The Atlantic Salmon Fly Passion

Checkout my review on the new Skagit line from Rio here... https://midcurrent.com/gear/fly-line-review-rio-skagit-max-gamechanger/ https://www.flygearguide.com

Floating a river to find unfished pools can increase the odds of connecting with a player during the dog days of summer.   Having success when fishing for late summer Atlantic Salmon is always a coin flip depending on conditions. Pressured fish that are staging closer to their spawning grounds in low, warm water, is usually not a recipe for success. Sometimes we are forced to face these conditions and must make the best of it. My buddy Nunzio and I planned a float in late August, down a stretch of river that has limited access by road. Our hope was that the limited access to a couple of excellent pools would have fish that did not see as many fishermen as the more accessible pools do. It was a good plan and we were excited. Unfortunately, I had to cancel on the trip last minute. I called my buddy Lorenzo and asked if he could take my place since I fealt horrible about leaving Nunzio hanging last minute. A little convincing about floating down a salmon river to unfi...

Not a salmon fly post, but I recently wrote a review on Drew Chicone's new book , "Top Saltwater Flies". Check it out here.... https://www.flygearguide.com

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                              One can really learn a lot about a river and it's salmon when you float down where they migrate up. Learning about the route they travel, obstacles they encounter, pools they'll rest in, and secret places they may hide in, give us fools who chase them a better understanding of how to ultimately release them back to their business after a quick tail/handshake. Nunzio & I were lucky enough to float down a beautiful stretch of river that ran through a national park with our pontoons for a couple of days. We planned our route and hoped to float and explore 14 kms of river and camp in between.   The first pool we launched from was long and deep which we soon came to realize that the majority on our route were. We decided to focus on the the heads and tails of the pools since we only had two days. All was going smoothly until we reached the first major pool. What a pool! ...

Fresh from the lake released minus lamprey Roderick Haig Brown was one of the first anglers to bring atlantic salmon flies and fishing methods to the west coast for steelhead fishing. Atlantic salmon hairwings have evolved from the classic salmon patterns of the Victorian era. North American anglers substituted hair from deer, moose, squirrel, for the hard to acquire exotic feathers to recreate some of the popular European patterns. A few classic low waters Mr Brown , through his experience with atlantic salmon fishing was one of the first to make hairwings popular for steelhead. Although atlantic salmon and steelhead  swim at opposite sides of the continent, they do behave in similar ways. Thankfully for us atlantic salmon anglers, we can use these flies and methods if we are lucky enough to wet a line in a beautiful West Coast river or a Great lakes tributary. My last visit to N.Y. state's Salmon River saw very low flows and clear water. The big Spey,Dee, and cla...

The new ebook, "Flies for Connecticut Atlantic Salmon - How to Tie & Fish Them"  by Ben Bilello is an excellent reference relating to the Connecticut salmon fishery and the flies used to fish for them.  75 patterns are listed with their recipes including 11 step by step instructions on how to tie them. The author also includes detailed tips on how and when to fish these flies.  but don't let the title fool you. These flies and methods can be applied to all atlantic salmon fishing around the world. Ben Bilello also has an excellent Blog  with lots of info on salmon fishing where you can also purchase the ebook.