My first dry flies for the Atlantic-salmon

Last night I was planning to tie some flies for our friends overseas. I have promised to mail some flies for Ed and Ian this week. However I found out that I was tying other flies with my friends at the fishing club.

From Fly-patterns

One on the left is called Potemkin and the other one is Bomber. Both flies are tied on #6 hooks and are intended for the Atlantic-salmon. As I mentioned earlier I have never fished salmon and these are first flies in my soon-to-be-purchased salmon fly box.

No Comment

From Life

No Comment -posts

I will launch a new post series for my blog. It is called "No Comment". The idea is not mine, so it might even be a good one. In short, this type of post might include single picture, video clip, link or quote. You can comment No Comment posts. This is all I say about this series at this point.

Extremes of Weather

Our climate system seems pretty messed up. After a cold and harsh late fall/early winter that I reported earlier, the weather has now changed from one extreme to another. The snow we had has now melted. Last Sunday it was +7 C or 45 F, so I went fishing. I know that good things rarely last so this was most likely my last trip this year.

I fished for few hours and managed to get one (likely) strike. When I was about to leave, one fish finally made an error by splashing the water. It got pretty excited and took my streamer with a jump. It was a nice 50 cm (just a fraction short of 20 inches) brown trout.

From Trout

Rod Building - Part 5

My friends at the fishing club are planning to start building fly rods in January - and I am with them. At this point it still seems that a 10' 7 weight rod is what I am building.

However, I have been tempted with the idea of 5 weight fiberglass, and it is too early to tell what the final decision will be...

Afraid of it

From Life (c) Piia Jääskeläinen. Used with permission.

Back in the nineteenth century it was a month’s journey for British angler to reach the great river Teno at the border of Norway and Finland. But there are documents which indicate that some of them did that journey. It must have been strange sight to local people back then, when funny looking outsiders came with long rods and feathered hooks. There were easier methods of fishing, and still is.

I have never fished Atlantic-salmon. Before last Sunday I had never read a book about salmon fishing. In fact I have consciously avoided the subject for years. This is because I am afraid that I will get passionate about this thing. But my wife gave me this book and I am starting to give in.

Classic flies

Lately I have been tempted by the idea of classic flies. This is somewhat in contrast to my personal view of fly tying. I am very practical and simplistic when it comes to fly patterns.

Below is an example of my streamers. These are Supertinseli patterns. They are easy to tie (about 3-4 minutes per fly), use only artificial materials and they are killers when it comes to effectiveness.

From Fly-patterns

But would it feel better if I would caught a big trout with the Grey Ghost instead? Or how about a classic winged wet fly instead of POPA Caddis?

Hare's Ear Soft Hackle

From Fly-patterns

It is easy to tie and trout, grayling and I like it. One of my best flies in 2005, but I didn't use it much last summer. It is a generic caddis pupa pattern. If you are not sure what fly to use, try this one.

Heavy weight bug?

I found a link to a French step-by-step fly tying instructions. Nice site, although my one credit French course didn’t help much (quel dommage) - but the pictures are excellent. This La poilue pattern seemed like something I need when the rig must get deep. Instead of original #12 hook I used #6. Makes them heavier.

From Fly-patterns

And the kinky variant...

From Fly-patterns

Early winter?

Temperature has been rather cold (about -10 ºC or +14 ºF) last week and it doesn’t seem to get much better this week. We are talking about temperature range that doesn’t inspire me to go fishing. I could fish if temperature would be just above +0 ºC. Don’t really like it when the guides freeze.

But there is hope. Generally speaking it could get much warmer, or at least it should. The weather has been a real bugger to predict lately. I mean we had cold and long spring, hot and dry summer, mild fall and the beginning of winter looks very harsh.

Virtual fly fishing anyone?

According to the Science magazine, our saltwater fly fishing experience will be rather limited if nothing is done to stop the current trend.

'Only 50 years left' for sea fish.

Do we really need to cement the head of a small fly?

One of the gurus at my local fishing club gave me an advice a few years back and I have been following it ever since. While I was cementing the head of my fly, he commented (rather gently) about the usefulness of head cementing. When small flies are of concern, why should we cement the head? The logic says that the fly will last longer. But will it? I mean that you put a good finish there and that's it.

"We say no to head cement!"

From Fly-patterns

I haven't added lacquer to my flies (apart from streamers and big nymphs) since. My flies don't untie themselves any more than they did before. To my experience, there is no need to cement the head of a small fly.

Catskill Dry Flies

Jay has posted first pictures on his Catskill Dry Fly project. I recommend that you check his blog.