Read the letter in Scandinavian (This time Danish)
Hello fellow anglers and welcome to another newsletter from us at Fishmadman – the holiday season is close and we as many other anglers will spend time with family and friends and then go to our fly tying room and try our hands on some new flies for the upcoming season …This newsletter will be focusing on some of the things we have made for fly tying in 2021… hopefully, it will be of inspiration to you
This time in the newsletter
- The Pink´s are coming
- NEW tube fly tying needles from us
- A NEW form of tube from us
- Natural black squirrel tails in stock again
- Introducing our new associate
- Holliday discount 🥳
Jesper Fohrmann
Fly Designer
Pacific salmon in Scandinavia
Season 2021 was not a particularly good year for the Atlantic salmon in Scandinavia, but runs of pink salmon were completely off the charts and I for one did not miss out on the opportunity to fish for this aggressive and hard fighting fish both in rivers and in the salt – Here is a male pink salmon in spawning colures caught on sea trout costal gear – Compared to its size, pink salmon can be one of the hardest fighting fish you may encounter at the end of your fly rod.
The pinks are coming!
The Pacific salmonid (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) or pink salmon as it also is known as in North America was introduced to the Russian Barents region by mad scientists in the late 1950´s – ever since then, these species have appeared in salmon rivers all over Scandinavia and in the UK. Some years runs have been weak but other years like the recent, runs of this irregular critter have gained momentum and 100000´s pink salmon have entered our river systems… especially in the very north of Norway.
Fish non grata
The ecological impact of pink salmon entering our Atlantic salmon river systems has as of yet not been fully determined and the Norwegian government have finally instigated extensive research into the matter. To read more about the timeline of this major example of how humans may ruin native biodiversity – Go to this link
Arriving at the river pink salmon are silver and the meat is red and tasty a bit like our native trout, after some weeks in freshwater the meat loses some of its taste and firmness and pink salmon become less interesting as food.
A brace of fresh pink salmon caught on a Ban´s Special. The top fish is a female, the bottom fish is a male.
I did my bit my fair bit to diminish the runs of pink´s this summer and I highly recommend these fish for your sushi and sashimi.
Pinks on a Bomber
When pink salmon have been in fresh water for some time they can become quite difficult to catch and very easy to spook – but the sheer amount of them makes things interesting and this summer I spend countless hours trying to catch them on a dry fly.
Some notes and observations on pink salmon in Scandinavian waters.
- None of the + 80 Pacific salmon I caught this summer had sea lice on them… an interesting fact considering the number of sea lice native salmon has to cope with
- When observing the 4 species together in the rivers I visited (arctic char, Atlantic salmon, sea-run brown trout and pink salmon) I did not once observe any fight among the native fish and the Pacific salmon this does not mean that Pacific salmon would avoid and take up space that the other fish normally would occupy … It looked like all fish did there own thing without bothering each other.
Tube fly tying needles from Fishmadman
Smart design!
Over the years we have happily used normal sowing needles for our tube fly tying – we have also promoted this inexpensive solution through our shop but we have had problems getting the right sowing needles for the tubing we sell so we decided to produce our design of tube fly tying needles – and are proud to present you with some of the smartest needles on the market.
4 different needles to choose from. We make needles that will fit the tubing we sell – from the thinnest 1.4 – millimetre tubings to the biggest 3.2 mm. tubing we use for big Sunray Shadow flies – A small plate at the rear end of the needle serves as a clamping point to put in your fly tying vise.
A new type of tubing for your cone head flies
Cone-Head-Tube ™ from Fishmadman
A simple solution to a major headache
If you design tiny flies on tube you will often come across the problem where your tubing doesn’t fit the tiny coneheads you want to use in your fishing, and you probably already have a whole draw full of coneheads that won’t fit the tubes you can buy (except for those extra expensive tubes manufactures make to fit their special coneheads) – Well… we have the solution for you…and we know you’re going to like it.
Heat and pull the Cone-Head-Tube ™ and change the diameter of the tubing
Here is a revolutionizing concept in the world of tube flies that we have been working on for some years. Simply heat the tubing slightly – pull – and let the tube cool down, now you have a new tube dimension that could fit your desired conehead. A really smart tube to have if you design tube flies with coneheads
The best tube material on the market
Absolutely “low-memory” properties within the plastic compound ensure that the tube will fall back into place after the hook has been removed The non-toxic special plastic formula used for the tubes also prevent the tube from cracking up in challenging temperatures.
Use the Cone-Head-Tube ™ as an inner tube on your metal tubes – then add a conehead
The Cone-Head-tube ™ 1.6/ 0.8mm. fits perfectly into most met™al tubes found in shops.
Heat and pull the Cone-head-tube ™ and you can shape it to accommodate a small tungsten conehead making it possible for you to design tiny heavy flies.
We have made a video showing you how it all works
Natural black squirrel tails from Russia
New stock
We initially had 100 of these tails …but they were sold out in a matter of weeks…so we decided to see if we could order more… now a few days before publishing this letter we were promised additional tails so now we should be able to supply you.
Natural black squirrel (Scientific Name: Sciurus vulgaris) hair has that super alluring effect on trout and salmon and 1000´s salmon fly patterns are based on the properties of squirrel hair – Not all squirrel tails are alike and some squirrel hair will work best if used on small flies and other hairs work better on bigger flies – if you are curious to learn more about squirrel hair in fly tying – take a look at our page on the subject squirrel tails. We will be listing the tails in shades of black and brown as long as stock lasts.
The prize is 6.95 $
New Fischer on the block
Las Fischer is the new guy on the block at Fishmadman
In fact, Las isn’t that new as he has been part of Fishmadman for some years. Las is a cornerstone in our small enterprise where angling doesn’t have to be part of your CV…but it helps (:
Here Las is pictured on one of those classic looking vintage photos showing off his first-ever sea trout back in 1993
Merry Christmas and a happy new fishing season
Thank you for supporting our highly specialized fly shop – We hope that our flies will bring fish to your leader and a smile on your lips in 2022
To make things a bit merrier we would like to give you our newsletter readers a 11 % discount on all goods in our shop.
To take advantage of the discount please use the promotion code FISHALOT at checkout and the discount will automatically be deducted from any purchase you make in our shop.
The offer will be valid for the rest of 2021
Thank you from us
Thank you for supporting our highly specialized fly shop – We hope that our flies will bring fish to your leader and a smile on your lips in 2021… I think we all could need that (:
Remember to bring your kids and grandkids fishing it is only by sharing the dreamy and glorious moments at the river and ponds that new generations of people would want to conserve the fragile world of the salmon and trout that run our waters.
Yours Per & Jesper