Recent comments

I grew up fishing wi

I grew up fishing with Derek. Through the years I have watched him grow as an avid angler, and into the most talented artist I know of. I have always known him as a very passionate person. When Derek finds something he enjoys he has always given it his all, seeking perfection with what seems to be a flawless touch. The art truly is amazing, and even more so in person. You owe it to yourself to log onto Derek's site to see all of his work. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the article, you really did a nice job of portraying Derek and what his art all about.

Thanks again...

Feridun, I did what you recommend, it looks like very interesting, but very big and Iam a little bit nervous... What is it? Lake or dam? How is it looks like with roads around? What fish Ill expect in lake and in rivers? I know that Ive still a lot of questions but thats me and I very appreciate any informations form you!!! You are welcome in Prague 😄

If you are looking f

If you are looking for the closed cell foam go to walmart They are 33 cents a sheet

I fished this fly in

I fished this fly in Russia last week and caught a mail order bride on my backcast. Should have used a lighter tippet and stronger vodka though.

Peter,

you may use Fly Hair. I am not sure, but I think the inly difference is that Fly Hair II also have some angel hair in it.

EP fibres is also a suitable material. Try mixing some different dark or light colors so you get a "camouflaged" look.

Kasper

Really nice site--ve

Really nice site--very well done. Great pics and info.

i got stung by a wee

i got stung by a weever at porthtowan beech and it really hurt. i didnt no what to do because there was no lifguards around. i had to go to the public toilets and wash my foot in the sink. my whole foot swelled up but i just left it a few day and i got better.

Very good ! Excellen

Very good ! Excellent !

Great color composit

Great color composition.

Great perspective!

Excellent compositio

Excellent composition!

VERY GOOD WORK...!!

VERY GOOD WORK...!! AND REALITY PICTURES..!! CONGRATULATIONS...FROM ME..:)) P.S. I WAS YOUR FAN...:)))

Jo napot vilmos !

I would very much like to fish the rapfen. Could You give any hints how to start ? I live only 45 km from the hungarian border.

Thanks a lot
Christoph

I have to say that i

I have to say that is the most amazing fish art work I have ever seen.
My wife and I are avid art fans from Goya, Hockney, Frello, and Dali. Although they have contributed nothing in the way of fish art, I am taken back by Derek D Youngs work. Just my cup of tea.
Original, fresh and very colourful.
All his work is breath-taking.
What a discovery Martin...Great article.
Ripley

Tuscany

>>>>....there is precious little we can do, except perhaps to push the authorities to allow the contruction of such plants only after a careful study and with systems that would allow for a constant and more natural flow of the waters.<<<<

That doesn't sound like precious little. That sounds like we can do quite a lot. And how do you push authorities around. In this country it is done with lobbyists and the way to a lobbyist's heart is with money or the promise of money. How many on GFF communicate with their govenors, presidents, kings and queens, mayors and senators? Email, telephone and letter writing campaigns in this country have done much in the favor of conservation. We are allowed to change our governments methods by voting for people that represent our views. One of the problems there is that it takes a lot of time. Sometimes the amount of time it takes is enough time for the damage to be done. Another problem is that sometimes the person that we vote for loses the election. It is a long, tough battle. After the desire has been excited to do the right thing and the passion is there, money is by far the most important element of a conservationists fight. Many of our biggest conservation societies have learned that when you fight big corporations with unlimited funds you must make yourself into a corporation, too.

Problems...

Global warming is definately and issue. My research has concluded that the temperatures are rising and my figures were compared with other results from all over Denmark - Almost identical.
Trees give a firm indication of the weather from years past in their growth rings when felled. Documenting the weather in tree growth from as early as the 1900's is like reading a book.

No doubt that this domino effect will spread throughout the globe not over months but certainly 10's / 100's of years.
Man doesn't help with the construction of dams and removing of waterside vegetation and ill-planned farming practices.

I had a letter from a grayling Society friend in Austria and he's says that trout are on the decline in parts of the southern region. Man has played an important part there but pollution has started also to creep in from neighbouring countries and through acid rain.

The plot thickens.

Ripley

Hi Ripley

Thank you for opening this interesting discussion and it would be great if such initiatives were taken in other countries too. We have the same problem here in Italy where grayling and also Marble trout are in serious danger due to the construction of HE plants etc. Unfortunately as long as we are so dependent on petrolium as a major source of energy and with global warming being such a serius threat the the plant's environment, there is precious little we can do, except perhaps to push the authorities to allow the contruction of such plants only after a careful study and with systems that would allow for a constant and more natural flow of the waters.

PS please inform me on how to attach photos.

Thanks

To bad you cut is mo

To bad you cut is mouth all up!

Raw fish, raw weathe

Raw fish, raw weather and raw conditions. Dude, you get a raw 5!

Global Class - indee

Global Class - indeed. Keep them photos coming!

This is truly a magi

This is truly a magic fly. I tie it in different color schemes but always unwiegthed as I use it in the sea, fishing sea trout (european sea trout that is) with very slow retrieves in the winter.
I've caught 8 pounds sea trouts on this fly tied: black deer, black hackle and black chenille and hot orange tail with silver crystal, 2X the body lenght. A super fly!

I rather like the pi

I rather like the picture. Having never caught one, I am envious.
Rip

I always err on the side of

I always err on the side of conservation. Here in the States there is a brutal discrepency in the statistics between the conservationist/industrialist sides. Statistics are often completely unusable, in my opinion. And one can easily gather statistics favoring their sides agenda. One thing you can be certain of is that there is great pressure on fish species all over the world. Overfishing, waterway re-development and pollution are just three of the more obvious ones.

But some fly fishermen are a threat to the fish populations as well. For example, I recently went up to one of Virginia's tiny jewels, the Rapidan River, and observed a pair of Yuppie fly fishermen, (if you will pardon the expression 'fishermen' please) that were in the act of what they percieved to be fishing. A nice long pool below a small plunging waterfall in this beautiful little freestone stream was entered by one of these men in chest high waders. He walked onto the gravel bed from the foot of the pool until he was up to his waist, within ten feet of the falls, and began thrashing the surface of the pool with a Mickey Finn of huge proportions. It was time for me to be a ruffian.
"Do you know what you are doing?"
"What ?" he answered, but not as in what am I doing, but as in what did you say.
"For one thing you are standing exactly where you should be fishing. Did you know that?"
I did not let him answer.
"And secondly you are killing unborn Brook Trout , probably by the hundreds if not thousands, every time you shuffle your feet. You are destroying the eggs."
"Are you a warden?"
"I am if I want to be," I answered, "and right now I want to be. Why don't you get out of the pool and fish from boulders and the bank for a while."
He complied as his friend stood mutely by following our conversation with quick snaps of his head.
"I'm not trying to be a p++ck. I just care a lot for these trout and must intervene sometimes on their behalf. You understand?"
He did.
I said, "Knock about ten pounds off of your tippet size and use something in a size ten hook that sinks. A nymph, perhaps. That way you might catch something. I don't think that the method that you have chosen is going to be productive today."
I rode off into the sunset. I should have broken their fly rods and told them to watch football for the rest of their lives. But believe it or not, I know that the future of fishing is in their hands. From their interest and thousands of others like them lies the basic fule that will provide for the safe future of these fish. Money. It is probably the most important thing for the conservation of anything natural in this world. Without ti, we lose.

bad sample... people

bad sample... people dont live there...