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!

Dream Team win and support Help for Heroes!

Photo kind permission of Chris Sandford Copyright 2011 (so please don't copy it!)

Yesterday's result for me yesterday was quickly followed with an email from Chris Sandford... it was another "Wow!" and success for Bug-Bond.

Chris and his Dream Team won the 'One Fly' competition on the River Test... fantastic news and really well done.
The press release follows:

"Dream Team Win The ‘One Fly’!
On April 28th, Chris Tarrant, Bob James and Chris Sandford scored the most points to take first prize in the ‘River Test ‘One Fly’ Competition organized by Simon Cooper’s company ‘Fishing Breaks’. All three contestants used Sandford’s signature fly ‘The Ducking Feadly’. (Rearrange the letters slightly to find out what the fly was originally christened during the 2010 ‘One Fly’!). Sandford also won his Lower Test region with the most points to a single rod.

Commenting at the prize giving he said “Broadlands is not the easiest fishery but I was lucky enough to have keeper Jon Hall as my guide. He can spot fish when us mere mortals are still gazing into the depths!

It was a great day, but most importantly we raised over £1000 for ‘Help the Heroes’."

For those that don't know the aim of the competition is to fish the same fly all day... with a coating of Bug-Bond the life expectancy of the fly is extended subtantially... almost bullet proofed infact!

A lot to carp about!

It was too bright to concentrate on the pike today and having seen a nice pod of carp I tried a different tactic altogether... carp on the fly. I was rewarded almost immediately with a take on the second cast sadly I missed it. Third cast and it wasn't long in the water when there was a huge gulp and a swirl... I tightened into it and I was attached to a 10lb common carp! This was a special fish... a personal best but also fish number 40 on my home built fly rod (Harrison Lohric 9ft 9weight blank, with Bug-Bond securing all rod rings... no whippings on the rings just pure resin!). What a magic day!

Bug-Bond™ and a first Sailfish

I'm always delighted to hear from Bug-Bond™ users of their catches... it doesn't matter what size it is either. However, I was exceptionally pleased to hear that Tom Gorman (one of our first overseas customers) had caught his first sailfish and Bug-Bond™ had a hand in the catch.

I had hoped to report this a year ago however, Tom's trip to Central America was blighted by a shortage of fish and spit outs. So, this report is all the sweeter! I won't replicate Tom's report here as it can be read on the Globalfisher website.

However, the additional great news is that Tom has used Bug-Bond™ to coat his popperheads to make them longer lasting and also uses Bug-Bond™ on all his fly line connections.

"The Sigler mega heads come in plain white . I coated them with pearl Sparkle-eze... then finished off the eyes and the rest of the head with a nice coating of Bug-Bond: bulletproof and super shiny . You slip the mega head over the shock tippet and seat them on the front part of tube which the fly is tied on...

I used Bug-Bond to cement several loop to loop connections on 10-14 weight fly lines for use in the salt , where you create a loop in braided monofilament, thread the end of the fly line up into it inch-worm style, and then cement it in several locations , with or without a nail knot to reinforce . You make a big loop at the top end (fly line to backing) and a small loop at the bottom end (fly line to butt section) of the fly line .

The alternative glues are UV knot sense, or super glue, but I found that Bug-Bond works better because it penetrates the braided mono with a capillary type action, yet leaves a nice smooth finish – better than UV knot sense – so that the connection shoots nicely through the guides" Tom Gorman

I had the words from Tom post trip to Costa Rica last year but no fish! This year I can match the words with the photo... a well earned catch.

Tom, many congratulations on the capture and release of such a wonderful creature, I am pleased that Bug-Bond™ was able to play its part. Thank you for sharing your moment with us.