There has been a distinct lack of fishing for me recently. Due to weather, birthdays, moving house and the like, I haven't been out since 26/10. This has also resulted in a distinct lack of blogging...mostly due to my laziness but in part due to a lack on internet in the new house.
I have, however, joined Leeds fly tying group, which has been a fantastic weekly fix of fly tying and fly fishing chat. I was previsouly self taught, which wasn't too bad with the plethora of youtube videos and other instructional material available. But what I've learnt from the group so far has been invaluable, and the ability to ask questions is a massive bonus. So, if its feasible, I definitely recommend joining a group if you're thinking about taking up tying.
Anyway, after a few weeks of fly tying inspiration I sat down last night to tie a few to fill some of the (many) spaces left in my fly box from lost flies. Somehow this quickly turned into reorganising my fly boxes which resulted in all flies emptied onto large piece of white paper on the floor. Not the best idea I've ever had, but (fingers crossed) none escaped. It did let me filter out some of my earlier attempts at flies, which now look awful. They went to the recycling box, which begs the question, does anyone else attempt to "un-tie" flies just to reuse the hooks?! I have a couple of times, but it always seems like way too much effort.
After the reorganisation I only had time to tie a couple of dries and nymphs, nothing special, but fun as always. One thing I definitely need asap is some good quality hackles, another lesson learnt from the fly tying group!
And since I drafted this post three weeks agon I have in fact been out fishing using my new Tenkara USA Iwana. Lovely presentation and a fun addition to my fly fishing kit, but unfortunately no fish.... Oh well. To cheer myself up I bought some new Patagonia Rio Gallegos waders in preparation for the (fingers crossed) good spring/summer weather!
