despatiesim

Thanks Bob for the great advice! Indeed if my guide is any good and fun to be with, He will be allowed a decent pick of my flies if he so wishes! I've already bough a Montreal Canadians Hockey team logo Cap for him. Got to bring some local flavor down there with me! Haha... I've thrown in some old tying scissors, along with a black and a red marker (to add dots or red throat to any flies). Thanks for the input! Simon

FSHNG2 I used ''XXX Large saltwater mylar tubing'' in pearl. available at anglers workshop. It stretched enough to fit over the big body of the crease fly. Sorry, am unable to post a link. The site... I was getting the hang of epoxying the mylar to the foam body with no wrinkles by the end…. Takes some practice Simon

No worries Flats, I truly appreciate your input which I think is dead on. I've been casting a long time and have a decent double haul. Being an Atlantic salmon fisherman, I've cast bombers over salmon with a 9 foot 9 wt for hours, often making the 60-70' casts. I also fish for pike and Musky with 8-10 inch flies that cast like a wet sock. I've been practicing with my 12 wt and these flies as I can to get ready (get the arm muscles ready). I've been reading all I can (several books on fishing these species) and appreciate the need to get quick casts off with very little (read) no false casting for these super fast fish. I've been practicing the stripping as fast as I can, along with sweeping the rod to keep the speed up. I've got the gear and lines in double because something IS going to fail on me. And all this said... I know I haven't the craziest idea of what is coming to me!!!!! Haha! I'm going to have to learn a lot real fast when I'm actually 2 feet right in the middle of it! And I guess that's part of the fun. I know I'm not going to be Lefty Kreh, but hopefully I'm ready enough to catch a few and have a blast doing it! I definitly think you are right that being able to cast decently is Uber important. I know I can get the 12 wts out there fast. I'm mainly concerned about the endurance of casting a 12 wt all day. for 6 days! I've been preparing my mindset to conserve energy and make casts that count, as it will mainly be sight fishing from what I understand. Being ready, and making a good calculated cast at the right time… But Again, all good intentions (and theory from someone who hasn't done it before). I'll see how it pans out and aim to have fun whatever arises! And I'm sure its going to be a lot harder than I expect! If you have any good advice, I'm all ears and will try to use it as best I can!!! And I'll certainly be writing up an account of how well (or miserably) I did. Cheers! Simon

Thanks guys for the kind words! We'll see if the patterns I chose are effective in fooling the fish. If not there is the beer… and tequila… and Mexican wines I'm looking forward to taste… and the local food… and… well I guess good fishing is a bonus!!! haha!! SImon

Hi all, haven't posted in a long time. Just wanted to share the flies I tied for my upcoming saltwater trip to Mexico. This is going to be my first saltwater trip and I've been tying for the last few months gradually building what I think covers the basics of what I'll need. I'm leaving in 4 days for a week targetting Roosterfish, Dorado (mahimahi), Sailfish, Marlin and Tuna. They are not the best ties, but should be good enough for these aggressive fish. I've tied mostly on tubes, but a few regular hooks too just for good measure. The count is at 98... Hope I have enough for the whole week!! Haha! I've got some big Billfish flies for trolling. Lots of sardina patterns made of either flash fiber (which should hold a certain form when stripping madly) and angel hair (for more flash, but doesn't hold its form as well). Crease flies for topwater action. A few synthetic clousers to get down deep if needed. And a few mullet patterns to mix things up a bit! Well wish me luck! I'll try to post a report if I catch anything!!!! Cheers!

I use a 4 or 5 foot leader, 30 lbs test. Tied to a 12 inch piece of titanium wire (either single of multi strand). The stuff can be knotted to a swivel or snap (I use a snap) , won't rust and is almost unkinkable (so you don't need to replace it every few fish due ti kinks weakening the wire). Its pricey, but well worth it IMO.

Other than the Miramichi (the most renown salmon river in New-Brunswick), there is also the Restigouche approximately a 1.5 hour drive from there. Known for its big salmon, it would be a great option if one of the lodges on that river has place and you have the budget to fish it. If you are willing to drive a bit more, there are several well know salmon rivers in Quebec which are beautiful to fish. Matapedia, Petite-Cascapedia, Cascapedia, Bonaventure and more (if willing to drive more than 3 hours from Miramichi). Downside is you will need an additional licence as Quebec has its own. Upside Quebec rivers do not require a guide (unless the beat you are on includes one in the price), so you can get away fishing for a much more reasonable cost than in NB. If you want more info on the Quebec rivers, feel free to ask. I"ll share what I know. As for NB rivers, indeed DOAKS would be a good source of info. Cheers! SImon

Thanks Fin! I have access to those predator tubes and will give them a try.

Thanks guys!

Thanks meeshka! Indeed it helped!

Thanks for the insight Zip!

Hi all, do any of you tie small sized Spey or Dee style flies? Sizes 8 to 10 (9 to 11)? And with hackle ribbed up the body? I've been using heron feathers for bigger flies (6 and up), but can't readily find smaller feathers for smaller flies. The xsmall feathers here are too big to my liking. I was wondering what you all use for this? What is readily available as a substitue, or prefered feather for these small flies? Thanks!

Hi all, does anybody have experience tying billfish and baitfish paterns on tubes? Any recomendations on tube size to use? I'm new at tubes, and not sure how the large hooks I intend to use will interact with the tubes I tie on or the keeper tubes. My intention is to ties 10 to 12 inch billfish flies with a tandem hook rig of 8/0 and 6/0 hooks. And baitfish paterns 5 to 6 inches long, with 4/0 hooks. Aiming at billfish and dorado. Any insight as to tube size, brands and tandem rigging would be most welcome! Is large (3mm) sufficent? Do I need inserts? Or just a keeper tube? I'm new at the tube game. thanks!

Haha, thanks everybody for the replies! Even the funny highjackers! Just for what its worth, I asked by optometrist this week (was in for an eye exam). According to her, any uv proof sunglases would protect my eyes., if they are clear enough to work with. I like the idea of the dentist glasses; am going to look into it. For those who believe it is harlmess, welll to each their own. It just might be, but I'm not going to chance it. Cheers!

Not quite as the fish I was referring to are sea run salmon, whereas the ste-mary's are landlocks. I have no Idea if that makes a difference as Ive never used bombers for landlocks. Once again, local knowledge would be best... If you don't have that luxury, the colors I referred to are classics for Atlantics.

I couldn't find any topics on this, so figured I'd ask what do you use to protect your eyes when using a uv light to cure uv resin on your flies? Good sunglasses block uv light, but something is telling me that might not be enough? Anybody have good input to this? I want to protect my vision adequately... Thanks!

For atlantics, colors will much depend on where you are fishing. Try to get local knowledge on this... where I fish for atlantics (Quebec), nature brown hackle, all white, blue with brown hackle, green with white or yellow hackle, orange with brown hackle, all black, , all of these with white calftail tail and wings. Theses are all popular.

Were the tungsten beads of good quality? I checked their site and was a bit confused. There seem to be packs of 100 cheaper than packs of 25... was trying to figure this out before taking any action...

Indeed, I agree! Quite the memory! Just extra motivation to tie up a series of these guys in a range of sizes! Which will be great practice for the wings at the same time! Cheers!

Great gratification! I hooked a 15lbs atlantic on this fly 6th cast, of the first pool of my trip. He liked it very much! Lost the fish to a very nasty rapid, but thats fishing! Fish won! Very hzppy with the fly; will certainly be tying more...

Thanks for the encouraging words Spiral!

Hi all, its been quiet here of late so I figured its time to post one of my ties. Its anything but perfect and the photo really reveals the small imperfections (as needing an additional coat of varnish), but still am happy with it as its a fly for fishing, not show. I really like the spey/dee look of flies and am having a lot of fun learning and getting better, and throwing a spey twist to classic hairwing patterns. The malard/teal wings are a real challenge, but I'm slowly getting better at them. If you have any pointers or tips with these challenging wings, feel free to shoot them at me. This baby is going to be getting some swing time next week on the York river in Gaspe. Cheers!

Beautifull Eide! I truly love looking at your ties! Please keep sharing. Simon

I have the Atlas and agree it does lack some level of quality finishing as described above, but IMHO, not to any hindring degree! Its more slight annoyance, which you wouldn'get with a higher quality vise. But at 150$, I strongly feel its the best bang for the bucks! It has handled up to 6/0 tarpon hooks and comes with 2 bases at no extra cost. The rotary function works well and it holds solidly even spinning deer hair bombers. The theads are a bit rough... as well as the cam lever. But iþ gets the job done! If you want the most enjoyable tying experience, look elsewhere. If you want a vise that does almost everyting and save some $ at the same time, its a good choice. just my 0.02$

I'm no expert, but in my experience, they fish the Salmon river 1 - drifting eggs and nymphs with a regular floating line and lead shot to grt the flies down, on a 9 to 13 foot leader down to maybe 3x. Streamers can be fished with the same setup, or a 3ips to 6 ips sink tip. ( I've used tgese setups successfully for chinook and steelhead). 8wts for steelhead and coho, 9 or 10 for the chinook ( real freight trains). I might say spey casting ( single hand, switch, or double hand) is your friend on the salmon river due to the huge amounts of traffic there. On public sectors, expect someone fishing 30 to 40 feet above and below you. Overhead casting can be a challenge. Hope this helps! Simon