Weather is being a bit of a bitch at the moment, heavy rains, heavy snow, strong winds makes it for very difficult fishing. Water levels and temperatures are like a yoyo at the moment, nothing settles for more than 48 hours. I am not the type of fisherman that enjoys sitting in a bivvy for hours on end with little to no action, i like to be active when i fish.
So instead of wasting hours on the water getting cold, i rather put my time to more constructive occupations. Like getting some hours in the air getting new shots with the drone and tying some flies for the spring/summer here and my return to Alaska ( i am very impatient for this trip!)
For the arial footage, for those who are interested in this type of things...I used the active tracking on the Mavic, but i find it not to reliable.The camera has to be at a certain distance to lock on the subject and if you go behind trees or in shadows the camera will loose you every single time. So to help with this i use an external gps like via bluetooth to my tablet. I got myself a little Garmin Glo.This little device is fantastic.
Glo can receive position information from both GPS and GLONASS satellite constellations ( the Russian equivalent to GPS), allowing it to connect top to 24 more satellites than devices that rely on GPS alone.This allows GLO to lock on to satellites approximately 20 percent faster and remain connected even at high speed.What's more, GLO updates its position information at 10 times per seconds! And that's up to 10 times more often than the GPS receivers in many devices.I got mine from Amazon and got it even cheaper than on the Garmin website.
Glo is about the size of a Zippo lighter.
So now i have no worries of the drone loosing me! Here's a quick edit using just the Active track on the Mavic at sunrise:
Now for a few ties,i am working mainly with Kanekalon hair at the moment, a few more toads in yellow variations, and a few baitfish.The electric yellow and pink leave me great action before, so i decided to top my box up with a few more of them. Next, a few more ties with a flashy trend.
Yellow toads.
"El Classico" always carry one of this colour combo in your box!
I have fished tarpon toads for pike for a few years now, and with good success. But i recent times i wanted to make them bigger and with the addition of a large magnum zonker you get that extra movement that drives pikes mental.If you struggle with the "X" style tying for the head, look for tarpon toad flies on YouTube where you will find many videos showing you in details how to tie that way and get these heads done.About YouTube, feel free to like and subscribe on my channel to help it grow and bring you more contents.
A quick history of the tarpon toad (extract from MidCurrent.com) :
"The Tarpon toad fly was invented by Gary Merriman, owner of the Fish Hawk fly shop in Atlanta,Georgia.The toad is a light-weight, slow sinking fly designed for sight casting, and when it was introduced the early 90's in the Florida Keys, it immediately improved the hook up rates for anglers pursuing skittish fish".
Since i left Funky fly tying pro team i have been on a search for fibres to replace the fu*ky fibres and fu*ky hairs that i use on most of my flies. For the fibres i use now congo hair, people will tell you it's different, but in reality its the same stuff! Congo hair is available from http://www.flytyersdungeon.com , based in the U.S these guys will supply you without any worries.I usually do one big order a year to avail from the discounts on shipping they offer. And they have a HUGE range of colours and blends and at only 1.75$ per pack, thats just 1.40 euro! Why pay more?? While you there, pick up some of their Northern lights flash, great flash with two colours and volume, and thats only 1 euro / pack!
For the head of the toads i use Kanekalon hair, primarily used for the hairdressing industry they are perfect for tying flies! Kanekalon is the same stuff that you can find in fly shops but at a fraction of the price!
Delivery of Kanekalon, just look at the size of the packs!
Two big advantages in using Kanekalon, 1:it's cheap, and 2: it's versatile.
I use it straight from the pack for volume, and use a hair dryer to take away the volume and straighten the hairs. I usually use this technique for the tails of my streamers (but i keep the crinkle volume for the body)
Kanekalon, straight out of the pack.
Using heat to straighten the hairs is so important for saltwater baitfish, straight fibres = straight swimming action.
Kanekalon after heat treatment.
I get my Kanekalon from the U.K, go and check https://www.cyberloxshop.co.uk for all they have to offer.One pack of Kanekalon contains usually five to six packs sold in fly shops. and at about 3€ a pack you'll be mad not to use that stuff! Here's a direct link to the hairs that i order: kanekalon jumbo braid
I will reveal in the next few weeks other cheap materials that i use, and cheap doesn't mean lower quality, these are the same stuff you normally buy and use for your streamers!
