A Rogue Angel, the Lakes and a first on the fly!!

I have such a lot to blog at the moment but you'll have to bare with me on this one... A rare weekend away with Janet (my wife) and one where I managed to get her to agree to fishing with me! Now it either goes horribly wrong or goes incredibly right... lets just say a few things fell into place.

Having decided where I wanted to fish we fished some place else as we had an access problem... I was the only one with waders! Short straw in place I scouted the water from behind high grasses... small trout fry shoals and there was a pike suspended in the gin clear water close by. I moved Janet to a different piece of bank and had her cast the fly rod for the first time... now ideally we would have done practice on a lawn. However, this was a "fait accompli" situation where it was learn on the job. Janet was casting... not pretty but doing the job! We'll work on technique with a lesson or two in the near future. I placed Janet by the lily pads and I moved up river to cast a line and quite soon I had an excited "what do I do now?" with foaming water at her feet. We netted a lovely fish that fought hard but was brought to the net quickly. Janet didn't wish to have her photo with the fish so your guide did the honours!

This was a special fish as I wanted Janet to have the honours in getting fish 50 on the BUG-BOND rod and it was her first fish on the fly as well. I was really pleased for her... it was a great start to the day!

We then moved down stream where we swapped a floating line on the BUG-BOND rod with the flashtail whistler for the Loomis with a Rio Striped Bass line and a Jonny King built Kinky Muddler... I put her on another mark and went to sort out my rod... I hadn't even touched the rod and I heard "I've got another!"... after a short fight the fish came to the net... it was now Girls 2 to Boys 0! I regained some honour by hooking and landing a fish soon after...

We cast some more dropping a couple of fish but called it a day wanting to ensure Janet enjoyed the day... I think she did!

I recall an e-conversation with K8 Taylor from the Rogue Angels blog where I said that I wanted Janet to experience what I do and K8 I did it... maybe took me a bit longer but we got there in the end. Another Rogue Angel is born?

PS fish are shown in reverse order... bottom image is Janet's first fish!

BFFI and BUG-BOND™ Sky TV debut!

It’s been a week since the BFFI (British Fly Fair International)… and I’ve hardly had time to reflect fully on the weekend. BUT it was an excellent weekend. It is always good to catch up with friends and make new ones along the way and this was the first show that BUG-BOND™ had retailers in attendance. Pat Stevens of FlyTek and Neil Anderson of Angus Angling were flying the BUG-BOND™ flag and fly it well, they did. Both retailers sold out of their stock and also the reserve stock, the new BUG-BOND™ Professional UV light was introduced into the equation (the new light was an absolute knockout and really does set the benchmark in affordable high quality curing lights!). Only one bottle of BUG-BOND™ Lite from the reserve stock was left… credit also has to go to Ian Christie of Flybox who was knocking out his BUG-BOND™ buzzers on Neil’s stand like he was shelling peas!

The BUG-BOND™ Pro-Tying team was out in force and they were supported by a growing number of fly-tyers both on and off the main tying area using BUG-BOND™ (I am grateful to them for their continued support). I am also pleased to announce that Skúli Kristinsson and Paul van den Driesche have joined the team. Skúli is famous for his racks of salmon flies that in their boxes look like vast regiments of identical soldiers without a hair out of place. Paul on the other hand ties fantastic realistic flies… he presented me with a fishable wasp that was so realistic it flew away from Pat Steven’s FlyTek display stand! Paul thankfully tied me a second wasp… So a word to the disappearing wasp… “You are sorely missed… Pat will be at Scone and at Blenheim over the coming months so if you feel like taking up residence in your fly clip we’d be happy to see you!”

There are times when you are taken by complete surprise and I had two such occasions at the BFFI… one of the most revered areas of fly tying has to be the classic salmon fly and I was amazed when Bruno Pimpanini showed me a classic fly tied using BUG-BOND™… I had to have one of his flies and it will be framed and take pride of place on my wall.

The other surprise was from Chris Reed; Chris ties fantastic flies, however his main job is that of a cabinet maker. We’d talked about a tying station for a while and at the show he presented me with a fantastic tying stand for my vise and a matching fly stand. The brass holder for the vise is from Riny Sluiter… I cannot describe how well made it is and if you’d like a stand making let me know and I’ll pass your details on to Chris… it oozes quality! I might regret that I didn’t buy one of Riny’s new tube fly heads for the Regal… Riny, I’ll see you in Galway!

I have to thank Chris Sandford for giving me feedback on the flyers, banners and the new Pro-Tying team badges… they look fab in the flesh and stand out well in the photos of the show… they also did well at SIM in Italy with Fabrizio Gajardoni!

This week ended well with friend Hywel Morgan being interviewed by Keith Arthur on “Tight Lines” the weekly fishing programme on Sky TV. Thanks to Hywel & Keith for enabling BUG-BOND™ to have its first airing on television. This may be the first time that a UV cure acrylic for fly tying has been demonstrated on TV (certainly in the UK)… who knows! Click here for access to the podcast!

With a lot of help, support and acknowledgement from friends, customers and the tackle trade, BUG-BOND™ is fast becoming synonymous with fly-tying…

"BUG-BOND™ Professional" THE UV light!

Straight off the production line and onto the shelf is a new addition to the BUG-BOND™ family!

BUG-BOND™ Professional is a new single emitter UV light that will appeal to the fly-tying fanatic, semi-commercial and commercial tyer. This is possibly the sleekest, smartest, smallest and cheapest to run UV light for curing UV cure resin available.

The BUG-BOND™ Professional UV curing light:

• Utilises a Cree single UV emitter that provides consistent curing
• Uses a single AA power cell. Tests have been conducted using NiMH rechargeable batteries and excellent results have been achieved. It will work equally as well with alkaline batteries if required.
• Is constructed of aircraft grade aluminium and anodised to a Type III specification
• Weighs in at a measly 74g, against the 12 UV LED light at 104g and (the now discontinued) Nightsearcher at 152g. These are weights taken with batteries included.
• Is imported by Edwards Bonding Solutions who is the owner, designer and developer of BUG-BOND™ the first tack-free cure resin for fly-tying.

Although committed to providing a cost effective solution to enable the majority of fly-tyers to access the benefits of BUG-BOND™ I also have a commitment to produce a replacement for the acclaimed Nightsearcher that many tyers on the show circuit use. The ability to power a high quality light with a readily available and inexpensive power cell in most countries will give customers outside the UK and those who travel the confidence that they can cure BUG-BOND™ wherever they might be on the globe! Link this with the fact that most rechargeable packs of AA batteries are sold in units of 4 batteries this will provide the fly-tyer with an almost constant supply of UV light that will cure BUG-BOND™.

I am confident that the introduction of the BUG-BOND™ Professional UV curing light will keep the BUG-BOND™ UV cure resin family at the forefront of UV resin development for the fly-tyer and rod builder alike.

The BUG-BOND™ Professional will be available to view at the British Fly Fair International 2011 at Stafford Show Ground, UK during the weekend 18th & 19th June. It will then be available to retailers with effect from 20th June.

Fabrizio Gajardoni - joins the team!

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Fabrizio Gajardoni has become a member of the BUG-BOND™ Pro-Tying Team. Fabrizio is one of those fly-tyers I admire who can turn his hand to any fly, be it wet, dry, salmon, pike, realistic or saltwater. A very talented tyer...

I include Fabrizio's own biography and photos of the man himself along with some of his recent Bug-Bond crab creations... If you are in Italy and visiting 8° SIM FLY FESTIVAL 2011Castel di Sangro (AQ) 18 e 19 giugno 2011 do find Fabrizio and say "Hello"

Fabrizio Gajardoni was born in Rimini, Italy.

He has been fly fishing and tying since 1982. He is an innovative creator of several dressing and he is known for his versatility with every sort of fly, from the dries to pike and bass flies, from nymphs to saltwater flies, from realistic to full dress for salmon.

He contributed with the Italian magazine Sedge & Mayfly and with the American Art of Angling Journal by P. Schmookler.

His works are described on the first volume of Fly Tyers of The World by Steve Thornton

Fabrizio also features on the CD Realistic Fly Tyers by the Canadian tyer D. Beamish. Recently he attended a couple of editions of the Fly Fishing Show in Somerset (USA). He participated in the Mustad Scandinavian Open from 1997 till 2003 where he won 2 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze medals in the various categories. His flies can be found on his website www.gajaflies.it

It's crystal clear!

Each batch of Bug-Bond is test cured against the UV lights we have. The test is small microfibre brush dipped and then cured... once tested the brush is destined for the bin... until yesterday. I decided to photograph the cured Bug-Bond just to show how optically perfect it is... on the photo with the dust specks... that's rubbish on the lens... you can see that I took the photo outside. The background is out focus (in the bottom photo) but as we look into the cured Bug-Bond we can see what was on the table... can you see? As a clue look toward bottom left in the centre photo... click on it to enlarge it. Oh and I wiped the lens for the top shot!

Oh its the British Fly Fair International in Stafford next weekend... we'll give you advanced warning... we are really looking forward to the show!

Andrés Touceda - joins the Pro-Tying Team

It has been a busy few months here and the Bug-Bond team is expanding... the first of our new team members is Andrés Touceda from Spain.

Andrés is an incredible tyer of realistic flies and has taken realistic fly tying to another level - and it is a great pleasure to give a long over due welcome to my good friend.

I have included some images of flies tied using Bug-Bond by Andrés and also a profile written by him...

"I had the privilege of practicing fishing since I was a child. I started fishing at sea with my grandfather. He took me, for the first time, to go fishing at sea when I was 5 or 6 years old. I started fly fishing 20 years ago. After watching some videos and reading some books about fly fishing, I decided that I wanted to try that way of fishing. My experience, by that time, fishing in rivers was very poor. I had fished in rivers just a couple of times and without much success. To learn fly fishing techniques was not easy. I remember that I spent the first season fly fishing without a catch (well I caught some trees on the way). I stopped fishing at sea as I put all my efforts and time in learning the new technique to fish in rivers.

My interest in tying started at the same time that my interest in fly fishing. Learn how to cast a line and how to tie a fly were my objectives from the beginning. I got into a fishing club were I was taught the first steps in both subjects. After some time, I had a lot of fly tying and casting books. I admired how fishermen tied their patterns so I spent a lot of time watching their imitations and studying their techniques for me to tie my own flies. The most deep I went into fly tying the most interest I felt."

Nymphs & the Golden Stone

I received an email from Christophe de Pastors recently and am pleased that he's been using and is happy with Bug-Bond... Christophe's speciality is nymphing in the Pyrenees and sells his excellent flies via his website www.pyreneesnymphfishing.com This is what Christophe had to say in his mail to me...

"I was born in Pyrenees; a Frenchman on the border of Spain. I fly fishing for approximately 30 years in Pyrenees it was my uncle who introduces me to this fishing. Since then I am faithful to this (type of) fishing.

It enchants me and me made discover an extraordinary environment. I matched some years of championships in France... it allowed me to see some rivers and various manners of fly fishing.

When I was 10 years old I began to go up flies in this time it was very difficult because Internet did not exist. I began to sell a fly in 1999 in France and in Spain. I sell directly the fishermen, the contact pleases me with those a lot who know about what I speak.

...80 % in nymphs (Czech nymph) I use jig hook or larva of sedges a lot.. For the assembly I use the epoxy, (its) very to complicated to mix; since I discovered the bug bond I create much more effective assemblies and faster

This really is the product for creating one new generations of flies"

Christophe's Golden Stone is a fantastic piece of ingenuity using a stone fly to make a mould in Play-Doh and then fill with Bug-Bond and then cure... I've linked his photos into a Youtube video!

Thank you for sharing with us Christophe!