Project Sandeel is finished

These sandeels are for my private box. Everyone is a little bit different. Some are extra weighted, some are not. IMG_6913-1-2

A closer look at: Hedron Grizzly Barred Flashabou, Snow Runner (Nayat) and Hedron Curled Big Fly Fiber Flash

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My Buddy Alex from ADH-Fishing sent me some cool new stuff for testing! Here are my thoughts about it:

Grizzly Barred Flashabou

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Everybody knows Flashabou , it’s THE flash material since many, many years. It moves fantastic in the water, reflects a lot of light and is available in many colors. Just great stuff. Now, there is something really new in the family of Flashabous:

Grizzly Barred Flashabou

This stuff is really awesome! It’s not flashy as you might think, when you hear the name. It got a very discreet shimmer and for that reason, you can use it in streamers and flies, which should look natural and stealthy and you can use it in bright, flashy flies. It gives the fly more contrast and it’s also an alternative for the long, thin grizzly feathers. We all like these feathers in our big streamers and predator flies, but they are unfortunately very expansive nowadays.

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Snow Runner (Nayat)

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I love it! Awesome to use in pike flies and other types of big streamers for mean predators. Moves great in the water and it doesn’t absorb a lot of water like other natural materials like arctic fox. It’s also very durable.

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It is very easy to tie with. You will create a superb shape to your fly due to its high volume because of a minimal krinkle. It pumps like hell in the water.

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I used it mainly for pike flies, but it’s also very useful for long winged salmon patterns such as Sunray Shadows, Collie Dogs and other skandinavien big salmon flies.
The average length is about 13 to 15cm, partly up to 20cm.

If you like to tie and fish pike flies, it’s really a must have in your fly tying box!

Hedron Curled Big Fly Fiber Flash

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Big Fly Fibre is well known since some years for using it in very big flies, which are still super easy to cast, because it’s synthetic and it doesn’t absorb any water. Now there are some new cool color blends and Hedron put also some flash into it. In the pictures, you can see two examples: „Sunset“ on the left, which is a mix of orange/red and yellow with pearl flash and on the right „Golden Olive“ with green, olive and brownish fibres (one of my favourites!) mixed with green holographic flash. It also much longer than the normal big fly fibre! So cool!

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Here’s a short example how you can combine those materials to create a really easy and great moving/looking pike fly.

IMG_6848-1-3First, do a collar with Bucktail

IMG_6855-1Take a bunch of Nayat and tie it around the Bucktail collar.

IMG_6857-1Some fibres of Curled Big Fly Fibre Flash over the Nayat

IMG_6868-1And some Grizzly Barred Flashabou to give some contrast. Super easy and it looks awesome!

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You can find the materials by clicking onto the following links (choose between german and english language):

Hedron Grizzly Barred Flashabou

Snow Runner Nayat

Hedron Curled Big Fly Fibre Flash

Articulated Pike Streamer

Got some new cool materials for testing! Main topic: PIKE!

I will do some „a closer look at…“ in the near future. Here is the first fly I’ve tied with some of the materials. A big, but very lightweight articulated pike fly. Even if it looks very big, it’s not as hard to cast as you might imagine.

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Articulated Pike Streamer

These streamers for pike are articulated, so the move very nice. The length is between 17-20 cm. Even if the look quite bulky, they are easy to cast, because the materials are tied in sparsely . Really flies that everyone can cast.

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New Tying Vise

New toy arrived today! I’m very excited and curious, if it will perform like I hope it does. I’m very fussy, when it comes to workmanship of such high class products. Yes, that sounds really German, but guess what….I am German…so… :-)

Renzetti

 

Caddis Pupa with Tungsten Bead

Tungsten Bead Caddis Pupa. This Pupa looks quite natural, but it is not to complicated to tie.

Materials:

  • Body: Stretch Flex colored with marker pens
  • Legs: Pheasant
  • Wings: Pheasant
  • Wing Case: Pheasant
  • Thorax: Siman Peacock Dubbing brown
  • Weight: Tungsten Bead black
  • Hook: Demmon Fly Hook DGE 300 BL

 

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Freestyle Emerger or Thoughts About Errors

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Sometimes, I tie flies without a special purpose. I just think „I want to tie a fly, maybe an emerger would be cool.“ I open some drawers and take a look at my hooks, thinking how the fly (or in this case the ermerger) could look like. Then, I’m thinking about the tail, the ribbing, the abdomen, …., step by step until the fly is finished. I believe when you go this way, you often try something different and that’s the way you improve your skills and knowledge. There are errors, of course, but even errrors improve your knowledge.

A short example: You are sitting in front of your vise and you’ve tied a beautiful mayfly with awesome natural foil wings. Looking really good. You go to the river with the beautiful winged mayfly on the end of your leader. You do the first cast and….. the wings made a propeller out of your fly. Impossible to cast, impossible to fish. The leader is totally twisted after just one cast. Error. You’ve learned something, next time, you will tie your fly different and so you improve your knowledge.