Thursday 10 May 2012

The Heart of the Driftless area Wisconsin, Reverb film stars Pegboy, Fly fishing for Carp,Fly Designs,Killer nymphs, Stus fly shop Facebook



 YOUR LAST CHANCE TO GET YOUR GOODIES


It´s your last chance to place an order, you have until Monday evening to get your order in,before it´s too late! 
From Monday Stu´s fly shop is closed until mid Sept. Remember to Like Stus fly shop on facebook and sign up for the Stu´s newsletter to get the latest gossip and News.

SOME OF STU´S KILLER NYMPHS TAKE SHELTER FROM RISING WATER

STU'S SUPERIOR FLIES IS  NOW OFFICIAL  FLY SPONSOR OF THE RISE FILM FESTIVAL!

Yes having worked closely with Nick Raygaert in the past and watched his dream growing. We have decided to work together in taking fly fishing passion to the masses and i have accepted his offer to become the official fly sponsor of his excellent Rise fly fishing film tour that will be coming to a city near you soon. Watch out for the latest adverts and promotion for the festival and get your tickets in advance so your not left standing outside as some shows will sell out!

 YES THE FLY SHOP WILL BE CLOSING

Every winter the wee shop full of passion closes and Stu then finds time to work on the fly design projects, photos, fly casting/teaching and content for all the next seasons blogs and newsletters.
For the first time Stu is not taking his laptop, but will try and find computer on his travels to check for bookings for guiding , Flycasting lessons and nz fly fishing school bookings.

A big tail on a very big fish! Testing fly design and development for all species!

Due to the nature of the exploration this time there may be delays between emails etc. Orders will not be processed at the web shop until mid Sept. So it will be in mid Sept that you can let the all moths escape from your wallets and purses, support and share the fly fishing passion that this wee shop brings you.

THE MAD MATAURA RIVER MAY FLY RISE below GORE

The King Pogo - A nymph that dances (pogo's)
I had to go to Gore the other day for business. That´s pretty cool i thought i´ll take my rod with me and after the meeting i´ll give the lower Mataura a wee fish as its now open until the end of May down past Gore. 
I got there just at 2pm and i used nymphs for about 10 mins with a nz bomb and King pogo nymph. I soon caught a nice but quite skinny brown which was fun. Then i noticed in front of me terns and swallows working the back of a big flat pool.
The mayflies were hatching all over the place but for about 10mins then it all stopped happening abruptly, i landed one more skinny but large trout that was rising on a size 16 clear wing cripple.
Stu's mayfly cripple does the damage again.


SKINNY FISH!

It surprised me the condition of these fish at this time of year. Yet the trout in the upper are very fat and healthy. I was happy with my short time fishing this fishery, but it did make me think that it was pretty easy and i personally would be bored guiding down this area of the Mataura. But do not get me wrong, it´s that i´m sort of addicted to sight fishing for challenging fish.

200-wild browns- 2-3lb- world class fishery.

But if you ever get the chance the lower Mataura is an awesome fishery with over 200 fish per klm in about the 2-3lb mark - and the chances you will hardly see another angler and even if you do you can stand side by side and hopefully still catch fish and share a sandwich.

Small streams of the Driftless are full of wild trout

WISCONSIN TROUT ADVENTURE

Last year Stu spent months sleeping in a car and tent round Wisconsin in the USA and discovered it was an awesome  area full of wee spring creeks, no people and trout a plenty from the beautiful small trout infested town called Riverfalls to the Driftless area down south.
One area in particular was called the Driftless area, that Stu put up his tent for weeks, and it was whilst in this area that two of the the newest designs Stu released last year were finished after years at the vice and on the water.

FLY DESIGN STUDIO IN THE OUTDOORS

Yes the Deadly hi-viz Ant , Deadly Hi-viz Hopper and Deadly  NZ cicada had their finishing touches put to them on camp tables outside amongst the insects and trout, normally after consumption of a tasty Spam Wrap to keep my brain going! Low and behold a new DVD just got released, about this special area- please read on!

This was my office in the Driftless area for 4hrs a day last winter, i managed a wash each day in the public toilets.


 HEART OF THE DRIFTLESS - A film looking into the driftless trout fishery

I found the DVD on the internet and realized it was from the same dude Robert Thompson who made Musky country another DVD i sell in the shop. As i was about to close for the winter i decided i would just buy a copy for myself as it had quite good write ups.

Heart of the Driftless- DVD- this made me smile more than most because of the weeks i had spent exploring that area- so much so on my travels i went back to that area 3 times and never fished the same stretch of water twice. The amount of fishable water and the stream work that has gone on to help and promote this fishery is huge and rightly so.

The film takes you on a journey of why the Driftless area is so special yet undiscovered. Interesting for many will be to hear and see what has been achieved by trout unlimited and others in this area with working with landowners to gain public accesses.

The film is well put together and you will not get bored, maybe it could have been a few mins shorter and still achieved the same effect, this is not a fish porn DVD- it´s about a special area, the people who fish and work it and promote it. All i can say is if you like small streams and fishing for wild trout with accurate casting Get your self to the Driftless area and check out this dvd or trailer.
Just where does Reverb fit! you decide!

REVERB - THE FLY FISHING / DOC DVD OF A PUNK ROCK BAND- PEGBOY AND FLY FISHING!

This film is a 50 min extra film along with another one on the Heart of the Driftless DVD- yes you get 3 films for the price of one!!
Again this film is not fish porn instead it is a very well produced and edited film about a pretty famous punk rock underground band from Chicago called  PEGBOY that have influenced many other bands of that type of music and era. 
How after all the music, drinking, drugs and fights they still are all mates and now in their late 40 still play together, but are now also bundling into their roadie bus mostly,  fly fishing equipment rather than guitars and drum kits.

It´s about how fly fishing bonds you, how music and friend ship bonds you.
The lead singer now has started a small company full of passion called fly pig rods - cool name! Its great to see him going crazy on stage then sitting back making fly rods!

Ill have to send them my pogo nymph fly as after all its the  punk rock nymph - named after the pogo dance !! But thats another wee story on the actual history of this wee design.

Personally this film is so good and it´s so well documented and different, it´s hard for me to believe this is not a separate DVD  that you would purchase, i honestly think it should make it into the music DVD sections in shops and review in the music magazines and not just the fishing magazines. 
Fishing magazines with old fart type editors may struggle to understand this DVD- but maybe they should not if they truly under stand fly fishing.


REVERB - Robert Thompson nailed this film, thats probably why it has been picked to tour on the USA fly fishing film festival.




THANK YOU ALL

I wish you all the best for your support this season and i´ll see you all in mid Sept.

Remember to like Stus fly shop on Facebook and tell your friends about this blog and shop web site .


Cheers
Stu


Tuesday 1 May 2012

The Hamburg trout, an evening fly fishing in Germany, black beetles

On a sunny Sunday i did some special research: i conquered a river close to Hamburg called Este.

I was out with Carsten from pukka-destinations as he kindly invited me to come with him on a sunny spring day. So i took my chance to extend my knowledge about the fly fishing mystery :)

We drove a little while by car out of the city and passed yellow-blossomed canola fields and i interviewed Carsten of his latest trip to Iceland fly fishing.

After 5 mins i nearly got the travel bug to return there soon because Iceland is one of my favourite places to travel, until i discovered NZ last year!!

As we arrived at the river not far from the city i straight away noticed it was located in a beautiful valley surrounded by the German country side.  


We started wandering downstream and it didn´t take long and Carsten hooked his first brownie on a small nymph and it was to be the first of two, they were so beautiful.


Maybe he would have caught a few more if he was using some of Stu´s Superior Flies - i teased him.



I was quite nervous and excited when he hooked both trout and nearly dropped my camera into the river! - maybe i should have bought a waterproof one!! I should have listened!
We were wandering further downstream, it was a perfect spring evening and i learnt a lot about fly fishing, rivers and insects like these little black beetles that must have been on the trouts menu after they had finished bonking?






These " black love-beetles" remind me of the Bionic Water Beetles i was selling this year in Stu`s fly shop. I now realise how realistic some of Stu's fly designs are even to my eyes, let alone the trout!

Soon after some walkers let their dog swim in the river, it seemed like it was game over for today as the trout did not seem to want to play with the dogs in the water - bugger!

We had a break and i was amazed how clear the water was, i did not expected it to be so clear not far from the huge city.



After a few hours we made it back to the car, i thought about buying some special sunglasses to prevent myself from spotting wood & stones instead of fish and i´d like to thank Carsten - it was a great day!
But before even thinking of fly fishing i should better improve my casting skills as there were many trees around top catch at this river - better i best start where there are no trees- i ask my self.

Hiring Stu seems to be quite a good idea, but hopefully i can wrangle to sit in a few more of his casting lessons or NZ fly schools again next year as yes - i have been invited back to slave behind the counter- maybe with George!!

I now know why he got this sign made up that is on the fence in the fly shop car park.
 

That´s it from the newbie for now, i´m off on my holidays soon. 

Maybe i will give you a report about anything fishy i find along my way back to NZ.

Catch ya next season - Cheers & tight lines,


Ela - Founding Member Of The Famous Fun Dreamteam! 

Remember that Stu´s Fly Shop will be closing on the 14th of May so best get your orders in now and support the passion - or wait until next September!