Pippa and Els Go Fishing

I remember doing this when my middle son was a baby.

Dutch Masters, Pike On The fly

Purple Madness - Pike On The Fly from Willem Romeijn on Vimeo.

Kick off your shoes, forget about your blues, let the day job melt away its Friday and I am not fishing I am watching a Dutch Master instead.

No Tanks No Testing just some fishing, Nuffinbutfishing and Willem Romeijn

If tank test Tuesday is about anything for me it is about not feeling alone. There is a comfort in knowing that around the world other lost souls are throwing things they have made in water in the hopes that what ever has occupied their thoughts and hands for the previous weeks, months or even years makes sense when wet.

But as someone who is also burdened with the desire to makes short films about fishing I need some assurance that there are others equally obsessed with dragging cameras about along with their landing nets and then when it is time to leave the water editing into the early hours. It is fair to say I am not alone, so I get a choice of where to find comfort and some inspiration and so for today's tank test I am visitng a couple of those places, the youtube channels of Nuffinbutfishing from the UK and Willem Romejin from Holland, a couple of young (yes I feel Old) fishing film-makers. As luck would have it both of them have managed to upload their latest videos today. I don't really want to say too much about these videos other than if the future of fishing is going to be carried on anybodies shoulders I rather it was people like these.

I try and keep away from telling other people what to do but if you have enjoyed these films click on the youtube icon and subscribe to their channels, even make the effort to press the like button and then if you haven't worn your fingers to the bone share them on your facebook because other people might also enjoy them and they are probably sick of you posting pictures of your dog or selfies. thanks

Dirty Little Things

Image Above: Home Made Jig Head Pike Flies, size 1 hook brass and polyurethane heads

There is something unnatural about grown men stroking feathers especially feathers attached to 

hooks; with that said, last night I found myself with a pack of cock hackles and some flashabou happily stroking away as I tied a mess of fibres to a hook.  I had decided to revisit my jig heads and make some adjustments to the position of the hooks so the eye was a little nearer the front of the weighted head. I cast the heads in polyurethane resin in mould I took from a piece of polymer clay I had sculpted; the mould also holds a hook weighted with brass. Essentially what I am making is a variation on a buck tail lure, something a little more popular in America than over here. Rather than use buck fur or attach a soft plastic tail I wanted to try some feathers and shiny fuzz of which I have a selection from tying mackerel feathers. The idea was to have a cross between a jig and a pike fly and take advantage of what both have to offer. It is not that I am against fly fishing for pike it is just that at the local lake they have only just accepted the fact that I don’t fish for carp, if I was to turn up with my fly rod it is fair to say they would  ask me to leave or attach a bite alarm to it.

Despite the almost religious fervour with which lure anglers seem to be turning to soft plastics I have never really been able to catch fish with them , this could just be because I am a crap angler after all I have never had much success with spinners. The other possibility is when I build my own lures I design them for the conditions, places and the way I like to fish. If I was to buy fishing lures instead of making them I would have to spend a lot of money finding out which lures were suited to my style of fishing and predictably which were not.

Feathers have a lot offer as any fly fisherman knows, apart from colour and they have a flexibility that once soaked in water translates into incredibly life like movement. Long cock hackles flow and with light tugs ripple in a way that makes me want jump in the water and have a bite myself. Fluffier feathers like marabou and their synthetic cousins add pulse and delicate motions that seem to capture a vitality that I find missing in plastic no matter how supple. And despite all that action and life they are completely insubstantial so when a pike strikes at a fly its jaws will easily find the point of the hook rather than a thick piece of rubber.

In the hands of an expert with a tying vice and some simple tools, feathers can be transformed in the most amazing creations, lifelike or otherwise. Unfortunately I am not an expert and do not own a vice nor the requisite tools or skill; let’s just say I tied something to a hook, to call it a fly would be an exaggeration maybe a tail would be closer to the mark.

At the lake my jig made a soft landing and sank to the bottom, I teased it into the shallows letting it kick up a trail in the mud as its long tail flickered. Three casts and a pike found it and I was happy, god I was happy, shit I was giggling a little. I let the pike off while it was still in the water it looked to be in the five pound range, I picked the jig up and wet as it was I stroked some fluff.

If you are interest in some proper pike flies try http://mcfluffchucker.blogspot.co.uk/