Trout 2 - Opax 0

Note to self: Don't use Knapek nymph hooks to fish big brown trout.

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!

End of the road

Or perhaps... In middle of the road.

Bite it, baby!

Fly-fishing Tradition

Importance and role of the tradition in fly-fishing is substantial. There are flies and methods used by anglers hundreds of years ago, the reel is pretty much similar in design as it was when first invented, and the reason to fish is pretty much the same as is was before as long as we are talking about fly-fishing.



About a month ago I tied a few March Browns, winged wet flies dating back a long time. In the 80s I was with my parents fishing the Ruunaa Rapids in Eastern Finland. I had a fly rod and had bought, or at least whined to my parents long enough that they had bought me, a package of of three wets, pretied in a leader. I remember the horrible mess the rig was after a few minutes of serious rod waving. One of the flies was a March Brown Silver. I caught couple of fish. They were bleak, no trout for me back then, thank you.

I intented to visit the Ruunaa again last August but instead decided to go to the very heart of Finnish brown trout fly-fishing tradition, the Huopana. It is not a big river, or at least long, only about 1.2 km or .75 miles.



But its every pool and channel has been named and there are even rocks that have names. Those rocks are named after fishermen. That is what I call tradition.



The whole milieu of the river is unique. The houses, the old bridge, and even the old hydroelectricity plant just belongs there. As well as the fishermen (no more than 10 per day with the current regulations) and the brown trout.



The all time sport tackle record trout from Huopana was landed by Mr. Bruno Alanko on 22nd of August 1933 using "a yellow fly". That was 8.3 kilograms or 18.5 pounds of lake-run brown trout.

I visited the river exactly 74-years later. After a short but good night sleep in my car I saw two fly fishermen with a story to tell. "I just lost the trout of my life" was the first thing the younger man said to me when we met. With wide eyes and stunned expression on his face he told me about the trout he hooked and played for good thirty minutes. The hands of the older man were wide apart when he estimated the size of the fish with his hands. At least 5 kilograms he said. The fish broke of just when they thought that they could finally land him.

The tradition of fly-fishing is not static. It lives and evolves as we read, write, talk, and dream about it.

Deep Sparkle Pupa Variation

My favourite caddis pupa pattern is Gary LaFontaine's Deep Sparkle Pupa. Green has been most effective color for me. I have replaced the hackle fibres of the original pattern with lively CDC fibres. This fly is fast to tie and ugly enough for trout to love it.

Black Zulu Special

Here is a variation of an old classic, the Black Zulu. This fly is tied on heavy wire grubber hook with a bead. Orange yarn is used instead of standard wool tag. It hardly makes a difference; actually this fly works well even without the tag.

I use this fly as a searching pattern. It works for trout, grayling, and white fish.

Caddis Larva

From Life

It's a size 12 olive caddis larva.

From Fly-patterns

Realistic Stonefly Nymph. Tied by Tomas Whitehouse

From Tomas Whitehouse

It feels just as real as it looks.

Tomas and Tuuli have a great website and shop at www.tntflies.com

Pheasant Tails. Tied by The Mad Fishicist

These beautiful Pheasant Tail nymph variations are tied by The Mad Fishicist.


With respect and gratitude, thanks TMF.

The springtime sun sets, treading on a mountain pheasant's tail.	Yamadori no o o fumu haru no irihi kana
Yosa Buson

Sculpin pattern

This is the same pattern as in one of my previous posts although this is in different color. I learned this one from a 13-years-old boy at local fishing club. I like the way the hair wing is done. It is soft and stiff at the same time making it better than the Marabou Muddler for fast current as this fly keeps it shape in all fishable currents.

From Fly-patterns

From Fly-patterns

From Fly-patterns

Weekend Humpy

When you have two small (2 and 4-years-old) children, and you finally have a weekend without them, you feel that you have all the time in the world. Finally some much needed quality time with your wife, time to drink beer, tie beautiful flies, and write the greatest blog entry ever.

Then you find out that you just lie in the bed, drink beer, look at a beautiful fly and know that you are never going to write the greatest blog entry ever.

So, you decide to write a blog entry and share a picture of a beautiful size 16 Humpy that is tied by Jay Lee from the Netherlands.

Winter's Magic. Tied by Levern Burm

From Fly-patterns

Hook: TMC 3761/3769
Abdomen: Holographic tinsel
Thorax/under wing: Cascade crest trilobal synthetic hackle, chartreuse
(1 turn)
Wing: Black hackle (1-2 turns)

This is a good looking caddis pupa pattern. I will make a bunch of these for the next summer.

Grub. Tied by Levern Burm

From Fly-patterns

This Grub pattern, as tied by Levern Brum, is looking really tasty. Simple, fast to tie, what more can you ask?

UPDATE (Thanks Vern!):
Hook: Daiichi 1120 or TMC 2487/2457
Rib: Osterich herl
Abdomen: Virtual nymph skin (tan/cream). Can substitute with a latex
glove cut into strips.
Thorax: Buggy black dubbing

Bugs

“It’s a fabulously ugly fly, cheap and quick to make, and very effective. … The Hare’s Ear Soft Hackle passes for a caddis pupa … but is in fact an all-purpose “bug” in the sense that a five-year-old kid would use that word. I think same way: both are capable of intense, single-minded observation, but they see the essence of a thing rather than the details.”

       John Gierach, Trout Bum (1986)

Originally Partridge feather is used for hackle, in 1986 Gierach recommends cheaper Indian Hen necks, in 2007 I use genetic Whiting's Brahma Hen Soft Hackle: simply because hackle stems are so strong that they don’t break all the time.

From Fly-patterns

A pile of buggy flies.
Some of them will soon be shipped to a friend in Alaska.

Tomas Whitehouse web site

Tomas Whitehouse has opened amazing web site at www.tntflies.com

Check out his flies, both realistic and traditional as well as great picture gallery!

Stonefly Adult. Tied by Tomas Whitehouse. From Fly-patterns

Mainstream caddis pupa pattern: Viagra Caddis

From Fly-patterns

This is a Viagra Caddis pupa as tied by Levern Burm. I see this fly as a sample of today's mainstream fly tying. If I look at today's fly fishing magazines I see many patterns like this. And there is nothing wrong with that. It is good looking fly that has lot of qualities of good fly patterns -- Bead: to get attention, Right shape: to be accepted.

Tomas Whitehouse

Tomas Whitehouse is a fly tying artist mainly in the categories of traditional trout flies and the realistic field.

He is 27 years and originally from Birmingham, England. Currently he lives in Helsinki, Finland.

Click here to see slideshow of his work.

From Tomas Whitehouse

Please contact Tomas Whitehouse with any questions or queries. All of his patterns are available to buy, he will also tie requested patterns provided he has the correct materials. Tomas is also available for tying tuition classes and demonstrations.
Email him for prices and delivery times.

T.n.T Perhot
Helsinki Finland
Website: www.tntflies.com
Email: tntflies@mac.com
Tel: +358417879963

From Tomas Whitehouse

From Tomas Whitehouse

From Tomas Whitehouse

From Tomas Whitehouse

From Tomas Whitehouse

From Tomas Whitehouse

From Tomas Whitehouse

From Tomas Whitehouse

All images above Copyright (c) Tomas Whitehouse. Used with permission.

Dahlberg Diver. Tied by Jay Lee

From Jay Lee

The Dahlber Diver is a pike fly. This one is tied by Jay Lee. Thank you Jay!

I'll be casting a fly for pike in May, but not this one; it looks far too good to be ripped to pieces by pike's sharp teeth.

Take a look how well this monofil supports the zonker tail.

From Jay Lee

And this is how the deer hair should be clipped.

From Jay Lee

Unknown Fisherman and more

From Trondheim 1996

In this picture you see a man fishing the Nidelva River which at this spot flows through the city of Trondheim. It was July 1996. The fisherman was fishing Atlantic Salmon or Sea-run Brown Trout. I don't know his name, but he was the first fisherman I ever gave a fly.

From Trondheim 1996

We had been traveling around Europe for about 3 weeks and the reason that brought us to Norway were the mountains. Thing is that there are no mountains in Finland. My companion and I had both fall in love to the mountains some weeks earlier in Pyrenees. We had already been heading back home to Finland, but one conversation at Hamburg with my companion send us all the way as far north to Norway as we possibly could in seek for more mountains. It turned out that we had headed too far north as greatest mountains in Norway are southwest from Trondheim.

But there we were, standing at the bank of Nidelva River. I had carried this single Atlantic Salmon Fly whole the way from one corner of Europe to the next and finally to that very river bank and I felt very nervous. Sole purpose of taking the fly with me was to give it to a fisherman. And right there was the perfect opportunity and I started thinking how silly the whole operation was. My companion didn’t take my lame excuses for long. She pushed me (either verbally or physically – I can’t remember) down the bank towards the fisherman. I gave my fly to him. He took it, showed his fly box and we discussed shortly and then I left.

I had met my travel companion six months prior this moment. I remember it clearly as it was New Years Eve 1995 when we met. I kissed her first time when the year turned to 1996. Since then she has pushed me to the right direction more than once and there is no end in sight.

I would like to thank her for that.