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?