Lead image: Paul Smith When I was young my father, who always seemed to catch something when we went fishing, used to harp on about how I needed to learn how to “think like a fish” in order to become consistently successful. Teenage boys rarely listen to their fathers so this advice, which I struggled to understand without some concrete examples, entered one ear and … Continue reading THINKING LIKE A FISH
Text: Alan Bulmer Featured image: Mark Hoffman There is no doubt that stalking fish is more effective when the angler is wearing camouflage clothing and the reasons why are covered in some detail in the following article:-. https://activeanglingnz.com/2016/03/21/does-camoflage-clothing-work/ However, it is not easy to find a camouflage pattern which allows you to blend in and remain unseen when you are stalking fish on the mudflats. … Continue reading GEAR REVIEW – SITKA STORMFRONT JACKET AND JETSTREAM VEST
Text: Alan Bulmer & Tony Bishop The first time that I ever saw glass beads being used in fly construction was in the mid 1990’s. A group of us had fished with the groom on the morning of his wedding and it would be fair to say that our efforts on a heavily pressured fishery were nothing to highlight in neon. The groom did manage to land … Continue reading EXPERIMENTING WITH GLASS BEAD FLIES
Text: Alan Bulmer Featured image: Auckland Freshwater Anglers I have just finished reading a book by Reed Curry entitled “The New Scientific Angling – Trout and Ultraviolet Vision”. The ISBN number is 9780984086306. It is thought provoking read that will probably change forever the way you think about trout fly design. The book looks primarily at UV reflectance and how this is likely be used by … Continue reading CONSIDER REFLECTED UV WHEN TYING FLIES
Text: Mike Ladle Featured Image: Scott Gray Many years ago fisheries biologist, Mike Ladle, and four of his UK angling friends set out to determine the relative success of various methods of fishing in salt water and whether fishing with lures was as successful as fishing with bait. All of the anglers were skilled bait and lure fishermen. They designed an experiment to ensure that … Continue reading ARE LURES MORE EFFECTIVE THAN BAIT?
The Krill Clouser is one of my all time favourite flats flies. Deadly on snapper, kahawai and trevally. I’ve even caught two stargazers on the pattern. This one minute video, entitled Flying Tying, shows the krill Clouser being tied at high speed. Ideal for those urban professionals with ADHD:- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cvv33FX8CEQ This is the same fly tied at normal speed. This is designed for those with … Continue reading TYING THE KRILL CLOUSER
There is no doubt that the selection of fly tying materials available today is immense. Every week a new synthetic material seems to appear which apparently has properties better than the last iteration. For those who are fly tying on a tight budget the decisions as to which materials to purchase are becoming mind numbingly complex. Is it necessary to purchase these innovative new materials … Continue reading FLY TYING ON A TIGHT BUDGET
Text: Alan Bulmer Images: Alan Bulmer and Geoff Dunne As you know, I predominantly stalk (or hunt) kahawai, snapper and trevally on the flats and 90% of the time I only use five fly patterns. These flies are both 5 – 7.5 cm in length and all are fished sub-surface. This is deliberate. A couple of years ago I discovered an article in the journal Marine and Freshwater … Continue reading FLY PATTERNS FOR THE FLATS
Text: Alan Bulmer Images: Frank Richard & Paul Smith Not every fishing is session is full on action, especially when fly fishing. Despite what the angling magazines would have us believe, it is not uncommon for anglers to have blank sessions or sessions where very few fish are hooked. Even professional guides have tough days where the fish do not seem to want to cooperate. On … Continue reading HOW TO BECOME A BETTER FLY FISHER
Text: Alan Bulmer Images: Mark Hoffman As you have probably gathered from the images posted on Active Angling I am a firm advocate of wearing camouflage clothing when fishing the flats, especially when using a fly rod. While it may not make much of a difference what you wear if you only fish around dawn or dusk once the sun rises and bathes the flats in light … Continue reading DOES CAMOUFLAGE CLOTHING WORK?
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