Samurai

Green Samurai. It has a really overdubbed head which Frodin calls a sculpin head. It has fantastic movement with a sparse long wing.

An Arachnid in a Black Stoat pattern.

Phatagorva

Heres a fly I've always liked the look of, a Phatagorva. Its a Mikael Frodin variation of the original templedog by Hakan Norling. One of my favourites, not too flashy and nice and subtle. First time tying it, needs a few tweaks but happy with it.

 

 

Another Hairwing I tied a few days ago. Just getting used to the materials. Foxy tails stuff is fantastic to tie with.

Speasy!

Myself and Ronan went for some casting practice. Ronan is using his 14ft Lpxe with Rio 9/10 AFS head and Rio running line. Nippy but a beautiful evening. I stuck to my single hand stuff and Im trying to get my double haul in order, aswell as just gaining more proficiency with the single hander. I was using my Lpxe 10ft #8 with a Rio windcutter #8. Really nice setup and makes a change from the spey stuff. Still have alot of bits to iron out but its very enjoyable, think Ronan was fairly keen on the setup!

Heres another Arachnid I've tied up, its a variant of the thunder spey which is a beautiful fly.

xs tubing, blue
copper holo tinsel
silver ice dub
xs silver tungsten cone
Blue grizzled FF soft hackle
Orange dyed Guinea fowl
Jungle cock (Its now officially finished, no more on the cape!)
xs silver turbo disc.

 

Spey Basics

I was out with a local angler this morning trying a few lines on his Echo SR switch. I went through a few basics of the spey cast and I thought it best to show the proper instruction of the fundamentals. Here are some great teaching methods by Robert Gillespie.

 

Where's me trout rod?

Stunning video, scenery is amazing. Makes me wanna start tying the real imitaton flies again!

Arachnids!!

Heres some flies I tied today and its an idea I have for smaller flies. Basically no hairwing in the tying of a modern hairwing fly. A salmon spider, or arachnid! I think it suits these smaller flies and I will see how they fish for me next season. The possibilities for patterns are endless, looking forward to tricking around with them more and experimenting a bit.

Switch mentality

Couldnt link this one through youtube for some reason so I hope it shows up. I made this video to show the versatility of a switch rod and switch line on a small river.

Sub-Zero

The cold snap has hit and its gonna stick around for the time being, time to spot fish spawning if your into that sort of thing, which I am. Went for some casting practice and took another video, which will follow shortly. I love this type of weather, good hard frost, ya cant beat it! Heres a few snaps.

 

Made a new purchase, second hand Watergrip SXL. Its a biggun but it still feels alright on the switch, I'll use it on my double hander when I get it. I've always admired the Watergrip but never had enough money all those years ago so when one came up on the forum I was reeled in. Would it classify as a vintage reel? Probably not but its slightly old school.

Loop Slinger

Doing some casting on the Fane. Guideline Lpxe Switch, 7/8, Rio Steelhead Scandi 435 grain, Sharkskin running line. Going for the Antti Guttorm style that Robert Gillespie showed me. Loads of fun!

Guideline Products

New toys for next season!

http://www.guideline.no/News+Teaser+2013.9UFRzG18.ips

What a Leg-end!

Some editing in that video! Matrix music makes it for me! What a character!

Autumnal

I've been out on a few walks with the camera. Heres some of the results.

 

 

Also a few shots taken from Ronan's camera.

The last, last day!

Myself, Ronan, John and Petsie headed to the river Mourne for the very last day of salmon fishing for 2012. We started at the grevenue. I was using my Echo 3 as I've since sold my 12ft6 Lpxe. Ronan had his 14ft Lpxe with Rio AFS shooting head 9/10. Petsie was using his 13'4 Sage Z-Axis with a Rio AFS inty/sink1 shooting head, and John used his Echo double hander, I think its a TR 14ft, he was using an Airflo Rage on his outfit. Great days casting with no fish though, also met some characters and locals with a good bit of banter thrown in. An enjoyable end to the season, its seldom I get to fish the bigger rivers but its always something I look forward to. And so, till 2013.

 

 

 

Closing time.

And so the 12th of October has come and gone, so here is my report from the final day. I recorded 21mm of rain for the 11/10 and we did get a good rise. The next morning I checked the level at Knockbridge and it was holding at 3 and was fairly clean given the rise from the previous day.

 

 

 

I had made my mind up to head far upriver for the last day, just for something different. I started at Cullaville and fished down to Gregory's.

 I hit two fish on the trip, both at the "heap of stones" pool. The first one was a fine cock fish in full mating suit. I measured him at 34 inches by 17 inches so around 13-14 lbs. I got him in quickly, few snaps and back no problem. In and around my personal best and a stunning fish to behold.

I hooked the next fella and he went ballistic and lept onto the far bank!

He then went into a massive clump of weed and reed and couldnt be budged. I had to tie up the rod, cross downstream, free him up from the far bank, cross back, then land and release him!

Resume play!

I then worked my way down to Gregory's fishing sporadically and taking some snaps.

Another present my brother took me home from Africa, weapon of choice for the wilds!

Met John downriver, he uses a Loop Zpey, 11ft 17gram switch rod. Beautiful setup, its very light with great presentation. He uses the zpey compact heads and has the whole set I think.

John fishing the Mill pool, or "Barking dog pool".

The old railway bridge above Gregory's

The weir at Gregory's

Final height for 2012 season taken that evening, 12/10.

 

Ronan and Petsie after giving Knockbridge a final throw.

 

So thats the season over, I may get to the Mourne next weekend so we'll see what happens. I'll keep updating with info, tyings and some casting videos hopefully. My most enjoyable season and my most dedicated one. Now what the flip do I do now?