atlantics on a dry fly

[pete85]

hi lads, im looking a bit of information on dries for atlantics, i know the dry fly is used alot in canada but here in ireland you would be laughed off the river if you were seen casting a bit bomber upstream at unsuspecting salmon...salmon are caught every year on the big loughs on dry mayflys by trout anglers, now is there any reason why a salmon wouldnt take a dry here on the river? what conditions and tempetures would you use a dry in canada?
cheers lads

[gt05254]

Warm weather, warming, low water....summer on the Miramichi and Bombers in the air! I often make a special trip up there in August just to fish Bombers.
Gary
check it out: http://theriverscourse.blogspot.com/...-atlantic.html

[NB Rob]

Gary is spot on. Nice blog entry by the way Gary. It seems so far away from now....



In addition to those temperatures (when the water and air are about the same temperature), I look forward to just after a big raise in water, when it's on it's way down... "Half the rise", as they say-- That's the best recipe for dry fly fishing that I know of.

[gregor 42]

Originally Posted by pete85

hi lads, im looking a bit of information on dries for atlantics, i know the dry fly is used alot in canada but here in ireland you would be laughed off the river if you were seen casting a bit bomber upstream at unsuspecting salmon...salmon are caught every year on the big loughs on dry mayflys by trout anglers, now is there any reason why a salmon wouldnt take a dry here on the river? what conditions and tempetures would you use a dry in canada?
cheers lads

As Gary says, warm weather and relatively low water, clear is best. Drop the bomber into a clean slick area of the run, dead drift the fly, and at the end of the drift let it swing a bit toward shore (grilse especially tend to follow the fly). It's not like trout fishing where you're trying to dead drift a dry fly for a long float(10-15 feet is fine). The sizes we use on the east coast in Canada generally range from 8s to 2/0. We use a lot of bombers and buck bugs (small deer hair bugs-4-8s) Water temps probably 60F and up.

I have been fishing Atlantic Salmon for over 40 years and having one rise to a dry fly is absolutely the most fun you can have standing up. It also gives you a big advantage over a "congo line" of fishermen or women, if you know how to dry fly fish. There have been many times when the only rises and hookups I have had were to dries.

When a fish does take the fly, unlike trout where you strike immediately, you have to wait until the salmon turns down into the water with the fly or you will just pull it out of it's mouth(but then there are many sources of info on this subject elsewhere).

I see no reason why you wouldn't be able to catch salmon on a dry fly in your rivers. They are not feeding at this time and who knows why they take a fly at all (lots of speculation but no one really knows). If only we did, we then would hook many more).

Good luck with it and by all means give it a try on your waters. You may start something new in your area.

(By the way, Gary, the Miramichi is my home river and I have fished at Danny's (Hickey Pool) and am a friend of his mom and dad). Great spot. Cheers.

[gt05254]

I love the small world those of us that frequent this forum live in!! Just great! We need a SpeyPages get-together on the Miramichi! We can fish Bombers!
Gary

[gastch]

Originally Posted by gt05254

I love the small world those of us that frequent this forum live in!! Just great! We need a SpeyPages get-together on the Miramichi! We can fish Bombers!
Gary

Yes this should be on our to-do list for next year. It would be good to put some faces to the names.

[gt05254]

I'm in! And Pete, as Gregor so well described it, it would be well worth dealing with their attempts to laugh you off the river when you start pounding up salmon to your Bomber. Peer pressure be damned!
Gary

[mcmutt]

Bombers, bugs, BIG Wulff's, deerhair mice, and even an old fly Col. Monell will work over here. The MacIntosh is another from here in Nova Scotia. Nothing like seeing ole salar come up on the dry fly.Nothing !!

[gt05254]

Pete85, this morning the phrase, "Be the first kid on your block (substitute: river)" came to mind, out from the dark recesses a memory of a comic book or TV ad of 50 years ago. If the shoe fits, wear it!
Gary

[pete85]

thanks for the comments lads, ill have to give it a try... the thing i guess is tempeture? is there a perfect balance between water and air tempeture for best results? there is a stretch of river i fish where the water is shallow about 2-4ft but the flow is very slow, when the water is clear i can spot salmon in some spots, would it be worth throwing bombers at these sighted fish? nice blog aswell gary.

[copsamps]

I fish for Atlantic salmon and I use a wet fly 90% of the time.My wife uses a Bomber 90% of the time.I've seen her catch fish in early season,mid season,late season,high and low water.Try a #4 or #2 bomber anytime you feel like it.Sometimes strange things happen.
Tight Lines
Copsamps

[Klink]

Pete, just came across this thread. Its a topic I've raised on an Irish based forum and have had some interesting replies, but not as encouraging as the replies from the guys on here. As you say it is a highly unlikely sight to see on our rivers i.e the use of a dry fly for salmon, and I suspect that most if not all salmon caught on dry fly on our lakes are caught unintentionally while fishing for trout. There is an opinion that not all flies fished on the surface could be called dry fly fishing. This is an interesting point of view as a fly could in theory be fished both dry and wet on the same cast. What I mean is that, lets say, a muddler or bomber on the initial cast fished dead drift is indeed a dry fly but when it comes round at the end of a swing it surely creates wake and could be pushed subsurface therefore making it a wet fly. It would be interesting to hear the opinions of others on this. Also could you guys recommend some dry flies to try, because despite the probable strange looks of bewilderment, I intend to try fishing dry flies for salmon soon, if nothing more that to satisfy my curiosity. By the way Pete have you tried dries yet and if so how did you get on?

[oldstyleoverthe]

Hi There I have caught Salmon in Ireland on 'damp ' flies . I use plastic tubes with holes in their sides/ bottom, opposite the wing.. And fish like a float when bait fishing. This has the same effect as hitch knots. i was shown this technique by two Swedes who 'work' for LOOP whist fishing on the Yakanga in Russia.
I use silver or gold bodied flies with a black hair wing.
The best spots to fish tend to be where you can cast into fast water and float into calm holding spots. Best for me are fishing the left hand bank and a sharp right hand bend in the river. The River Drowes has lots of these. DEEP shaded spots tend to be good when the sun is bright.
Do NOT strike ( easier said than done ) on Salmon but Strike sea Trout ( I expect steels ) as they tend to reject the fly quickly.
Salmon tend to be very relaxed about the take so there is no need to rush.
Just feel and lift into the fish. Out pointed doubles seem to be the best hooks as they slide along the jaw into the scissors.
Purple bombers work well in Russia but not in Britain. Don't know why ?

Hope this helps

Brian

[Klink]

Thanks Brian, helpful as always! I was surprised by the reaction I got from one person here with regard to surface flies, and his opinion of skated flies as opposed to dead drift fly fishing. A point for purists to argue about for sure. In my opinion there is very little difference, or have I opened a can of worms!

[pete85]

Hi klink, as it just happens I'm just back from a weeks fishing in gaspe, we were fishing the second week of the season so it was mainly swinging wets, although we did try some bombers, throwing dead drift landing the fly 3 foot above the fish, I had one fish that we covered with wets without a response come right up under the bomber for a look first cast, although he never moved again, the brother rose a fish twice on the bomber, first time he just splashed at the fly, second time he rose up and over the fly taking it down, unfortunately he was just reeling in to change the fly and had to much slack to set the hook... From what I picked up if conditions are there to fish a wet on a full floater they will rise to a dead drifted bomber, I'm 100% convinced it'll will work on these shores, I'm gonna put a lot of effort into it this season, that is if "they" don't come and take me away.. I think if you can find somewhere were you can spot fish and see there reactions would be a good place to start.... Good luck hopefully we can prove the doubters wrong..

Originally Posted by Klink

Pete, just came across this thread. Its a topic I've raised on an Irish based forum and have had some interesting replies, but not as encouraging as the replies from the guys on here. As you say it is a highly unlikely sight to see on our rivers i.e the use of a dry fly for salmon, and I suspect that most if not all salmon caught on dry fly on our lakes are caught unintentionally while fishing for trout. There is an opinion that not all flies fished on the surface could be called dry fly fishing. This is an interesting point of view as a fly could in theory be fished both dry and wet on the same cast. What I mean is that, lets say, a muddler or bomber on the initial cast fished dead drift is indeed a dry fly but when it comes round at the end of a swing it surely creates wake and could be pushed subsurface therefore making it a wet fly. It would be interesting to hear the opinions of others on this. Also could you guys recommend some dry flies to try, because despite the probable strange looks of bewilderment, I intend to try fishing dry flies for salmon soon, if nothing more that to satisfy my curiosity. By the way Pete have you tried dries yet and if so how did you get on?