Flyfishing, flytying and hooks

Married Wings & Jungle Cock

kvitre.no.2013.09.21.married_wings_jungle_1Hook: Dai-Riki 899 #6
Thread: UNI 6/0 Black
Tag: UNI-French Oval Md Silver
Tail: White & Red Goose Shoulder
Body: Red Floss
Rib: Black Floss, UNI-French Oval Md Silver
Wing: White & Red Goose Shoulder
Sides: Jungle Cock
Throat: Hen, Black
Head: Ostrich Herl

I got a small patch of Jungle Cock as a present the other day and I have had some plans to start tying classic salmon flies this winter, so I’m starting with very simple versions to learn the layering and marrying of wings and building up materials.

This one ended up not too bad, I had some problems with tying in the married wings and the throat should have been tied in under the ostrich herl. I also feel that the wing is a bit too long ( and the tip of the wing just didn’t marry very well )

As you can see from the top-down picture: the jungle cock almost aligns and the wings looks decent for now.

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Came for the fish, stayed for the sunset

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAnother friday after work and I headed out the Oslo fjord to a spot I have had for myself many times (and where I landed my first seatrout last week). You can tell that I have gone from dryfly to salt focus the last month here as the season have shifted, and these short trips where you don’t have to hike for hours to get to the really good places is a good thing to have since the sun sets earlier and earlier these days.

I had one seatrout follow all the way in to the tip of my rod (I physically didn’t have more tippet to pull – it was that close) before it turned and slowly found its way out into the dark, and another heavy *thug* on a white rabbit zonker that at least proved that the area have fish.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAfter a couple of hours with nothing to show for it was the sunset that kept me there for the last hour – clear blue sky, no wind to talk of and a sun that slowly shifted the colors of the sky. For me fishing is (almost) as much about these moments as the fishing (ok; fishing is *slightly* more important….).

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThe spot:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAs I packed up for the night the moon showed  up:

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White Zonker

dryfly.me.2013.09.white_zonker_2Heading out to do some more fishing tomorrow and sat down with a strip of white rabbit zonker and tied up some variations on the same theme: some with eye, some shorter and on different hooks. I prefer to tie up and fish different styles to see how they behave when they actually sit on the end of a tippet, so it will be a friday with experiments on these (and some baitfish). Which one would you tie up if you got handed these?

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First Seatrout on fly

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERABack when I was a kid I used to fish a lot (a serious amount!), and my only seatrout ever taken must have been when I was 10-12 years: it was taken on a lure and weighed in at a hefty 2kg! Since then I haven’t taken any seatrout, and since I picked up flyfishing a couple of years back I have never tried much to target them. This year, however, I find myself wanting to expand the (freshwater) trout-season in Oslo, so I have started tying up some flies for saltwater (zonkers, baitfish) to go around the Oslo fjord area targeting seatrout.

On friday after work I got on the bus and headed out to a spot that is supposedly seatrout area. On the second throw two mackerels followed in after my white zonker and on the fifth cast a seatrout was on! Frankly I was a bit shocked when the trout suddenly sprang 50cm up into the air and raced towards land so I never had a chance to keep a tight line. I never landed that one…..

During the afternoon I had several fish very interested in the baitfish, and they were even hitting it and following it in towards land, but nothing actually was hooked. Finally I got this little seatrout on a baitfish, and it had the same behaviour as the first: raced towards land so I ended up with half my line in a tangle after I landed it, but it did end up in my net! So: first ever seatrout on fly, not a big one, but a good start for the winter season here in Oslo.

I put on the orange Rabbit Zonker towards the end and I had one fish on that did the classic *thug-thug*, never hooked properly, and was gone…. That one must have been 1kg plus, but I don’t know if it was a seatrout, so I might head out there again tomorrow to see if it still is in the area!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERACan’t complain about the weather on days like this….

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