Lurebuilding.

Haven't tie flies lately because I have enough of them even if I have some new ideas mellow in my head.
What I have done instead is called lurebuilding,mostly for customers but decide to do couple for my own use too,even if they are rarely used by me.
After I get my kayak they will probably be even more rarely used.
Anyway,here's some photos of my latest builds.

Some changes in sight

First of all and once again sorry for no posts lately,it doesn't mean I haven't been fishing,oh yes I have done that but there hasn't been anything revolutionary to write about except last weekends fishing which was the most bitter blank draw I ever made.
On Saturday I was fishing with a friend of mine from floating tube in 10 hours and about 14 km:s and I didn't land a single fish while my friend had several landed and some dropped fishes too.
My friend fished with both spinrod and flyrod,I used only spinnerbaits.
Only thing for me to tell you about that day was that I lost 1.5 kg:s in weight,at least something positive here :)
Anyway,here's some photos from Saturday fishing.



Sunday was almost a humiliation for me.I was fishing with my brother and one of his friends.
I had in plans to go for flies but we were three guys in the boat and my brother already used flies so I decided to use spinnerbaits again.
We fished in a pretty heavy wind so I big expectations for this day.
Not long before I felt a familiar tug but only for a second so I'm not sure was it even a fish.
At the end of four hours fishing My brother landed several fishes,his friends too.....
The pay for my effort was at least 10 dropped fishes,couple of them aside of the boat but not a fuckin single landed fish at the whole weekend...nothing more to tell you about that weekend.....Couple of photos from Sunday too,including skippers second fly fished pike in his life.Good job.



As the title said there's going to be some changes in this blog,at least hopefully so.
I have thought about this change for a while now,from last Autumn to be exact.I noticed last autumn that I enjoyed very much fishing from floating tube,the reason why is the silence,and some kind of peace in mind.
I noticed that it wasn't only that I had a totally different perspective in my fishing,I also enjoyed to take some breaks on small islets on my way floating around,to have a sandwich and a cup of coffee and just looking at our beautiful landscapes in the southern archipelago.
Yes,it was so much more than just fishing,I just can't get that relaxed feeling fishing from a boat.

Anyway,floating tube is nice but it got some issues too,it's very slow,not that I'm in hurry but...you know what I mean.
Issue number two is that I can't get all my stuff with me,not even those things I feel would be necessary and often you need something that's left home or in my car.
Issue number three is that no matter what you wearing,in late Autumn and early spring it's cold at some stage and in that case,I don't enjoy what I'm doing.

After all winter study I decided to take floating to next level in form of a kayak.
It has more space,it's faster,it's warmer and it's easy enough to take with you on the roof of the car.
I'm living in a hope I'm gonna get it next week,can't hardly wait for it to arrive.
So if everything goes as I hope from that on I will not put up just fishing and fly tying pics,I have in plans to explore new waters also in form of lakes and rivers and put up some nice pics of our beautiful nature here in Finland with thousands lakes.

Discovering new waters

So,fishing season is on for real after a long wait.Started April 27 and now on May 5 already three sessions left behind.
I was at May 1 fishing for pike with my younger brother from floating tube,his first time btw.

Not much to tell you about that one,nice sunshine,heavy wind and murky water,fished for several hours before any contacts but it was nice anyway,first pike session for me too this season,a big surprise for me was that even if there was some ice at shore on that morning the spawning was on,as usual I DON'T WANNA DISTURB so we left alone those places were I know pikes are spawning,which made our fishing a bit difficult but who could complain when we had a weather like this.



And three days after that I was at Langinkoski again with Espoon perhokalastajat ( my flyfishing club) chasing for something silver flanked.
This time I had a blank draw but my friend landed one just before I was to leave home.

So at least I saw one.It was probably my last  session with a DH-rod for this season,would love to be back next spring,a nice way to start the season before pikefishing.

Spawning is on so today I wasn't first on my way anywhere but about 8 am I decided to go out floating anyway to the places I use to  be fishing,but of some reason I don't know I decided to check out a road to a bay near my childhood cottage which was a fishing paradise for about forty years ago.

It wasn't easy to find out how to get down to the shore but after some driving  and with some help from a gentleman I found myself down at the shoreline watching at a place that really smelled pike.

I have probably never change clothes and jump into my floating tube so quickly as I did.
As I mentioned the spawning was on so I left the whole area of shoreline alone and went out to deeper water and no long before I landed a small bugger with my new pink/chartreuse fly,well,actually I didn't land it,I dropped it just behind the tube.
Mostly I just floated around study places but will be back here for sure,with better time and when spawning is over,also hoping for some clear water or at least not so murky as it was.

Now I'll have to wait a long week before I will be able to fish again,got some plan to discover a couple more places before summer and have some big plans even for the summer,hopefully I will be able to fulfill them.

Season 2013 opener

Today was finally the day that I have been waiting for in five months and two days,the season opener.
I was waiting at the gas station in Kotka at 8 am to get our permission for ten guys from Espoon perhokalastajat,also took me a cup of coffee and after that it was time to drive to my destination Langinkoski at Kymi river.
I was there about two hours before the rest of the guys so I had some time to practice my casts with a DH-rod,it felt easier than I thought but to be honest I know there is a long way to go.

Started to fish with a floating 550 grain skagit line and a S3 tip.After two hours of fishing I had lost six or seven flies so I decided to change to a T-12 intermediate tip and heavier flies on a short (three ft)leader to avoid my flyboxes to get empty before the end of the day.
Even with a int.tip my fly vent deep enough,could felt it now and then...

Finally after about three hours of fishing I felt that familiar tug on my fly,not long after that I had a fish in my friends landing net,we were fishing for seatrout and salmon so I was a bit surprised when I saw it was a rainbow trout,and pretty big one too,about 50 cm and two kg:s and have to admit it felt good,good to land a fish on my opener and toget the monkey of my back.



Couple of photos and released back to the river.



Now it was the right moment for something to bite and take a better look at this beautiful place and just sit down and relax and enjoy the feeling of this opener,oh man I just love to be able to fish again after a long cold winter.

Not much more to tell you about,I spent rest of the day to practice my casting skills and testing different flies.
after a total time of seven hours I decided to give up,felt a bit cold and some headache so it was time to change clothes and start to drive home,also vent to Lovisa to check out my places for pike fishing and noticed that it will need a miracle if I'm gonna get out next Wednesday with my floating tube as i planned,otherwise I will fish 4 of may at the same place as today and after that all ice has melted for sure on my pike spots so then I will be back in business.

Ten hours to GO.

Tomorrow I can finally wrote on my FB-status those two magic words that I have waited for in five months and two days:
GONE FISHING !!!
I had until yesterday some kind of strange feeling,I wasn't excited at all,but after I attached a 550 grain Skagit line with a T 10 sinktip on my Orvis Mach V reel I start to feel the longing and while writing this post everything is packed and ready for tomorrow and I know already there won´t be much of sleep next night,gonna wake up after seven hours at 5 am.

The springtime has taken massive steps forward and I'm living in a hope that before my second trip to Langinkoski,Kymi river at fourth of May I would be able to take a trip with my floating tube after pike.
After fourth of May there will be probably only pikefishing in sight.
But no more writing right now,hoping I'm able to add a photo or video of some silver flanked beauty tomorrow,but got no big hopes,after all it's my first time with a DH rod,first time chasing silver in a river,but who cares,it's the SEASON OPENER.

From now on there will be more fishing raports than fly tying,here is some of my last ties.

Tube solutions and new ties.

I have tied a lot of new flies for this forthcoming season which still seem to be light years away because of -10 degrees night temps.
As you can see most of them is tied on tube.I lost my faith in tubes last season because of so many dropped fishes but have had time this long winter to think of the reasons why´s so.
I have tried different hooks but I have read so many praises of TMC 600sp so I find it hard to believe that I have fished with "wrong" hooks.
Already in middle of last season I started to think of this issue,wondering what could be wrong and slowly my thoughts went to the attachment of the hook.I used to work with Eumer or HMH hard tube in L-size and attached a hook with a soft silicon tube which allowed the hook turn sideways or flat in pikes mouth which in my opinion was the biggest reason of so many dropped fishes.



This was not the only issue,L-sized tube was also kinda narrow for any leaders that I use.It was a real pain in the ass to change a fly with frozen fingers.
It also put some limits of different hooks that I wanted to try.
After some asking around and study I found a solution that satisfied me.

I changed the tube from L-size to XXL-size.Only this solution allow me to use one of my favorite hook,Sakuma Manta.The hook eye fits narrowly Right into that size.



It seem to be a good solution too but for me it wasn´t enough,I wanted to use different hooks and with example both TMC 600 or Partridge Predator hooks this solution would not be possible cause of different size on hook eyes.



This problem was solved With a stiff plastic tube from a company Etola.
Both TMC and Partridge hooks fits narrowly into this and by pulling a Sakuma hook right trough into the XXL tube I think I have enough of different choises.




Now before Season starter I have made all my new tubes with this solution and have added a Stiff tube for the attachment to the old ones,of course I can´t use the Sakuma hooks on the older flies but still got enough options but what´s more important for me is that I have flies in which I believe,that´s make all difference in the world.Can´t wait for some open water.
And of course I got some new ties.


too.