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I end this year with unparalleled Norwegian symbolism.

Fell in Love

It can happen.

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I got mail:

Hallo

   we tie and sell fishing flies of different types, this includes dries ;nymphs streamers and wets  we have agood quality also agood plices  we will be gland to be your suplies for more details please contact us .

charles.

Tao and The Art of Spey Casting

I've been asked not to go public with these clips. So it was only a matter of time...

We have the Single Spey:

We have the Snap-T:

And finally, following true Taoist tradition, we have the No-Cast Spey Cast:

Nature lesson

"Mr Trout, that's sunset."

Art of Getting Skunked

[Insert a lame statement here]

Spreading the word: Dahlberg Diver

Over a year ago, Jay Lee sent me two flies, a Humpy and a Dahlberg Diver. Last night I tried my best to instruct how to tie the Dahlberg Diver at the local fishing club.



It takes some time until we reach the level of perfection Jay has, but the word is out there. We are going to catch pike soon.



Thanks Jay!

Again

Fishing season started again.



Maybe she is the same.

Rod Building - Part 17: Inscription (hey, it's all done!)

My fly rod building project has come to its end. That's right, the rod is actually finished.



Looks like a fly rod, doesn't it?

Final part of the project was not made by me, but by mrs opax, who was very kind and wrote the inscription.



I thought a lot about the inscription. Candidates like "opax #1" were quickly abandoned. "Resembles-a-rod" would have been better, but I ended-up with "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida".



In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is over seventeen minutes long song by Iron Butterfly. It was released 40 years ago. According to a legend, the title was supposed to be "In The Garden Of Eden", but someone had written "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," possibly while drunk or intoxicated, on a demo copy.



I have a new slogan for my blog:
If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing.
- opax fly-fishing

End of the road

Or perhaps... In middle of the road.

Bad Timing

Trout fishing season has began again here in Finland with the spring stonefly hatch.



I can't go now, and when I can it could be all over. Again.



I screwed it.

That is a sure sign of the start of the new trout fishing season!

Rod Building - Part 16: "back back forth and forth"

My rod building project is going like a dance. I replaced the big ugly stripper guides with a pair of shiny, tiny chromed ones.



Removing guides is simple. What you need is a sharp knife, steady hand, and some acetone to clean the blank.



Does this make a better rod?



How cares, we are after the looks here. Almost done...

Book Review: The Freshman Fly Fisher by Rick Passek

The Freshman Fly Fisher is the first book written by Rick Passek from British Columbia, Canada. It is an entry level fly fishing book. Main focus is in stillwater fly fishing for trout - covering a selection of flies, fly fishing equipment, and wide range of boats. For new fly fishers living or planning to fish in BC this book offers sound information for fishing locations as well.

Sharing the experience

I like reading beginner level fly fishing books. This is because I believe that within given limitations of pages, the author must write about what he or she thinks is most essential. And I'm interested in the most essential things in fly fishing.

The way I see it, the most important aspect of this book is that Rick shares his fly fishing experience to his readers. The best stuff is where he gets in the details, be it fishing chironomids, different boats for fly fishing, or specific fishing locations.

A Beginners Guide for a New Generation

The subtitle of the book refers to the links for additional information either in Rick's web site or other web based fly fishing resources. I've spent too much time surfing the web for fly fishing knowledge, and so should a beginning fly fisherman. My advice is read as much as you can. And fish more.

Here are some links:

• www.rp3fishingadventures.com - Rick's Web Site where you can order his book and more.
• http://www.rp3fishingadventures.com/flyfish_fanatic/ - Rick's blog.

Ice, you can go now.

a jazoni photo. Used with permission.

It's March. To cope with it I'm currently reading The Freshman Flyfisher by Rick Passek. Rick is a fellow blogger from British Columbia, Canada. He asked me to write a review of the book, and I will. There is a good chapter about beginner fly selection in his book. Those always make interesting reading.

I haven't tied flies in two months. Not since I made the perfect mobile fly-tying station that is supposed to make fly tying so easy to start that you actually can use that spare 15 minutes for it. I'll be introducing this ground braking innovation to you at some point. Before that, you go and take a long walk along the banks of Tamanawis. There you will find lots of information about fly-tying-somethings. They will help you organize your fly-tying stuff and speed up the tying process. Or, at least they'll keep you busy doing anything but tying flies. Great stuff.

Splitting cane

I'll bet the Swedish knife manufacturer didn't see this one coming.



At first it was hard, then you figured it out and began to think it's easy. A bad mistake, as the split starts to wander with your mind.

Trick is to bend the wider side. The difficulty is that the narrower side bends a lot easier.

Social rod maker

What I didn’t know was that the hobby of making bamboo fly rods is such a social activity. Much of the work is done alone, but a lot more time is spent talking with fellow rod makers, 3-years-old daughter who wants a pink fly rod, 5-year-old son who wants a rod longer than his dad has, workmates, friends, and, well, just about everybody willing to listen. At some point a sister-in-law’s husband told me about a guy that only ever speaks about cars. I got the point.



I believe that most of bamboo rod makers are engineers. Books, articles and internet sites about bamboo fly rod making deal at least as much about construction of required tools and machinery, as they deal with the actual process of bamboo crafting. My task is to prove to the world that a humanist can craft a bamboo fly rod. The small print is that this particular humanist has partnered with an engineer to build bamboo fly rods.



Tools and machinery is one of the reasons this hobby is so social. If you don’t have all the tools, and believe me – you don’t, you can either construct (engineering degree doesn’t hurt), buy (costs about ten times as much as the materials for a bamboo fly rod), or you can borrow them. I prefer the last, so it takes a bit mingling with the right people to make the rod.

Bite it, baby!

Splintering Cane: Feminine Reactions

I told my wife that the friend I'm going to build bamboo rods with had bought a bamboo fly rod.
- Why he wants to build a bamboo rod if he already bought one? She asked.
Why do the birds sing? Why the green is green? What keeps a rock from crumbling into dust?

The friend told he was casting his split-cane in the yard. A lady, a neighbor, walks past with a dog and smiles.
It is January, there is snow on the ground, pretty cold, about a hundred meters to the nearest lake shore, frozen lake shore, a guy is casting a fly rod as old as she. What's there to smile about?

Season Shift

A good trout fishing season is not counted by the number nor the size of the fish. I think it is something altogether different, though the fish do play a big part. Good seasons are counted by the memories, and even then not on the quantity but on the quality of the memories. Or perhaps I am mistaken here and just trying to justify too few fishing trips with the quality over quantity crap.

Whatever the case, I had great time fishing last summer. I didn't count the numbers. Even if I had, the season 2007 was probably the best ever. I stopped keeping records a couple seasons ago. This has everything to do with the improvement. The constant drive within me is to become a better fisherman. I just don't believe in statistics; even if I could collect enough data for a reliable statistical analysis, it would just confirm something I already knew. I'm trying to get the bigger picture.

What then will the next season bring? More trout for sure, but also there are projects to finish and new ones to start.

I have the ultimate rod building project to start with a friend. The holy grail of fly rod building. We are talking about split-cane here, bamboo. It is a crazy idea of course, or, crazy enough. When the friend asked, I replied that neither of us knows how to build one, 'we need a book' I said. 'Already have one, makes good bathroom reading", he replied. I didn't bother to consider my resolution any more and simply agreed to take part in the project.

We were drunk but the agreement holds: we are dead serious when the topic involves fly fishing.