B is for Bug, B is for Bond, B is for Bentley and B is for Brown Trout (and also for 'Bow)

Chris Sandford a long time BUG-BOND user, team member, ambassador and all-round good friend of mine gave me a phone call...

Chris:  "What are you doing Friday 12th July?"
David: "Nothing at present Chris"
Chris:  "Would you like to come fishing on the River Test for the day?"

My response was an unequivocal "Yes!"

Now me and trout... well I can probably name all the captures to date... I've been a dyed in the wool predator and saltwater fisherman... that was until I had my first sea trout in Norway in March and then at SIM in Italy last month. There has to be something about this trout caper!

So arming myself with a Guideline Fario 9' 5wt, Guideline 5wt WF 4Cast and a Nautilus 5/6 FWX reel I drove south!

This is Chris's motor!

I arrived with Chris on Thursday and although I had a selection of Fulling Mill dries and a few I'd tied up myself, Chris kindly presented me with a small box of flies he'd tied for me... including 'Sandford's  BULLET' (now there is a hint for a fly that worked on the day!)

We fished a stretch of the River Test below Stockbridge... this IS God's own country... a little piece of heaven, call it what you will... it's a cracking piece of river!

I'm not going to do a blow by blow account... it was a great day and a very kind invite... and we did it in style.

Thank you Chris!

PS you can read more about Chris at www.chrissandford.com

Sergio Cordoba from Argentina - joins the BUG-BOND Team

It is always a pleasure to invite new people to the BUG-BOND Pro-Tying Team and I am therefore delighted to introduce Sergio Cordoba to you.

During my recent visit to Italy I was fortunate to have the opportunity to meet Sergio and to spend some time with him and to see his work at first hand. We have corresponded for some time now via the internet - in fact since Sergio was placed second in a realistic fly tying competition organised by Andrés Touceda where I was a both a judge and sponsor of the event. Sergio's talent is undeniable and he is a super nice guy as well!

As you will see from the photos great tying involved great fun and friendship...

Sergio Cordoba

 Andrés and Sergio 

 Deep in discussion with Andrés

 This Damsel was a generous gift from Sergio

 It is all in the detail!

Sergio's attention to detail in his tying is amazing and these are a few words from the great man:

"The great variety of aquatic and terrestrial insects in our rivers in Argentina led me to start to take an interest in the beauty of their physiognomy and their complex structures.

Living close to places which - I believe - are the finest for fly fishing, such as Patagonia, has allowed me to observe plenty of species.

Tying “fishing flies” didn’t seem to be enough, so I decided to find another way of reproducing them.

After seeing creations captured in display cases or images of insects which appeared to be almost alive, I turned unequivocally to realistic fly tying.

Every single fly is a unique undertaking which requires a lot of time to assemble, as I endeavour to reproduce the smallest of details so that they look as real as possible.

I relied on various people as I embarked on this project.  Marcelo Malventano gave me the very first pieces of advice, Adrian García also helped me when I began to publish my work abroad and Andrés Touceda encouraged me to set up my web page (www.elatadorealista.com.ar), lending me his unconditional support.

Finally, I’d like to say that tying a realistic fly requires a lot of patience and time which is why, above all, I must thank my family who have given me so much of theirs and allowed me to produce these flies."

Sergio, thank you for sharing your talents with us all and welcome to the team.

Muchas gracias a mi buen amigo!

Jobina Chia joins the BUG-BOND Team is first for Asia

It gives me great pleasure to announce Jobina Chia as the latest member of the BUG-BOND Pro-Tying Team. Jobina is based in Malaysia and she becomes the first team member from Asia.

Jobina not only ties fishing flies but also extends her tying skills into art and jewellery. Her banner says it all!

This is how Jobina became interested in tying flies… 

“When I first saw some of my friends doing fly fishing they were hooking up fish on a fly, I would wonder how the fish can get caught with those flies? Slowly I watched and observed how amazing that those flies can imitate the action of a fish or an insect in/on the water that attracts and makes the fish feeling irresistible to take the fly. It was really amazing. 

 Sitting in my friend’s tackleshop (Nick Ooi), watching him tying flies, makes me feel more interested to learn about fly tying. He taught me the step-by-step in tying the basic flies like Clouser & Charlie. I grow to love visiting his shop just to sit down there with the vise and start tying flies.

On 16th February 2009, when my friends (the Yum Yum gang) gave me a big surprised in celebrating my Birthday. I was given a full set of basic fly tying vise, tools and materials. They made me fly to cloud nine. Then I started to practice and learn more in depth about fly tying.

I had 2 mentors (Nick Ooi & Dron Lee) who have been teaching and advising me in my fly tying. I also started to learn other patterns from online videos and write-up fly patterns. I learn to tie many different fly patterns on my own. I even created my own pattern of Shrimp fly, which has been very effective for me, my friends, and others too. Then I started to fall in love in tying semi-realistic flies like Stonefly, Cricket fly, Baitfish, Mouse fly, & etc.

Slowly my interest for fly tying was developed and molded as a passion of art. I feel very stress-free and relaxing whenever I tie flies. It makes me feel like I am doing meditation or yoga. Slowly I started to tie flies as collection, accessories and decoration.”

http://jcsartofflies.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/article-in-sj-echo-newspaper-may-issue.html for a great article about Jobina and her husband Damien How

Jobina sells flies and these can be found here http://jobinac.wix.com/jcs-art-of-flies

Welcome to the team Jobina!

BUG-BOND fly tying first (again) at SIM Castel di Sangro, Italy

I’m getting ready to fly out to Italy this week for the SIM Fly Festival at Castel di Sangro in Tuscany… well someone has too! I’ll be meeting some great friends, both old and new… the BUG-BOND Pro-Tying Team will be well represented with Barry Ord Clarke, Andres Touceda and Fabrizio Gajardoni… I’ll also be there as will long time user of BUG-BOND… Martie van den Brand, who makes exquisite larger than life museum pieces. There are a host of other tyers I have never met that I am keen to meet… along with Alberto Calzolari who I last met in the USA!

But that’s not the reason for today’s blog…

There have been a number of sightings of a new piece of kit over the past 2 years… I’ve kept it close to my chest largely but with design protection in place I feel that I can make an announcement.

R&D for BUG-BOND never stops… it is as near to perpetual motion as you might get. Some people ask me if I ever stop… the answer is no!

So what is the new kit… well it’s an upgrade… we are not going to introduce another new light as we are happy with the Professional UV Light I introduced at the British Fly Fair International (BFFI) two years ago.

Powered by a single AA battery the Professional UV light set a new benchmark in curing UV resins for fly tying… great curing with long battery life we had cracked it. However, as mentioned I don’t stop still and I was already designing the next phase.  The next stage was to design the light to have a continuous source of power that doesn’t vary… I didn’t want another light and therefore designed an upgrade that uses the existing Professional light and gives us the best of both worlds.  Portability and mains power.

Those who have seen me tie at shows over the past 18 months  or so will have seen the light, though I have been coy and kept it under wraps as far as possible. Now my pal Barry Ord Clarke has a unit and he has been seen at the Swedish Fly Fair and Norwegian Fly Fair with it… not only that he has been photographed using it… the photo  was taken by Tore Litlere Rydgren in Norway (thank you for the photo Tore!). However, this wasn’t the first photo of the light. The first was of Cheryl McCrory at the Glasgow Angling Centre Open Weekend last September. There are other units in operation but I’m not saying where… such is the veil of secrecy!

So what do we have… we have the Professional UV light that when the on/off switch is disconnected the unit can accept a remote foot switch that can be powered by both mains via an AC/DC adapter or separate rechargeable battery unit. This gives the user the convenience of mains power with foot operated curing and the portability demanded by the travelling tyer… keep the foot operated switch at home for the tying bench and while on the fishing trip return the light to AA battery operation. I believe this is another first for light cured resins in fly tying...

www.bug-bond.moonfruit.com

This keeps BUG-BOND at the forefront of light cured resins for the fly tyer and perhaps why we have picked up 2 innovation awards over the last two years…

It has been designed as a retro fit for all existing BUG-BOND Professional UV Lights powered by the AA battery.

The product will be in use at the SIM Fly Festival at Castel di Sangro in Italy this weekend and at the BFFI in Staffordshire also this weekend.

Do look out for us!

Another 'Oz' but this time in Cornwall: 'Oz' Goldsmith Bass Guide

Sat here contemplating what flies to tie at a fly fair next weekend, I recall a conversation with Austen ‘Oz’ Goldsmith a fishing guide based in Cornwall about HIS fly now constructed with BUG-BOND. 

I think Oz only has one fly, OK there are subtle variants of it but if he’s fly fishing the UK waters off the Cornish coast, the waters of Wexford or indeed the Eastern sea board of the US – it is likely to be ‘Oz’s Livebait Fly’… it would appear that it is the singular most effective fly for Oz… (This statement may not be strictly true as he does have other flies but if you ring him up he’s always tying Livebaits!)

The Livebait fly is a simple fly to tie, very straight forward and a great catcher (see it in the above clip)! Oz has proved it as we can see in these images he’s kindly provided.

I’ve included Youtube videos from Oz as well as images… you will get a flavour of this Certified IFGA Captain from both… he knows where to fish and has two boats that he can use depending on conditions.

On holiday in Cornwall and looking for a day out? Looking for a fishing holiday fullstop?

Contact Oz for a fishing trip of a lifetime around the Cornish Coast… clicking his photo below will take you to his website.

BUG-BOND attends the BFFI: Dougie's a star attraction!

The British Fly Fair International (BFFI for short) is at the Staffordshire County Showground again on 22^nd & 23^rd June, a matter of a week or so away. It is a great weekend and whether you go for the day or the weekend you will undoubtedly enjoy it!

The BUG-BOND Team will be there in force as usual with many additional tyers choosing to use BUG-BOND as their UV resin of choice as well.

You'll see:

Andy Elliot

Ilan Evans

Skuli Kristinsson

Dougie Loughridge

Chris Reeves

Chris Reed

Chris Sandford

Riny Sluiter

Jo Stephenson

Paul van den Dreische

Dougie Loughridge

If you are going you need to make time in your schedule for at least one of the Fly Tying Presentations… under the heading "Fly Tying in Focus" ace Scottish tyer and all round great guy Dougie Loughridge will be demonstrating tying one of his famous pike flies in the theatre from 1200 to 1300hrs each day. I have it on good authority that the Dougie who sits on both the BUG-BOND and Partridge Hooks teams will tie his version of Blanton’s Flashtail Whistler… this fly has become legendary in pike fly fishing circles and is one of my firm favourites.

Dougie's Whistlers

A show not to miss; and definitely a presentation not to miss.

Supporting the show will be Veniard Ltd who distribute BUG-BOND… please do go and say “Hi!” to Phil Varney as well – he’ll appreciate it!

Aussie fish and Aussie flies! OR What's the plural of Jono?

Sitting here surrounded by flies from the aftermath of my Cuban trip I decided to catch up on what my friends have been up to. One of those friends is Jono Shales in Exmouth, Western Australia… I’ve featured this guy before he’s been described as the “Human FAD” and folk aren't wrong.  Ace guide and owner of Exmouth Fly Fishing, Jono posts a continual stream of photographic images of fish caught in this virgin territory of Australia.

Jono and I became friends through a buddy of mine Pete Gray and we regularly converse… beer over the internet discussions take place as well as latest fly tying or fishing news.  My aim next year is to fish with the guy as well!

Now the internet is a funny place and through Jono and a couple of other mates I came across a commercial tyer from Australia… another Jono… this time Jono Makim.  Now this could get confusing writing the rest of this blog… but bear with me!

Jono Makim is an Aussie currently living in Germany. I asked Jono for a bio and was given… 35 years old, fly tyer and tying flies for 15 years… I’ll add to that sparse bio that he is probably one of the most talented commercial tyers I have seen… if you look at his flies they are all crafted with exquisite consistency.

Now link the two guys… I have yet to work out the plural of Jono!  Bring the flies to the FAD and what do you get… well, ace photos of fish with lip piercings that any high end jeweller would be proud of!

I had a conversation with Aussie Jono (as opposed to German Jono) about bonefish flies and a great photo he posted on Facebook. The fly in question was in fact German Jono’s ‘Ultimate Shrimp’ and the question arose as to what it was made from. Now I knew that Jono Makim (German Jono) had been using BUG-BOND but wasn't sure whether it had yet hit is mainstream flies. So I asked  and was blown away to find out that not only the ‘Ultimate Shrimp’ was built with BUG-BOND but also Jono’s  ‘Bay Candy’… I remembered seeing a great photo of a pink version of this fly impaled on the lip of a tuna from Exmouth… Magic!

I then chatted to Jono in Exmouth who was over the moon that as a member of the BUG-BOND team with perhaps limited time to tie… such is his popularity as a guide, that flies he is getting from an Aussie abroad are constructed with BUG-BOND.

What happened then was the email Inbox bleeped at me and out rolled not only the Bonefish photo but also photos of Goldens and also the Tuna caught on BUG-BOND flies…

If you want to fish with a Fish Attracting Device and want to go to Australia then Jono in Exmouth is your man. If you can’t tie a fly but love to fly fish with exquisite fly fishing jewellery on the end of your leader then Jono Makin is the man to look up… he’ll do stock flies that he knows are tried and tested and I guess he’ll custom tie as well if a different colour is required. A word to the wise – these guys are in demand so book and order early!

You can find Jono Shales here at http://www.exmouthflyfishing.com.au/ whilst the photos of the flies link to 'Jon Makim Flies' website… thanks for making my day guys!

PS... I referred to Jono Shales as Aussie Jono... but he's actually South African, whilst Jono Makim that I referred to as German Jono is in fact Australian... Confused?