GFF heartbeat
Published Jan 1st 2009
The articles published on the Global FlyFisher neatly ordered by year and month
Articles published in 2005
See the Global FlyFisher heartbeat
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The first time I opened this book was on Ogunquit Beach, the sun beating down, and a heavy surf crashing not far away. It's not easy to imagine yourself being someplace else, when you're exactly where you want to be, but that's exactly what happened.
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We crank out some strange flies every now and then. Get an idea, dig through piles of materials and tie up a handful of slightly different flies, each one better than the previous one, but none of them really good. But sometimes one comes out OK.
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A few things you can count on when you read a book by Lefty - good stories, just-the-facts brevity, a conversation tone, and plenty of no-nonsense advice. Lefty continues this trend by filling the 143 pages with lots of his book with all of the above, and more.
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The Global FlyFisher staff wishes everybody a very merry Christmas - and a happy New Year if we don't see you before then. A Christmas Fly saw its way into Martin's fill-the-box-project. A slightly more colorful variation of his usual drab and dull flies.
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GFF partner and avid winter fisher Martin Joergensen tries to convince you why breathable waders are good for winter fishing and why you may freeze in your trusty neoprenes. It has to do with sweat and moisture... or the lack of same.
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Do you need a last minute Christmas gift idea for an angler? Well, Merlin's Daily Fishing Calendar could be a very good suggestion for such a gift. Few anglers would complain if Santa brought them this as a gift. Martin Joergensen has had look at this calendar.
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I've seen a few other self published books and they always seemed like something bound at a local Kinkos. Not so with Joe's book. It's every bit as professionally presented as any book by one of the big publishing houses.
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This past season, I had the pleasure of fishing rods built from two blanks from Lamiglas, the XMG50 and the "Blue Ridge". These two blanks are Ying and Yang, fast and slow, high modulus graphite and fiberglass. As different as can be.
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"I have severely neglected my day-to-day flybox for more than a year" writes GFF partner Martin Joergensen. Now he sets out to fill a box with hundreds of sea trout flies in preparation for the coming spring. He envisions rows of uniform and neatly arranged flies.
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Kasper Mühlbach - GFF's eternal grayling hunter - takes on another challenge from the Lady of the Stream. This time he travels to the Czech Republic to learn from former Czech National Fly Fishing Team member Jan Siman. Does the Eastern European grayling differ from the Swedish one?
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It's clear at this point that if Oliver's name is attached to a product, then the quality is going to be high. That is certainly true of these new DVDs. He's a good story teller, a great fly tyer, and an exceptional teacher.
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Mark Dysinger has been chasing smallmouth bass with the flyrod for many years, and during that time he's come across some surprisingly difficult fish. Super clear water and high fishing pressure can make these bass as fussy and easily spooked as any educated trout.
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Better late than never could be one way of putting it when you review a book originally published in 1989. Joseph D. Bates, author of the masterpiece Streamers, also wrote "The art of the Salmon Fly", which GFF partner Martin Joergensen has bought and read.
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Al Grombacher has shared with us one of the most effective patterns for the Bow River in Alberta, Canada, famed for its excellent fishing for rainbow trout.
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With this book "Hairwing & Tube Flies for Salmon" Chris Mann has worked his way through yet another pile of flies sent to him from all over the world. And Chris Mann has done it again and provided us pattern-hungry fly tiers with a wealth of new patterns to inspire us.
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GFF partner Martin Joergensen writes: "...the often lightly dressed Dee and Spey flies with their long and swung back hackles and low riding wings are just soooo fishy!". That's why he finds John Shewey's book "Spey Flies and Dee Flies - Their History & Construction" interesting.
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Large pike can be quite intimidating, almost scary to land. They have teeth everywhere and the danger of being badly cut is very present. But there is a grip, which is safe. By properly lifting the fish in its jaw, both you and the pike stay unharmed.
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How small can you tie a streamer and still call it a streamer? The folks on the streamers@ mailing list decided to challenge themselves to a swap of streamers no larger than a size 12. The results were move interesting.
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Four happy, Danish boys go hunting for grayling in the southernmost Swedish river, which holds a decent number of this beautiful fish. Author Kasper Mühlbach joins GFF partner Martin Joergensen and their common friends Jens Groenlund and Asger Olesen on the journey.
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This is not a review as such, but then again. GFF partner Martin Joergensen got the chance to play with four great and very different rods from ECHO, Harvest, Partridge and Scierra. All are light stream rods, but they still display large differences when fished side by side.
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Trout grass is a nickname for bamboo and the title of this DVD, which takes you on a fascinating journey from east to west, from bamboo harvest to the building of a cane rod. Beautifully filmed, well narrated and perfectly edited, it earns a rare Global Class rating.
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This small treatise will introduce you to the parts of its natural history, which are most interesting to fly anglers. Learn about the bonefish habitats, their diet and what other things might help you get a better picture of the ghost of the flats.
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Crazy Charlie, Bonefish Bitters, Bonefish CDC&Elk and more. Some of these bonefish flies are well known, some are close to unknown, but they can all catch bonefish. Martin Joergensen has selected a few and tells the story.
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GFF partner Martin Joergensen offers a few pieces of advice that might bring you nearer the bonefishing Nirvana. You will find traditional advice like "wear sunscreen" and "learn to cast", but also some less ordinary points such as "Don't listen to the guide".
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"What you got?"
"It's a small one"
The fish is fought to the boat and assessed.
"Eight-pound fish. And this fish is a minnow compared to those fish that we were casting at out there..."
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Craig Mathews usually does Montana and Yellowstone but also knows his bonefish. GFF partner Martin Joergensen writes "This is certainly one of the better DVD's I have watched lately, and definitely the best how-to DVD I have seen on bonefishing."
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This book on the Yucatan Peninsula by Argentinian anglers Juan Pablo Reynal and Daniel Beilinson is one of the most beautiful books we have ever reviewed on the Global FlyFisher! The sheer size makes it impressing, but the imagery is just beyond belief.
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Fernández is definitely one of the grand old men in bonefishing, and although his name is all over the bonefishing community, this is as far as reviewer Martin Joergensen knows his first book as an author.
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Now, this is something! Norwegian Christian Figenschou and his friends Dariusz and Julem's fabulous pictures of bonefishing and their attitude towards fishing fit perfectly into the GFF bonefishing theme.
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Global FlyFisher partner Martin Joergensen has gone through his shelves and dug out the best books and DVD's on bonefishing he could find.
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This is a very personal view of bonefishing from a rookie in the game - namely Global FlyFisher partner Martin Joergensen. He has discovered that both he and Lefty Kreh likes bonefishing best, and tries to unveil why they both share this passion with so many others.
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This is a first in the Global Flyfisher's history: a theme! This theme is about bonefishing, the hunt for one of the most sought after fish in the world: Albula Vulpes, the white fox or the ghost of the flats.
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This is the end that counts to to most anglers: where the mouth is and where the fly is supposed to go. All these fish opened theirs over a hook, and they paid for it with a portrait. Pictures of fish from the very small sand eel to the very large steelhead.
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Gotta stay on the fins to survive, as the fish said. We feature another gallery of not-so-traditional fish photos, this time of fins. See round ones, sharp ones, big ones and small ones in this gallery put together with pictures from several GFF photographers.
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This is an image gallery a bit different than we usually do them. We have so many great pictures in our stock that we need some way to get them out to you. This is a gallery of tails. Yes, tails! Nothing but these beautiful rudders on the fish we catch.
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What can you get if you mount a giant sling on your Volkswagen Beetle? A sturgeon fishing gadget out of the ordinary! This is just one of the strange gizmoes and methods that John Waldman writes about in his book "100 Weird Ways to Catch Fish". Weird indeed!
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This new feature allows you to see a lot of the many great picture series on GFF as automatic slide shows. Select a show and just lean back and enjoy a virtual adventure from somewhere around the world. Pictures from many of our articles can now be seen as slideshows.
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Ed Engle has given us the 2nd half of his treatise on small fly fishing, joining his prior work "Tying Small Flies" to give readers a true master's course on the topic of angling with - well - small flies. Another must read.
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There is nothing easier than breaking a flyrod. Former fishing guide Roland Henrion describes 10 easy ways to do it for those who want to try. The advice can of course be translated into 10 ways of avoiding rod breakage if you don't.
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The Global FlyFisher offers its readers a chance to share their photos with the rest of the world. Create your own fly fishing gallery with GFFPix. We welcome all fly anglers and fly tyers to share their best photos with the rest of us through an extremely easy-to-use system.
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The Global FlyFisher started as a strike of luck, a flap of a butterfly's wing, a mere coincidence - more than 10 years ago. This is the previously untold story of one of the world's largest and most popular fly fishing web sites: your very own, the Global FlyFisher.
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GFF partner Martin Joergensen has owned quite a few wading boots in his time. None of them fit his bill for a perfect pair. Actually most of them fell apart and were trashed within a few seasons. His hunt for a perfect pair continues.
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Two tails are better than one says Mark Dysinger, who is an avid pike angler. In this, his latest pattern, he has created a large and very lively fly for the mossy green predator of the lakes. And it can tempt a bass too...
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Tying instructions? Materials list?! You must be kidding me! The list is close to being an insult and it is almost ridiculous to tell you how to create this fly in more than a sentence. This little saltwater fly is soooo simple.
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Black and deadly in appearence, the dark force of in the fly box - this is The Darth Vader Nymph. Get out your light sabres and put your old, scratched Star Wars video in the VCR, and tie some black nymphs.
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Most of us know how, but this article is for the ones who never set up a fly reel from scratch. See which knots will work where and what type and amount of backing you most probably want. Start with this simple trout setup, and you can expand to other types.
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and GFF has found the perfect CD! From celtic to bluegrass to folk and acoustic jams, Fishing Music offers a unique mix of fishing music for everyone's tastes. Read on as GFF partner Steve Schweitzer shares how
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Converting a classic salmon fly to hairwing form has been done for many years among salmon anglers. Recently, the gang on the streamers@ mailing list tried their hand at converting classic salmon patterns to trout flies.
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If you tie a lot of epoxy flies and have been glancing in the direction of the nice but expensive epoxy rotors in the local flyshop, you may want to consider building your own out of some scraps and a disco mirror ball motor.
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Imagine an iMac of the first generation as a flybox: cool and soft shape, great color and translucent. That's what the AquaFly flyboxes are. GFF partner Martin Joergensen has been using one lately.
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This little article is a photo essay rather than one of many words. GFF partner Martin Joergensen has done picture based stories like this one before, just putting up a bunch of good fishing shots and adding a little text.
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GFF partner Martin Joergensen has owned quite a few wading jackets, and none of them have fit his bill for the perfect jacket for his type of fishing. In this article he sings the Wading Jacket Blues and tries to describe the perfect jacket.
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The first part of a three part harmony about maintaining your precious fly fishing equipment - Rod, Reel And Line - by tropical fishing guide Roland Henrion. Learn how to prolong the lifespan of your fly rods.
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The second part on keeping your fly fishing gear in the best possible condition. This time about reels: how to clean them, how to store them. By fishing guide Roland Henrion, whose expertise results in good and sound advice.
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Third and last part of fishing guide Roland Henrion's article on fly fishing equipment care and maintenance. This time on the proper treatment and storage of fly lines. Tired of stiff, coiling lines that makes bird's nests?
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If Rodney Dangerfield were a fish, he'd probably be a hickory shad. They just don't get much respect. This article by Mark Dysinger aims to set that straight and give the shad the attention it really deserves from fly anglers.
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A Buzzer is basically an imitation of the pupa of a midge. The buzzers are best known from British stillwater fishing, but are actually very widespread and common all over the world. Learn how to tie a simple buzzer and how to fish it.
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This is a strange kind of saltwater fly for sea trout - nothing like other flies - sparse and skinny, tied on a treble, only two materials. But it works says GFF partner Martin Joergensen, who is almost embarassed to tell how to tie this über-simple fly.
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This book is a paradox. Not because of the content, which is both beautiful and fascinating, but because of the circumstances around it. The author fished 45 countries and states in 10 years, and this is the book about that adventure.
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This book is touted mainly as an instructional guide to tying the various styles of classic freshwater streamers. The hardcover layout is nice and easy on the eyes, with large color photos. It begins with some groundwork for tying streamers.
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A wish for a generic bait imitation was what made Kasper Mühlbach develop a fly, which he originally dubbed the Epoxy Triumph; A small epoxied baitfish imitation along the lines of the American tradition.
This fly was since modified a bit, and is now the Epoxy Miracle.
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Branchu is the Québecois word for wood duck, and a very suitable name for this fly with its characteristic wood duck wing.
It's originated by Jean Guy Côte of Uni-Products, but has been slightly modified by GFF partner Martin Joergensen for his fishing.
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Partridge has come out with a new line of trout hooks called "Flashpoint". Most fly tyers are hook junkies, and Bob Petti is no exception, so he jumped at the chance to review these new hooks.






































































