And now for something completely different!

Recently I had the great pleasure of meeting Chris Sandford... a week or so on Chris kindly sent me a couple of photos of bugs that he'd tied using Bug-Bond. It gives me a great buzz to see flies of such small proportions having Bug-Bond applied to them. It makes a terrific change from my pike and saltwater ties!

A word from Chris tho' "please don't take the photos and use them elsewhere... they are copyright protected" and I really appreciate the fact that he is happy to allow me to share these photos with you... if you'd like any detail with regard to particular bugs I can ask the question for you.

Kinky Muddler result!

Tying flies is all very well BUT it is completely pointless unless you are going to fish them or have them fished!

Last night I decided to tie up a pattern I'd seen on a US based forum - it is by a talented tyer called Johnny King and the fly is called a Kinky Muddler... I had a little play and this is a very imperfect first attempt at this tie... I used white for the underside and the top wing a combination of shrimp, pink and black marker pen with a little blue flash... as I say it was a play... craft eyes were bonded in place.

So this morning I woke to a hard frost and decided a trip to the trout fishery was not on! Too cold... so I went for a mooch nearer home... To cut a long story short I had a follow and then a boil from a bigger fish behind the fly and then a cast that resulted in this jack... nice to have the string pulled.

All shoaled up!!

Yup! and they are done!

Sand Eel for a fly swap...

Suckered in again... said "Yes" to a fly swap! Though I enjoyed tying up these guys. Tied on Tiemco 811s size 4... White bucktail overwrapped with Mirage tinsel... fluorescent red tag and pink, lavender and chartreuse bucktail topped with 4 strands krystal flash and 8 fibres Turrels olive crinkle hair doubled over. Wapsi 5/32 eyes and Bug-Bond to finish!

Deesox meets the 35lb Black Fin Tuna!

It is amazing how things happen… I’ll skip the infomercial bit and get to the good bit.

On one of the UK based fly forums I was in communication with a chap who goes under the name of Genty or Gentytheshrimper… Brian is his real name. I had offered to drive over and see Brian with a few fly tying supplies and within a couple of hours I was at his front door.

We had a chat over a coffee and he had a look at the flies I’d tied and then we went into his tying room. OK, guys! A cave is a cave but this den was fantastic. Not only is Brian a seasoned and well accomplished fly fisher and fly tyer, it appears that in the midst of rural England there is a Yankees baseball fan!

The thing about fishing is that we all have a common interest and it is very easy to feed off each other. I spent 3 hours with Brian and came away from his house totally buzzing with ideas… a message via a forum that we are members of revealed that after I left he’d put 18 hours in at the vise… I assume that he’d fed and watered himself in that time and maybe had a knap… But do you know what… it wouldn’t surprise me if he’d done a straight 18 hours such is his enthusiasm for fishing.

It was a real privilege to have the opportunity to meet Brian… and I sat down at the vise today to try and recreate his minnows… not a patch on his but it is a start!

Thanks Brian… the Sand eel is for you!

The other photo is Brian with a 35lb fly caught Black Fin tuna… I live in hope!

Tube Fly Simpleclones....

After playing with the Simpleclone I decided to do it on a tube and restrict the amount of Bug-Bond to a bit more than a comb thru'! Lavender, pale blue and yellow bucktail over white Icelandic sheep with a twist of Angel hair thru' it... 10mm Rainbow Funky Eyes finish it off!

Simpleclone and Clouser ties with a twist

I read Steve Farrar's SBS on the Simpleclone which was I believe a rework of Bob Popovic's Siliclone... which has now been reworked by Bob as Flex Fleye... that's a mouthful!

OK... so I get the tag end of some Icelandic fleece (white) and tie it per Steve's instructions... then orange bucktail overwing and yellow underwing reverse tie and Steve Farrar's Orange Blend along the flanks again reverse tie... biro over the end and loose tie to keep the shape.... remove biro and apply Bug-Bond... and "Yes" it ain't the greatest tie... it is the first one, so excuse me, please... BUT you can squeeze the heck out of it and it'll come back for more! Doesn't crack or split!!

The Clouser is on a tube the difference here is I've used minimal thread to tie it - in fact some very fine white spectra from Riny Sluiter. First off get the B&Q beadchain and set it on the tube and put a drop of Bug-Bond over the centre of the chain an cure it... that is now solid to the tube... no chasing the eyes around the tube and trying to position them! A 3 second cure is all it takes! The body is next, Bug-Bond the Mylar to the tube and then wrap to the eyes... go on tidy in so used the spectra! Now... Bug-Bond over the mylar... a rotary vice helps here as you can spin the vice and you have an even coating... UV on and job done...

Catch in the white slinky as the under wing... drop of Bug-Bond and that's on... Over wing was chartreuse Turrell's crinkly something or other and drop of Bug-Bond... job done... again the prototype and the blob was a wee bit bigger than I wanted as I was trying to kick up the wing... I'll also go slinky fibre for the over wing... Pink tag is next... and finally because those beadchain eyes are likely to rust in the salt stuff I've given them an encapsulation with Bug-Bond... and you can't twist the eyes off the tube... and the bonding is discrete.

So what were you doing this evening?

PS... you'll notice speckling over the eye... it ain't bubbles it's a dodgy Orvis eye!

PPS... I hate the way you put paragraphs in and the darned blog doesn't recognise them unless you write it in Word and then paste in!

For snapper in the Hauraki Gulf!!

Mike Ladle kindly introduced me to Alan Bulmer in New Zealand who decided to take the plunge and order Bug-Bond. I received a great email from Alan today... He's allowed me to post the picture and a couple of quotes...

"The top fly is a “Hair ball” and the bottom fly is a “Featherweight”. They will be used to target snapper in the Hauraki Gulf instead of soft plastics. Fished on drop shot tackle with braid they should be deadly"

"Bug-Bond is a revelation. 15 seconds after application and curing with the UV torch and the resin is as hard as Japanese arithmetic. It is without doubt the sexiest fly tying accessory that I’ve ever played with. No need for a fly rotator to allow the two pot epoxy to cure. Just apply and set. Stunning! The opportunities for this product are limitless"

Alan Bulmer of Auckland, New Zealand

Alan's fantastic fishing reports from New Zealand can be read in Mike Ladle's Blog (see the side bar)