Recent comments

I have used real her

I have used real heron (grey), and it is amazing stuff. However when I can't use it my go to is goose, if used properly it looks great, try burning it yourself.

Thinking about shooting line

Martin, I think that Lars is thinking about shooting line. And true, if you just let go of the line then it has a slightly higher tendency to catch the handle if this is pointing inwards. My preferred method is therefore to form an O with my 1. and 2. finger, thus acting as an extra guide for the shooting line.
PS: 95 pct. right hand caster with the single handed rod, 50/50 with the double hander, 100 pct. left hand spooler ;-)

I like and fish these

I like and fish these flies for more than 40 years. Meanwhile I keep it more simple and just use thread as body and anykind of henhackle, died or natural. It doesn't matter. The size of the hook is far more important, Size 14 and 18 gave me the greatest pleasure.

Fantastic photos

Fantastic photos and article! A place to go!

Bill, We send the

Bill,

We send the thanks on to all thos who produce the videos. As you write: there's a lot of work in making these videos.

Regarding the pager, it's a standard pager. I have made a View All Videos Paged page where you can ask for more videos in a page in the top of the page - up to 600 and even 1200 per page, which renders only 8 respectively 4 pages. It takes significantly longer time to form a page, but will give a lot less leafing through pages to find a certain interval.

Is that something useful? Then I can add a similar link to the normal page.

Martin

Thank you to GFF and

Thank you to GFF and all the individuals who have taken the time, effort and, possibly, expense to share their patterns and tying techniques. Having done some video tutorials in other applications I know how much behind-the-scenes work it can take to get it right. I wish we had this when I was a kid trying to teach myself how to tie. Would've saved me a ton of time if I didn't have to go to the library or buy a book every time I wanted to see what a pattern looked like.

On a separate note, is there a search method for getting to a particular page? I'd like to see what's in the middle of the 250 pages of videos but it seems the only way to get there is by clicking through 1 page at a time or by clicking on the highest page number displayed to see the next few pages.

Thanks

This is how every fi

This is how every fishing video should be. Good for you.

Hello Jon,

Thank

Hello Jon,

Thank you for the interest and nice words about my reels.
As you probably has read in the article at the end, I encourage people to design and make there own flyreel when they have the skills and the equipment and use the article as a guidline and not to "copy" one of my reels. So I don't give any measurement drawings of my reels, I hope that you can understand that. Designing your first reel is a difficult part of the proces, making it your personal reel, but it is great to achieve. I hope that you can show me your reel in the near future!

Kind regards,

Tom.

Trouble understanding

Lars,

While I can see why you would want to avoid tangles, I have a bit more trouble understanding why the loose line would have a tendency to tangle significantly more on the casting hand side than on the retrieving hand side.

There's only loose line and risk of tangles until you have spooled it or the fish has drawn it through the tip top. Once the fish is on the reel, the problem isn't potential any more since the line goes in a direct line from the reel to the stripping guide or to your rod hand, controlling the line.

So this problem would occur while you are 1) picking up the slack or 2) the fish is running.

1) Why would picking up slack be less hazardous when done with the casting hand than when done with the other hand? When I spool line I usually grab it with the casting hand (since I retrieve and spool with the other) and squeeze it lightly against the handle and use that tension to control the line, which keeps the loose line away from the reel and makes even less likely to tangle.

2) When a fish runs with force (like a bonefish or a tarpon) I hold the line clear of the stripping guide (and the reel) with the hand not holding the rod, and whether that is the casting hand or not, and whichever way the handle points can hardly influence the risk of catching the handle that much.
I know tangles happen and I have experienced it myself, but I wouldn't consider it a risk that requires a change of habits.
Sure the handle will be pointing away from your body when the loose line is cleared in a run if you use the same hand for both casting and spooling, but as soon as you want to spool line on the reel (loose line or not), the handle will be where it is for everybody: between the hands, in front of your body.
And if you switch hands, you would at least have to wait until the fish is on the reel, and not do it as soon as the fish is hooked in which case you'd be in the exact same situation as I am: handle and loose line both in front of you, between the hands.

As I wrote in the article: I won't argue whether one method is better than the other, but I just don't think this is a really strong argument.

Martin

In order to avoid the reel handle

In order to avoid the reel handle to catch the loose line it is preferable to have right hand retrieve when casting with the right hand.

I used to cast right

I used to cast right and reel with the left. After some bad tendonitis in my right elbow I found a lot of relief by switching to reeling with the right and fighting fish with the rod in my left hand. I still cast and strip with the rod in the right hand but switch over at a good point in the fight. I think Lefty Kreh claims that everyone can reel faster with the "best hand" and I can believe that.

Another point on casting backwards versus changing hands: with a fighting butt on the rod the wrist can push on the fighting butt and the back cast is often stronger than the front cast..

Comment to #69-2013 - Medicine Streamer by Jim Ben

Nice job there Jim. This one looks like a real fish getter. I'll have to give this one a try.

Comment to Brown Satyr Streamer and a few other Go

Thanks Kelly. It's a new pattern as far as sharing it goes. I've been waiting for some big rain so I can try it out again.

I cast with my dominant hand

I cast with my dominant (right) hand, and retrieve and reel with my left hand. One reason I reel with my left hand is that I have more control of the rod, and the fish, when the rod is in my dominant (right) hand, whereas my weaker (less dominant) left hand has the easier task of winding the reel.

I can see the logic

Fred,

I can see the logic, but I have used my "bad hand" (in my case the left since I'm right handed) for retrieving and spooling for the last 35 years or more, and that is actually way my "best hand" for this. Whenever I get a rig, which is set up for right hand winding, I feel awkward and unable to control anything at all even though I should be much better with my right hand than my left.

So it's not that simple, and as I say in the article: it's a question of what you have learned and what the people who taught you did. To me as a right hand caster it feels absolutely odd to have to change the rod to the other hand to reel in line.

To each his own.

Martin

It's simple

It's simple....you need a "best touch" to hold or let go of the reel grip, and you need a "best touch" to palm the spool. Use your "best hand" to carry out these functions. Which side you cast from doesn't matter.

Comment to #68-2013 - Scaled Shiner Hairwing tied

Bob, this is a spectacular pattern. Loved it!

Comment to #68-2013 - Scaled Shiner Hairwing tied

Looks very "Fishy" Bob, love the colour combo...

Comment to Brown Satyr Streamer and a few other Go

Darren, I don't remember seeing this before. I loved the whole fly. Especially the body and shoulder work. The choice of materials blended quite well!

another option for t

another option for the body is gutermann sulky holoshimmer thread

I had never used thi

I had never used this fly but decided to give it a try on a very low Aberdeenshire Dee. I could see pleanty of fish in the pool, but they were not really interested in normal flies fished in a normal down and across method. Rules for the pool say no weighted flies, maximum hook size 10 and floating lines only. So, on went a 4" Sunray dressed on a 1" plastic tube and, unfortunately, a size 12 single as I could not find any size 10's.

What followed was my best days fishing. I hooked 10-12 fish, landed 3 salmon to 12 pounds and a sea trout but lost two very big fish due to the hook pulling after a few minutes. The fly was cast square and stripped back and I rose far more salmon than I hooked. Seeing a double figure Salmon chasing a fly is amazing and great fun!.

Next time I will make sure I have slightly bigger hooks!

Great fly indeed, and so simple to tie.

Comment to #67-2013 - Gierach Special tied by Bob

Bob,
Great job on the fly
The eyes are perfect as always....

Comment to #67-2013 - Gierach Special tied by Bob

Bob, one of the nicest ties I have ever seen of this pattern! Congrats!

Comment to #67-2013 - Gierach Special tied by Bob

Bob, that fly is out of this world good. Exquisite from head to tail. LOVED IT!