Casting at Shadows...

Yesterday I bought a copy of the "Casting at Shadows" DVD and today it arrived at my desk...

It is a record of Chris Cook's trip of a lifetime to Christmas Island. The introduction sets the pace of life in the Christmas Islands and is a bonus as some film makers concentrate on the sport and omit the environment they are filming in. As I watched the film I was immediately struck by the style of filming; Ben Marlow & Bradley Lucas have given us the quintessential Englishman (Chris Crook) with almost an air of Anthony Minghella's "The English Patient" as Chris stalks the flats. There is no whooping and hollering... Chris comes across as a quietly confident angler and the results speak for themselves... great bonefish come to hand, however, the film does get across the heat & frustration that flats fishing can provide at times.

The pace of the film increases as Chris hooks into a Bluefin Trevally and then on an incoming tide lands a GT of above average proportions. We then go offshore and get to call sharks! See and believe... One shark landed and Chris then hooks into a leviathan... a 3 hour fight with potentially a record breaking fly caught yellow fin tuna. There is no thrash heavy metal music in this film... if there was then I missed it as I was fixed on the fight with the tuna!

If you ever wanted a video of your own fishing trip this would be it... so many of us don't get the photos, don't get the video and would desperately love to fish this type of environment.

Bonus features included a slideshow of the fish caught - some of which never made the main feature but are no less impressive. There is also an interesting piece on the Christmas Island H bomb testing...

A very broad offering linked with good filming that will appeal to many... and if you are considering this trip of a lifetime I think watching this will seal the deal for you...

By clicking the image above you will be taken to Chris's site where you can purchase the film in DVD or BluRay format.

BUG-BOND in "Hatches" Fall 2011 Edition

Congratulations to Bug-Bond Pro-Tying Team member Rune Stokkebekk of Norway for his successful submission to Hatches Magazine... I'd recommend getting your own copy of Hatches to see first hand Rune's excellent article and tying sequences that includes Bug-Bond. Well done Rune!

Basstastic Devon!

2 years ago I caught my first bass (4lbs but the size was immaterial!) it was on the lure and although it was one of those significant firsts it wasn’t the goal I was looking for… it really had to be on the fly! Through various commitments I have had to wait until this year to connect.

If I turn the clock back 12 months I found myself in Devon for a long weekend with my wife… an urge to fish and  tip off saw me at a mark VERY early one morning… the result was a blank.

Fast forward to last weekend… Devon for a week… and I fished 4 separate marks on 5 occasions. It was last year’s mark that was fished twice… the result was 1 fish on day 1 and 4 on day 2! Result!

The key word is “watch”… Yes, watch what is going on around you, swirls or bait fish moving, they are all tell-tale signs of movement from under the surface of the water… cast and retrieve… steady retrieve… stop and retrieve… feel the take and the shrimp fly claims its fish.  Interestingly I preferred not to match the hatch but give the offering of the slower shrimp… would I have had more hits using a match?

The biggest fish was estimated to be 26.5cm… not big but it gets me off the blocks and I know what I’ll be concentrating on tying more of! Oh the Bug-Bond treated fly lasted longer on the back casts clicking on the rock! 

A cluster of creations from Fabrizio!

Fabrizio kindly agreed to send me some flies build with Bug-Bond to photograph... his flies like many tied by the top fly tyers look great in photographs but when you have them in the palm of your hand... they are simply stunning. These flies may feature in Bug-Bond adverts over the next little while but I thought I would just share the group with you...

"Phrom the Bunker of the Phly Welder"

In a land where the letter F is replaced by its phonetic friend Ph (why else is phonetic spelt the way it is!) I have to include two links which give access to a compendium of Phly Welding put together by Pete Gray on the forums of Sexyloops and Globalflyfisher. Love it or hate it Pete has started something... maybe the guys who sell thread and make bobbin holders may want to call him a heretic... but surely this is merely an extension of innovation which all fly tyers hold dear (sorry Phly Tyer)... perhaps Pete should be inducted into the Phly Tying Hall of Phame!

Someone out there should give him a book deal, as well as invites to international fly fairs and perhaps even an invite or two for after dinner speaking!

As ever Pete thanks for sharing...

Fish heads Gaja style...

Fabrizio Gajardoni has been making his fish heads in epoxy since 2005... he has now turned his attention to making them with Bug-Bond... he says "I tie saltwater flies with my Gaja's Fish Head since 2005, now with Bug-Bond is so fast do this head......."

I think you'll agree that these are stunning little works of art!

Rune Stokkebekk (Norway) from Guideline joins the BUG-BOND™ Team!

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Rune Stokkebekk from Norway has joined the BUG-BOND™ Pro-Tying Team. I've corresponded with Rune for quite a while now and I felt that as the interest in Scandinavia is increasing we needed to increase the team in that part of Europe... I won't bore you with futile scribblings I'll let Rune tell his story... BUT do watch out for Rune's video's on the net...

"I have been a fly fisherman since I was 14 (in 1988). A friend of mine got this fly tying kit for Christmas and it looked like a nice thing to do. At that time fishing was not a big hobby, skateboarding and skiing was the thing. But our family holidays often went north to the mountains which does not have much asphalt for skating. So I had to do something else, fishing it was. The first years of my fly fishing "career" I fished with worms and fly. As soon as I had fish on the worm I switched to the fly (the day was saved). So it went for a few years until I decided to let the worm stay in the ground and do a serious attempt to learn fly fishing for real. Since I was 18 I have been a dedicated fly fisherman.

I started to tie flies after books and articles in magazines and my youth heroes was persons like Staffan Lindstrøm, Lennart Bergqvist and Pål Krogvold. They are still my heroes in fly fishing and I am grateful of all the knowledge they have passed on to other fishermen.

I live in the south eastern part of Norway. At home most of my fishing is done in large and smaller lakes. After a couple of months I get tired of this and have to seek up running water. I spend 2-3 weeks fishing in rivers each year. The Norwegian winter is very long, a good cure is to take a short flight to Ireland. I have been over there every year since 2003. I love the great western lakes!

Fly fishing has become my profession too. I started to work for Guideline in 2006 and still do. I have my own website as well the address is www.fluefiskesiden.no and it have been there since 2000. I frequently write articles on fly tying for Norwegian magazines."

Welcome aboard Rune!