The tale of a new fly.

[Gander]

During the summer, I was tied up some flies for a friend at my place of work. They were dry flies. At the end of my tying session, I did something that probably, a lot of us do. I tied up a new (-ish) fly out of what I had to hand, based on what I had been tying, but with a twist. Just the one, mind you. These flies usually get relegated to a dark corner of some flybox, maybe to be tried when desperation sets in on an unsuccessful outting. However, this time, I threw it in with the flies I'd tied up for my friend. A few weeks later, he had a tale to tell me of the odd fly.

My friend fishes the Aberdeenshire Don. He was trying out the odd fly I'd given him, when a large fish rose and took the fly. He was in to the fish briefly, but his 3lb tippet broke. Now what made this a notable event, was the clear sight of the fish he raised. Although the Don holds some large trout, this was something altogether bigger. My friend tells me that the fish he saw was a Salmon, easily approaching 30lbs; and he is an experienced Salmon angler.

Now the questions this leaves me with are; how often do Salmon attempt to take dry trout flies? Should I rush to tie up a batch for trout use? Or should I tie up a Salmon variation (making it into a lure)?

You can't attribute anything to the fly on one strange encounter, but it does make you wonder.

[t1978d]

Originally Posted by Gander

During the summer, I was tied up some flies for a friend at my place of work. They were dry flies. At the end of my tying session, I did something that probably, a lot of us do. I tied up a new (-ish) fly out of what I had to hand, based on what I had been tying, but with a twist. Just the one, mind you. These flies usually get relegated to a dark corner of some flybox, maybe to be tried when desperation sets in on an unsuccessful outting. However, this time, I threw it in with the flies I'd tied up for my friend. A few weeks later, he had a tale to tell me of the odd fly.

My friend fishes the Aberdeenshire Don. He was trying out the odd fly I'd given him, when a large fish rose and took the fly. He was in to the fish briefly, but his 3lb tippet broke. Now what made this a notable event, was the clear sight of the fish he raised. Although the Don holds some large trout, this was something altogether bigger. My friend tells me that the fish he saw was a Salmon, easily approaching 30lbs; and he is an experienced Salmon angler.

Now the questions this leaves me with are; how often do Salmon attempt to take dry trout flies? Should I rush to tie up a batch for trout use? Or should I tie up a Salmon variation (making it into a lure)?

You can't attribute anything to the fly on one strange encounter, but it does make you wonder.

Are the bomber series of flies used much in Scotland? They are supposed to be successful in Canada for Salmon, also I read an article by the creator of the klinkhamer and he claimed he caught salmon on them in Norway.
I'd say if dry type flies were used more you might here more stories of salmon being caught on them.
I suppose it's a self fulfilling prophecy in a way.

[Gander]

A little while after making the original post on this thread, I was sat in a waiting room. I picked up a magazine (Scottish Field) and lo and behold, in it was an article on catching British Salmon using dry fly. The author (Charles Rangeley-Wilson) has been using it as a tactic for a while, and believes it to be under used by British anglers.