Getting a newbie started

A new Junkie...

Last week I took out David, an experienced angler, but a new comer to the sport of fly fishing. Since coming to Japan he's been struggling to catch fish of any kind, so found us through the TFFC Facebook page and decided to buy am 8 weight set up to get started. After having a chat about flies and gear etc. we arranged a Monday on a target rich little river near me. However, these targets are carp, but given the choice of fishery and the time constraints it seemed like the best option.

At the start of march it's still a bit chilly in the morning, so no need for early rises, we met at the station around 9.30 and made our way up to the river. David was amazed at the number of fish we were seeing and it was pretty hard to convince him to wait till we got to the top so we could work our way back down stream.

By the time we got to the weir that marks the top of the stretch, David was champing at the bit to get started. Having watched a few of my videos he'd tied some of his own flies and wanted to try them, so I picked a biggish pink soft blob from his box and we went down to fish the run in at the weirpool.

Obviously as a beginner David is still ironing out his casting, but he could cast far enough for anything in this stream, and we just had to try and work on his accuracy, but after a few minutes of coaching he managed to flick a short 18ft cast at a nice little carp which cooperatively sucked in the blob.. David didn't strike, he was waiting to feel it. So a quick reminder to watch for the fish sucking it in and a sharp strike and we were ready to go again as three fish came into range, heads down and munching, another cast and the blob was drifting nicely down to the pod.... gills flared blob disappeared, David struck! First Fish on fly after about 20 minutes of fishing and it's a river carp!!

Not a big fish, but a great first fish on fly!

As we went down stream the fish in the clearer water away from the weir were rejecting the big bright blob, and I had stuck a few fish on a little "mikam" bead head so david elected to switch to another fly, something a bit more natural. We pulled out a head stand from his box and after a few attempts and spooked fish managed to drop it on the nose of a feeding fish..result! Carp number two and caught properly too.

Not bad for someone who's only been tying a couple of weeks

The mikam bead head

We carried on downstream and David managed another few shots, missed some fish and caught another, finishing on 3 for the day for my 9...that's a pretty amazing effort for a first day of fly fishing in anyone's book...and he's totally hooked I got a message last week saying he'd order another three outfits in 6, 10 and 12 weights to cover everything that is around here... welcome to the addiction David.

Sharing the love

Last Monday I took my buddy Hideto from the Tokyo flyfishing blog out to show him the ropes. He'd been carping before but like most he'd struggled and never really got in to it. Eventually I convinced him that carp were worth chasing and he asked to come along. I took him to a small river near my apartment, it doesn't have many big fish but it has a lot of fish so I was confident he'd get a fish or two. After a quick coffee and explanation about the river, flies and presentation we headed up to the water. It took Hide a little while to get to grips with the presentation and reading the fish, although identifying takers is going to take more than one session to pin down. Any way we eventually got him a small fish about 20 inches or so after which his confidence started to grow along side a healthy respect for the carp as a fly fishing target. As the day wore on he picked up a few fish finishing with 5 or 6 nice little commons. I didn't fish that hard as I

Damsel Booby

This is a fantastic booby that will catch you fish year round. I find these larger boobies work best on the point or fished singly and really lend themselves to slightly faster retrieves that get the tail moving. For some reason I have found this particular pattern less effective when tied smaller in a competition size format. To support the channel, join the monthly tying classes and enter the giveaways head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers and sign up or contribute through https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers . Materials list Hook: Kamasan B175 size 8 Thread: Olive Uni 8/0 Tail: Medium olive marabou Body: Olive chenille Rib: Med silver holographic Hackle: Grey partridge dyed yellow Eyes: 6mm yellow foam cylinder Book of the month 6 is available here https://amzn.to/3jwznCE Amazon.com https://amzn.to/3DuHvM1 Amazon UK

Partridge & Yellow

The light partridge and yellow really is a deadly North country spider. Despite its simplicity, this fly is a great taker of both trout and grayling and frankly, the partridge and yellow should be in every river angler's box. To support the channel and be eligible for giveaways head to https://www.patreon.com/flickingfeathers and become a patron or support through paypal.me/flickingfeathers Materials list Hook: Kamasan B170 size 14 Thread: Yellow silk (waxed) Hackle: Grey speckled partridge

Flicking feathers

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