The Atlantic Salmon Fly Passion

A page of low water classics Summer Salmon fishing can be both frustrating & rewarding depending on what you make of your experience out on the water. Low, & warming water, with the constant fishing pressure over the spring & summer can really "put down" the fish.  Choosing the right time to fish & the right equipment & techniques can bring rewards when the things that worked so well for us in spring fail. I focus my efforts in the first & last few hours of daylight when conditions are unfavorable. These will be the times during the day that salmon will be less stressed & more willing to accept your offerings. Finding feeder creeks or springs that spill into pools can also be productive. A few wee doubles Getting salmon to come to your fly is a challenge in itself & getting them to commit is even more difficult, but we can put some of the odds in our favor in these lean times. I typically will use sparsely tied flies bet...

A deep bodied bright spring salmon fresh from the ocean When someone asks, "what's your favorite time to fish for Atlantic Salmon?", my obvious answer is anytime, but spring salmon fishing ranks up high on the list! It may be the longing for the the season to start after a long, cold winter, or the scents of flowers, cedar, & damp leaves only springtime can bring, or the anticipation of fishing new flies tied over the winter months. All of it makes the experience on a salmon river in springtime feel like what heaven would be for me. But, the true reason, is & will always be the chance to fish for big, bright salmon! The first to enter the rivers still loaded with sea lice! At their peaks of size, power, & beauty! Eager to take your offerings with reckless abandonment! And give you memorable battles that only a worthy opponent could!   Spring tube flies BUT...................... These are the things you dream of over a long winter. Real...

The Red Golden Tag: Gold Mylar Butt: Red wool Tail: Golden pheasant red breast feather Body: Gold mohair Rib: Gold mylar Wing: Red polar bear      Collar: Golden pheasant yellow rump feather, hen ringneck  pheasant breast feather or ruffed grouse feather both tied sparse Head: light brown thread This hairwing is a conversion of a spey fly I call the Red Golden. I tied it for swinging  & grease lining in low, clear water, with the main target being Great Lakes Steelhead. It could probably serve well for fall Atlantics too. This thing really glows in the water. More of a subdued glow, which is a quality I strive for in a fly I tie & fish for specifically pressured or dour fish. It proved successful on its first swing this past fall. The target was a small riffly pocket of water that migrating steel would hold in for a few moments before heading into the main pool. I like to concentrate on these areas when the pools become too...

Tag: blue holographic tinsel Tail: Golden pheasant crest & tippet Ribs: Silver oval tinsel & pearl mylar Body: half purple & half black seal dubbing Throat: purple hackle Wing: tented bronze mallard strips Head: hot orange  My 2 year old son, Adriano, loves tying flies with me! He usually sits on my lap when we tie together. He's getting pretty good at wrapping thread & hackle, but he loves cutting things with scissors.  I left this fly on the vise waiting for the varnish to dry. It got Adriano's finishing touch when I wasn't looking! I just laughed when I saw it. I then repeated to him how dangerous scissors are & that they can only be used when daddy's around. He said ok & asked if we could tie/cut another! I always try to fish the flies my kids tie & this one was no exception. I tied it on with a few hours left of fishing for Great Lakes steelhead. After I checked if it swam right, I began close & to...

Tag:  Silver Mylar tinsel Body: Black Berlin wool Ribs: Oval silver tinsel Crossrib : Small silver wire over hackle Hackle: Heron or substitute Throat: Teal Wing: Bronze Mallard I first saw this fly in Paul C. Marriner's book,  " Modern Atlantic Salmon Flies". It immediately caught my eye, as the popular Newfoundland fly the Silver Tip, has been a long time favorite pattern of mine. It has a long silver mylar tag, body of black wool or floss, black hackle for throat & it's signature wing of moose hair. It is one of my go to flies when hitching. Logan's Silver Tip was conceived by Roddy Macleod & named for Jim Logan, a Nova Scotian salmon angler & Jazz musician.A good choice for stale fall fish. I have found it does very well for bright, fresh spring fish also & this particular fly hooked a very big salmon this spring that straightened the big iron out after taking a hard run down the rapids below the pool. Like ...

Tag: oval silver tinsel Butt: fluorescent green floss Body: Black floss Ribs: Oval silver tinsel Wing: Black bear hair Collar: Black hackle The BBGB(Black Bear Green Butt)must be one of the most fished & tied flies here on Quebec Salmon rivers if not the world, It is a must have in your fly box Like most patterns, it's origins come from a variation of a specific fly or flies. In going through books like Joseph Bates' "Fishing Atlantic Salmon The Flies & the Patterns", Fulsher & Krom's, " Hairwing Atlantic Salmon Flies", Stewart & Allen's, "Flies for Atlantic Salmon" & Marriner's,"Modern Atlantic Salmon Flies", the authors all make reference to Harry Smith of Cherryfield, Maine, who in the 1920s created an all black fly called The Black Bear Fly. Tied with a wing & throat of black bear hair & a black wool body. Later, tiers varied the materials or added tinsel & different ...

      The White Winged Akroyd Tag: silver tinsel Tail: Golden pheasant crest & tippet Butt: black ostrich herl Body: half yellow seal's fur, half black floss split by black ostrich herl Ribbing: oval silver tinsel over yellow seal's fur, flat embosseed silver tinsel over black floss Hackle: Yellow hackle over yellow seal's fur, black heron over black floss Wing: White turkey tail strips Cheeks: Jungle cock I have chosen to open this blog with the Akroyd as it is currently one of my favorite flies to tie & fish for Steelhead.  Called the "poor man's Jock Scott" by the originator, Charles Akroyd, it is one of the strip winged flies belonging to a family of flies called Dees, named after the famous Scottish Aberdeenshire Dee river. Many variations of the Akroyd have been tied. Changing the seal dubbing body or wing to different colors & material or tying on shorter shank hooks all give the original a different look & e...