Carters bug

[Rick Allain 0]

Hi folks,

Here is the best Atlantic Salmon dry fly out there. Yes even better than a bomber.

Hook is a TMC7989 size 4, yellow thread, rusty brown hackle, and of course deer hair.

The tail is about 15 strands of deer hair that is not stacked. I then begin to spin the deer hair all the way up. The most important part is to not pack the deer hair tight; it must be very soft to the touch. Once the body is done, tie in 2 hackles at the front and do a complete turn in front and work your way back, about 3 turns. Then wrap your thread back through the hackle to secure it and tie off.

Enjoy Rick.

[cphubert 0]

This is a little history of what I know of the Carter Bug from Bryant Freeman. I met Bryant through chance in the mid 90's while traveling thru NB on my way to NS, this became a regular stop and visit on my way thru town to quench my addiction for Salmo Salar and the rivers of Nova Scotia. Bryant was a generous man with a great sense of humor, freely sharing information - I learned to dye materials, pick good substitutes for traditional salmon flies as he was a wonderful fly dresser that could tie traditional for display and hair wings that I did not want to get wet. 

In the 60's Bill Carter developed the fly on the Big Salmon River, St. Martins, NB and it developed a following. In 1991 Bill sold out and Bryant bought his stock and had to reverse engineer the bug for his shop (Eskape  Anglers) while he could have asked Bill his pride and being a fly tyer stopped him. Bill used a Mustad 94833 or 94840 #4. Light wire hooks where thought to be important so the bug does not cause a shock ring when it hits the water. The ideal hook length was thought to be 22mm with a 9mm gap.

Tie the tail while holding the hair do not let it spin as pictured by Rick Alain's post. to build the body place a clump of hair on top of the hook and hit it with the thread hold the hair until you come 3/4 of the way around let go and the hair will spin out, make one turn towards the bend then three towards the eye. repeat until you fill the hook usually 4 times, do not pack or overtighten the wraps the design is to be loose and ugly. Trim the bottom flat first important for the hook gap. trimming the sides and top are done with a three-cut process up from the eye over the top and down towards the tail as posted don't over trim the fly it is not a bomber. the hackles are usually 3.5" to4" long you do not need to use your best saddles.

Fishing the fly is like dry fly fishing your cast should be stopped in air and allow the fly and line to flutter on the surface in a soft landing. most of the fish take within 5-10 seconds of the fly landing softly on the water. The bugs design, lightness in hook and hair helps it make that soft landing. Bryant used to say the salmon will keep the carter bug in their mouth after sucking it in, bombers are too hard, and the fish will spit it as fast as it can. It has served me well I carry a few bombers and surface stoneflies, mostly carter bugs for the top for me.  

 

[niveker 0]

Great info @cphubert and thanks for the SBS @Rick Allain

[chugbug27 0]

Oh man, now I need to go to Nova Scotia. Great stuff

[upnorthtier 0]

Good stuff, funny enough i was born and raised in New Brunswick and never heard of the Carter bug until you mentioned it cphubert. 

[cphubert 0]

24 minutes ago, chugbug27 said:

I need to go to Nova Scotia

I fished Nova Scotia for two reasons 1st, my grandfather used to take me and the first salmon I caught was on the Cheticamp River I fell in love with the Cheticamp area and the rivers around it. The Margaree (the crown jewel of NS) Cheticamp, North, Middle and Baddeck rivers. Additionally, you have sea run trout in the Bras D'or Lake (saltwater lake) and if the fishing is off you can catch the ferry in Sidney and head to Newfoundland (guides are required but affordable) the trip just to watch the salmon jumping the big falls on the Humber River at Sir Richard Squires Provincial Park is worth it (my opinion).  2nd, I am of average income Nova Scotia gives me the best opportunity for the money. New Brunswick is too expensive for me to fish anything except trout, a person has to keep within their budget. Quebec, Gaspe are great choices also but lack the ferry ride to NF if the runs are off.

NS does not require a guide as of yet, but I would recommend one anyway until you are familiar with the area and waters, Robert Chiasson is the guide you should contact, honest and he literally grew up on the Cheticamp River and knows all the rivers and waters of Cape Brenton, he is a fishing machine.

I also fish PEI, very affordable but it lacks the salmon runs of the other Maritimes but at this point of life and the way the salmon have been in decline I am happy fishing sea runs, white perch, stripers (now widely available to eat salmon smolts)

2 minutes ago, upnorthtier said:

never heard of the Carter bug

Members of the Aesculapius Club made it popular 

[upnorthtier 0]

5 minutes ago, cphubert said:

New Brunswick is too expensive

Thats because all the pools are mainly privately owned. The only time i would go out for salmon was in the spring just when the ice would break on the Miramachi river, black salmon we called them, the ones who are returning to the ocean, they where skinny and agressive also a good time for dipping nets for smelt. I also had the opportunity to fish the forks pool on the kedgwick river, it was on a draw basis, got lucky my name got drawn and had the pool for 3 days with a friend, there was a couple of hundred salmon in the pool, fun times.

A good friend of mine lives in Sheet Harbour in Nova Scotia and says the salmon fisheries is pretty much shut down, been for a few years.

 

[cphubert 0]

2 minutes ago, upnorthtier said:

the salmon fisheries is pretty much shut down

It is not what it once was, other than Cape Brenton most of the other rivers are down for the count. Catch and release, single barbless hooks, most fish are grilse. I am a life member of the Connecticut River Salmon Association and watched our efforts to restore the king of fish die a slow and disappointing death, I hope Maine can keep some runs alive in the US, time will tell, the Miramachi is having issues the abundance of stripers doesn't help. I have heard of promising runs up the Labrador coast, hard to reach not for me anymore.

[upnorthtier 0]

24 minutes ago, cphubert said:

watched our efforts to restore the king of fish die a slow and disappointing death

Thats sad, unfortunately the same can be said about the pacific salmons, i moved to the Yukon 30 years ago specifically for fishing and hunting because i could see then what was happening in the east, the decline. The same thing is happening here in the Yukon for salmon, catch and release only and some rivers you can't even target them. There was some promising news this year at Dalton Post, the Takhanne River, record sockeye and coho runs this year. Fingers cross that the fisheries is bouncing back

[chugbug27 0]

Thanks so much, great info