By Alex Julius Great flies in great colours, amazing-value high-performance fly rods, and up-lined integrated shooting head fly lines…more great fly tackle for JM Gillies.
JM Gillies are pleased to announce the addition of two new patterns to the Felty range of flies: the Gusto and Morsie’s Whiting Popper. Both these patterns have a well-proven track record over the last couple of years and both are featured in Peter Morse’s new book: A Few Great Flies … and how to fish them. The Gusto The Gusto (cause that’s how fish eat them) has proven itself as a formidable barra and Murray cod pattern but has also accounted for many other species that are seduced by the superb mobility of marabou plumes. But that’s not its entire secret; the bulky head creates a vortex of currents that really gets that marabou moving in a very seductive eat me way. The flies are tied on Gamakatsu SL12 hooks and only come in one size: 2/0.
These will retail for $6.00 and will be available in four proven colours: Sunset (red and yellow) Kermit (all chartreuse) Pink Thing (pink and white) Destructor (purple and black) Morsie’s Whiting Popper Morsie’s Whiting Popper is a killer pattern on many fish but has really proven itself to be the most reliable fly rod popper for whiting. It’s easily cast on light fly rods but it’s also a great small popper for many other species. It’s best fished with a fast, single-hand strip that keeps it skittering across the top. It’s available in 2 sizes, 6mm and 10mm, for $2.50. Wildfish Wind Warrior fly rods With these new rods from JM Gillies, getting started in fly fishing with quality tackle at a very reasonable price just gets better and better. I first saw these rods at the Gold Coast tackle dealers show and was asked by the Gillies staff to put a price on them based on how they looked and how they cast. The finish is so good that they look like a premium US rod from one of the very traditional makers. Peter Morse was on the stand and took me for a cast. I think I surprised myself with how easily I threw a tight loop with the Wildfish rod. Pretty soon there was a queue of fly fishermen wanting to try these new rods and no one could guess their price with most going way over.
The rods were a big hit at the time and 9 months later they continue to impress everyone who gets to try them, and especially those who get to fish with them. They now have a legion of followers.
Made from high-modulus IM9 graphite, the Wind Warrior rods are available in a 7’6” 4 weight, and 5, 6, and 8 weight rods in 9 feet. All rods are superbly finished and cast and fish brilliantly! Hard as it may be to believe, they retail for only $150! And they also come in a complete start-up kit (rod, reel, line, leader, backing and a DVD) for $300.00. Rio’s Outbound Short This line is an integrated shooting head. The head section itself is an extremely compact 30 feet long and then goes straight into the running line with a very abrupt back taper. These lines have been designed for minimal false casting and for delivering big flies with ease, especially in windy conditions. Being shooting heads, they are already up-lined 2 line weights so, when you buy one, buy for the rating of the rod you plan to use it on. You’ll find it will load a rod very quickly and easily.
The Rio Outbound Short comes in four densities: Floating; Intermediate tip; Intermediate head; and Sinking head (intermediate running line). Anyone who fishes with big and heavy flies should consider these lines.
NB. The difference between a standard-weight forward line and a shooting head is in the transition between the head and the running line. A standard-weight forward line can have a long tapered section between the head and the running line — up to 6m; on a shooting head, it is very abrupt, in this case around 30cm.