Howdy swappers,

I promised more info about my fly for the DD-swap. Well:
The Garfish Juletrae
This time no subtile pattern for trout, but a fly which is often used in The
Netherlands in the period you guys call the dogdays, a variation on
the "Juletrae".
What I can tell about it is that starting the month of May the Garfish
(belone belone - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garfish ) reaches our
coasts in for spawning. Usually this fish is caught on bait(worms, small
strips of salmon or strips cut from their own belly),
sometimes with lures. But when they are hunting in the shore-areas it is
possible to use flies. Specially in the delta in the south. One big
problem however is the long, bill-like mouth of the fish - often the reason
why the fish is not hooked or will loose the hook during the
(sometimes rather spectacular) fight.
The Juletrae (which is Danish for christmastree) is actually a Danish
seatrout-fly, tied on longshank hooks, only using spectraflash-tubing and
the tyingthread itself. Though it's a simple pattern it can be very
effective for seatrout. Sometimes it is tied as a tubefly.Now: using
tubeflies is a very effective way to deal with the Garfish/hooking-problem.
We add a small hook or treble and the loss is significantly less than on
normal hooks. he simplicty also lowers the costs: many flies get
lost on rocks and stones. We fish this fly on AFTMA 6 or 7 rods, usually on
sinktip-lines. That way the Garfish can show it's acrobatical strength in
it's best way.
The pattern:
Tube: any tube you need (aluminium, copper or plastic - this makes the
weight) in the desired length (e.g. 1 inch alu)
Thread: 6/0 fluo-orange
Tail and body: spectraflash tubing
Wing: Mirror Image

This will make a very effective pattern!
Greetings to you all!

Hans van der Stroom