Accessories

In addition to bamboo rods, I also manufacture a small selection of accessories for flyfishing and coarse threadline fishing, such as furled leaders for dry fly fishing, nymphing, and by special demand also streamer fishing; 'Reigerkuitenvet' (heron shank grease) for dressing leaders and silk fly lines; and casting floats (US: bobbers) for threadline fishing.

The casting floats are made from Abachi/Obeche/Ayous wood (not from Balsa wood), and are sized so that the total casting weight (float plus sinkers) is around 4 g; in my experience this is the ideal casting weight for rudd fishing at distance in Dutch settings. The advantages of Abachi over Balsa are: slightly stronger, and less fragile wood, and a higher volumetric mass, thus requiring less sinkers on the line for a given float volume (and therefore for a given total casting weight).

Furled leaders are made from a fine polyester yarn (comparable with, but more suitable than UNI-thread), for both dry fly and nymph fishing, and nylon or fluorocarbon monofilament for (fast) sinking leaders for streamers and deep nymphs. Polyester thread leaders can be provided as is, but also hot-impregnated with Heron shank grease. They're made with Shorb loops at both butt and tip end, and optionally with tippet rings - although personally I've given up using tippet rings. Leaders are normally made as two-leg furls but can be made as three-leg furls by special order - note however that three leg designs are subject to additional constraint - very light three-leg leaders can only be made with extremely thin thread.

I also make no-fumble steel wire hook releasers with short or long wood handles, made from a selection of hardwoods, or optionally from hex bamboo cut-offs. These releasers enable easy release of hooked fish without touching them or even lifting them from the water. They are ideal for C&R fishing.

'Reigerkuitenvet' (the name is a play on a traditional impossible task for greenhorn shop boys) is a hard waterproofing wax ideal for dressing furled leaders and silk lines. It is very water repellent, and adheres to you leader better than most soft paste dressings you can buy over the counter, such as Mucilin or Gink. Moreover, it does not contain any easy-leaching components that might contaminate surface water - so obvious when using Gink and comparable products.

I've also taken up making classic wooden fly boxes. Standard dimensions are 3.5 x 7 x 11 cm, with 6 compartments, made with cherry wood or hard maple, optionally with a laser engraving (your design or mine; see Dec 21 blog entry). Other dimensions, inserts or interiors (such as foam layers) on request. Interested in these accessories? Drop me an e-mail.