so strike now you wont regret it , its the only rod i have fully endorsed for pike on my sites
heres the saber in action with a lively Scottish pike in really awful wind conditions enjoy
so im busy with fly tying just now and prepping for an upcoming trip so ill bid you all farewell just now but ill be back in a few weeks have fun if your out there on the water and stay safe
cheers from the cave in Scotland
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