MAY 10/09

Next big  "Do" is Sunday May 17th at  Gibbons Park site 2 in London. 10am to 3PM   Jay and  the boys will be there with a BBQ and Francois (Frankie) Blanchet from LOOP is coming from BC to do casting demos on all types of casting one & two handed- From what I hear this young fellow is good- (see the write up on Jays web site at www.jaysflyshop.com ) Looks like there is going to be a big crowd so come early ( before the food is gone!)  Come & take a look at the fine equip that Loop offers.

Well, the Walton show is over & it was a dandy. Jay Stu & Keefer thank all you for your support. The BBQ is in appreciation of  our fine customers. Incidentally young Keefer is off to Europe in June to study Czech nymphing with the masters. We will miss him- He is a fine enthusiastic lad

Jays Fly shop is at  96C Rectory ( Hamiton and Rectory) in the little mall on Rectory. Dont get mislead by the sign at our old shop on Hamilton Road which has never been taken down by our old lnadlord. It is a pretty sign, but just look to the right and you will see the shop across the street in the little strip mall.Fone is 519 672 5487  Incidentally Jay now has  Patagonia waders and clothing, Greys equipment  and Dr Slick-   All good stuff! Stop in and talk to Stu or Keefer or Jay (if you can catch him!) The fellows are all knowledgeable anglers and wont lead you astray! Visit the shop site at www.jaysflyshop.com

The new XST 13 ft float blanks from Batson rainshadow  are in    $139 for the 2pc  & $169 for the 3pc   Also the DVDs and books on Czech nymphs are in  Also I have  the new Senyos Laser yarn dub  from  Hareline-  great material for the spring steelhead and salmon- and also for Sculpin heads-  Also the Hareline Hare'e wiggle dub in.  Its a mix of ice dub and micro rubber leg with great movement in the water     Lazer & wiggle dub are   $3.25 pack   12 color dispensers are $19.95.  Also have a really interestimg book that a fellow down East told me about     The Fly Fishers Craft the art & history by Darrel Martin $47.95- I usually steer clear of books like this- for me they are filled with pictures and a lot of useless information, but I found this fascinating- When I was a kid  back in the 40s I use to read everything I could get my hands on & I loved the old books which told you how to make fishing equipment- I remember chasing the milk wagon to get a piece of horses tail to make a horsehair leader(Neither the horse or driver was amused). Anyways I thought stuff like that was long gone, but this book is full of it. Great, if I ever get the time before I kick the bucket  I am going back to my childhood days and do some of this stuff which I thought was long gone.  Hey  if it turns you on- Do It.

I now have some of the stillwater solutions goodies in, including the book- Hey I am going to try some more of Chans patterns  at our local pond this spring- I have been wanting to get hold of some of his maroon colors for quite a while so looks like business will have to wait while I get some of these goodies ready.  Incidentally the stillwater book has a good instruction section on the magic tool and also the turbo dubbing block-  two very useful pieces of equipment

I had my doubts about the usefullness of the Magic Tool for doing dubbing, but we have had Dave a pennsylvania lad in at the shop and by watching him do his thing he has convinced us to get going on the Magic Tool.  (Or maybe I can just scoff some flies!)

I have quite a few new goodies again- will get around to putting them on here some day. SIGH!

Still have the FREE CATALOG   Latest is  Spring 08.  I am working on a new price list so let me know if  you need an update to your catalog- I will put out a new catalog, but at my speed that could be a while (especially if the fishing starts before I finish it!) Whoops, the ice is off the pond! sorry fellows the new catalog will be delayed! I do have  a partial list of  price changes and quite a few of the new items now- Also updated  the book sale items, but still more to put in!

Check out my  Fly Tying Kits   These are not just for the beginner. I used to get ticked off when I went to tie a new pattern because  I would have to run around and get more stuff. ( of course I dont have that problem anymore because I decided to get into the business- So now the new patterns have only cost me $100,000 ? smart move EH )  Anyways if you just need the stuff for a certain pattern and dont want to buy a store check me out.

The prices on my web site are sadly out of date- Actually I figured with the way the CDN $ jumps around I would go nuts trying to keep up with pricing ( and I'd rather be fishing!)

Will  update the pages when I get around to it- but dont hold your breath- just check with me & I will give you a current price on any items you are looking at.

NEW ITEMS- Lots-   send for a list-

PS -   Ian James is a guide up here with a good reputation for flies that catch fish- In fact he is now in the Orvis catalog ( I guess that means you will wear a tie  Ian!)  Anyways  I have his seal fur dyed up for his famous muncher nymph ( even I can catch fish on it!)   $2.95 a pack

Ians site is www3.sympatico.ca/ianjames 

Thats all for now Folks!

MOON UP  MOON DOWN   John Alden Knight  $27.50
Third printing. Long out of print. It is once more available.full original text details the background and development of the Solunar Tables along with a brief updating of information.

PS  I have put in my notes on the tables below

  I have related all this to let you know where I am coming from, and it is only to encourage you to give these tables a fair trail. There is no book written or table made that can guarantee success, but they can open doors for you to explore if you are interested. Bear in mind that the following observations on the tables are my conclusions and as such are probably flawed, but hey, they work for me. With that out of the way lets go on.

  Knight developed his tables from observing that the market hunters and fishers who were out to make a living concentrated their efforts mainly to certain times of the month. Because the ones Knight observed were mostly near salt water and worked with the tide stages, he figured it had something to do with the tides so at first he tried to make up tide tables to explain their success. However it didnt work.It was not until he realized that it was the moon and to lesser extent the sun that affected the tides that he came up with a table that worked. Thats how he got the name Solunar Tables ( Sun & Moon). The best time of the month for the market boys was what they called "moon under foot" or the dark of the moon- the period when there was  no moon in the sky at night. It was also of course the time of high tides, because the moon travels in sort of an oval course around the earth and the dark of the moon is the time it is closest to us and exerts the heaviest pull, causing the high tides. But Knight over the years also observed that fish and game in inland waters also moved and fed in cycles, just like salt species, so he adjusted the tables so they could be used in freshwater. Also he discovered that there were two periods of stronger activity every day (major periods) and two periods of  lesser activity between them (minor periods).  Sorry John, I hope I didnt mutlilate your theory too much in my clumsy attempt to explain it.

  I have found the periods to work best in the dark of the moon to the first quarter. For us they have been the most productive. Being of a rather stubborn nature I still to continue to plug away at the fish for hours and days, often with minimal success. But it has helped me to watch for signs. For someone starting I would advise you to concentrate on the dark of the moon and make sure you are out for at least one of the major periods. You have a lot more chance of seeing a period work. The worst time for the periods is the waning moon down to the last quarter and if you are not sure what you are looking for, you can easily become discouraged with the periods.
I have found  some of the periods on the dark of the moon in the middle of the day to be great! If conditions are right the major may last for 2 hours or more and the minor for half an hour. But on the waning moon (when the moon is the farthest from the earth) the periods may last only 15 minutes and its easy to miss them. And you have to use your common sense. The periods dont override natural conditions. Sunrise & sunset are normally natural feeding times and of course insect harches.. So if the fish have fed heavily on a hatch or at sunrise  or sunset and you come inon a period not too long after that, you are not likely to have much success. But it works the other way also. If you have a good period that ends an hour or so before dark or before a hatch the fish have already fed and they may just close their mouths at the time you figure you are going to clean up!. Incidentally, while we are talking about good periods, if it is a good one we have noticed that at least 40 minutes before it starts the fishing will die right off and since the good periods are between 10 and 2  guess what? You have been fishing for 4 hours or so with maybe a few fish and everything quits. So you head in to eat and miss the best chance of the day.
The other natural condition that affects the periods is the barometer. If it is steady (high or low) for a long time the periods usually dont work as well. In Mactier where we spent a lot of time fishing the barometer would go steady, sometimes for days ( usually on a waning moon) and the fishing would be lousy, but we still would pick up some fish on a period (usually the minor for some reason). Also while talking about the barometer I read  a couple bits of interesting information. The one mentioned that there is a diurnal? movement ( I probably have the name wrong) of the barometer every day about 10am & 4pm and the barometer will move  a fraction. I have also noticed, especially in the morning, if it has been calm, a breeze will often start around that time along with some fish activity. The other item had to do with plants. I read it in tyhe readers digest. A scientist attached electrodes to plants and was able to monitor a natural electric current in the plants and he noticed that the current fluctuated during the day and was also stronger at certain times of the month. However I dont think he was a fisherman so thats as far as he went in that article.
The other thing we noticed quite regularly when fishing for brook trout( who are suckers on a period) was that if it was one of those days when it was overcast and it looked like rain, and a good major period was due, everything would happen at once- the period started, the rain started and the fish started biting.  Did the barometer move? I dont know- we were too busy catching fish to notice. Also keep your eyes and ears open. Birds often get more active on the period and you will hear more of them singing. On the pond I fish now if the Canada geese will almost always get off their butts and swim around the pond on a good period. Also if you are on a pond before a period check out the bottom. 15 or 20 minutes before a good period the nymphs will become more active, the next thing we would see would be minnow activity, then the trout would start.
One other thing  if the barometer is low and steady we would usually pick up our fish near the bottom
but if it was higher  or moving they would be near the surface.
Years ago, when I had a fishing store in Delaware Ontario I got a lot of kids using the tables. Most of their Dads though it was a lot of nonsense, but after a while the kids were catching more fish than they were!  The kids used to call the tables the  "Delaware Bible".   Well its not a bible, but if you keep your eyes open during the periods and observe the changes, you might just be pleasantly surprised.

Good Luck on your fishing      John Ritchie  London 2007

More to come (someday)