Freestyle tails and where do i get them.

Now, i know i have been teasing many of you guys to where i get my material to craft my own tails.I have got so many people asking me where do i get my stuff. And because i'm a sound guy, i like to help as many fly tyers out there (wink)

Pike/burbot mutant

We all work on a budget, and lets face it, some materials are just crazy money! So nothing wrong to try to source materials by yourself, and frankly i am so surprised to see so many not making the simple effort to search the various retail sites out there. Ebay is one of my strong favorite! So do yourself a favour and browse stuff on it, buy samples, sometimes its a miss and sometimes you find fantastic materials out there at unbeatable prices!

Freestyling is the best! Design , cut, colours! One of a kind!

The material i use for my tails is called Ultrasuede microfibre, or faux suede/shammy. You find it in many thickness, but for optimum resistance and movement , i use the 0.5mm. One large sheet cost around 35€ for a mighty size of 137cm X 91cm!

 If you only tie a few streamers a year this could be too much, but why not sharing with a friend? I tie 100's of predator flies a year, for myself and clients that come for a week at the lodge or for a day guiding, so i have no problem using this much.
But the advantage is not only money, it's the freedom that you have, make the tails the size shape and colours that you want.Ok maybe the finish product might not be as nice as some of the ones sold in fly shop but who cares? Certainly not the fish and that's good enough for me!

The platypus tail.

Golden trout on a forked tail and side fins design.

For the moment i get it from South  Korea, click on this magical link and let your creative-self take over! No stoping you now!
LINK→: 0-5MM-ULTRASUEDE-MICROFIBER
If you read this article and the link doesn't work anymore it simply because the seller is gone or the stuff isn't available, just start a new search, you know how its called now!

Invent, create, explore, possibilities are virtually endless now!

Here's a new video up on Youtube, as usual, please like and subscribe or you will never catch a big fish again...

One thing super important when you create your tails is to have a very good pair of scissors. Same thing here, i used for years scissors "made for flytying" and yes there is many great brand out there and good tools, but again the price can be ridiculous! Most value scissors come from the same factories in India,Pakistan or china, just the branding changes and the prices...I use mostly FISKARS now.They have a great hold, and the blades stay sharp for overland they are certainly not more expensive that a mid range pair of scissors bought from your fly shop..

One design that i used for a long time now, side baitfish is awesome!

The simple and classic wiggle tail, just look how i include an anal fin to most of my designs, this act as a splash of colour, and a mini-keel to balance the streamer.

Keep and eye on the blog for more Tips and tricks about buying materials.

Tech & Ties

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!

The Coon.

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