OK folks
This year I figured we would actually use the power of the internet to set a challenge that can't be done by any other medium.
Inspired by Daniel's fascination for underwater life, Mr B and myself have been taking video footage (reasonable for two amateurs) of some of the insect life that lives at Haddo. The ultimate aim is to provide an online library of how the bugs swim and act in the water. We have done the Loch first but the river should follow eventually.
We also thought this would a great way to run this year's flytying challenge.
So the idea is, we will put up a couple of short videos of particular bugs doing what they do best. We will include some still photos of how the bugs look to gauge colours etc, but given that a trout's vision is not supposed to be as sharp as ours, hopefully our woeful attempts at photography are actually fairly representative of what the fish actually see. And we will include a small description of the insect, giving approximate sizes.
The marking categories for this years flytying event will be
1-Size/proportion
2-Tying skill/consistancy
3-Original/innovative use of materials
4-Movement/action (a description of how its intended to be fished to be included)
5-Imitation, will it look like the Bug (to the fish) when in use
Each category will be marked out of
5 you will have to tie
2 of each pattern you enter
.
Judges will be myself, Mr Barrio and the good Mr Young.
We are hoping you will all find it a fascinating insight into what the fish are seeing and just what our flies do when they are in the water. It is surprising just how some of them act, I learned a lot from just catching them and doing the videos and I've been studying bugs for years to help me understand what the fish are feeding on.
Mr B will post details of this year's prizes as well as the videos, as he has them on his machine.
Each month we hope to give everyone
6wks to get the flies in, so the first one will be for the end of November. This should allow some of our brothers of the angle whom reside more than a decent cast from the Don, a chance to get their entries in on time.
Good luck to everyone and I hope you all find this as interesting a challenge as we think it is
Sandy
