European angler and in particular anglers in Scandinavia benefit greatly from the properties of the tube fly, and have through the last 50 years worked progressively with the design of tube fly. But who made the first tube fly ?

It is the British author and angler Mr. Alexander Wanless who in his book The Angler And The Thread Line, from 1932 put forward his idea of the sliding fly (the first tube fly) from his series of flies called the: Thread Line Salmon Series..  Mr. Wanless made the sliding fly and the other flies to be used with his light weight spinning gear that he used in his fishing for salmon. Read more about Alexander Wanless and the first tube fly

The tube fly solved big problems

Until the birth of the tube fly salmon anglers was left to use seriously big single hook flies for their early fishing. Giants of size 6/0 – 12/0 was definitely not uncommon, and must have been terrible

to cast let alone horrible to be hit in the neck by while casting.

Seriously big 11/0 Garry Dog made for early season fishing. This one from Fly tying company Redparth on Tweed 1940′s

One of the biggest problems with big single hooks was the fact that anglers would lose a large majority of the fish to problems with leverage Read about the problems of leverage

A few significant things about the tube fly

• Build big flies with no leverage problems
• Tye a tube fly with distributed wight or other add-on and alter the movement like: conehead’s bullet’s – wake discs  – Propellers
• With a tube fly you will be able to keep the fly and change the hook according to the changes at the river.
• Build big dry flies like we do at Fishmadman with less weight
• Make wake flies as tube fly and get flies that will wake with easy and can carry hooks in different ways
• Make tiny – tiny wet flies that can fish ..in the surface layer.. different from any salmon fly you have tried – hereby gaining fishing territory on a completely new part of the river…targeting new fish

The first tube fly was made in 1932 is a post from: FISHMADMAN.COM

How does the salmon see our fly ? – Learn about the psychical dynamics in the Atlantic salmon and why it might react to a particular color salmon fly

Read more on salmon fly styling and the ways to fish the fly

See page on the all time orange salmon fly The General Practitioner

salmon fly in red is a post from: FISHMADMAN.COM

Norwegian wins the 2012 FISHMADMAN competition with a stunning 30 lb. salmon on a High VIZ. Green Tube Bomber – Read the story and see some of the other entries in the 2012 competition

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2012 FISHMADMAN competition – winner is a post from: FISHMADMAN.COM

Normal fishing historians will tell you that the first description of the first salmon dry fly and this special form of fishing come from North America and Mr. George M. La Branche who wrote about his fishing in the book: The Salmon And The Dry Fly from 1924 – But we have found a salmon dry fly pioneer that will  top Mr. George M. La Branche – It is a British angler: Major J.R Fraser that writes to tell British anglers about his exclusive dry fly fishing – Farlow: A British tackle make of the time, also runs a series of Mr. Fraser salmon dry flies – that actually is to be found in Farlows catalog along with the detailed description from 1909 and at least 10 years ahead

Color plate from the Farlow 1910 catalog: Showing the first salmon dry fly 

The first salmon dry fly was British is a post from: FISHMADMAN.COM

To the dry fly angler the core of dry fly fishing lies in the take.  The enthralling and hypnotic experience of seeing a fish coming to the surface to hit the fly can`t be matched by much.

Salmon hitting dry fly is a post from: FISHMADMAN.COM

Collie Dog fly and Brooks Sunray shadow is found in the hall of fame of salmon flies. The Collie dog is originally a Scottish fly from the late 18´century. It was probably one of the very - if not the first hair-wing salmon fly ever to be made, and it was most likely tied with hair from a dog like the Border collie.

The Collie Dog is a post from: FISHMADMAN.COM

Read the fascinating story about late British salmon angler Mr. Raymond  Brooks and how he through ingenuity and dedication to salmon fly fishing came to make the most famous tube fly in the world – Read how to fish with it and get inspiration to try long-winged flies this summer

The Sunray Shadow story

The Sunray Shadow or Brooks Sunray Shadow originally designed by late British salmon angler Mr. Raymond Brooks (Ray Brooks)

In the early 60´s Ray traveled through Norway to find the perfect salmon river. He did so with his wife Margit. their favorite river became the Lærdal River that runs to the Sognefjord. A river that had a historic run of big Atlantic salmon and a sea-trout.

Ray and Margit held the lease for the lærdal (Laerdal) River from 1966 until the mid 90´s when this and other rivers in the region saw a devastating outbreak and infestation of the salmon parasite Gyrodactylus salaris

The Lærdal River is gin clear and of medium size. It is in these fabulous surroundings that Ray Brooks creates the Sunray Shadow fly.  The first fly was done in the early 60´s – and the Sunray tube fly soon proved so good that Ray and Margit started a production of the fly.

The flies were tied on tubes designed exclusively for the purpose, consisting of a inner and outer tube, allowing a tube fly hook to rest in the back-end of the tube.  Hair from monkey was used in the design of the wing. Initially the monkey hair came out of a carpet that a fellow angler had in his living room. Later Ray made a registered pattern on the fly that he named: The Sunray Shadow.

The Sunray fly was tied commercially for the Brooks family by Danish company Lawcock and later with fly tiers in Singapore.

The Sunray Shadow once tied with hair from monkey – Today anglers will substitute monkey hair with material like goat. Sunray Shadow shown on photo tied with Kashmir goat dyed black – Numerous + 20 kilo salmon has been caught on the Sunray Shadow.

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The Sunray Shadow story is a post from: FISHMADMAN.COM

We tie our Killer whisker on tube – We don’t think big dry flies should be tied on hooks

Kind regards

Jesper

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Killer Whisker A big Canadian salmon dry fly is a post from: FISHMADMAN.COM

Chernobyl Ant One of the greatest fly patterns in the world of fly tying. Designed in 1995 By Allan Woolley and Mark Forslund from the Green River system in Utah… The Chernobyl Ant with its rubber legs has a hypnotic grip on many Salmonidae – a.o also Atlantic Salmon.

Try it

We do not know what it exactly is within the Chernobyl Ant that is so alluring – but if you haven’t tried them on salmon and trout – maybe 2013 is the time to try. See how we have done them on tube – We also have a couple of super hooks for them.. They are exclusive for Fishmadman:  ICHIBAN hooks Japanese hooks at their best. Go to Ishiban # 1 or Ichiban # 3 See the flies in our shop

Chernobyl Ant: a wake fly with a subtle attitude

The Atlantic salmon is not overly attracted to flies making big wakes – but will happily rise to slowly moving surface flies making diminutive wakes – A fly like the Chernobyl Ant with its rubber legs and low-key wake can have a very strong effect on Atlantic salmon. Read more

Read more: About Chernobyl Ant

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Chernobyl Ant – Neither Ant – Nor beast is a post from: FISHMADMAN.COM

The squirrel`s: A large family of rodents divided into five subfamilies, with about 58 genera and some 285 species. – Some like the Eastern Grey Squirrel  and the Pine squirrel  have long been known as top fly tying material, and hair from these animal is found in 1000´s of know fly patterns across the world. The Eastern Grey Squirrel is a absolute favorite material in our fly tying shop… and we buy squirrel tails from these animals in the UK by the doz..

The Eastern Grey Squirrel was  introduced to Britain, many years ago where it has spread across the country and has largely displaced the native Red squirrel  Wherefore it is considered a pest animal by most Brittan’s..

Mr. Squirrel tail helping out at the Fishmadman fly tying desk

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Squirrel tail – Made for Riffling Hitch flies is a post from: FISHMADMAN.COM

More so than it is with Atlantic salmon the steelhead is attracted to skated and waked flies – and will react aggressively to flies fished active during summer and long into autumn. Steelhead anglers have been building wake flies for some decades now – Flies that will work on the top – in rough and calm water. Fly patterns like Waller Walker, Ska-opper, and Steelhead bug

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Wake flies on Riffling Hitch Tube is a post from: FISHMADMAN.COM

Fishmadman Competition is a post from: FISHMADMAN.COM

Smurf Bomber: This distinct blue colored Bomber is a sought after fly pattern by Atlantic Salmon and anglers from Canada.  One could only guess why the color combination on the Smurf Bomber works especially good on some rivers in Canada: Maybe it is the blue skyline that often dominate when fishing during summer Maybe it is because the  salmon is able to focus on light with short wavelength like; green and bluish colors… when it enters the sea.. It could also be that the contrast color of the Smurf Bomber stick out like other contrast Bombers

Smurf Bomber – Green Bomber – White Bomber..Blends right into the landscape

This the Hig Viz Green Bomber ™ has proven efficient to us the last season – As it is with the color of the Smurf Bomber it does not mimic any particular insect, but it blends right into the background at the river. The river we fish is lined in with green birch trees. Branches hanging over the water. This color Tube Bomber will be available in our shop from medio 2013

Nr. 1 Nordic Bomber

There is no doubt that the white Bomber either with Grizzle or all white hackle is the favored salmon dry fly among Atlantic salmon anglers in the North of Scandinavia – Wide open landscape – Broad shallow rivers with clear water is the perfect element for the light-colored White Bomber.

The White & Orange Bomber

Yet another color variation of the Bomber is the White & Orange Bomber. Well suited for rivers with lots of foam cloths where a White Bomber might disappear into. Here tied the Tube Bomber way…This color Tube Bomber will be available in our shop from medio 2013

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The Smurf Bomber is a post from: FISHMADMAN.COM