Fishing with flies started with trout. Our first records of fly fishing were made by the Romans about 100 AD, who observed a shepherd in Macedonia using flies to catch Marble Trout. But now that modern technology has stepped in and handed fly fishing nanotechnology, CNC machining, and CAD built lines, fly fishing has gone […]
Theo Bakelaar sent along a great photo of the huge pike fly he uses so effectively in the rivers in Holland. While some may think it’s too big, the pike really don’t think so, proving the old adage, “Big fly, big fish.”
Spring has sprung, the grass is rise, I wonders where the big pikes is? They’re in Theo’s hands! Our friend, Theo Bakelaar, has been out “prospecting” the big rivers in Holland with some really big flies and finding success with some really big pike. It’s a big early here yet, in the Pacific Northwest, for […]
Our friend, Theo Bakelaar is chasing pike in Holland. They have just come off the spawn, and are moving into the rivers, hunting voraciously. He took a very fine fish the other day, only to have a young boy nail a really big one fifteen minutes later. But that’s fishing. On another note, Chuck Furimsky, […]
Spring is blooming in Europe, and the pike season is closing for spawning time. My friend Theo Bakelaar and his companions have been pike fishing on the River Maas the last few days before the close of the season. The best fly had a Mr. Twister style tail, which imparts plenty of action and gives […]
One of the premises of my book “Long Flies” is “Big Fly, Big Fish.” I’ve seen it literally thousands of times in my six decades of fly fishing across the globe. For example, I’m head to Alaska in July with my friend, Dave Graebel. He loves to catch the big rainbows on dries, and we […]
Midges (Order Diptera, two wings) are the most abundant aquatic insects on earth. In any fresh water system, the number of species of midges is greater than the number of all other aquatic species combined. Not only that, but they hatch year-round; as long as there is open water, there will be midges hatching. So, […]
I was greatly saddened by the death of my friend, Hans Aigner (see post below), but I received an email from Theo Bakelaar with photos of his young friend, who is 12 years old, and absolutely in love with fly fishing. He goes to Theo’s house several times a week for fly tying lessons, and […]
Our friend from Holland, Theo Bakelaar, has started his spring season with a trout fishing excursion to a Dutch stream that harbors trout. His successful fly of the day was a black and chartreuse streamer. This is the original color of the Black Strip Leech—the contrast of the black and chartreuse colors makes the fly […]
The northern pike is a great gamefish, and occupies many waters in both the U.S. and Europe, and they take the fly very well. Those who fish for northerns understand that big, as in BIG, flies are the most effective. After all, a fish that weighs over 20 pounds and has a mouth of needles […]