Fishietales

As promised an SBS mind please excuse the photography, it's not the best in the world, First start by tying the eyes in place, then run the thread to the hook bend, wind on some fine lead wire, Next take a pinch of olive marabou over a pinch of orange marabou and tie in as a tail, Next dub on either orange seals fur, or orange glister and wind up to the eyes, lastly tie in a pinch of olive marabou as a wing give a couple of extra turn to secure the marabou then take the thread and whip finish in front of the eyes

Exactly, my point, it doesn't matter for the vast majority of us we would never be able to reach the distances the pro casting champs can, "I couldn't get that far with a boat" I'm happy to get a full line out with the rods I have, and I'll endeavour to teach that to anyone who asks me for help, timing, rhythm, and acceleration, I find a musicians metronome ideal for timing and rhythm, the tick tock can be set to whatever the rod load type, and if you place it on a chiar in front of the caster he works with it.

It still boils down to the fact that if your rhythm is wrong or your timing is wrong, then you won't get the best from your cast, now I don't know how it works across the pond but i don't know many coaches over here that can go into the math, or the dynamics of the ultimate cast, the R&D guys can but not the run of the mill coaches, and these are the guys at the business end of coaching, and the bog standard novice is not interested in the tech spec either , all they want is to get a line on the water and catch fish, so rather than give them all the tech bumph, I generally just firstly put an anti wrist brake device on them and get them to learn the stopping positions both behind them and in front of them, using a short line and the casting pond, once they've mastered that, I go into the power aspect, the inertia of the stop that propels the line forward, it's worked for me without all the math, The only math I want to know, is if I use a full 30 yard line and a fish takes a further 30yards of backing how much backing do I have left before I'm running down the river after the damn fish

Since I retired two years ago I fish five, or six days a week, and I'm always varying the standard fly pattern just to see how they work, the blue does seem to work better in the deeper cooler water, so maybe the fish do see the blue tinge better at depth, mind the blue works better with rainbows than with brownies

I got these ones from Hardys in Alnwick, PM me an address, and I'll send you a pack, no bother at all

I normally tie them as small as 16 for the stillwaters over here, but for the larger stillwaters an 8, 6, or 4, would not look out of place, you should give them a go they'revery easy to tie, I'll try and post a SBS for you

I will post the photo for you maybe tomorrow, need batteries for the camera, but basically it's a dark brown wing, the advantage of the moorhen is the waterproof qualities, but you can use the wing feather from a hen blackbird, or a darkish starling breast feather, they do work quite well, there are other Bloas that use Snipe, grouse, and brown partridge, preferably english and not french, we are coming to the end of our shooting season here or I could have bagged a few for you, but I'll see what the lads have up for grabs and let you know

Seems to back up what I said in my post of the 17th, their conclusion is the caster is the controlling factor in the cast not the rod, or it's action, nice for once to have some scientific fact to help us out, Thanks Weedy mate

Funny you should say that Hydro mate, but the Shakespeare's both have single legs, it' something I've not thought of before, but on the other hand I've got an old Patek Morton, it's a big old glass fibre thing I've had for years, the action is right through butt to tip, it's so slow you could have lunch while it loads, but the thing is it has agate eyes throughout, but the same rod can still punch a full line out, and a while ago I gave a friend of mine an old Fibretube ( this was a sister company to Hardys, they made the blanks for them ) rod it was carbon fibre with agate eyes right through, and that can put a full line out, so I don't know if your theory of single legs givng a less dampening action to double legs holds water, but I will try the difference between my #8 Hardy Sirrus 10' and my 8# Shakespeare Oddessy 10', basically it will be interesting to see if it takes more effort to cast with one or the other, I'm away fishing a still water tomorrow, I'll take both rods and field test them using the same line, I'll post the results tomorrow night

Another beady head buzzer, but this one is just a little different, the body is made from a metallic embroidery thread bought from a sewing shop, and the head is a glo green bead the finish is clear varnish, no thread no other material, takes a little over 30 secs to tie, but takes fish at all depths

This little bloodworm has everything it needs to fish the depths during the winter months when fish are bottom feeding, it's simple to tie 1 gold bead and a length of flexi floss, thread the same colour and Bobs your uncle, superglue the bead to the hook, then twist the flexi floss into a rope tie it in at the bend and run the thread to the bead, wrap the hook with the remainder of the flexi floss, tie off behind the bead and finish, then a coat of clear varnish job done

These aren't epoxy but they are effective

No thats not the keel hook we use over here, the bend at the eye is reversed, the original keel hook when Goddard used it, was tweeked it a bit to get the shape he wanted, see for your self below

Again I have to go with Hardy's for the no.1 slot, the Angel I own is just the dogs dangly bits, the drag is second to none, and the construction is out of this world, the wide large arbor eliminates a lot of the problems of line memory, just a nice reel full stop. But the Greys range are terrific value for the no.2 place or second reel, the GRX i has an excellent drag and a very robust build to it, as it also comes with 4 spools it makes a very economic system, I have the old GRX and the abuse it has taken this winter is unreal, the mud and blood that's been stuck to it, as well as being fished in salt water for a comp, well it says it all and it still performs great, I have used other reels but much prefer Hardy Greys

I have an Airflo polyfuse floater, bright yellow, they do tend to stiffen up in the cold, and acquire a bit of memory, great in the summer months though

I have an Airflo polyfuse floater, bright yellow, they do tend to stiffen up in the cold, and acquire a bit of memory, great in the summer months though

Well time to add my twopenneth, being only 2 miles from Hardys in Anlwick, I do seem to have a bent for their rods, I own three different models, with three different actions, and believe me rod action has little to do with distance, I have been invited on many occasions to watch the R/D guys testing the rods on the casting pool, and have watched the best casters in Britain using their rods, and it makes no difference to them what the action is they still get all the line out and half the backing, that goes for 3# river rods 7' long up to 11# 15' speys, of all actions, distance is determined by pure arm action, the co-ordination and rythum you put into the cast and the timing, tight loops, fast line speed, and the effort exerted in the final punch, they are what determine distance, I won't disagree that certain rods do help certain people overcome problems with their casting technique, but when you see the experts doing what they do best, you realise that it's not the rod it's the person using the rod that matters, to provee a point I now use a cheap $30 Shakespeare Oddessy #8 10' long, and a £25 shakespeare oddessy #5 8 1/2' long rod, the reason being the winter can cause all kinds of damage to your tackle, so at these prices I can afford to replace them each season should I need to, but the actions are mid to tip and they do the job, I can get all the line out and present a decent fly at 30yds, what more can you ask, mind I still use the Angel on very windy days, the fine diameter of the blank does seem to take the effort out of the casting

'Och' a true Scot, well said my man, y'll no be cauld in y're neck'o'tha woods heh mate,"hic"

I think he means what we over this side of the pond call a keel hook, like the ones John Goddard was using to do the polywing midge, remember the upside down fly? I'll dig a picture out and show you

You'll wonder what you ever did without one mate, but a little advise, you're from the UK, so go for the lureflash version, its a third cheaper for the same machine, you also get a handy gizmo for turning your rod sections when either fitting new rings or re-varnishing, saves all those messy drips, anyway heres a photo

The varnish I use for buzzers, is a laquer made for the furniture industry, its celulose, and dries very hard, and is waterproof, I've used it also for varnishing whippings on rod rings, but for that smooth even finish I must reiterate that a rotary fly drier is a must

You want a scotch ask a Scot, either Jura if you can get it, or Macallan, and no water, a Scot takes it straight, I once asked for a little water in a scotch for my good lady, in an inn on the borders, I was told "if you want a coctail go to a wine bar"

Believe me it was, I had it confirmed before I returned it, but unfortunately no camera that day didn't think I'd need one, take one everywhere now, it's kind of scary when al your line and backing goes screaming off the reel, you just live in hope the rod can handle it, I know that leg shaking terror now, but luckily the reel was also a Hardy Angel and the drag is second to none for playing fish, I always set the drag so it is just as stiff as the tippet poundage, it works well that way limiting snaps

Thanks all for the welcome, and no I caught it in the bath, it was a tadge over eight pounds, and wouldn't go down the plug hole laugh was I had a seven pound blue just before it, what the grand bairns bring in as pets you'll never know

You could try this one, it's fairly easy, basically it's a standard buzzer hook, black thread, silver wire and holographic tinsel, wind down the thread to the bend, tie in the silver wire, run the thread back to 1/8" of the eye, rib with the wire, tie off the wire and tie in the holographic tinsel, either as a wing case or as cheeks, the choice is yours, next form a head, pull over the tinsel and tie off, whip finish, and either varnish or coat in epoxy resin, the secret is to use a rotary fly dryer,