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A good Kiwi Christmas Dinner with no Brussel Sprouts
!! or any Greens!
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CHRISTMAS DAY IN SUNNY NZ
Closed on Christmas day- WOW ! and for a full day
i did not touch a fly or fly rod- actually escaped my work! for
a full day! The sun was beating down all day with no wind!
I,m pretty sure going by the amount of beer my
lovely friends had at their house , that we were meant to drink most
of it on Christmas day.
But it was not to be and all we basically
did was laugh , catch up! and eat and eat until we were all yawning
come 4pm , all of us had overdosed on food! IT WAS A GREAT DAY!! :)
and we were all in bed before 10pm.
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Time for some Festive fun at the shop
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This year for Christmas i decided to decorate up the shop with Christmas decorations
and even managed to stick a santa hat on my front sign.
It was if anything fun to watch kids and adults
all lined and giggling and laughing as they put there heads through
the hole in the sign and smiling for the photo.
The Japanese by far are the best to watch!!
Interesting though is that all the colorful
decorations did not last long as the strong NZ sun within 3 days had
started to nuke the color out of them.
This makes me realize, even more just how strong
the NZ UV sun rays are, So if your not used to the NZ sun , when you get here to NZ
cover up or you will get burnt! even on a cloudy day!
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Christmas arrived at Stu's Fly Shop!The Tinsel has
now all bleach by the strong NZ sun!
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HANDLING FISH WITH DRY GLOVES OR STOCKINGS- A BIG
NO!!!
When i,m guiding i see many of my clients getting
the back of their hands burnt.
Best to wear sun gloves if your out in the sun
all day and your hands are in and out of the water, plus it stops the
sandflies biting you.
Mind you take them off when handling fish , for
release as dry gloves or a hand stocking actually takes the
protective barrier off the fish and can harm it!
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A Huge trophy Brown trout caught on the New
Hi-Viz Deadly Blowfly design!
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Handling fish with gloves and stockings on
the hand are banned in some countries states, that i have
fished.!
Best to use just your wet hands and if using gloves wet them first, and do
not place your fingers in the fishes gills as this is not at all good
for the survival rate of a released fish.
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Just like my miserable Client- Mark from
Australia,Wet your gloves before handling a fish.
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Come to think of it ! Guides walking up the river
with stockings in their vests!! does seem a bit strange- I wonder
where they buy or get them !!!
Hopefully you all like the new web shop banner
with the new funky art work- so much for toning it all down ,
that has been recommended by some!! Why be boring, said the artist
and graphic designer!! :)
HELP IS COMING ALL THE WAY FROM BONNIE SCOTLAND!
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Guess where i get my Humor from! The Big fly
shop boss George! Shall Return! with shop cleaner Mum! in Feb
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A DESPERATE PRO-GUIDE!
The phone went early one morning- "Stu , i,m
coming past i need some of your willow grubs" ,I have got a 3
day booking on rivers lined with willows and the grubs are starting
to fall.
I opened the door ,in he shot and grabbed 3
dozen of them and some 3.5lb Rio Fluro , I,m sure he even ate 3
before he got on the river!
Chris Dore! another willow grubbing pro-
guide, trout nut from Queenstown- who also has got the GRUB BUG Big
Time!!!
PLOP! WRIGGLE! WENT THE WILLOW GRUB!!
The just before we went into 2012 , The
mighty willow grubs started to fall and the trout got really excited
and could not wait on the sun shining , for the little French fries
to plop on to the water and wriggle and squirm stuck in the surface
film! Its always amazing to watch a trout swim over and eat a wee
French fry when there could be a cicada cheese burger going right
past it!!
HIPPES GETTING STONED EATING WILLOW GRUBS!!
Some say the willow grubs are full of a sort of
LSD!! as they drop there guard when feeding on them and you can
get close to them.
But i reckon if that was the case - we would find
lots of stoned hippies under the willows as well as trout!
THE HISTORY & DESIGN OF STU'S SUPERIOR FLOATING
WILLOW GRUB !!
My floating willow grub pattern took over 10yrs
to perfect yet so simple. I have tied hundreds of prototype willow
grub patterns and spent hundreds of hours at the vice with this
so simple in a way Superior fly design ! I have heaps of the prototypes
in a fly design box from the years gone by and many are not mine,
they have been given to me by other willow grubbing trout
enthusiasts, trying to help me crack the code!
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Big Browns get selective on grubs- here is my clients
last fish, that refused other flies- until we figured it was eating
willow grubs!
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Years ago we would have willow grub tying nights
all thinking we had cracked it- some would work a few times . One of
the most popular was a yellow foam willow grub pattern that i
designed and was mass produced by Umpqua (feather merchants nz) as i
was one of there royalty tiers.
It worked but was still not right, that was
some 8 years ago, i have since long parted ways from the so called
royalty program.
Years went by of trial and error-trying to make
it better! then finally , got the floating right and
silhouette. Just the right perfect grub curl- just like crisp
manufactures get the right crunch! designed to land on
its edge in the surface film- so that its a very slim profile , when
view below by the trout.
Adding a little floatant to the pattern mainly on
the bare thread on the hook helps keep it in the surface film.. It is
designed it to lay flat in the surface with the hook lying on
its side, so that the hook would not penetrate the surface film and
this helps make the pattern not sink and stick in the surface film.!!
I am pretty proud of my achievement
and its a honor for others to tie it and copy it.
I have seen other fishermen , guides come
in to the store and buy some they change it slightly, which is
great as thats what fly tying and design is about!
But i do notice they always coming back in
for the Original! The best color we have found was the yellow
ones, but its easy to color in green if thats the preferred color,
with a pen you can match the hatch!!! You can also nip off the
tail to make it even smaller!with this design.
Just 5 min ago had one of the owners and
editors of one of the best fly fishing magazines in the world (
the complete flyfisher Africa)come into the shop.
PJ was letting me know all the fish he had
caught eating willow grubs were all on my design-and then he ran out
of them and was struggling to hook any fish! feed back like this cant
get much better!
Just as i write this one
of the
THE MISSING TRIGGER!! (that will never be!)
But there is one trigger i could never build into
this design and thats the Willow grub Wriggle!!!- Which
can also seen at fishermen's campfires after too much booze!
Go the mighty WILLOW GRUB!!!
New Fly Sizes and
Designs - Coming in January 2012
Keep
an eye on the web site and Blog for even more info and
updates.Have a look at the big spring creek trout caught on the
Deadly B on last weeks blog!
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Damsel Nymphs in Backwaters and
lake edges are getting very active!- Check out this realistic
design!
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Thank you all
for your orders online and for visiting the shop on your way past!
Catch you all in
the new year!
I Have some even
new plans up my sleeve for the new year- that i,m sure you will all
love and it should make you Smile!
Cheers
Stu
"driven by sheer passion and living the
dream"
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