skater fly | Fishmadman.com http://www.fishmadman.com Dry fly fishing for salmon and steelhead with Bomber dry flies - Riffling Hitch and wake fly techniques Sat, 23 Mar 2024 16:41:42 +0000 en-US hourly 1 34674374 Squirrel tail – Made for Riffling Hitch flies http://www.fishmadman.com/archives/3643 http://www.fishmadman.com/archives/3643#view_comments Sat, 10 Mar 2012 13:42:55 +0000 http://www.fishmadman.com/pages/?p=3643

Pine Squirrel - Bill Bryden

The squirrel, a large family of rodents divided into five subfamilies, boasts approximately 58 genera and around 285 species. Among these, the Eastern Grey Squirrel and the Pine Squirrel have long been prized as top materials for fly tying. Hair from these creatures features in thousands of recognized fly patterns worldwide. At our fly-tying shop, the Eastern Grey Squirrel stands as a favored material. We procure selected squirrel tails from these animals in the UK by the dozen.

(Photo: Pine Squirrel by Mr. Bill Bryden)

The Eastern Grey Squirrel was introduced to Britain many years ago, spreading across the country and largely displacing the native Red squirrel. Consequently, it is widely regarded as a pest by most Britons.

Suirrel tail fly tying

A squirrel in Western Europa could very well look like this guy …very bright red in its colouration – Here is one from my garden in Denmark, where this colour of the squirrel is the dominant genetic line of the Sciurus vulgaris (Eurasian red squirrel) – once black squirrels were the dominant genetic version in Denmark …now it is rare to see all black squirrels in my part of Scandinavia.

How to Preserve a Fresh Squirrel Tail

If you come across the tail of a red squirrel (Scientific Name: Sciurus vulgaris) by the roadside, seize the opportunity to collect it by keeping a set of pliers in your car.

This process is most effectively carried out during winter when insects are less active.

  1. Begin by freezing the tail in a plastic bag for a minimum of 72 hours.
  2. Thaw the tail and meticulously rinse it under running water to eliminate any dead parasites.
  3. Dry the tail by hanging it outside in the wind and sunlight. Avoid leaving it out for too long; a few hours should suffice.
  4. Completely cover the tail with coarse or fine salt (regular table salt works well). Let it remain in the salt for two weeks to draw out the maximum moisture from the skin and meat.
  5. Shake off all excess salt.
  6. Pin the tail to a piece of plywood and allow it to continue drying for a few more weeks. I prefer to let my tails dry outside.

Your squirrel tail is now prepared to be utilized as part of your fly-tying materials.

Finding the right material for Riffling Hitch flies is important. The wake of the Riffling Hitch fly might be the key point – But the fly and the way it is built is what generate the wake.

Take time to select the perfect squirrel tail

We buy many tails to select the best possible tails for our V-FLY; we want a squirrel tail with thin hair, as we have found that flies tied from this hair have superior fishing abilities when hitching for Atlantic salmon…

Riffling hitch fly tyingWe are proud to offer specially selected Silver tip squirrel tails (Eastern Grey squirrel)

We have been scouting for a supplier of silver tip tails that we could trust to harvest the tails when the hairs had the right texture.

We managed to find a Game Warden in the UK that knew what we were looking for –

Richard, a salmon and trout angler, promised to help us with our extraordinary project.

Setting traps for squirrels is part of Richards’s daytime job – and by doing so at the right time of year, we have secured a small stock of these first-rate Riffling Hitch tails.

Buy tails from us

Barred Brown Squirrel tail – Small Pine Squirrel

We occasionally carry these tiny Pine Squirrel tails in our shop – Take the rare opportunity to buy a perfect squirrel tail for your riffling hitch and other micro tube flies.

Find them here

Pine squirrel for salmon flies

Russian Flying SquirrelRussian Flying Squirrel

A tiny squirrel tail – and very hard to find – Some of the finest fly-tying material we have ever seen.

Siberian Pygmy SquirrelSiberian Pygmy Squirrel

The smallest squirrel we have ever seen – and some of the finest hair we have ever come across – Most  likely not your everyday roadkill fly-tying material

Himalayan SquirrelHimalayan  Squirrel

Rare squirrel material quite close to its cousin, the small pine squirrel

Chinese Pine SquirrelChinese Pine Squirrel

Similar to its US cousin but much softer – A nice tail for small and medium salmon flies

Eurasian red squirrel

Eurasian red squirrel – the black version

Eurasian red squirrel, as they formally are known (Scientific Name: Sciurus vulgaris), is a squirrel species widespread across Northern Europa and the vast forest land of Russia where some squirrels are caught in traps and their pelt is used for various garments – Truly great material. Super quality and perfect for miniature patterns like riffling hitch flies and any other fly pattern designed to lure trout, salmon and char. The Eurasian red squirrel is found in colour variations ranging from jet-black to almost ginger red Buy it from us

Natural black squirrelEurasian red squirrel

Here in a black coloured version

– Buy it from us

Siberian Grey SquirrelEurasian red squirrel

Here is a browner coloured version

– Buy it from us

fox squirrelFox squirrel

The fox squirrel (Sciurus niger), the eastern fox squirrel or Bryant’s fox squirrel, is the largest tree squirrel native to North America. Great material for bigger or very bushy flies – less efficient for smaller patterns.

See much more on riffling Hitch

The post Squirrel tail – Made for Riffling Hitch flies first appeared on Fishmadman.com.]]>
http://www.fishmadman.com/archives/3643/feed 0 3643
About us and tube fly http://www.fishmadman.com/fishmadmanwho Thu, 14 Jul 2011 19:45:29 +0000 http://www.fishmadman.com/pages/?page_id=5
Ubber Humber salmon Bomber dry fly fishing

Surface fly fishing and tube fly is the anchor point in Fishmadman – Through our own passion for top water fishing  for salmon and trout we hope we will be able to share some interesting highlight of  this intriguing fly fishing sport

What is fishmadman.com?

 

 

Fishmadman is a company made by anglers for anglers.

We started out in 2008 as an Internet page collecting information on surface fishing for Atlantic salmon and steelhead.

Our goal was to make surface fishing, particularly dry fly fishing for salmon, popular in Scandinavia. We also aim to make the tube fly part of the North American angler’s range of fly patterns

Top water creativity – From our shop

Today Fishmadman manufacture a broad selection of flies mainly for surface fishing. We also design tubes for tube fly fishing and other unique fly-tying material.

fishmadman web shop

Our products are sold through our internet shop – and 28 shops from Oregon in the USA to Skaidi in the North of Norway.

Fishmadman has a big range of super-designed flies that will give you new possibilities in your fishing.

We have some of the best people in the business tying flies with us – Why? Because top water flies have to be perfect to perform well on the surface – Visit our shop  Buy salmon & steelhead flies

fly fishing for salmon

Do you want to sell our products in your shop?

If you have a shop or run a guiding business and want to sell our products, please fill out the form, and we will contact you as soon as possible.

If you become our business partners, we will ensure you get all necessary product photos, individual product information, fact boxes and an extensive portfolio of fishing photos to market our products.

To see shops that carry our flies, please.

Contact us to get information on wholesale

Things we have worked with

White Tube Bomber

1995 The first floating tube fly

We fished the rivers of Scandinavia with conventional dry flies every year. Still, in the mid 90´s, Jesper Fohrmann designed a new set of dry flies tied on a tube – The design was made as a consequence of the problems he was having with drowning dry flies fished on a big turbulent river in Northern Norway.

Here: Bomber dry fly tied on a plastic tube – a very different tube fly!

Styling The Tube Bomber

Different tube fly designs

We developed a long line of salmon dry flies that would suit the many different rivers in Scandinavia.

Contact with anglers from the East coast of Canada meant that we also made versions of Tube Bombers that would fit North American rivers.

tube fly tubing

Tube fly products – a matter of dedication

2009 Designing a unique tube for fly tying

Tube used for tube fly is rarely produced for fly tying and fishing flies – Often, it is a by-product made for something completely different.

Tying big dry flies on tubes, we were pushing the limit to what run-of-the-mill tubes could be used for, and not even the best tubes weren’t good enough for our production.  Ultimately we started designing our hard tube in 2009 – A expensive but rewarding project that inspired us to take things even further:

tube fly design

2011 We made the ultimate tube for Riffling Hitch and Wake flies

Fishmadman Riffling Hitch Tube  Is yet another specialized tube fly tube we have designed for our Riffling Hitch and wake flies – Again, we regard this as the best tube on the market – nothing less.. The tube is firm but still soft enough to withstand anglers inserting hooks in the rear of the tube fly.

Absolutely “low-memory” properties within the plastic compound ensure the tube will fall back into place after removing the hook.

(our hitch fly design does not involve a hook guard – the hook goes straight into the tube)

The special plastic formula used for the tubes also prevents the tube from cracking up in challenging temperatures.

Read more about tubes for tube flies

Wake fly design

2012 we launch our wake fly series

In 2012, we launched our wake fly series for steelhead and salmon.

Small dens wake flies for salmon fishing and bigger wake flies for steelhead fishing, all tied on our fantastic Riffling Hitch tube 3.2 millimetres –

Together with steelheaders and guides from steelhead lodges in Oregon and BC, We had been working on these tube flies for some seasons before launching them – We had to make sure that the transition from regular hook patterns to patterns tied on a tube would work – They worked better than we could ever have dreamed of. We hope many anglers will try this new way of skating tube fly patterns for salmon and steelhead.

See our page on.

See the comprehensive shop page on wake flies Buy salmon & steelhead flies

Iridescent closed-cell foam for fly tying

For 2014 a new type of Iridescent closed-cell foam for bug´s

In correlation with the development of wake flies for steelhead in 2012, we made a new type of closed-cell foam that we also decided to share with other anglers. Softer foam than typically found will enable you to tie tiny bugs.

A shimmering attractive back will give your flies a very lifelike look

Scandinavian Pike flies

For 2017 Our series of Pike flies

Pike fly-fishing is a big sport in Scandinavia where the magnificent Baltic Sea run between Finland, Sweden, the Baltic states, Russia, Poland, Germany, and Denmark – 10000 of keen anglers fish for huge pike with flies made to imitate; whitefish, herring, sprats, juvenile cod and small pike – With the Fishmadman pike fly series our master Pro tier; Jim Jørgensen have done what he does best – and you will get some of the best pike flies available See the flies in our shop

Speed Sunray Shadow

For 2020 Our series of Speed Sunray Shadow

Try a form of salmon fly fishing that will change your sport for good…

cone-head-tube

2022 – a smart tube design made for coneheads

Monster Tube Caddis

1995 Caddisfly imitation for Atlantic salmon

The Monster Tube Caddis ™ was designed in 1995. This summer was a big year for the caddisfly of the limnephilidae familyNormally the Atlantic salmon is not known to eat anything on their way to the spawning grounds – but these fish in the very north of Norway were feasting away on the wealth of insects, and an imitation of the caddisfly was needed.

Like Lee Wulff in the late ’20s had designed his White Wulff as a huge version of a mayfly – so did, Jesper Fohrmann also create a caricature-like version of the caddisfly insect. This big caddisfly caricature has proven to be an excellent dry fly for salmon.

Bomber hook ?

Solving problems with leverage

Using thin tubes instead of long shank hooks for dry flies and other surface flies made the world of surface fishing much different.

We use tubes that could be fitted with small short shank wide gape carp hooks that hook the fish perfectly.

The tube does not work as a lever as the long shank hook so often will do – and upon hooking the fish, the hook often becomes detached from the tube – enabling you to unhook the fish with greater ease.

Tying dry flies on a tube also made dry flies that would perform much differently to those tied on a long shank hook, making them easier to cast and present  – a decrease in weight by up to + 30 % also made them float better.

2010 We made the best hook guard on the market

In 2010, we designed a new hook guard that wouldn’t take in water as opposed to the silicone hook guard we had used.

Silicone tubing will take in up to 15 % water – so it was not quite the perfect tube for dry and wake flies. We worked with people producing high-end pharmaceutical equipment and finally made tubing that would suit all our needs.

Zebra Sunray Shadow

Tube flies below the surface

We also work with tube fly design for sub-fly fishing – it could be big Sunray Shadow flies to pull cross current or tiny tubes to fish in the surface layer…  Overall, we try our best to cover those aspects of salmon and trout fly fishing that interest us.

All of our sub-surface flies are tied on our Riffling Hitch tube

ZEBRA GOAT

2012 and a new line of fly tying material:  Sunray Zebra Shadow ™

In 2012, we designed a new material for the win of salmon flies. It is a Himalayan Goat with bands  – We needed the material for big Sunray Shadow flies and took the time and effort to develop this product to be ready for fly tiers at salmon and steelhead rivers.

See Sunray Zebra Shadow fly tying in our shop Buy salmon & steelhead flies

Zebra goat from FishmadmanZebra Goat ™ A new animal – And a new and interesting material to tie on a big tube fly

To see how to work with this exclusive material – See our page on the Sunray Shadow fly

Frances Fly box

2015 we started our Frances fly project

Doing what we think is best is to develop utterly perfect salmon and steelhead flies that our friends and we would tie on the leader. Such flies are the series of micro Frances flies we have made on Partridge hooks – Long crispy feelers – Specially dyed Icelandic wool for the body – Silver plated wire for the rib – Hair from Tanuki Fox dyed by us….hair is from the paws of the animal to give the best texture – See them in the shop

Sunray Shadow iridescent Green BIG # 53-110 - 130 mm.

2016 The iridescent Sunray Shadow series

Gold Hitchman riffling hitch fly

2019 The Hitchman Series

Hitchman riffling hitch tube

2019 The development of the Pixel-Head

The Pixel-Head technique is an approach to make surface flies look even better – we use it on our Hitchman fly series and have also used this fly tying detail on Sunray Shadow flies …with great success

Read more here

See material for this unique design in the shop here

Tube fly needle

For 2021 Specially designed needles for tube flies

The Fishmadman tube fly team

Per Fischer
A Fishmadman

Per Fischer: Who has worked as Purchaser and Product Specialist on Rio Fly lines, Simms, Hardy, And Greys

Per Fischer is on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn

I’m here to answer any questions about our products and services. Feel free to contact me using any of the following methods:

Email: fishmadman@gmail.com

Managing director

Jim Jorgensen Fishmadman

New Fishmadman on the block

Jim is the new guy on the block – But a seasoned angler that prefers dry fly fishing for trout  – Pike fly fishing, and weeks of saltwater fishing for GT´s

Jim is now part of Fishmadman as we need his excellent skills in fly tying, especially those skills that produce some of Scandinavia’s best pike flies  – If you in need of advice on pike fly fishing in Scandinavia…Jim’s your guy

Responsible for product development

Email: jim@fishmadman.com

Jesper Fohrmann
A Fishmadman

Jesper Fohrmann: He has been a freelance journalist and photographer since 1982 and has contributed to numerous books and articles on fly fishing in Scandinavia, Europa,  and the USA. Jesper also does guiding for salmon anglers in Scotland.

Last but not least, Jesper Fohrmann does video editing

I’m here to answer any questions about our products and services. Feel free to contact me using any of the following methods:

Email: jesper@fishmadman.com

Skype: Fishmadman

Responsible for product development

Read what the anglers think of Fishmadman

The post About us and tube fly first appeared on Fishmadman.com.]]>
5