Forty-three-inch giant…

Mr. Ian Martin from Canada with his best ever dry fly salmon: Forty-three inches (109 cm) – about 36 pounds (16-kilo)

Mr. Ian Martin regularly contributes with words and photos to our pages here on Fishmadman – This time, he has emailed us this super photo of a giant Atlantic salmon caught on a Monster Tube Caddis # small.
Ian is a well-known angler in the Gaspesie region where he also runs the fishing lodge LES 4 SAISONS situated at the banks of the river Petit Cascapédia.
Read the whole story about the catch of the giant dry fly salmon and see if your next fishing holiday could be in the Gaspesie region at Ian´s lodge

Caught on Monster Tube Caddis

The Monster Tube Caddis – A super fly for big salmon on both side of the Atlantic – Our small and big version seems to have the great attraction on Scandinavian salmon – The XX-Large version seems to work especially good in Canada and Newfoundland.
Horns on the fly are whiskers from rabbit – a vibrant and very attractive fly tying material that we have great faith in
See our page on the Monster Tube Caddis

Monster Tube Caddis: A odd caddis imitation designed to be fished at dead-drift.

Six 20 lb`s salmon on dry fly…

Don’t let size fool you – both Mr. Ian Martin and Mr. Kim Nyborg (photo above) is big guys in the + 100-kilo range

Our own pro fly tier Mr. Kim Nyborg was in Newfoundland for the second time and got everything right in the summer of 2015 – with six salmon in the 20 lb´s range, with this giant estimated at + 30 lb´s as the biggest – Many of these fish were caught on the Monster Tube Caddis on the Humber River together with friend and renowned dry fly guide Mr. Bill Bryden.

See how to tie the Monster Tube Caddis or get the full Monty and buy our Monster Tube Caddis fly tying kit – See the offer below.

If you would like to fish the fantastic rivers of Newfoundland follow the link here

Fly tying kit`s from Fishmadman

The FlashBack Bug kit…

The perfect fly tying kit if you want to try your skills on steelhead wake flies – Enough to make 6 – 7 flies in various sizes –
Buy FlashBack Bug Kit

White Tube Bomber kit…

After endless trials getting the proper hackles to use in this kit – we finally got a break with these first class Metz hackles. Everything needed to tie Tube Bombers is included in this kit
Buy Tube Bomber Kit

The Monster Tube Caddis kit…

Getting proper hackles for this big caddisfly imitation has always been an issue for us – Now we proudly present our Monster Tube Caddis fly tying kit with super quality Metz hackles and everything else included to tie a selection of big dry flies
Buy Monster Tube Caddis Fly Tying kit

The Smurf Bomber

The Smurf Bomber: A fine Bomber pattern from Newfoundland with the right blue tone of deer-hair combined with tail, wing and hackle in brown.

Getting the right colour on the white-tail deer we use for the body on our Bombers proved to be more difficult than we first thought – but we finally got all the details right and we are proud to include yet another Bomber in our family of 14 variations – Look them up here

The Smurf is a Belgian comic character  created by cartoonist Peyo These blue skinned creatures was first seen in comics in the early 60´s C & R Peyo

A new Youtube video from us

Quite in line with our FlashBack Bug fly tying kit – We have made a Youtube video showing how to tie this efficient wake fly – We hope you enjoy it and would welcome your comments on Youtube

Do also look at our other videos on our humble Fishmadman Youtube channel

New things with Fishmadman

A rare opportunity – to get a Barred Brown Mini squirrel tail for your small wet flies or tube riffling hitch flies… We bought some for production and additional tails for our newsletter readers… absolutely small and soft tails…
buy them while you can

We have a new batch of this slim style riffling hitch version of the mandatory Blue Charm – Made with extra room in front of the head to enable you to make your Portland Hitch The flies is also styled just like we want our wet-fly Blue Charm

Buy them here

Tube flies is the big thing in Europa and salmon, trout and Northern pike anglers will readily use tubes for many different fly patterns. Not only do the tubes allow anglers to make big light pattern that is easy to cast on light fly fishing equipment, but the tube fly also gives the angler new ways of presenting the fly as something unique.

Tube fly for difficult situations

As I write this post, I have just returned from an evening fishing at the mouth of the river where I fish – Salmon had just entered on the 6 o’clock tide and as the water was pulling back to the sea. Small and big salmon were settling near the big rocks on the river bed.

As the water is only a few feet deep, I use tube dry flies; tiny Frances shrimp flies and single hook wet fly patterns like Blue Charm and Undertaker in # 12… Today the fish was unwilling and a cold northerly wind blew in from the sea… In such difficult situations, most anglers will pack up and leave. Still, I brought out tiny clear-bodied tube flies with wings made of a few hairs from silver tippet squirrel – I call it the V-FLY, and I fish this micro tube fly as a riffling hitch pattern – Riffling hitch pattern can work wonders in such unfriendly conditions. I soon had the first fish turning for the fly, and almost every fish settling in the shallow pool tried to grab the fly.  Two fish to the tiny V-FLY an hour later had turned this bitterly cold evening into a fantastic day of salmon fishing.

We produce some of the best tubes for tube flies.

As tube fly fishermen, we appreciate perfect tubes for our fishing and fly tying, and we have used countless hours with plastic manufacturers to get the tubes perfect for tube fly production. Most tubes bought in fly fishing shops are made for different purposes than flies and fly fishing. Still, the tubes designed with Fishmadman fit the bill – One such tube is our tube designed for riffling hitch flies such as the simple V-FLY – This is a flexible tube made from a PVC free Polyethylene formula that will hold many different size hooks – withstand harsh weather conditions and a lot of mechanical wear and tear.

Fishmadman Newsletter is a publication on surface fishing for Atlantic salmon steelhead and various trout, read by many 100 ́s anglers across the Northern Hemisphere, Tierra del Fuego, Novaya Zemlya – Australia and Japan… We try to make a letter worth your time – and our interest in topwater fishing is what determines the editorial tendency`s
Our newsletter will arrive in your mailbox 3 – 6 times during the season depending much on what interesting stuff we can find for you…

Join our Newsletter

See some previous issues of the newsletter here… or go to the entire newsletter library here

Dear Flyfisher: Welcome to yet another newsletter from us at Fishmadman.
Summers salmon season is right at the door and already river temperatures here in Denmark and southern Sweden is up and above 12 degrees Celsius or 53.6 degrees Fahrenheit A magical moment in the world of Atlantic salmon and the time to get your riffling hitch flies ready…

This time we have the true pleasure of showing you one famous top water fly from Derek Knowles one of the men who pioneered the world of tiny wake flies tied on tube – Some newly designed “Scandinavian” colors of John Rohmer´s Semi Seal dubbing. A superior fly tying book from Italy + a special Newsletter bonus to take you into summer salmon fishing

Very tight lines from Jesper & Per

The wake-tube pioneer Mr Derek Knowles

In 1987 UK angler and author Derek Knowles wrote a fascinating book on his salmon fishing with dry flies and small tube flies. The book Salmon on a Dry Fly showed a generation of anglers new ways to make efficient patterns for surface fishing.

Mr Knowles did most of his fishing in highland rivers in Scotland, where he was co-owner of the Mallart, a tributary to the famous Naver River.
Highland rivers like the Naver and the neighbouring Helmsdale are known for their surface-oriented salmon, and fishing techniques like dibbling and dabbling have long been favoured in these waters.

Derek Knowles’s book from 1987 gives a refined look into a world of stealthy salmon fishing with thin leaders and small surface flies in Highland rivers.

In these perfect surroundings, Mr Knowles formed the small surface tube fly named the Yellow Dolly, which some of the riffling hitch tubes we used today properly are formulated from.

With a flare of stiff yellow and black hairs, the fly has a profile that resembles a tiny doll with a skirt. Derek Knowles tells his readers how the Yellow Dolly can be fished either at dead drift or on the swing across the river – Derek recommends bringing various sizes to the river – and changing to a smaller size if the fish rise to the fly without connecting – Tie the Yellow Dolly in ⅝, ½ and ⅜ inch.

Today many European anglers would not think twice when putting on a tiny riffling hitch tube pattern. Still, in the heydays when Derek Knowles designed his small waking flies – few European anglers would ever think of going on the surface with their tube flies.

If you want to read Derek Knowles’s fine book on his experience with tiny wake flies, we recommend you buy: Salmon on a Dry Fly (ISBN 854931558) on amazon.co.uk, where it sometimes can be purchased second-hand.

Above: The Yellow Dolly from the Hands of Derek Knowles. Tied on a ⅝ inch piece of red electrical cord. Best fitted with a small Partridge Outpoint Treble Hook # 16

Special thanks to Mr Derek Knowles and Mrs Susan Howe, Digital Director at orionbooks.co.uk

NEW John Rohmer dubbing – made for Euro salmon

John Rohmer from Arizona, USA, supplies all of our dubbing simply because his products are the best material available – This time, John has made us 5 NEW colours of Arizona Seal Dubbing – Suited for European salmon patterns…Generous bags of excellent material that has proven to be just the right formula for finicky steelhead in North America as well as sea trout and salmon here in Europe – see the 17 colours we have in our shop

A NEW batch of tails – is here!

Traps have been set for squirrels all spring * and we now have the perfect selection of small tails from Grey Squirrel, Soft, thin hair just right for your riffling hitch flies. Get it here

* caught as part of legal pest control in the UK

The perfect Riffling Hitch tube

We have had this tube produced for years now – It is an unbeaten secret plastic formula that makes the best riffling hitch tubes available: Low memory – Very versatile and will support a range of hooks – Works perfectly in cold climates and won’t split like most other tubes will do in cold water… Get it here

Your new Riffling Hitch tube flies for this summer are a: Fishmadman Newsletter offers.

Through the years, many of you have asked us to select flies for you – so we decided to set a selection of Riffling Hitch flies on the menu this time. 12 super flies in the company with a small range of suitable OWNER hooks
The set comes in two versions: Either with single hooks or a box with treble hooks, and they are available with a very favourable Newsletter discount.

Get your promotion code here – Use it when you buy in our shop

Discount will last to the end of June 2014

As in the earlier years, we are proud to invite you to the annual worldwide Fishmadman competition – We will have a nice host of prizes for those who take part – and something extra special for the 2014 winner – Join us here

Fly Tying in Italy

Fly tying is often described as a form of art and fly tiers as artists but fly tying is foremost a craft, and as so, fly tiers have to learn the skills, techniques, tools and materials to get a result.
Once in a while, talented craftsmen write a book on the finesse and details of fly tying  – and this is precisely such a book. Italian angler and fly tier Armando Quazzo has made an excellent book on fly tying… So filled with practical and intuitive tricks, I and fellow fly tiers agreed that this book was one of the best we had seen for decades…
An extensive chapter on fly-tying material is succeeded by an even larger chapter on practical details. The book is finished off with a line of fly patterns from anglers from many countries.

Fly Tying il grande libro del costruttore di mosche artificiali By Armando Quazzo is written in Italian and is printed by Edizioni Gea. At 59 € and can be bought from Sedge & Mayfly

Urgamle redskaber

At narre og fange fisk er en urgammel og meget betydningsfuld del af menneskets udvikling – så betydningsfuld, at vi den dag i dag stadig fascineres af og drages mod fiskeriets virke.

Da vi så denne meget tidlige agn fra Grønland, vidste vi, at vi måtte vise den til dig…

Kroppen er gjort af en krabbeklo, og krogen er formet af sten… for enden sidder resterne af en fjer… hvilket vel gør den til en slags flue… synes du ikke?

De færreste kender til manden der opfandt rørfluen – og i de fleste bøger er det en kvinde (Mrs. Morawski) der arbejdede for et fluebindings firma i Skotland i 40´ne – der får æren for den første rørflue.

Det er dog sportsfiskeren og forfatteren Alexander Wanless fra England, der i de tidlige 30´er designede de første rørfluer – Oprindeligt skabt til fiskeri med spinnestang – men som senere skulle vise sig perfekt til fluestang.

I år er det endelig lykkedes os at skaffe et billed af manden bag rørfluen. Se mere om de første rørfluer

læs mere om de første rørfluer

laks & steelhead snack

Nordsørejen eller Pandalus Borealis som den også hedder på Latin. sjældent set i levende tilstand – lever på koldt og dybt vand

som du ser er den også rød før den bliver kogt

Læs mere om rejen der står øverst på menuekortet hos laks i Atlanterhavet og steelhead fra stillehavet

Photo of Pandalus Borealis Mr. Niels Sloth Biopix

The Waddington Shank – An ace in your hand

The Waddington shank is a hook design made by late British angler Mr Richard Waddington in the 1950s – The Waddington Shank is a lure system made of parallel wires with a hook hinged at the rear. Mr Waddington designed this system to allow anglers to make large flies that would sit well in the water and not instigate problems with leverage when hooking up with fish – Problems with leverage were certainly an issue with anglers before the 1950s Where anglers would use big single hooks – as big as 10/0 and even bigger!  – read more

Don’t miss out on the action – Tie on a Waddington shank

Late-season salmon caught on big one ¾ inch Black & Orange Waddington Shank

Many anglers will avoid the Waddington Shanks simply because they find the setup a bit too intricate – that´s a shame as the Waddington Shank offers the river angler yet another instrument for fishing salmon or trout, and the fly tied on a Waddington Shank will behave differently from tube flies or conventional flies – I would not want to part with my range of Waddington Shanks during a salmon season

Size scale for Waddington Shanks

The size scale for tube flies and Waddington Shanks does not follow the hook system, and size is often given in inches. I will, in the following, try to show this scale in a way that might give you an idea of the different physical aspects and how you might make comparisons with a standard hook size

NB. Mustad 80500 BL Used as an example (* is not made bigger than 5/0)

Mr Hotho Vestergaard is the only salmon angler we know – that has caught three salmon in the 20-kilo range (+ 44 lb.) –

You might want to check out his fly-tying style on Waddington Shanks.

This salmon + 21-kilo (+ 46 lbs.)

Fishmadman friend and salmon-angler-Jedi Mr Hotho Vestergaard is a great believer in the Waddington Shank system. Hotho makes his Waddington fly upside-down, or rather: he turns the eye of the shank facing downwards – This will make the shank work in new ways – with a slightly diving motion that Hotho prefers on specific types of fast water

When a spate runs through the river, those two days after the spate will be ideal for a big fly like this 1 3/4 # Waddington Shank Garry Dog…

Size scale for tube flies

Like the Waddington Shank, the tube fly offers the river angler unique ways to present the fly – some so exclusive that we had to design a place on the web dedicated to the world of tube flies. In Europa and particularly in Scandinavia, the tube fly crowds the fly box – some may say it is a matter of fashion trends. Still, the success of the tube fly is by far attributed to the incredible versatility and adjustability of the tube fly system.

10 inches below the surface is a hot area to present the fly to Atlantic salmon during summer, and many anglers will tie tube flies specifically to target this area using either floating or slow-sinking fly lines

Read more about the first Tube flies

NB. Mustad 80500 BL Used as an example (* is not made bigger than 5/0)

August: Min favorit måned for fiskeri – Laksen er begyndt at finde pladser i pools- Eftermiddag bliver til aften – Vinteren venter i bjergene

Waddington Shank er en type krog – designet i 1950erne af den britiske lystfisker og forfatter til flere interessante fiskebøger; Mr. Richard Waddington. Waddington Shanken bestående af parallelle tråde, med en krog hængslet bagtil. Mr. Waddington formede dette system for at, give fluefiskere en mulighed for at lave større fluer, der kunne præsentere sig godt i vandet, – men ikke skabte problemer med brækstangs-effekt –  Brækstangs-effekt var bestemt et problem for sportsfiske verdenen før 1950 – hvor fluefiskere brugte fluer bundet på enorme enkeltkroge, kroge så store som 10/0 og endnu større! blev brugt til fiskeri i koldt vand  – Læs mere

Gå ikke glip af nye muligheder

Sen sæson laks fanget på stor 1 ¾ # Black & Orange Waddington Shank

Mange lystfiskere undgår Waddington Shanks simpelthen fordi de finder opsætningen lidt for kompliceret – det er en skam da fluer bundet på Waddington Shanks giver fluefiskere endnu en mulighed for at fiske laks eller ørred i elv eller å. Waddington Shanken opførre sig forskelligt fra rørfluer eller konventionelle fluer – Personligt ville jeg nødigt skilles fra mit sortiment af Waddington fluer under en laksesæson

Størrelser af Waddington Shanks

Skala for rørfluer og Waddington Shanks, følger ikke krog systemet, og størrelse gives ofte i inches. Vi vil i det følgende forsøge at vise denne skala på en måde, der måske kan give dig en idé om de forskellige fysiske aspekter, og hvordan du kan foretage sammenligninger med en normal krog

NB. Mustad 80500 BL Brugt som eksempel (* er ikke lavet større end 5/0)

Forskellige opsætning af en Waddington Shank

UP-SIDE-DOWN Waddington Shank

Hotho Vestergaard er den eneste laksfisker vi kender – der har fanget 3 laks i 20 kilo området (+ 44 lbs) – Du skulle måske tjekke hans fluebinding stil på Waddington Shanks.

Denne laks + 21 kilo

Ven af Fishmadman og laksefisker-jedi:  Hotho Vestergaard er stor tilhænger af Waddington Shank system. Hotho laver sine Waddington fluer UP-SIDE-DOWN , eller rettere: han vender øjet af skaftet nedad – Dette gøre at fluen arbejde på nye måder – med en lidt dykkende bevægelse som, Hotho foretrækker på specifikke typer hurtigt vand.

Når en flom løber gennem elven – så vil det være de to første dage efter flommen – hvor en stor flue som denne 1 3/4 # Waddington Shank Garry Dog, vil være det perfekte valg

Størrelse for rørfluer

Ligesom Waddington shanks, giver rørfluen fluefiskeren unikke måder at præsentere fluen – nogle så eksklusive, at vi måtte designe et sted på nettet dedikeret til ​​rør fluer.

I Europa og især i Skandinavien dominere rørfluen i flueboksen – Nogle vil sige, det er et spørgsmål om modetendenser, men rørfluens store succes må nok nærmere tilskrives rørfluesystemets store alsidighed.

10 inches (25 centimeter) under overfladen er et hot område, at præsentere fluen til sommerens atlanterhavs-laks, og mange lystfiskere vil binde rørfluer målrette til fiskeri. Der bruges rørfluer af forskellig vægt og design, kombineret med flydende eller langsom synkende flueliner

Læs mere om de første rør fluer

NB. Mustad 80500 BL Brugt som eksempel (* er ikke lavet større end 5/0)

FISHMADMAN 2013 fiskekonkurance

Vi håber du vil deltage i vores årlige sportsbegivenhed – Vi vil sørge for præmierne – Og alle, deltagere, vil få fine gaver. Fang en fisk på en Fishmadman produkt eller mønster – udfyld formularen – og være en del af 2013 mest ærefulde sportsbegivenhed ..

Tørflue hilsen Fishmadman teamet

Se reglerne for konkurrencen

Vi gjorde, hvad mange af jer bedt os om at gøre, og lavet et udvalg af SUPER-General Practitioner fluer.
Vi har brugt isbjørn * sæluld og Whiting Spey hackle. Bundet på Japan og Mustad krog i to størrelser # 4 og 6
Køb denne august flue mens den er på lager

NYT ! Steelhead fluer: Sammen med nogle af de dygtigste steelhead fiskere i Nordamerika har vi udviklet – og udvidet – vores serie af Wake fluer – Disse fluer har ligeledes vist sig at være yderst virksomme på røddinger – der ligesom steelhead og havørred, er meget optaget af ting der ” bølger” på overfladen Se det store udvalg i vores butik

NYT ! Vi har tilføjet denne – No-Nonsens – flue boks til vores repertoire – Storebror-boksen vores Sunray Shadow boks var en stor succes – der kunne stå mål med mange ugers hårdt fiskeri – Så vi var ikke i tvivl om at i ville kunne lide den mindre boks der kan købes til en meget fordelagtig pris – Se den i butikken her

Vi har lavet et stort udvalg af Riffling Hitch fluer til sæson 2013

Se dem i butikken

Endelig ! Endelig fik vi vores nye laks/steelhead tørfluer… til sidst på laksesæsonen – Desværre kunne det ikke være anderledes…men nu er de klar til sæson 2014 – Vi glæder os til at, vise dig dem i butikkerne og for enden af din line

Normal fishing historians will tell you that the first description of the first salmon dry fly and this unique form of fishing came from North America and Mr George M. La Branche, who wrote about his fishing in a book: The Salmon And The Dry Fly from 1924 – But we have found a salmon dry fly pioneer that will  top Mr George M. La Branche – It is a British angler: Major J.R Fraser that writes to tell British anglers about his exclusive dry fly fishing – Farlow: A British tackle make of the time, also runs a series of Mr Fraser salmon dry flies – that actually is to be found in Farlow’s catalogue along with the detailed description from 1909 and at least ten years ahead