Pikefishing in Friesland

I got a little bit tired of casting these überheavy pikeflies all the time and tied and tried a big big Hollow Fleye suited to the occasion. I had one massive take on the fly and I am confident that it will catch its share of fish this season. It inspired me to make some variations of this fly during the next few weeks. Apart from the grizzle hackle (yeah, just couldn't help myself, had to tie in somezing stripy) it's all bucktail.

Roach

Roach
Originally uploaded by wavingastick

Here's a not-so-good shot of one of the nice roaches I caught this weekend. I will try to post the pics I make to my Flickr photostream.

The Game

This weekend I found myself wondering about what it is that I like about flyfishing so much.
It isn't the worlds biggest secret that what I love to do the most with a flyrod in my hand is fishing for brown trout with a dry fly. Unfortunately the reality is that I just cannot do that for the largest part of the year. But is that a reason to toss the rods in the corner during the times in between?
Off course not!

Last Sunday I had a really good time scooting around a new stretch of water and catching the biggest roach/rudd of the year a few hours later. Yesterday I had a fishless pike-trip in Friesland, the part of the Netherlands where I grew up.
As a boy I spend hours, days and weeks on end fishing in the afternoon, coming home late for dinner and fishing again in the evening on the nights I didn't get grounded.
Wondering about the mysteries that lay beneath the surface.
Addicted, that's what I was.
Hooked...

and to this very day.
It's not so much about what fish I'm after.
It's not so much about where to fish.
It's the game.