I’ve been traveling the last few weeks, and my good friend, Theo Bakelaar, has been feeding me information for my blog about tying and fishing. When this came, I got very excited. Talk about simple and fast to tie—and good looking! You be the judge. These legs and the winging material that Theo has been […]
Our friend, Theo Bakelaar, from Holland continues to experiment with foam bodies and the new winging material. Here’s a dragonfly. The winging material is exceptional, and will be brought into the US and available soon. Watch for it. When I get a hint that it’s available here, I will post the news immediately.
Our friend, Theo Baakalar, in Holland, has been dressing flies with some new foam body material and new veined winging material. This adult cranefly is his latest creation. Even though it looks delicate, the materials in the fly are very tough and make it a real fishing fly, not just an artistic creation.
I love to add doll eyes to my long flies, especially the ones that that have a “rattle” pupil in them. They not only make the flies look more lifelike, but add a bit of accent to the “acoustic footprint” of the fly. They are a bit of a pain to put on. Well no […]
Our friend, Theo Baakelar, has been dressing flies using a system of foam and veined winging material. Take about good-looking flies! And, they float like—foam! The system uses a special pin that clamps in the vise, on which the extended portion of the body is first formed. Of course, for those flies without an extended […]
Our friend Theo Baakelar sent a photo of a striper that ate his Eel Skin imitation of a Sand Eel while we were fishing in the fall of 2011. There is no doubt that big fish want to eat big bait. And eat they do. The striper definitely has the fly well in its mouth […]
Theo Baakelar, a good friend from Holland, has been using his winter hours to tie flies for next season. Here are a couple of great looking stonefly nymphs made with flexie body or thin skin material. They look good enough to eat, don’t they? He says they are particularly tasty with a little garlic. Notice the […]
I asked Theo to please send along some shots of the long flies that they use for pike in Holland. He was kind enough to send them right back to me, along with some more pike photos. Note that these flies are big, as in really big, and have to be tied with plenty of […]
This is the imitation that I find particularly effective for cranefly adults. It’s n elk hair skater. There’s not much to it, but then again, there’s not much to a cranefly adult, either. The chief design element is the super-sized hackle made from very stiff elk hair. It’s a quick fly to tie, and it […]
Bunyan Bugs aren’t just for movies anymore (A River Runs Through It). My old friend, John Beth, has breathed new life into this nearly century old imitation, using the basic design of a balsa body and hair wing as the foundation for a series of terrestrial imitations. They not only look tasty, but the fish […]