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

Juvenile Steelhead and Atlantic salmon parr are skilled surface hunters that have their attention fixed to the surface as soon as insects start swarming at the river bank.

Millions of years of training have made them what they are, and it is when conditions are perfect they take full advantage of the food on the surface…The temperature in the river and the air is a critical element of their surface activity – something we, as anglers, will experience when we target the adult fish entering the river.

Traditionally anglers target steelhead on the river’s surface during summer and into late autumn. Many different wake fly patterns have been designed for this highly specialized sport that draws anglers deep into the wilderness of Oregon and British Columbia. Many fly patterns are designed to wake subtly. Others are made to be fished more actively.

Rivers are turbulent, and the light is low – Spotting the fly on the river surface can be challenging, so we decided to make some visible wake flies.

Anglers have been fishing this new steelhead wake fly pattern on different rivers in British Columbia and Oregon season 2014 – 15 –  and the results have been great. We call this tube fly The FlashBack Bug.

We have tied the fly in 3 sizes similar to flies tied on # 1 – 4 – 8 hooks
It features our Riffling Hitch tube system, and the fly wakes perfectly in the rough and calm water.

Photo: Mr Loren Irving

We have combined some of the favoured steelhead wake fly patterns in the design of the FlashBack Bug and used some of the best fly tying material available to create a wake fly that would perform perfectly.

The iridescent foam used as back on the fly reflects the light and makes the fly glow upon the river even in poor light conditions.

Photo © of iridescent snake Mr Marc A. Spataro

Iridescent: Opalescent, shimmering, luminous, glittering, sparkling, dazzling, shining, gleaming, kaleidoscopic, rainbow-coloured –

We have many words for this highly attractive-looking material that we find with animals on land and in water –

Iridescence (also known as goniochromism) is the property of certain surfaces that appear to change colour as the angle of view or illumination changes. It is often created by structural colouration.

We have combined the iridescent colors with soft 2-millimeter sheets of black EVA foam to create this great looking fly tying material

Vintage fishing tackle specialist Mr. Aaron day from the UK had a fantastic Steelhead week on the Muskegon river in Michigan

Here Aaron’s good friend Steve with another fine steelhead from the Muskegon river

Steelhead veteran Craig Haddock also with steelhead from the Muskegon river in Michigan – Craig and friends had + 100 fish for the week Read more

Fly Fisherman Mads Hørberg with a big Iceland salmon caught on our V-FLY Hitch fly

From the very North of Norway we got a story from top-water angler Håvard Vistnes, fishing the fantastic Kongsfjord River Read his story here

Ian Martin from North America had some excellent fishing in a warm Gaspe River in the province of Quebec See more of Ian´s beautiful pictures from the Gaspe

30 NEW wake flies

• SKA-OPPER
• QUIGLEY´S DRAGON GURGLER
• MOOSE TURD

from $ 3.95

MONSTER TUBE CADDIS

Tied on our Riffling Hitch tube

from $ 4.95

CHECK THEM OUT

TUBE RATS

We have swarms of them

from $ 5.00

CHECK THEM OUT

A Newsletter special

Now and then we want to present something special to our Newsletter reader – This time we have made a collection of our NEW wake flies –

Proven patterns in colours recommended by guides and hardened anglers.

To the left selection of NEW tiny wake flies that we and friends have tested to work great for salmon – They will pull in the surface with a small wake much like a Riffling Hitch fly – Anglers from British Columbia also found use in these tiny wake flies during late season fishing – often as the fly – to change to – when steelhead had turned on bigger wake patterns

To the right a selection of our NEW steelhead wake flies in size suitable for both slow and turbulent water… In size and colours guides and anglers in BC found to be good

normal prize

$ 59.95

Newsletter prize (in December 2013)

$ 29.95

Offer consist of:  11 flies + box + 5  Japan hooks

.

The winner of the 2012 Fishmadman Competition

Norwegian angler Mr. Jan Harry Årsen wins this years FISHMADMAN competition with a + 14 kilo (+ 30 lbs) Atlantic salmon Jan Harry wrote us:

“Fish jumped out of the water to grab the big Bright Green Tube Bomber ™ from above” The salmon was caught in the fantastic Lakselv River in the very north of Norway August 2012. Cloudy conditions. water temperature 11 degrees Celsius (51.8 degrees Fahrenheit)  Hook used: Owner STN-36BC Treble #8 

See fly in shop

High VIZ. Green Tube Bomber ™ In big… A efficient pattern for Lakselv River salmon

Another Big salmon on Black & Green Zebra Shadow

Norwegian angler Mr. Jens Olav Flekke entered this beautiful salmon from Northern Norway: 108 centimeters (42,5 inches) caught on a Black & Green Zebra Sunray Shadow ™. Jens wrote us that his wife Mrs. Ellen Svendsen had a similar size salmon during their fishing session. This one on a smaller salmon tube fly with wing of black and green hair

Both fish released back in to the river after quick photo session

Here a version of the Black and Green Zebra Sunray Shadow ™ rigged with a small salmon tube fly double hook – Jens Olav used a barbless single hook rigged in a hanging loop .

See Green and Black Sunray Zebra Shadow in our shop

Salmon from Gaspè Peninsula on Pearl Sunray Shadow

Mr. Raynald Ménard mailed us this classic picture with father and son and a super fresh summer salmon in the 10 – 12 lb. range. Fish caught on a Pearl Sunray Shadow at the famous Gaspè Peninsula in  Matane River – Rod 12`# 5 Spey rod

A salmon tube fly for big greedy fish

The Pearl Sunray Shadow

See fly in our shop

XXL arctic char on wake-foam flies

Mr. Bo Jensen from Denmark enjoyed super fishing for XXL Arctic Char in Greenland this summer. Fishing gin clear rivers using our Tube Chernobyl Ants. Bo wrote us that that average arctic char is in the 2 kilo range (4,4 lb.) with bigger fish being 7 kilo (+ 15 lb.) The flies where fished active cast at an 60 degree angle downstream and brought back with wake and stop & go motion.

See our range of Tube Chernobyl Ants

Tube foam flies are killers for big arctic char that like its cousins the Steelhead and sea trout is attracted to waked flies.

See flies in shop

Big steelheads from the West Coast of Canada

Photo courtesy of Mr. Chad Black Nicholas Dean Lodge

As the top water season was firing up on the West coast of Canada we got pictures of super steelhead caught on our Riffling hitch tube wake flies: This one caught on a  The Tube Grantham Sedge by Mr. Chad Black  in a Skeena River Tributary- Fish was 34,5” long by 16.5” girth (87,63 X 41,91 centimeters) – approximately 12 lbs (5,44 kilo)  based on Sturdy’s formula. we will return to some of these stunning fish in our next newsletter

 

The Tube Grantham Sedge – See this and the other in the wake series 

Salmon fishing on the Upper Moisie River in Quebec

Photo`s courtesy of Mr. Jocelin LeBlanc, Le Repère Des Moucheurs – Landmark Flyshop

Mr. Ian D. Martin is Fly Fishing writer & photographer get around to see many different and desirable places – This summer we got some nice reports from his fishing. Ian wrote us; “Pictures above is from the Trinity River. I caught two fish,  one was really fresh!  The other one took a green squirrel V-tube, but it was not rigged for riffling but fished as a conventional micro tube fly”

” Moisie fishing this morning was canceled because of excessive wind and rain and fog 🙁  We hope this afternoon will work out, and that the helicopter can fly tomorrow to get us to Mile 12 Pool !”

” Hello Fishmadman : A little fish story – On the upper Moisie River in Quebec, the access is by helicopter. After no fish hooked for the whole day, and the weather getting worse, we had only 30 minutes until the helicopter was grounded. That’s when I saw this salmon roll, near a big rock well out in the pool. I ran down and quickly waded into position and managed to work out a long cast to cover the fish with a Green Squirrel hitch tube, and it took on the first swing. The helicopter arrived just as I was landing the fish, and we had to quickly release a beautiful Moisie salmon and race to pack up our gear as the impatient pilot waited with the rotors turning! “

Photo`s courtesy of Mr Ian D Martin Fly Fishing writer/photographer The Usual Press

Top water sea trout

Danish top water angler Mikkel Hemmeshøj with one of several sea trout caught during top water fishing with the Mad Dog Wake fly – Denmark probably has some of the greatest sea trout fishing in the world and famous rivers yields 100`s of trophy fish in the 10 – 20 lbs range. Many of these fish are caught on wake flies like the Mad Dog from Fishmadman

Mad Dog Tube Wake fly from Fishmadman. A superior wake fly designed by Danish sea trout angler Mr. Dan Karby for fishing in the Vejle River system. In Vejle river sea trout is fished at day and at night time with wake flies. Fly is fished in or close to the surface. See fly in our E-shop

Sudden appearance

We, as anglers, can benefit from the knowledge of Snell`s Widow and place the fly as close to the window as possible. The sudden appearance of the fly in the area of decision may often be followed by an immediate strike… The edge or rim of Snell`s Window seems to be a hot area to put a fly – something worth calling to mind next time you see a salmon or trout on the river bed or visit a place where you usually would expect to find them.

Fishmadman angler Per Fischer precisely positioned the dry fly in Snell`s Window – on Atlantic salmon lying in shallow water. At this spot, the cone of Snell`s Window is tiny

Get into the groove!

Salmon dry fly pioneer: George M.L. La Branche wrote in his book The Salmon And The Dry Fly (1924) about his observations and thoughts on where in the river to hook up with dry fly salmon.

La Branche saw the salmon pools with the eye of a trout fisherman and advocated that the angler should seek out places in the river that would be similar to the area where the resident trout would take a position to intercept the flow of food. He named these places where the current would deliver the insects: grooves and was sure that one would only connect with salmon if one could accurately cast the fly in these grooves.

Years of fishing have shown me and other anglers that it is not merely down to a perfect cast to Snell’s Window ... to hook up with salmon on a dry fly – The salmon is not online all the time – as I would like to explain it.

Sometimes he will rise to a well-presented dry fly within a few casts – another day, he might rise unexpectedly to the fly presented in Snell`s Window the 50`th times…with the attitude of a starved trout rushing for the only meal of the day.

_{Read more about La Branche and his ideas and fishing here}

Pushing the fly in Snell`s Window

Rarely caught on film – The take of an Atlantic salmon on a dry fly – I was lucky to get it in the box last season and am happy to show you this particular video concerning our newsletter on Snell`s Window… The salmon in the film does not bite over the fly – it merely pushes the fly. You will see the fly surfing in front of the fish. Many of the dry fly caught I had this summer was hooked on the nose or forehead, as seen on some of the pictures in the slide section: Why? – Can`t tell you…some years, they work like that .. the spot I film: 3-foot leader out of guides…Wham!

What do fish see?

How do salmon and trout detect and see things underwater and in Snell`s Window? As regular anglers, we know very little about this. We often look at the roaring river and wonder if the fish will have any chance of seeing a tiny fly on the surface – Salmon and trout have no problems detecting prey sitting or moving on the surface; they have trained these skills for 100 million years and have become true experts.

Things like: contrast, light and colours will probably reveal the insect to the fish, and it will gather this information in its tiny brain and decide if it wants to move for the prey.

When the insect enters the Area of Snell`s Window, the fish will automatically know how much, or how little, it has to turn its fins to eclipse with the drifting insect… But the fish would often have noticed the insect or fly before it entered Snell`s Window – and one must assume that this information also will be part of the decisions on whether it should use precious energy to rise to the fly.

Salmon and trout have no problems detecting prey on the surface; they have trained these skills for 100 ↑ million years. Here absurdly small dry flies and flymf’s tied for selective trout in the Montana River system

Back to Basics with guide Bill Bryden

It has been said that dry fly Atlantic salmon fishing is the pinnacle of freshwater fly fishing. The shocks and warm rushes of adrenaline it provides are not easily had in any other form of fishing. The skill and patience required often prove too much for even seasoned fly anglers, but the rewards are truly breathtaking for those who persevere. I hope that some of this discourse will encourage those who have not tried this pursuit to pick up the torch while also helping to enlighten the way for those stumbling on the first hurdles. Perhaps even the most advanced dry fly salmon angling masters may find a morsel in these pages, as may the trout purist.

Stealth & Accuracy

We could summon it up this way: Leaders are part of the presentation, and one wants to present the fly with stealth and accuracy, especially near Snell`s Window – A leader that can transform the movement from the fly line to the fly is important.

Correcting the fly – and Snell’s Window.

Novice anglers can accomplish fundamental wet fly presentations by correcting a presentation after the fly lands. Similarly, correcting an inaccurately positioned dry fly can be done by dragging it to the exact inch it needs to be on to allow for the correct drift into Snell`s Window. However, this dragging of the fly must be done very slowly and ideally outside of Snell’s Window except in particular circumstances. Once the fly is near Snell’s Window, no quick movements should be done when attempting to coax a salmon from its lair. We d not want to convince our quarry that the fly could move quickly and thus escape any attempt it may make to capture it. We want to make a nice easy target.

Fish are experts at being fish.

Fish rarely “miss” anything they genuinely want to eat. Often they inspect a dry fly several times before committing to taking it into their mouth, engage further by closing their mouth completely, and finally abandon all worry while holding it for submersion to their lay. This bodes well for the dry fly neophyte as the most solid take is often the second to fourth rise when the adrenaline has the angler cocked and ready like a rattlesnake.

Accuracy required

The roughly 45-degree angle from the fish to the edge of Snell’s Window makes it relatively easy to work out where the edge of Snell’s Window is situated. For example, at a water depth of 6 feet, the edge is 6 feet upstream of where the fish is lying. One always wants to ensure one’s leader is long enough to keep the end of the fly line out of Snell`s Window, so fishing deep lays requires longer leaders.

Once some skill in casting accuracy is acquired, the first target is the edge of Snell’s window. Even in the rippled water, many salmon hide under, the fish will see larger dry flies travelling through the air and land precisely in their drift line for feeding. This is why many Newfoundland dry fly anglers make lazy, gentle casts. The fly is cast to have it flying along very close to the surface once in Snell’s window. Most Newfoundland dry fly anglers use an underpowered, slightly sidearm cast, with the fly within a foot or two or the surface for its entire travel within Snell’s window.

Keep Pushing the button.

This is the bog-standard approach for dry fly angling and has the best chance of working on all fish in any condition. Patience is the name of the game, and 20 minutes is not too long to work a fish. Imagine regularly catching a salmon every 20 minutes. The dry fly salmon angler often catches more salmon than a wet fly angler (by far).

Consistency

If casting accurately is the most critical part of dry fly fishing for Atlantic salmon, then consistency is the second.

Often, in deep water with variable current speeds between the river bottom and the surface, a lazy relaxed salmon will rise towards Snell’s Window before the fly even touches the surface. Consistently timed presentations accomplish this. If an angler convinces a salmon that a hatch has started by repeated casting, they have a much better chance of inducing a feeding response. Timing the presentations consistently will allow fish to get excited about anticipating the next offering. Those inlays with faster surface currents must rise up closer to the surface and stay suspended or use their tail power to reach the fast-moving target in Snell`s Window. This is because the water speed they are lying in is not enough to naturally lift them to the surface by using only their pectoral fins. An angle that presents their dry fly consistently will take more of these fish than one that makes inconsistently timed casts. This can be observed in clear rivers with fish laying in the slack water behind ledges, rocks, and quickly deepening pools.

Often, these two reasons, accuracy and consistency, hamper the beginner’s effort.

Low water on the Majestic Repparfjord River in the far North of Norway, 1000’s of opportunity on Snell’s Window waits below.

Delivery to the door

Lazy fish such as stale fish, large fish, and those in warm water will want the fly to drift to where the current will naturally lift them without any sideways body movement or trusting from their tail. They will want to bob up like a waterlogged deadhead to take the fly with a lazy head and tail rise in Snell’s Window. With this approach of super-accurate casting and perfectly lined-up dead drifting, the angler tries to induce a natural, relaxed feeding response.

Tight lines Bill Bryden: To contact Bill Bryden, Click here.