Fat Jack first of 2010!

It has either been the weather or I've had other calls on my time recently and yesterday was the first real occasion I could get out fishing.

Up at 0630 and to the lake for 0730... clear and frosty morning with a stiffening breeze... I was glad I put on the extra woolly pully

I set up two rods - the Harrison has the Cortland 333 Pike Pro WF10F and the Loomis a Rio Striped Bass WF9I.

Mark 1 is a difficult cast an easy to get hung up on the trees and with the wind blowing into the trees running parallel to my cast I had to aim out into the lake for the fly to be taken to its intended landing spot. My favourite pattern on board... orange & yellow bucktail mix on the Rio Inter I cast dangerously close to the reeds and overhanging trees already cluttered with waggler floats! The wind albeit difficult aided getting my fly to a part of the water that I usually have difficulty getting to... the potential for hanging the fly on vegetation is high!

I decided with the wind strengthening to cast a little further up wind and allow the fly to drift into position whilst it dropped in the water column... short pulls and pauses following by long pull a 6 count a long pull and a 6 count and SNAG. Strip - Strike and I'm in!

In all honesty it was so lethargic it was like pulling in a plastic bag... it only started to go berserk in the net! It was a cold day and he was more than happy to flash back into the depths...

2010's account has been opened!

Life's a bench!

I'm going fishing tomorrow! I couldn't care if it snows, rains or chucks hail down in bucket loads - I'm going fishing!

I spent last evening playing with some fly designs and they are now on their way to a recipient to take on his trip to the Caribbean - lucky devil... some are plays on variations I've done in the past and others - well who knows if they'll work.

A tyer that has impressed me is my e-pal Simon Graham... Simon's ability to build flies both in the traditional style to the down right anarchic is both intimidating and inspirational. I enjoy looking at his Fly Candy and going "Wow". It's like trying to compare a Renoir with a Picasso half the time! I thought that as a lot of folk may never see him tying there should at least be a photo of him on the net in action.

I was talking to my pal Steve Harrison from Harrison Advanced Rods today and said to him that since I started on the trail with Bug-Bond I'm fishing less BUT with tyers like Simon and Andy Elliott where their flies made with my product are catching fish... that's a BIG buzz.

But I'm still going fishing tomorrow!

Hey you could stir fry these boys...

Well I got my new toy on Friday and I gave it a road test over the weekend...

The toy? Oh, a Griffin Montana Mongoose rotary vise (the cam model)... Nick Granato from the States said the 'Goose was good and he wasn't wrong... the tip with the reel oil was a good call... I've never had a rotary before and this made all the difference!

It was a bit of a baptism of fire as I had to tie 12 flies for the UK Saltwater Fly Forum January swap... I decided to do the shrimp pattern... broadly happy... number 12 was the best by far!

All tied on Tiemco 811s... 3mm seed eyes on 40lb mono - dipped in Bug-Bond and cured. Danville's shrimp floss was used along with a grizzle hackle, two strands of pink funky krystal, pink funky fibre and bucktail feelers... Bug-Bond shell back to finish!!!

I'm off for a well earned drink!

An independant review...

I posted apart of an email from Andy Elliott a commercial fly tyer from Northern Ireland... However, he's now posted a review on a few fora around the net... here's the link to the review on the UK Saltwater Fly Forum.... it includes taking a Bug-Bond built fly and casting it on a 9# rod with a t14 line against the side of a house... read the article to see how he gets on...

For the record Andy is a customer of mine and he's not received any payments for writing the article.

What they say... "It's a fantastic product!"

Images sometimes speak louder than words... but may be you need the words as well or how do you know something works?

Andy Elliott is a commercial tyer known for his Bass flies and you'll see his work crop up in Jim Hendrick's blog Probassfisher Andy also sells his ties via his own website http://www.chasingsilver.org/ .

Andy approached me early December about Bug-Bond and we had a bit of dialogue over the ether and I sent him a few samples of cured material and then did a little job using Bug-Bond which he was happy with (sadly I can't tell you what as it is something new that may feature in some of Andy's ties!).

I'd like to thank Andy as he has kindly agreed to allow me to include in my blog an excerpt from a recent email he sent me relating to personal ties for the start of the trout season...

"I have been tying some quill bodied nymphs and snatchers for the start of the trout season (for my use)... normally I would apply 3 coats of varnish to the quill body then wait for it to dry before finishing the fly , but with the Bug-Bond its one coat for a perfect glass like finish ..so easy and saves so much time and in my opinion the finish is far superior

Producing glass like heads on trout flies ... simple with Bug-Bond .. one tiny drop spread around with a bodkin .. zap it with the light... instant result

Weighted nymph bodies ... easy ...wrap the lead , coat of bug bond . Zap it with the light ..job done and that lead will go nowhere

I'll be ordering a few more bottles next week

I really hope this takes off for you ... it’s a fantastic product

Andy Elliott”

The first time an individual uses Bug-Bond you do get the Eureka effect and when I'm trying new projects with Bug-Bond that comes out of conversations with tyers like Andy and Simon, I still get it!

Purchasers of Bug-Bond are buying one of the most advanced UV cure resins available...

Bug-Bond possibly the UK's first specific UV Cure Resin for Fly Tying

My fishing escapades have taken a back seat with all the winter weather we are having at the moment... the lakes are iced up but a thaw is just around the corner!

But I've had other things to occupy my mind at the moment with setting up Bug-Bond the new UV cure resin... and I'm pleased with the responses I've had from users.

The possibilities are endless with this material and Simon Graham from Finland is already testing another material which he's getting on famously with. Bug-Bond also has a semi self levelling attribute which I played with at the weekend. I coated the popper sealing in ultra-fine glitter and am pleased to be able to say that there aren't any brush marks from the coating process.

Bug-Bond is an entirely more flexible coating than folk might imagine... where the user defines when the material is cured... you have control!

Tactical Pike Fishing - Book Review

Over Christmas I was able to set aside time to read books… due to a busy schedule I find it difficult to sit down and read. It is a great shame that books don’t feature as much in our lives as they should following the advent of the internet and all the information it holds.

There is something about a book though, it is tactile and you can see the work that an author has put into it and they are measured on that work – cover to cover. The other beauty is that there isn’t any hyperlink distraction.

So Christmas lunch out of the way and the snow piling up outside I set about reading Tactical Pike Fishing by Mike Ladle and Jerome Masters. I have a tendency to scan a book first and see if it interests me and then sit down and read it… I did have a flick through it and thought instantly that this book shouldn’t disappoint. I am used to reading Mike Ladle’s work as I avidly read his blog and check it for updates on a daily basis. Mike has been one of the biggest influences on my fishing since my father put a rod in my hand at the age of 5 and I don’t say that flippantly.

I suppose the fear of being a reader of an author’s blog is that when you come to read the book it is just the same information regurgitated in a different way… this isn’t.

This is without a shadow of a doubt a defining book on the life of the pike. Sure there have been famous anglers who have written books about piking but this is a no nonsense book free of dogma and ego. Above all this is an insight into a scientific study of pike. This book has been written by two eminent scientists who are also anglers and who know a lot about fish and their environment.

Radio tagging pike, wading in flooded river plains and 8,500 separate tracking logs of pike set this book apart from the rest. This book assists the reader in ascertaining pike movements year round… how far they travel, their effect on the ecosystem in which they live and what they feed on and when.

The book is well illustrated not only with photos of pike but graphs showing the results of scientific study.

The last section concentrates on methods that are employed to catch pike and piking tales… this marries very nicely with the scientific element of the book and puts the science into practice.

Whether you are the most experienced piker in the land or a complete novice this is the book for you. It will ensure that you better understand your quarry and it will get you thinking about it as part of an ecosystem and not just in isolation. I firmly believe that this book should be in every serious angler’s bookcase.

My fishing results are proof of the Mike Ladle approach to fishing and the methods employed by Mike have enabled me to gain a great degree of satisfaction in my hobby. My final thoughts…

Ignore this book at your peril!

Tactical Pike Fishing by Mike Ladle and Jerome Masters is published by Crowood Press £19.95 ( and worth every penny!)