French Carrefour

The last weekend I visited the Carrefour National Pêche et Loisirs, probably the biggest fishing show in France. I came on invitation of my friend Philipe and his intenet magazine Avozetto.

I have visited several fishing shows over Europe, but never one in France. My French is no good and so I stuck to countries where I felt more comfortable being able to speak only Czech or English. But the offer from Philipe came in a way that I felt unable to refuse and so off to Clermont - Ferrand I went.

I was curious how the French show would compare to others, such as the BFFI in Stafford.

The surprising answer was that what happened on the show was very similar to other shows: the same crowds of sportsmen mildly intoxicated by all the fishing goodies, with an occassional shady character eager to sell his grandma for the right price was right thrown in.

The biggest difference was in what happened off the scene: the fabled French hospitability. On most shows the guys in tiers row recieve a sandwich; this was the first one on which lunch was a four course affair. Starting a day with a hearthy jambon sandwich gives one great strenght, though washing it down with red wine at 8:30 in the morning was not expected. But as they say - when in France, do as the French do...

New Macro Horizons

Many people say that having a family life cuts seriously into your fishing time. And while there is a whole lot more to be said on the subject they do have a point.

One area in which having a family actualy improved my fly tying experience is photography: having started a family I found it justified to upgrade from my trusty Canon G series compact that served me so well on my fishing trips to a grown up SLR. I am satisfied with the result.

This is my CDC Redhead, a pattern that served me well over the last few seasons.

PF 2014

To all my fly fishing & fly tying friends: have a very good 2014 season, and may the slings &  arrows of outrageous fortune not keep you away from the stream overmuch...

Feathers & Beads, Christmas Edition

At Christmastime a fly dresser can employ his skills in creating some handcrafted gifts to family and friends. It might be even possible to convince the lady of the house that there could be some sensible use for the cache of materials any fly dresser feels obliged to hoard.

The tie:
4 Chicken "marabou" feathers, dyed orange - originally intended for stillwater lures
Hooks and beads from www.koralky.cz craft store.

Little Tart (Buchtička)

This little fly has a cult status with many Czech fly fishermen. It consists of only the simplest materials possible - a hook, a bead, hare dubbing, and ribbing of some kind; the tail is entirely optional - but in the hands of a skilled nymph fisherman it has wondrous potential. I have friends who fish this fly (and only this fly) for the whole season with excellent results.

Now with fly fishermen being fly fishermen there are many who just know that their interpretation of the Little Tart is better than others - some swear by gold head, others by dull nickel, and I have witnessed serious bar room fights about what is the "correct" part of the hare's pelt for the dubbing. Or about as serious as bar room fights between fly fishermen ever get...

The tie:
#12 heavy gauge hook (Skalka Lake for me)
3.5mm caliber tungsten bead (dull nickel for me)
rooster hackle fiber tail (not essential, but I like it)
gold tinsel ribbing
hare dubbing (the best is from the back of an old male hare)

The Mysterious Case of Vanishing Grayling

For closing of the 2013 seasion I decided to visit the river Střela, which holds a special place in my fishing heart. This is the river on which I discovered the grayling as a game fish years ago and where I smelled my hand after releasing a fish for the first time to discover that peculiar thyme odour.

I was unable to visit the river for some time, but as I had intimate knowledge of the stream from the past I soon recognized familiar pools and started fishing with fly patterns I expected to be of liking to the local fish - I remembered that gold ribbed hare's ear nymph with a tip of orange and a smallish pink gammarus were particullary effective.

To my surprise these known grayling magnets produced: exactly nothing. I was unable to convince a single grayling, despite the fact of catching a number of off season brown trout. The occasional brownie was sort of expected, but the total absence of grayling was puzzling me deeply.

After persevering for some time I proceeded to catch a couple more brownies, but the grayling remained conspicious by their absenece.

I did not wish to disturb the brownies - who by the look of their mating colors had obviously other things on their mind - too much and as no grayling seemed to be in sight I retired home early.

Still puzzled after cutting my last season's outing short I made some inquiries on the health of the local grayling population. My fears were confirmed by a local friend, who confirmed that the grayling have indeed vanished from upper Střela following heavy floods. Their absence was confirmed by electrofishing. Their disappereance could not be even traced to the cormorants, as is the case with some other Czech rivers suffering decline in fish numbers - the Grayling simply were there in the winter and were gone after the spring floods.

As I have very fond memories of fishing this river as a young novice of the dark art of Grayling fishing I sincerely hope that this fish, being short lived species with good population dynamics, recovers from this setback and returns to the river where they were once flourishing.

The Belgian & Orange micro

With the Czech salmonid season fast approaching its end there is just about enough time for a dramatic finish, before I retire to my tying den to contemplate the 2014 season.

In late November it is unreasoneable to expect any hatch, and even though hope springs eternal - and unlikely is not the same as impossible - it is reasoneable to prepare for a season finish in the nymph fishing style.

For this opportunity I prepared two dressings: one is new for me, of pattern well liked in the competition fishing circles and introduced to me by Slovak master tier Peter Durišík, and the other is a long time favorite of mine.

The Belgian / Belgičanka:
#16 Hanák 130 BL hook
2.5mm tungsten bead, copper plated
prominently orange Danville's thread, 70 dernier
pheasant tail body
counterribed by copper wire

Orange tipped micro nymph:
#18 Hanák 130 BL hook
2.0mm brass bead, gold plated
4 strands of orange Glo Brite floss
red fox dubbing body
ribbed with 1/32" (i.e. rather thin) gold tinsel