The Whisperer’s Fly Box

Fly Recovery Tool

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Fly Recovery Tool (FRT) no there is no ‘A’ missing!

And NO it is not a new NASA space vehicle recovery item, it costs less for a starter and you can make it yourself.

So why do YOU need one?

You can pay between $2.00 and $4.50 each, for flies in the local shops, depending if they are a cheap import or a fly tied by a local ‘celebrity’.

Whichever way you look at it, flies are a consumable item. Consumable because you can loose it (in a fish, in a tree, in a snag) or it can simply be bitten to bits by fish and after a while becomes un-useable or you can simply ‘flog it to death’, so after 5000 casts it is ‘deceased’ as in kaput.

But wait, there is more, you can ‘crack’ it off the leader, you can loose it due to a casting knot (mistakenly spelled ‘windknot’) or you can leave it in your Rottweilers ear, as I did once, but in this scenario I found my red tag two days later. It taught the bitch not to stay too close behind me!

If you fish with 3 flies on a rig, and get snagged, hooked up in a tree or broken off by a good fish, you easily do 10 smakaroos in one ‘hit’ and if you do that often enough, you learn to pay attention to your knots, casting knots and casting stile.

If you read Camp Fire Chat #1 you will see that we have very hostile trees in Arthur’s Lake, they grab your fly as it comes past and wrap it around their branches. Trouble is that these dead branches are too big to pull down.

If you are a shore fisher, this tool is more than handy, it is essential. Made out of  1.5 – 2 mm stainless steel or spring steel or mothers best kitchen knife or simular, you simply hook it onto your fly-rod and lift it onto the tree branch and hook it up. Then remover your rod from the tool. With a 9ft rod you should reach 18ft (4m or more standing on you toes on a rock)

Once you hook the tool up, one of two things will happened, guaranteed!

1                    the string attached to the tool is worn or undersized, it breaks – you loose the tool, the leader and the flies, you swear and go to hell and blame somebody else for your f!@#$%^&*…up.

2                    the branch will bend enough or breaks off, so you can remover your flies, your leader and save 10 smakaroos – well done! No need to swear, you go to heaven, you tell yourself what a good chap you going to be when you grow up - preferred scenario.

Some of my companions see the little tool in my tool kit and say “oh I have just one like it, have it for years and neve seen one elsewhere”. Others say: “oh I never seen a potato peeler like that, how does it work and what is the string for?"

If you would like to contact me for comments or contributions click here: thetroutwhisperer@bigpond.com