Dear topwater anglers…We have much to write about this time as I have been postponing the newsletter due to repetitive strain injuries in my hands and arms. Luckily it has not kept me from fishing or engineering in the fly-tying department.  and we are sure you will like some of the flies and ideas we have for you this time.
Tight lines from us at Fishmadman – Jesper & Per

Newsletter this time

• A great riffling hitch fly pattern – the Hitchman Series
• The birth success of a tube caddisfly imitation for steelhead
• Tiny hitch/tube flies and how to set them up
• Rescue & reuse …we will redo your favourite fly
• One neat foam caddisfly imitation from Finland
• Best wishes for season 2020 – with a small quest

Over the + 40 years I have tied flies for salmon fishing, I have only made one or two flies that I would call unique – so it is with joy and a sense of achievement that we now can disclose a new series of riffling hitch tube flies that fits the bill as a fantastic fly.

Here is one of many summer salmon that fancied the Hitchman fly

What’s the point of such a small tube fly?

In the description above, we feature a tiny hitch tube fly with a length of 1 centimetre or 0.39 inches tied on a thin 1.1-millimetre tubing. It is a tiny salmon fly, and anglers not acquainted with tube flies for their surface fishing would wonder if a similar small fly tied on a single hook would not be a better solution. Why do these intricate ways of the tube fly, you may ask? – There are many answers to this question, and one answer is that such a tiny tube fly works in ways differently than a similar fly tied on a single or double hook, and in that way, it is interesting. The skittering and unpredictable behaviours of such a light tube fly are significant, both under and on the surface, and such small tube flies can make a dull and uninteresting warm summer’s day into a great sporting event…

Read much more about how to prepare for catching big fish on small tube flies here

Dear topwater anglers…It has regrettably been some time since we wrote to you last time… I have been afflicted by repetitive strain injury caused by using my computer – a modern-day “workplace injury” one could say.

We have been swamped in 2018, and we hope the many flies we have mailed out to you have given you some great days at the river.

Tight lines from us at Fishmadman

Jesper & Per

Newsletter this time

• The summer of 2018 was dry.

• Sinking poly leaders – perfect for surface fishing.

• Keep your leader and tippet in the refrigerator.

• Some new flies for 2019

• The Fishmadman sale.

Thin leaders, riffling hitch, dry flies and tiny flies fished close to or on the surface was certainly the way to catch salmon in the summer of 2018 – Maybe the upcoming season will be a different one with more water and lower temperature – but don’t leave your top-water gear at home.

Sinking polyleaders are the best leader for wake, dry fly and riffling hitch fishing…

The leader is an extension of your fly line

The link between our fly line and fly is of great importance to our casting and presentation skills and choice of leader and tippet material is often debated among anglers.

For more than one reason sinking polyleaders fit perfectly into the world of surface fishing and I will try to highlight some of the reasons why.

* Turn a heavy line…into something much better

In line with our thoughts and experience with small flies and the movements they should/could have at the end of the tippet material – we do recommend that you use polyleaders if you intend to use such patterns on big rods with ditto heavy lines. Heavy lines like; short Scandi shooting heads – Skagit lines and even some full Spey lines in # 9 – 11 may be great for distance casting but some of these line designs could also become all too stiff and rigid and tend to lack the ability to follow the many fine hurls and swirls of the river surface – water movement that we believe to be important in our fishing with smallish surface flies.

We’re mad about details…

To preserve our stock of poly leaders we keep them in the refrigerator – making sure you get a product – as fresh as possible… ** Read more about this further down in this newsletter.

How we combine leader and tippet material

We don’t necessarily use a particularly long piece of tippet material at the end of our polyleader. The see-through leader with its dynamic properties is suitably camouflaged in the water column.

We tie the tippet material directly to the core of the polyleader and replace it when it becomes too short or distressed.

The length of tippet material may vary all depending on what thickness tippet material you’re using and also what kind of fly your fishing with.

Some examples of leaders and tippet combination

• Dry fly fishing with big Bombers or similar big dry/wake flies: 5-foot polyleader + 2.5 – 3 foot (0,8 – 1 meter) of 0.30 mm. (10 lb) tippet material.
• Riffling hitch fishing with small flies; 5 – 8 foot polyleader + 3 – 4 foot (1 – 1.3 meter) of 0.30 (10 lb) – 0.25 (8 lb) tippet.
• Big tube flies like Sunray Shadow, weighted flies etc: 8 foot leader +  2.5 – 3 foot (0,8 – 1 meter) of 0.40 mm. (18 lb) tippet material.

We have the right tippet material…

We decided to take in tippet material to complete the line of leaders and we simply chose our No. 1 choice of tippet material: Maxima Chameleon … Many of you probably already use Maxima and probably for the same reasons as we do.

Our choice of tippet material

Maxima Chameleon tippet material is the given choice for so many salmon and trout anglers around the world and for a good reason – it does what it promises.

• A soft shock absorbing nylon – good for fast strikes when sight fishing.
• Abrasion-resistant.
• Forms great uniform flat knots.
• Great breaking strength.
• Perfect to present big and small flies to picky freshwater fish.

We only supply fresh tippet material – and keep our tippet in the refrigerator **

We personally prefer to buy fresh and well-preserved tippet material – so we promised you that this is what we will be selling you. We buy our Maxima tippet in small freshly made batches and keep them in our company refrigerator – so be sure to get the freshest material from us…nothing else.

Steelhead anglers from the Bulkley and the Deschutes River in North America asked us for a smaller version of the Wake Monster Tube Caddis (# 6) so we have added this pattern to our series of caddis wake flies.

Well not really – but we bought the pelt from one – Among many hides we found one that was more than perfect for our salmon flies – and we managed to have a selection of flies ready for the upcoming season – exclusively sold in a collection of 10 flies that will suit your early season fishing or for days with high water –

Exclusive offer 

The 10 flies come in a handy plastic box …but without hooks

Daniel Wells is an experienced steelhead angler that has moved to Massachusetts where he has found sport in the striped bass fishing in estuaries, the surf, and a unique fishery, The Cape Cod Canal. Daniel soon realized that the Cape Cod Canal is one of the toughest environments to fly fish, but he found out that it could be done with very heavy Skagit gear. Daniel has been trying to design flies that are specific for the Canal with the focus on waking flies as the canal is moving around 4-5 knots and can have excellent surface feeds when the timing of fast current and sunrise coincide.

Still, in the infancy of Daniels development of these flies, we were proud to deliver some of our riffling hitch tube that Daniel has designed some of his initial striped bass surface flies on. Flies that are light and relatively easy to cast on double hand salmon gear.

We can only say we are looking forward to your season and hope that your fly design has spawned more striped bass anglers to pick up the double hand rod and try out your surface flies… To contact Daniel in regards to his wake fly design – You may contact him through his Instagram profile here    

Soon summer will return and we can visit clear rivers with our friends

Hej fluefisker og velkommen til endnu et Fishmadman nyhedsbrev.
Denne gang er vi stolte af at kunne præsentere noget ganske unikt.

Fluefiskeri efter laks er til en vis grad stadig en gåde – Lystfiskere vil bruge utallige timer på, at fiske til tilsyneladende uinteresserede fisk, der har forladt et grådigt a la carte liv på havet for at vende tilbage til deres fødested, uden at have brug for eller ønske om næring.
Pludselig – og uden nogen fornuftig forklaring – stiger fisken fra bunden for at få fat i din lille flue.

Er det sult, hukommelse om fødevarer eller bare frustration, der udløser denne irrationelle begivenhed? Vi kan ikke rigtig forklare det, men fiskens adfærd har ganske sikkert at gøre med de byttedyr, laks har jaget i millioner af år.

Følg med os til havs for at se hvad der er på menukortet hos fiskenes mest krævende og frustrerende gastronomer.
Sjældent set billeder …

Sjældent sete dyr

Det har været en øjenåbner for os at afdække oplysninger om laksens spiseadfærd til søs – og vi håber du vil være lige så underholdt, når du ser billeder af disse sjældent sete dyr.

Laks er opportunist

En gennemgående fællesnævner i alle rapporter og vidensbyrd, vi har læst om laksens spisevaner -er at atlanterhavslaks er opportunistiske jægere, det spiser den mad, der er tilgængelig på et givet sted og tidspunkt.

I de kystnære farvande ved Newfoundland, spiste laks hovedsageligt sild, lodde og tobis, mens laksen i Labrador, havde  unge torsk som en vigtig del af kosten.

Gadus morhua. Almindeligt navn: Torsk

Her en trio af meget små torsk
Foto Claude Nozères, World Register Of Marine Species.

I årene med fluefiskeri, har jeg og Per Fischer, mødt nogle dedikerede mennesker, der arbejder for bevarelse af fisk og fiskevande. Tom Derry fra Oregon, er en af disse mennesker. Tom er direktør for en privat fond, der arbejder for at genoprette bestanden af vilde steelhead, og de elve de kommer fra.

En dedikeret sportsfisker

Vi har lært Tom Derry fra Native Fish Society at kende gennem vores fælles passion for overfladevand fluer og top-vand fiskeri – Netop overfladefiskeri efter steelhead er Tom´s store passion.

Vi har medvirket til at genoprette flere vilde fiskebestande – Catch & Release har været en vigtig del af dette arbejde.

Top-Water specialist Tom Derry

En passion for fiskeri

Tom er vokset op i Oregon, hvor nogle af verdens bedste steelhead elve løber.
“Mine tydeligste erindringer er fra fiskeri med min far og farfar. Fiskeriet har været en livslang lidenskab for mig, og de seneste år har min interesse rettet sig mod at genoprette de vilde fiskebestande i den nord vestlige del af USA.
Jeg har arbejdet for Native Fish Society i tolv år, som for vores afsnit der hedder: Wild Steelhead Funding. Mit job er at sikre finansiering til vores elv programmer samt lobby virksomhed, der skal påvirke beslutningstagere. Jeg mødes og fisker også med masser af lystfiskere, der ønsker at bidrage økonomisk til vores arbejde med at redde de vilde bestande af fisk. En sidegevinst af mit arbejde er selvfølgelig, at jeg har mulighed for at fiske nogle af de bedste fiskepladser i verden”

En fisk er for værdifuld blot at fange blot een gang

Med bestande af laks og Steelhead på mindre end tre procent af hvad de historisk engang var i Nordamerika, arbejder Native Fish Society for at fremme og håndhæve catch and release fiskeri, som en måde at sikre sportsfiskere at kunne fortsætte deres fiskeri efter disse fantastiske fisk, uden at påvirke bestandene.
Et citat fra fluefiske legenden Lee Wulff siger det hele; “En fisk er for værdifuld til at fange blot een gang”.

En passion for fisk

Native Native Fish Society arbejde for at stoppe habitat nedbrydning før den starter, går i dialog med kommercielle og rekreative grupper, der høster af fiskebestandene, forbedre passage for fisk eller arbejder for fjernelse af vandkraftværk, samt påpeger de negative effekter og påvirkninger udsætninger af fisk kan have.

Du kan også deltage – Besøg Native Fish Society hjemmeside og lære om arbejdet de gør. Hjælp til ved at sprede viden om organisationer som Native Fish Society, der arbejder for at redde vores fisk.

Besøg Native Fish Society

Fluemønstret du må have i din flueæske!

Efter du har set billederne og læst historien om, hvad laks spiser i havet – forstår du måske bedre, hvorfor Frances fluemønstret er blevet en af de absolut mest populære laksefluer nogensinde –

Denne særlige rejeflue bruges i elve på tværs af Nordatlanten – i både alvorligt tunge gulerod-udseende versioner og insekt-små varianter.
Vi har arbejdet for at få nogle meget små størrelser klar til vores laksesæson – Alle bundet omhyggeligt til mindste detalje – NØJAGTIG, som vi vil have dem.

Micro # 18 Frances flue i munden på en oktober laks.
Vi har bundet fluer på Partridge X2B # 18-16 og 14 kroge, og i tillæg til disse fjerlette fluer har vi også lavet en version på et absolut lille rør.  Disse fluer er bundet på vores version 3.2 millimeter rør – perfekt til små Owner ST trekroge eller Owner Chinu enkeltkroge

Hvis alt andet fejler

Der er noget magisk over disse micro Frances fluer – De synes at fremkalde hug-refleks i laks på en sådan måde, at nogle fluefiskere sværger til dette dværg-mønster til det meste fiskeri – Andre fluefiskere, jeg kender, har en kasse med denne flue, som – den sidste chance – hvis alt andet fejler. Jeg bruger gerne miniature-Frances fluer;  når elven falder bort hen under sensommer, hvor fisken finder plads i små huller og fordybninger. – Jeg binder også konsekvent denne flue på, når jeg fisker efterårslaks i skotske elve. – De sene blanklaks kan ikke modstå disse små reje efterligninger.

Prøv dem i denne sæson.

Vi gør vores bedste for at holde vores sider på Fishmadman interessante og underholdende.
En side, vi har arbejdet på dette forår, er vores side om rør til fluebinding.
Vi håber, at udvide siderne igennem 2015 – 16 med en række løsninger for dig der binder laks og Steelhead fluer med etappe-bygget vinger

Vatpinde er lige så forskellige, som de fluebindingsrør du finder i fluebindingsbutikker – men du kan faktisk være heldig at finde nogle, der akkurat passer til dine behov.

Se vores side om rør til fluebinding

Hello fly fisherman and welcome to another Fishmadman newsletter

This time we are proud to present something quite unique.

Dry fly regards from Per & Jesper

Fly fishing for salmon is to some degree still a riddle – and anglers will spend countless hours fishing over seemingly uninterested fish that have left a greedy, a la carte life at sea to return to their place of birth, fully nourished and with little or no need or desire for sustenance…Suddenly – and with no reasonable explanation – the fish will rise from the bottom to grab your small fly.

Is it hunger, a memory of food or just frustration that triggers this irrational event – We cant really tell but it inevitably has to do with the behaviour and characteristics of the food salmon has been feeding on for millions of years –

Follow us to see the treats on the salmon menu carte as we delve deeper into the mind of this most demanding and frustrating of gastronomes.

Rarely seen images…

It has been an eye-opening experience for us to uncover the information on salmons’ feeding behaviour at sea – and we think you will be equally entertained when you see the images of these rarely seen critters.

Salmon are opportunistic feeders

A common denominator in all the evidence we have read about salmon feeding behaviour is that Atlantic salmon are opportunistic feeders that will eat the food at a given location and time.

Common cod is on the menu

In the coastal waters of Newfoundland, salmon feed mainly on herring, capelin and sand eels, while in Labrador, young cod was an essential part of the diet.

Gadus morhua. Common name: cod.

Here is a trio of small cod.

Photo with a curtsey of Mr Claude Nozères, World Register Of Marine Species.

Over the years of fly fishing, Per Fischer and I have met some very dedicated people working with fish conservation. Mr. Tom Derry is one of them. Tom is a director in a private not for profit foundation that works to restore runs of wild steelhead and the rivers they live in throughout the Pacific Northwest in North America.

A dedicated angle

We have come to know Tom Derry from the Native Fish Society through our mutual passion for surface flies and top-water fishing.

We have recovered some wild fish populations while practising catch and release; it’s the right thing to do!

Top-water steelheader Mr. Tom Derry

A passion for fishing

Growing up in Oregon, Tom´s passion for fishing is fierce.
My earliest memories are of fishing with my Dad and Grandpa. Fishing has been
a lifelong passion of mine, and in recent years my interest has turned to help recover wild fish populations throughout the Pacific Northwest. I have worked at the Native Fish Society for twelve years as a River Steward and Director of Wild Steelhead Funding. My job is securing funding for our River Steward program and advocacy work. I have met and fished with many anglers who want to give back financially for all the pleasure fish, and fishing has brought them. A side benefit of my work is that it has allowed me to fish some of the best waters in the world. “

A Fish Is Too Valuable To Catch Just Once

With Salmon and Steelhead populations at less than three percent of historical numbers throughout the Pacific Northwest, the Native Fish Society also promotes and enforces catch-and-release fishing to ensure anglers can continue fishing with minimal impact on the fishery. A Quote from Lee Wulff says it all, “A Fish Is Too Valuable To Catch Just Once”.

A passion for fish

Native Fish Society works to stop habitat degradation before it starts, challenge commercial and sport fisheries that over-harvest, improve passage or encourage the removal of hydroelectric dams, and highlight the negative impacts from hatchery programs. .

You can participate too – Go to the Native Fish Society homepage, nativefishsociety.org, and learn about the work they do. Please help to spread the news about organizations that work to save our fish.

Visit Native Fish Society

A must have fly pattern for salmon!

When you have seen the images and read the story on What salmon eat on high seas – You might better understand why the Frances fly has become one of the most famous salmon flies ever made – This special-looking fly is used widely on rivers across the North Atlantic – in both cumbersome carrot-looking versions and tiny variants – light as insects.

We have been working on getting some tiny ones ready for the upcoming season – All tied meticulously with a notion for the details we like in this pattern.

Tiny # 18 Frances fly in the mouth of an October salmon.

We have tied the flies on Partridge X2B # 18 – 16 and 14 hooks, and in addition to these feather-light flies, we have also made an absolute miniature tube fly version tied on our 3.2-millimetre tube – perfect for small treble or single hooks

If all else fails

There is something magical about these tiny Frances flies – They seem to evoke the biting behaviour in salmon in such a way that some anglers swear to this dwarf pattern for most of their fishing – Other anglers I know keep a box with this fly as a last resort – if all else fails – I like to use the dwarf Frances flies when the river drops away during summer and fish stop and stay in slowish water – I consistently tie this fly on when I fish autumn salmon in Scottish rivers – Those late silver runners can’t resist these tiny shrimp imitations.

Try them out this season –

We try our best to keep our pages on Fishmadman exciting and relevant.

One page we have worked on this spring is our page on tubes used for fly tying.

We hope to extend the pages during 2015 with a range of solutions for you who tie salmon, and steelhead flies in the Intruder style or with wings built in stages.

If you want us to display a special technique or style in a tube, fly tying – Write to us, and we will get right on it.

Cotton swabs are as different as the fly-tying tubes you find in fishing shops – But you may find some that could fit your needs.  See the page on Fishmadman.

See our page here

August:  My favourite month for fishing – Salmon is starting to settle in the pools – Afternoon is turning into the evening – Winters waiting in the hills.

Left: The Thread Line Salmon Flies: An excellent colour plate from the book; The Angler And The Thread Line by Alexander Wanless. Book published 1932.

The first tube fly was probably made by the British author and angler Mr Alexander Wanless who, in his book The Angler And The Thread Line from 1932 shows`s the angling community his tube fly system. Alexander was an avid spin-fishing angler but wanted to bring the fantastic properties of the fly into his type of fishing. To do so, he devised a line of flies that could be fished on a spinning rod. Alexander did various kinds of flies in his Thread Line Salmon Fly series. Some are tied with trailing side hooks. Others tied on shaped lead barrels. They all had one thing in common they could be tied big but could be used with smaller hooks and would not work as levers when salmon took them: Alexander describes it this way

It has been observed that the first type of fly is designed so that when a fish is hooked the fly will slide up the line out of harm`s way or rather to prevent it from levering the small hook out of the salmon`s jaw

Alexander Wanless from the book: The Angler And The Thread Line 

In fishing literature, the tube fly is often tributed to Mrs Morawski, but it is the ingenious Mr Alexander Wanless that probably was the inventor of the tube fly system

Left Photo of Alexander Wanless from the 1950s. Mr Wanless lived in Dunblane, a small cathedral town north of Stirling in the Stirling council area of Scotland

Credit for the first tube fly was given to someone else.

Alexander Wanless never got the proper credit for doing the first tube fly – probably because he was an angler spinning more than a fly fisherman. In fishing literature, it is a woman fly tier: Mrs Winnie Morawski, who worked with one of the fishing tackle companies in Aberdeen, gets the credit for the first tube fly – in 1945. Mrs Morawski initially made her flies on quills from larger feathers.

The first tube fly

To the right: Another excellent colour plate from the book, The Angler And The Thread Line, showing other flies from the Thread Line Salmon Series. Top two with detachable hooks, the middle one with added weight enabling the angler to fish it on his light spinning gear 

The Caddisfly

The caddisfly insect is a cornerstone in fly fishing, and it plays an essential part in the life of salmon and trout. From early spring to late in the season, juvenile salmon and trout will meet the caddisfly insect in its many forms and shapes – Adult salmon and trout will also meet the caddisfly throughout its life in the river system and during the period of caddisfly hatching flies that resembles the caddisfly in shape, colour and behaviour can become top choice the fly box. Sometimes it could be a dry fly like our Monster Tube Caddis ™, a small hitched fly like the V-FLY ™, or a classic wet fly like the Blue Charm that, with its dull dark appearance, becomes much more efficient in some Nordic rivers during August when caddisfly hatching is in progress.

Here we have gathered some images of the big Caddisfly found in so many clear rivers in northern Norway.

The caddisfly larva, now called: Pupa of caddisfly, has left the building – moving fast to get to the safer ground on land – where it can begin its final fantastic transformation into an adult insect.

Caddisfly imitation