GFF heartbeat
Published Jan 1st 2009
The articles published on the Global FlyFisher neatly ordered by year and month
Articles published in 2007
See the Global FlyFisher heartbeat
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December is not the month to go fishing for sea trout if you have set your mind on catching anything, but GFF partner Martin Joergensen took another fruitless trip anyway and wound up skunked but with a last podcast for 2007 in the bag.
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East and West Rangá are two of Iceland's most productive salmon rivers. GFF Partner Martin Joergensen had the chance to fish both this summer, and thinks back on a productive trip to a beautiful island - and on mud and rain.
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Sitting there with the smell of Christmas in the nose and Christmas music in the ears, Martin has been thinking back on the year that passed, and wishes to say Merry Christmas to all the GFF readers with a small gallery from the year that passed.
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With "Fly-Fishing for Smallmouth", Bob Clouser offers a follow-up to his excellent book Clouser's Flies, this time taking us on the stream and letting the reader pick the mind of an experienced and highly knowledgeable angler.
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Chris Edghill writes: "Fascinating to see how they worked together, one would dive in between the rocks and sea grass, completely burying itself and the others just milled around waiting for a shrimp to dart out from it's hiding place where it would be quickly devoured."
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I've enjoyed all of Darrel Martin's fly fishing books, and "The Fly-Fisher's Craft" is no exception. In a world where it is often said that there is nothing new to write about fly fishing, Darrel always seems to find a new angle, a new approach, or some interesting research to offer his readers. His latest book takes us on a trip through history to look at the origins of the basic elements of fly fishing.
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Wild River Press, the publisher behind this and a other new books, is setting the bar extremely high for the genre of fly fishing information books, where the author doesn't offer a quick overview but rather an in depth master's course. "Fly Fishing for Striped Bass" continues that trend, and in doing so kicks it up a notch. The author simply blew my socks off.
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I'm sure newbies to fly tying feel an overwhelming sense of "what am I getting into?!?". Everything seems easy once you know how to do it, but that first step is always the most difficult. With "Ten Flies Simple Ties", Andrea and Glenn Van Benschoten are doing something about that.
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Colorado's white winters shouldn't give you the blues! Follow GFF partner Steve Schweitzer as he and his family fish the snowy Cheesman Canyon. Steve discusses the 4 plights of the river, flies to use, his "On-Air Hat" and how GFF has over-glorified the fishing gods.
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The GFF Summit 2007 was a great venue, and lots of people had lots of fun and caught lots of fish - and took lots of pictures! GFF partner Martin Joergensen has collected the best from all the participants into a huge photo collage.
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This foggy November day Martin is out scouting for rainbows, and even though the podcast starts out with no real subject, it turns into a podcast about patience. He plays the patience game with the fish that aren't there, but finally manages to find a school of small fish.
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Having wrapped my share of thread over the years, I thought it was time to revisit a long held interest of mine - traditional salmon flies. My first attempt years ago was pretty disappointing, and I was hoping my skills had evolved enough for me to take that next step and produce a better result.
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The International Fly Tying Symposium was held on November 17th and 18th in Somerset, New Jersey. As usual, the place was wall-to-wall fly tyers, tying everything from giant saltwater streamers to trout flies. Streamers, salmon flies, you name it - someone was tying it.
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Martin has just received the ugliest flies he has ever seen in his life. And no, don't worry they weren't from a potential GFF contributor or a well meaning friend, but commercially tied. They just confirmed what he has always said: home tied flies are best.
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If one day you should lie on the bank pounding your fists into the sand in frustration over the lack of fish and someone sneaks around the corner offering you a chartreuse coloured fly, perhaps it's German Kai Nolting who brings you the fly that will save your day:
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Martin spends some time - almost an hour, actually, and he excuses that - talking about killing fish, releasing fish, fishing ethics, spawning fish, endangered fish, escaped hatchery fish and many other aspects of fishing to eat and fishing to release.
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Norwegian Geir Kjensmo has developed a strike indicator with the aim of reducing wind resistance and making easy depth adjustments. As a bonus with these indicators can be fished on very long leaders without the indicator stopping in the top ring of your rod when trying to land a fish.
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This podcast contains highlights from GFF Partner Steve Schweitzer's summer in Colorado, USA. Steve covers various subjects such as the irony of fly fishing and silence, hydration in the mountains, fishing, listening to podcasts and a few other topics.
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Les Austin shows you how to construct a simple balance to weigh you fly lines. Using a ruler, a few paperclips and some nuts you can make a precise balance, which can help you determine the AFTM class of all of those fly lines you may have laying around.
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Another podcast from talking partner Martin. This time about the anticipation and potential disappointment of fishing. You always look forward to going, but know that even though any trip can develop into the trip of a lifetime, it can also become the opposite.
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Are your dreaming of having your fly pattern, your fishing pictures, your fly fishing stories, your DIY-project published on the web? Well, here's the chance. GFF is looking for contributors. And everybody can take part.
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Martin talks a bit about the flies he uses and which one would be his first choice if he could bring only one pattern. There's a bit about fly sizes, different types of flies and ways of using them. As usual recorded by the water.
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GFF partner Martin managed to get his hands on a great new recorder and immediately went fishing and recorded his first podcast in months! The podcast is mostly about that: recording again, but also covers the recently held GFF Summit in Denmark and a few other subjects.
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Bob Kenly is reknowned for his radically different epoxy tube flies. This article recaps his experience with epoxy - and adds advice on coloring epoxy. If you want some truths about epoxy - and want to witness the death of a couple of myths
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Tube flies - like most other fly types - come in as many shapes and styles as you can imagine. This article merely scratches the surface in an attempt to list some of them. I also touches upon a few aspects of tying one tubes.
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Tube fly books are few and far apart and the moment Martin Joergensen learned that this one was coming, he knew it was a must for him. Mark Mandell and GFF contributor Bob Kenly have gathered a bunch of the most innovative and influential tube fly tyers in this book.
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Have tube, will tie... but how to go about it? How do you actually manage to tie on a tube? Well, it's much like tying on a hook, just different. Learn to tie on plastic, metal, bottles, compound and rear tubes.
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More information on tube tools than you ever thought you needed - from the lowly sowing needle to the full-blown several-hundred-dollar vise, and a lot inbetween. This article teaches you essential knowledge about how to hold a tube - any tube - while tying on it.
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Want to venture further into the world of tube flies? This list of material suppliers, tools, vises, DVD's, books and much more will give you links to many more hours of entertaining reading and viewing.
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This is the all-time classical volume on tube flies, and as the subtitle "A tying, fishing and historical guide" implies it deals with all aspects of tube flies. If you are looking for a general introduction to tubes in book-form, this is the way to go.
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If you think that a tube for a tube fly is a cylindrical piece of plastic, then you are in for a surprise. This article will present more tube styles than most fly tyers ever imagined, and probably teach even seasoned tubers a thing or two.
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This is the first article in the GFF Tube Fly Theme: An introduction to the concept of tube flies and some arguments for using tubes rather than hooks. The article will give you a basic knowledge about tube flies and prepare you for the rest of the theme.
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All kinds of tubes in an overview. Want to get an idea of the richness in the tube fly world? This is one place to look.
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Tube flies are flies tied on a tube rather than a hook. But putting it that simple is almost a crime, because tubes have evolved dramatically over the last few years, and bottles, rear tubes, Shomakov tubes, FITS tubes and all sorts of new systems have seen the light of day.
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Tube fly tyer Tony Pagliei explains his Convertible Tube Flies - a modular system that combines a set of tube tied front parts and a set of dressed hooks into as many different flies as you can imagine in a versatile, modular system.
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Ever since GFF partner Martin Joergensen first discovered Yoshikazu Fujioka's Japanese web site, which was amongst the first fishing related pages he ever found on the web, he was fascinated with Fujioka's art. Now GFF can present images from "Trouts and Seasons of the Mountain Streams".
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One day, while fishing my favourite water, Barnsfold in Lancashire, which is surrounded on one large side with a good head of pine trees round the reservoir, I noticed quite a few terrestrials being blown on to the water. The trout were going crazy for them.
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In an effort to entice larger striped muggers (stripers) during the spring herring run on Cape Cod when big fish venture back into the shallow estuaries to the herring runs, Pete Gray started tying 8-12+ inches herring flies on double tubes.
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Read about Florida artist, guide and store owner Vaughn Cochran's history and see samples of his beautiful art, which stretches from pop art over impressionsitic scenes to sculptures. Cochran paints and sculpts fish and scenes from his home waters as well as other tropical waters.
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ron P. swegman has taken up fly fishing again, fishing a plain 5 weight rod, riding his mountain bike to the water, wading deep rocky pools in hip boots and not least: fishing a lowly city stream with the downtown skyline of a large metropolis in the background. He has written a book about it.
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Martin Joergensen: "One evening when I was tying flies with a couple of friends, one of them, Nils, asked me to tie a muddler, just as a demo. I did. Luckily the other friend, Henning, was quick and caught these great pictures of the process."
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Steve Raymond has given all fly anglers a treat with his latest book "Nervous Water", a collect of previously published or presented material, expanded and updated for today's fly angler. Many of the essays take a light hearted look at fly fishing and fishermen.
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Allen McGee has given us a modern look at the ancient subject of tying and fishing wingless wet flies. With the support of outstanding camera work and excellent illustrations, he provides anglers both new and experienced with an excellent summary of the topic.
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Karel Krivanec has given anglers around the world the opportunity to learn about the history and techniques of tying and fishing Czech Nymphs, a subject that is fascinating to anglers around the world.
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Does one of the best spots for fishing for graylings with a colour "like gold", good water conditions most of the spring, summer and autumn, still undiscovered by cormorants and yet unknown to the cosmopolitan fly fishing scene sound interesting?
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So there will be a GFF Summit this year! At long last Martin Joergensen has found the time to get some facts together and start working on the dates and practicalities. It will be in September and take place on Fyn, Denmark like last year,
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A Polish Fishing DVD is not something we see every day. Not that it's in Polish. It's actually in no particular language. Brothers Andrej and Peter Polcic take us on a universally understandable trip to some beautiful European rivers and catches some fish and some video.
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This strange popper came out of Martin Joergensen's vice recently and has already proved its value several times. See why it might be interesting to you, how to tie it (in meticulous details) as well as how it moves - and in video too! And learn why it's called Burning Man.
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The second chapter in Angling Exploration Group's fantastic travels, and just as entertaining and action-packed as their first adventure to Argentina. This time the bums go to New Zealand where they feast on NZ hospitality, lots of pasta and large trout in gin clear water.
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The first words spoken on this DVD are: "Every so often in life comes a person that is one step above the rest..." and "Not just any mortal...". Martin Joergensen would have thought twice before he introduced anybody in angling with words like those - even Mel Krieger.
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One of the hallmarks of rod builder Dave Lewis' work is the handwritten details on each rod. The writing is done by Dave's wife Mary Lu and in this article Dave briefly explains how to obtain the best results when writing on rods.
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Every summer the salmon flies hatch in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River, and this excellent DVD tells the story about the hatch, the guides and anglers and the threats to the river and this fantastic phenomenon. Martin Joergensen has watched the DVD.
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The rod is done and you need to determine what line is best for it. Don't always trust the fine print on the blank, but join Jan-Ole Willers on the water for a test of the newly built rod to find out whether it was worth the effort.
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Some books just have it all: great images, well written text, large format, beautiful typography and all the nice graphic details. But very few have gold print. This one has! And it deserves it. Ralph Kyllloe covers Western streams and lodges from Alaska to California.
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We're now at the final stage of our rod buidling process, and ready to coat the wrappings. this requires a clean room and a lot of care. Jan-Ole Willers shows us in great detail how to do the best job and where to do it.
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This time we look at guide selection and preparation as well as the critical process of wrapping the guides. Learn some neat tricks from German Jan-Ole Willers in this third part of his extensive rod building series.
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The handle is both an important part of any rod and a whole project in itself when building a rod. Jan-Ole Willers helps you choose a shape, select the cork and plan added features such as a fighting butt.
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The first part of the Global Flyfisher article series on building your own graphite fly rod, which takes you by the hand from the very beginning of the process: identifying and selecting the parts and materials you need.
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The introduction to the cover-it-all series on building your own grpahite fly rod, which will run through the whole process of building a complete fly rod, covering selection of components, handle, guides, coating and testing.
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A newly recorded podcast about distance casting and casting distance, made on the Danish coast by GFF partner Martin Joergensen who talks about casting while he fishes a bit. He also spends of time getting his dog under control (cows on the field behind them!) and loosing a fish.
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The Sunray Shadow is a true killer fly for salmon fishing. Tied on a tube with a wing and no body, simple as few flies, but still - or maybe rather because of that - extremely efficient. The fly uses few materials and is very easy to tie.
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South African artist Chris Bladen has specialized in doing bronzes of wildlife - particularly fish. See some of his stunning work and read about the process of shaping and finishing bronze statues of tuna, flying fish, dorados, tigerfish and much more.
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The tendency is, that flies become smaller and smaller trying to fool the fish. We end up using 7X, size 24 hooks and stealth moves on the river banks. Sometimes you need to go the opposite way, if you want a big fish at end of your tippet.
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A high-visibility orange post and CDC makes this small dry perfect for your 7X tippet. Easy to tie, easy to follow on the water and a perfect choice when the fish are picky. Darryl Lampert from South Africa shows us one of his effective patterns.
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GFF partner Steve Schweitzer has brought his sound recorder and his good friend Kurt Legerski to the North Platte River in Wyoming in the pursuit of rainbows. Join them on this sound recording from this April trip - Miracle Mile, Gray Reef, fish, nice music and everything.
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One of GFF's all-time most popular articles and downloads just got better! Download two new upgrades for FREE! 1) Leadercalc2007, enhanced with new formulas and label making features and 2) the all new GFF's Leader Guide, a 28-page PDF book you can use for your classroom or personal use.
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Since the 1960's the mullets have visited the Danish and South Swedish waters from late May to late October. They feed on green weed, are easily scared and do not pay interest to flies - most of the time. Impossible - but in 2005 Kasper Mühlbach hooked one fish.
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Fishing on the Kola Peninsula is usually connected with everything but low price fishing. However, it is still possible to organize a trip for large, golden, Russian brown trout and pay no more than 500 Euros per person including everything.
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A wise friend of mine once said after a day of unproductive fishing: "That's why it's caled fishing and not catching". True enough. We often fish without catching, and while most of us have come to terms with this, we mostly also want to turn fishless days into fish-rich ones.
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Maybe you found the previously published tandem rag worm too tandemnised and would be better off with a one-hook-only fly.Then The Wiggling Jigging Worm shown in this article is a good alternative.
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Every year in March and April the rag worms emerge from the bottom to secure the next generation. They swim freely in the water, wiggling from one side to the other. Sea gulls feed on the from above and many fish species seem to focus on them from beneath.
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GFF partner Martin Joergensen has a severe case of cabin fever. Too much work. Too long winter. Too much wind. Too little fishing. He's really looking forward to fishing on mild spring days as he says in this short piece featuring images from last spring and this winter and early spring.
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Fishing on the coast in the winter is very close to some obscure kind of self torture. There are only vague chances of catching anything, it's usually pretty unconfortable and you would mostly be better off staying home tying flies. But GFF partner Martin Joergensen went out anyway.
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Dutch Ad Swier is not only a pike fanatic beyond the ordinary but also an artist extraordinaire. His beautiful drawings and paintings have been used in books, calanders and magazines all over the world. We convinced Ad to participate in our series on Fishy Artists.
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Second part of the Bahamian bonefish joyride as described by The Gang of Four. Join Paul, Tomaz, Ian and Simon on more bonefish fun, a sailboat regatta and lots of good, clean Bahamian fun.
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Go on a bonefishing adventure and catch bones, tarpon, shark and a wealth of other species in the waters of the Bahamas. Tomaz Modic and Paul Slaney tells the story of fish caught and released, lines and rods broken and lots of fun had.
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American artist Matt Zudweg creates the most amazing carved and painted works in wood. His portfolio contains signs and carved fish as as well as more three-dimensional pieces such as furniture. Some might not consider this "proper art", but trust us. It is!
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Global FlyFisher partner Martin Joergensen found a subject for this new podcast in a very uncomfortable way: he fell in! So from the dry front seat of his car in newly changed clothes he this time brings you a podcast on getting wet - or rather: not getting wet.
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If you look in casting books, ads for fly lines or just the odd fly fishing magazine, you will often see some fascinating pictures of casting. Lines forming the most beautiful arcs in the air, clearly illustrating one of the mesmerizing things about fly fishing: the beauty of the cast.
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When you speak to old timers about fishing for tigerfish on the Zambezi River they will tell you of driving along dirt roads, cutting a path through the forest to get access to the river. Lions still running wild, and while they fished elephants chased anglers away from the bank. This is not how it is today.
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"The Rise" is Paul Schullery's latest book where he digs into many theories of fly fishing. With his typical well researched style, Schullery takes up an issue and heads to the library, figuratively if not literally. It is not only exceedingly well researched, it's a good read.
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"As a young kid developing my skills and vision as an artist, I found that I could find no better subject to paint then the big northern pike and largemouth bass that I would often observe cruising the weed lines out in the bayou."
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The bulk of the book deals with the different fly patterns that Bob has developed over the years, including of course the classic Clouser Deep Minnow, as well as some variations such as the Fir Strip Clouser, Rattle Clouser, Super Hair Deep Minnow, Half and Half, and so on.
