North Wales and the Butcher... It's a kind of magic!

 A rather ragged and sorry Butcher fly circa 1947-57 in August 2013

The Welsh river where the magic began

My father told me that the Butcher fly pattern always did well for him in Welsh rivers...

This weekend was a bit of a travel back in time for me as I drove into North Wales... I was looking the source of the magic. To chase wild brown trout in rivers and lakes with an outside chance of a sea trout or a silver tourist.

The 48 hours was fun packed on trout that played with me and jeered at me... then I put the Butcher on.

The line swung round and the fly was going to just in the right place in the river... bang, fish on. It was a solid take and perhaps a good fish but not the wild brown I was expecting... there was a flash of bright silver... playing the fish hard the line went slack... I retrieved the line cursing that I'd lost a fly and the fish... the photo tells the story!

This particular Butcher was tied in a possibly a 10 year window between 1947 and 1957... the specimen was out of my dad's fly box that I carry with me as a 'totem' on freshwater excursions. As a child I loved the iridescent blue hue on the wing, the starkness of the silver body and the tiny red tail... it was one of a very few 'brighter' flies in a box full of 'dull' & 'dark' flies that fascinated me as a youngster.

Will I be using other flies from the box... I think not, however, I'll certainly tie up a few Butchers.

Did I find the source of the magic - I most certainly did!

C is for Chris & S is for Sandford and his STUFF!

My good friend Chris Sandford has put the third episode of his video magazine up on his website... Fly tying in abundance in this issue... you'll find the use of Taser wire quite shocking and it gives the trout a fair old jolt as well... books, fishing books to be precise - I do love books... The BUG-BOND-Glass-Bug is a winner and then as a finale Chris gives you a look at his vintage tackle... do have a look, you'll enjoy it!

"At last! ...I hear you cry..... ‘STUFF’ 3!
In this enthralling episode we tantalize you with a Taser Bug...Humour you with history...Tie the One Fly winner and reveal my vintage tackle!" Chris Sandford

http://www.chrissandford.com/chris-sandfords-stuff#Episode3

B is for Bug, B is for Bond, B is for Bentley and B is for Brown Trout (and also for 'Bow)

Chris Sandford a long time BUG-BOND user, team member, ambassador and all-round good friend of mine gave me a phone call...

Chris:  "What are you doing Friday 12th July?"
David: "Nothing at present Chris"
Chris:  "Would you like to come fishing on the River Test for the day?"

My response was an unequivocal "Yes!"

Now me and trout... well I can probably name all the captures to date... I've been a dyed in the wool predator and saltwater fisherman... that was until I had my first sea trout in Norway in March and then at SIM in Italy last month. There has to be something about this trout caper!

So arming myself with a Guideline Fario 9' 5wt, Guideline 5wt WF 4Cast and a Nautilus 5/6 FWX reel I drove south!

This is Chris's motor!

I arrived with Chris on Thursday and although I had a selection of Fulling Mill dries and a few I'd tied up myself, Chris kindly presented me with a small box of flies he'd tied for me... including 'Sandford's  BULLET' (now there is a hint for a fly that worked on the day!)

We fished a stretch of the River Test below Stockbridge... this IS God's own country... a little piece of heaven, call it what you will... it's a cracking piece of river!

I'm not going to do a blow by blow account... it was a great day and a very kind invite... and we did it in style.

Thank you Chris!

PS you can read more about Chris at www.chrissandford.com

Sergio Cordoba from Argentina - joins the BUG-BOND Team

It is always a pleasure to invite new people to the BUG-BOND Pro-Tying Team and I am therefore delighted to introduce Sergio Cordoba to you.

During my recent visit to Italy I was fortunate to have the opportunity to meet Sergio and to spend some time with him and to see his work at first hand. We have corresponded for some time now via the internet - in fact since Sergio was placed second in a realistic fly tying competition organised by Andrés Touceda where I was a both a judge and sponsor of the event. Sergio's talent is undeniable and he is a super nice guy as well!

As you will see from the photos great tying involved great fun and friendship...

Sergio Cordoba

 Andrés and Sergio 

 Deep in discussion with Andrés

 This Damsel was a generous gift from Sergio

 It is all in the detail!

Sergio's attention to detail in his tying is amazing and these are a few words from the great man:

"The great variety of aquatic and terrestrial insects in our rivers in Argentina led me to start to take an interest in the beauty of their physiognomy and their complex structures.

Living close to places which - I believe - are the finest for fly fishing, such as Patagonia, has allowed me to observe plenty of species.

Tying “fishing flies” didn’t seem to be enough, so I decided to find another way of reproducing them.

After seeing creations captured in display cases or images of insects which appeared to be almost alive, I turned unequivocally to realistic fly tying.

Every single fly is a unique undertaking which requires a lot of time to assemble, as I endeavour to reproduce the smallest of details so that they look as real as possible.

I relied on various people as I embarked on this project.  Marcelo Malventano gave me the very first pieces of advice, Adrian García also helped me when I began to publish my work abroad and Andrés Touceda encouraged me to set up my web page (www.elatadorealista.com.ar), lending me his unconditional support.

Finally, I’d like to say that tying a realistic fly requires a lot of patience and time which is why, above all, I must thank my family who have given me so much of theirs and allowed me to produce these flies."

Sergio, thank you for sharing your talents with us all and welcome to the team.

Muchas gracias a mi buen amigo!

Jobina Chia joins the BUG-BOND Team is first for Asia

It gives me great pleasure to announce Jobina Chia as the latest member of the BUG-BOND Pro-Tying Team. Jobina is based in Malaysia and she becomes the first team member from Asia.

Jobina not only ties fishing flies but also extends her tying skills into art and jewellery. Her banner says it all!

This is how Jobina became interested in tying flies… 

“When I first saw some of my friends doing fly fishing they were hooking up fish on a fly, I would wonder how the fish can get caught with those flies? Slowly I watched and observed how amazing that those flies can imitate the action of a fish or an insect in/on the water that attracts and makes the fish feeling irresistible to take the fly. It was really amazing. 

 Sitting in my friend’s tackleshop (Nick Ooi), watching him tying flies, makes me feel more interested to learn about fly tying. He taught me the step-by-step in tying the basic flies like Clouser & Charlie. I grow to love visiting his shop just to sit down there with the vise and start tying flies.

On 16th February 2009, when my friends (the Yum Yum gang) gave me a big surprised in celebrating my Birthday. I was given a full set of basic fly tying vise, tools and materials. They made me fly to cloud nine. Then I started to practice and learn more in depth about fly tying.

I had 2 mentors (Nick Ooi & Dron Lee) who have been teaching and advising me in my fly tying. I also started to learn other patterns from online videos and write-up fly patterns. I learn to tie many different fly patterns on my own. I even created my own pattern of Shrimp fly, which has been very effective for me, my friends, and others too. Then I started to fall in love in tying semi-realistic flies like Stonefly, Cricket fly, Baitfish, Mouse fly, & etc.

Slowly my interest for fly tying was developed and molded as a passion of art. I feel very stress-free and relaxing whenever I tie flies. It makes me feel like I am doing meditation or yoga. Slowly I started to tie flies as collection, accessories and decoration.”

http://jcsartofflies.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/article-in-sj-echo-newspaper-may-issue.html for a great article about Jobina and her husband Damien How

Jobina sells flies and these can be found here http://jobinac.wix.com/jcs-art-of-flies

Welcome to the team Jobina!

BUG-BOND fly tying first (again) at SIM Castel di Sangro, Italy

I’m getting ready to fly out to Italy this week for the SIM Fly Festival at Castel di Sangro in Tuscany… well someone has too! I’ll be meeting some great friends, both old and new… the BUG-BOND Pro-Tying Team will be well represented with Barry Ord Clarke, Andres Touceda and Fabrizio Gajardoni… I’ll also be there as will long time user of BUG-BOND… Martie van den Brand, who makes exquisite larger than life museum pieces. There are a host of other tyers I have never met that I am keen to meet… along with Alberto Calzolari who I last met in the USA!

But that’s not the reason for today’s blog…

There have been a number of sightings of a new piece of kit over the past 2 years… I’ve kept it close to my chest largely but with design protection in place I feel that I can make an announcement.

R&D for BUG-BOND never stops… it is as near to perpetual motion as you might get. Some people ask me if I ever stop… the answer is no!

So what is the new kit… well it’s an upgrade… we are not going to introduce another new light as we are happy with the Professional UV Light I introduced at the British Fly Fair International (BFFI) two years ago.

Powered by a single AA battery the Professional UV light set a new benchmark in curing UV resins for fly tying… great curing with long battery life we had cracked it. However, as mentioned I don’t stop still and I was already designing the next phase.  The next stage was to design the light to have a continuous source of power that doesn’t vary… I didn’t want another light and therefore designed an upgrade that uses the existing Professional light and gives us the best of both worlds.  Portability and mains power.

Those who have seen me tie at shows over the past 18 months  or so will have seen the light, though I have been coy and kept it under wraps as far as possible. Now my pal Barry Ord Clarke has a unit and he has been seen at the Swedish Fly Fair and Norwegian Fly Fair with it… not only that he has been photographed using it… the photo  was taken by Tore Litlere Rydgren in Norway (thank you for the photo Tore!). However, this wasn’t the first photo of the light. The first was of Cheryl McCrory at the Glasgow Angling Centre Open Weekend last September. There are other units in operation but I’m not saying where… such is the veil of secrecy!

So what do we have… we have the Professional UV light that when the on/off switch is disconnected the unit can accept a remote foot switch that can be powered by both mains via an AC/DC adapter or separate rechargeable battery unit. This gives the user the convenience of mains power with foot operated curing and the portability demanded by the travelling tyer… keep the foot operated switch at home for the tying bench and while on the fishing trip return the light to AA battery operation. I believe this is another first for light cured resins in fly tying...

www.bug-bond.moonfruit.com

This keeps BUG-BOND at the forefront of light cured resins for the fly tyer and perhaps why we have picked up 2 innovation awards over the last two years…

It has been designed as a retro fit for all existing BUG-BOND Professional UV Lights powered by the AA battery.

The product will be in use at the SIM Fly Festival at Castel di Sangro in Italy this weekend and at the BFFI in Staffordshire also this weekend.

Do look out for us!

Another 'Oz' but this time in Cornwall: 'Oz' Goldsmith Bass Guide

Sat here contemplating what flies to tie at a fly fair next weekend, I recall a conversation with Austen ‘Oz’ Goldsmith a fishing guide based in Cornwall about HIS fly now constructed with BUG-BOND. 

I think Oz only has one fly, OK there are subtle variants of it but if he’s fly fishing the UK waters off the Cornish coast, the waters of Wexford or indeed the Eastern sea board of the US – it is likely to be ‘Oz’s Livebait Fly’… it would appear that it is the singular most effective fly for Oz… (This statement may not be strictly true as he does have other flies but if you ring him up he’s always tying Livebaits!)

The Livebait fly is a simple fly to tie, very straight forward and a great catcher (see it in the above clip)! Oz has proved it as we can see in these images he’s kindly provided.

I’ve included Youtube videos from Oz as well as images… you will get a flavour of this Certified IFGA Captain from both… he knows where to fish and has two boats that he can use depending on conditions.

On holiday in Cornwall and looking for a day out? Looking for a fishing holiday fullstop?

Contact Oz for a fishing trip of a lifetime around the Cornish Coast… clicking his photo below will take you to his website.