Hank,

I cannot tell you how many bears I have seen. The northern part of Honshu and all of Hokkaido are full of bears, which did surprise me.

Otto

Hi Ron, Sorry for the delayed response, things got a bit hectic. My guess would be a secondary wing feather by looking at the shape of it. I have included a picture of the feather and later this week will take a better picture to show a close up of the feather. This picture does not do the feather j...

Two more pictures...

Hi all, I thought the rain would finally stop but no such luck. Yesterday evening, I stopped by the fly shop and hung out with the owner and tied flies. It is amazing that we really don't communicate well verbally but we do understand the universal language of fly tying. His English is much better t...

Nice fly! That will definitely hunt well

Mike,

Thanks and yes, my tying is very simple due to lack of materials but I am learning that perhaps I don't need as many materials to tie a nice fly.

Otto

Hi all, The weather is not cooperating and it has done nothing but rain, which has blown out most of the streams. I did find another feather but this time the mystery feather is not a mystery. It is from a Common Myna and this feather is a dark brown with a bit of mottling mixed in. I decided to fol...

Hi Dale,

I was just at that bridge and visited the shrine that is just to the right of the bridge. Your picture captures the beauty of the area. Thanks for posting and sorry you could not go fishing.

Otto

Hi Dougsden, I have done a lot of walking in Nikko. It is an amazing place and the mountain streams are beautiful and crystal clear. I am probably not going to bring any feathers back due to customs and legal issues but it would be nice if I could. The under furs of bear, deer, and squirrel are used...

Hi All, Greetings from Nikko, Japan. This month I am staying in the northern part of Japan and Spring has sprung. While walking through the woods, I found a feather and decided to tie a soft hackle fly with the mystery feather. Hook: Dohiku #16 Thread: GSP 20 Denier Body: Yellow Silk from Japanese D...