Fishing in Bali

Fishing in Finland is pretty much on hold until spring when Baltic Sea is clear from ice again. At the moment temperature is only -5 celcius but few days back it was -30 celcius so it was pretty cold here. Actually it did not bother me a bit since I was all the way around the globe at Bali island in Indonesia Temperature there was approx +30 celcius all week.

I was visiting Bali for nine days with my wife since it was our honeymoon trip (we had our wedding last autumn). I was lucky enough to get a permit from the “government” to go fishing for one whole day.

I started planning the fishing basically on December 2011 and I started to google some information about fishing in Bali area. Fly fishing was out of the question since all reports stated that you need to bring your own gear if you like to do fly fishing. One good source for information was GT popping.com forum area. Excellent source for information is Mark Harris blog “Bali Sport Fishing” too. My plan was to try GT popping for the first time ever so I read pretty much every post regarding GT popping in Bali.

Main fishing charter operators in Bali are Xplore-Charters and ENA Fishing. I sent an e-mail to Xplore Charters and after few e-mails I booked full day trip with them. The actual fishing operator in my case was actually ENA Fishing. I guess Xplore Charters has some co-operation with ENA Fishing and they forwarded my booking to them. I had Sea Angel with its crew in use and I had a fishing guide as well. Fishing guide was very professional and he knew what he was doing. Although he did not speak english very good and I found it a bit frustrating.

ENA Fishing Sea Angel

The plan was to go to fishing around Nusa Penida island area. All waters close to Bali are pretty much fished clean because there are lots of local fishing around the Bali island. Nusa Penida island is the small island located on the east side of Bali, approx 30 km from Bali. Boat trip to Nusa Penida took approx. 45 minutes.

Fishing guide and deck hand

When we arrived to Nusa Penida island’s south area I noticed there is quite big current and waves hitting the fishing grounds from south. I knew this would cause me some trouble because I’m not used to big swells although I have a boat in Finland too It was quite rediculous trying to stand and to keep balance when the current and waves rocks the boat. We were quite close to the rocks which caused some turbulent waters.

Nusa Penida south end

Nusa Penida south end

Here is a good video showing the sea conditions existing Nusa Penida fishing areas.

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We were fishing the area for some time with some other boat but unfortunately we did not catch any GT’s. After a while we decided to change to trolling. Fishing guide rigged total of four rods with lures which were actually tube flies tied with some flash and synthetic materials.

Trolling fly

Trolling

After a while we hit nice spot where we managed to catch several Skipjack tunas.  I took two fish for our dinner. Hotel chef prepared very good dinner. The “government” was very happy too

Overall I was very satisfied with the trip and the best thing was that we managed to catch some fish too. If you have some questions about fishing in Bali please send me an e-mail and I will try to answer to your questions. Also please check Mark Harris blog “Bali Sport Fishing” too.

Juuso The Bear is going to sleep

I found this lovely video from Youtube and I thought I’d share it. This wonderful video is from Kuusamo predator center and it is showing some daily life of a bear called “Juuso”.  Kuusamo predator center is located in eastern Finland near Russian border and they have couple of predators at the center such as lynx, bears, fox and volverines. They have filmed few nice videos of Juuso’s  life at the predator center. In this video Juuso is preparing to hibernate and the video is showing Juuso’s place for the winter.

Unfortunately these guys are talking in Finnish language but I think you can get the idea anyway Please check other videos from “Bear TV”

What the hell is Skagit?

…and here is the answer. Swedish boys made a video about Skagit casting and also they are giving some information about couple new Vision products for year 2012.

 

New Scale Magazine is out

Latest issue of Scale Magazine is out. Very nice new issue with lots of reading.

Blue White Pike Tube

Blue white is one of the basic pike fly colours. I decided to tie couple of BlueWhites for upcoming pike fly fishing trips. Winter is lurking around the corner so pike fly fishing with a float tube -season is almost over. Hopefully sea does not ice up soon so we can continue our fishing for couple of weeks.

Here is one of the Blue Whites.

I have tied the fly on a rigid plastic tube. I have used Body Fibre with a twist of flash on the wing and Bug-Bond on the head. I have also added silver eyes for creating a realistic look.

Yet Another Caddis Pupa

Today I decided to try a new material with caddis pupas. It is suede like flat yarn which you can use with pupas. It is very easy to use and you can use it like chenille yarn. So far I have used Wapsi’s Ultra Chenille with caddis pupas but I think after this experiment it is time to start using Supa Suede. The body of the pupa looks realistic when using Supa Suede. Here is one result of my experiments…..and as always, very easy to tie

Hook is Kamasan B100 size #10. Body is light olive Supa Suede. Back is dark brown turkey tail herls. Thorax is Wapsi’s squirrel dubbing which is the best dubbing available ! Feelers are ringneck pheasants tail herls.  Also a one twist of partridge feather as a touch up.

Here you can find full image of the fly.

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New Catch Magazine issue is out

Newest issue of the Chatch Magazine is out. Absolutely stunning pictures and videos again. I especially love the “Amirante Tails” video.

Pike Tube Fly

First time is a charm as they say. Today was my “cherry popping” day because so far I have not tied pike flies on a tube. Until now I have tied my pike flies on a hook, usually TMC911S or similar wide gape “anchor”. It is good to try some new ways to do things from time to time.

Last week I was at our local fly fishing clubs club room to see Lauri Selenius presentation about floating tube pike fishing. After the presentation he tied some pike tubes. I got the inspiration to try tube flyes from him. The biggest advantage with tube flies is that the hook is exchangeable. If your hook gets busted you just need change the single or treble hook and thats it. Also if the hook gets bend you can change it. Basically the fly itself does not get busted so often when you are using synthetics.

So here is my version of the pike tube fly. I have used red Flash N Slinky and black Body Fibre. Tube is a rigid plastic tube, Large size. I have used some epoxy 3D eyes and the fly head is shaped with a Bug-Bond UV resin.

As usual, the pike tube is very simple and quite fast to tie. I don’t want to use too much time with fly tying. “Keep it simple stupid” works for me

Plastic tube on the vise. I have melted a small collar to the tube.

I put some lead wire on the body to put some weight on the fly. Fixed with a layer of Bug-Bond.

First Flash N Slinky clump. I have tied the clump so that 1/3 of fibre lenth is on the left side and 2/3 on the right side. After attaching the hair bundle turn the right side clump backwards. Make sure that the tube is covered with the hair all around.

Tie few (two or three) hair bundles on the tube and lastly tie the black Body Fibre.

Finally the fly is ready for some Bug-Bond and 3D eyes.

Finished fly

I hope you like it and now it is time to go and test it!

Fear Of The Dark – Fly for Atlantic Halibut

Text, photos and fly by Mika Oraluoma

Atlantic halibut is a big and ferocious fish which eats everything from sandeels to saithe. A guide I have been fishing with told me that one of the best jigs he has is a combination of Glow-In-The-Dark and pink with some glitter on it. Pretty basic stuff right? But there´s just one more thing.. The jigs are over 30 cm long! So the problem was to find long enough material for the flies in Glow-In-The-Dark-color. Congo hair has proven itself to be a very suitable material for this kind of flies. It´s long, soft and even if you build a big fly with a fat profile the fly is still relatively easy to cast! There are some things you should focus on while tying big flies from this material:

• If you´re tying flies over 20 cm long, mix some stiffer material like Slinky Fibre to Congo Hair.
• Add generous amount of superglue to the point you have secured the Congo Hair on and also a bit to the fibers too. Then before the glue is dry lift the fibers up and around the hook to create a big profile with less material!
• Remember to start with the longest fibers, and gradually shorten the fibers as you work towards the head. This is the key to achieving a good profile!

Hook: Owner SSW 7/0
Wing: Glow-In-The-Dark Congo Hair and white Slinky Fibre + some flash.
Back: Light pink and bright pink Congo Hair, pink Steve Farrar’s Flash Blend
Throat: Copper Angel Flash
Eyes: ½” Big 3D Epoxy eyes
Head: Epoxy glue or UV-Glue

Halibut fly in action. Swedish fishing guide Per Jonasson from Fish4U is fighting with the fish.

The Willie Soft Gun by Morten Bundgaard

Morten Bundgaard is a skilled fly tyer and also he is owner of Pro Solutions. Pro Solutions manufactures a variety of great and easy to use fly tying products. Especially they have a great tube fly system “Pro Tube System“.

The basic idea of the “Pro Tube System” is that they have ready made pre-cut tube fly tubes with matching cone heads and other accessories which fits to the tube perfectly. The quality of the cone heads is impressive. All cone heads have exactly same size and they fit to the Pro Tube like a glove.

I have used Pro Tube system with my Green Highlander Variant.

Morten has made some fly tying videos where he shows how to use Pro Tubes and stuff. Here is one video, check it out: