Tube Bomber salmon dry fly
Dry fly fishing for salmon and steelhead is probably the most exhilarating and exciting sport humans can venture into - The sport has become increasingly popular through the last 60 years - but anglers have most likely been fishing steelhead and salmon on the top sins the birth of dry fly fishing.
On this and other pages here on the Fishmadman site we will try to highlight the essences of this sport, by showing you technique, know-how and the many fascinating flies made for dry fly fishing for salmon and steelhead

Salmon dry fly through a century

[spacer]

Early salmon dry fly

Salmon dry fly 1840's

Mr. Wood was not the first Brit to see the potential in fishing for salmon in the surface, descriptions of this fascinating fishing is to be found in early English fishing literature. Here writing dating back to 1846 from the book: A Manual of modern farriery: A popular and practical treatise on the diseases of horses and other domestic animals ... with a sporting section and UK game laws By Thomas Brown. Published by George Virtue (circa 1846) The plate shows a wide selection of trout and salmon flies. The text gives quite accurate instructions on how to fish in the surface for salmon - It could very well be descriptions on how to fish a salmon dry fly - But I it could also very well be descriptions of forms of dibbling, dapping or Riffling Hitch. See text and images from the book[hr] Early salmon dry flies

Major J.R Fraser's salmon dry fly patterns 1909

The earliest salmon dry fly description we have come across is from England: The Major J.R Fraser's salmon dry fly series listed in a 1909 Farlow and co. catalog along with a description of his fishing and the tackle he recommend - Their is not many facts to be found on the Major J.R Fraser or his fantastic salmon dry fly series other than the introduction made by Fraser in the Farlow fishing tackle catalog. The first salmon dry flies    

 

[hr]

The first salmon dry fly was British

The Brits was probably the first anglers to write about salmon on dry fly ! Many angling historian will tell you that it is the Canadian Mr. George M. La Branche that was the first angler to write about salmon fishing with dry fly - But as it is with most techniques and styles of salmon fishing it is UK anglers that takes the credit. The color plates of Fraser's flies and the text seen to the right is from a 1919 Farlow catalog, but Farlow had the same series of flies and writing by Mr. Fraser in earlier catalogs dating back as far as 1909 Great help with details on the early salmon dry fly from the Farlow 1910 catalog came from Nova Scotia angler Mr. Perry Munro See text and images from the catalog

[hr]

Traditional salmon dry fly 1920

The Monell and La Branche flies 1920´s

Some of the first North American description of salmon dry fly fishing can be found in the book: The Salmon And The Dry Fly, 1924 by; Mr. George M. La Branche. La Branche was a avid trout fisherman but also enjoyed fly-fishing for salmon, this he did with his friend and mentor: Mr Colonel Ambrose Monell, in the clear Upsalquitch River in New Brunswick. Monell was probably one of the first salmon anglers to intentionally catch Canadian Atlantic salmon on a dry fly.
The Pink Lady Palmer A salmon dry fly pattern by George M. La Branche.
Mr. George M. La Branche &. Colonel Ambrose Monell salmon dry fly pioneers

La. Branche does the Dee

In 1925 La Branche made a visit to the Dee in Scotland, invited by celebrated angler Mr. A.H. Wood. Wood was curious to see how the Canadian salmon dry fly technique would work on the Dee salmon - Poorly weather and a lack of fresh running fish made things very difficult for La. Branche who did not succeed in beaching salmon that week. But all in all La Branches did actually raise some 20 fish to his salmon dry fly - two of them was hooked but lost. Undoubtedly he would have had fish on the bank had the conditions been somewhat better. One can only guess on how much different the world of salmon fishing would have looked had their been - fresh water and fish in the Dee that jinxed week in 1925.. Ambrose & George all dressed up for a day of sport, in what looks to be a 1920´s sports casual outfit. Anglers with the same fascination for salmon dry fly fishing as you and I. Read more about these salmon dry fly pioneers [hr] Lee Wulff salmon dry fly series

The Wulff flies 1950

Another couple of decades came to pass when salmon dry fly yet again made the headlines. With the book The Atlantic Salmon - published in the late 50´s, author and famous angler Lee Wulff made salmon dry fly sport popular in North America. In his book Lee Wulff presented a new line of dry flies named the Wulff series that he and fellow angler Dan Bailey had designed. The flies were big bushy cartoon like imitations of mayflies and was originally intended for trout fishing – but soon proven to be just the right dry flies for Atlantic salmon. The Wulff series was designed almost 50 years ago – but still today these flies is closely linked with everything concerning salmon dry fly [approved]

The Atlantic Salmon By Lee Wulff

Tribute to Lee Wulff

Lee Wulff has greatly influenced the fly fishing sport as a whole and salmon dry fly fishing in particular. Without his dedication and profound insight in the world of the Atlantic salmon things like: salmon conservation, fly fishing equipment and fishing techniques would have look much different than they do to day - We recommend reading Lee Wulff's book: The Atlantic Salmon [/approved]

[hr]

The Bomber's 1960

The Bomber dry fly was originally designed as a The Bomber salmon dry fly tied on single hookcommotion fly for fishing in the headwaters of the Miramichi River in New Brunswick. It was a Mr. Elmer Smith that allegedly tied the first Bomber – Initially intending the fly to be fished sub-surface he later thought it to be well suited as a salmon dry fly, and had various versions of the fly made. Today the Bomber is the number one salmon dry fly for most salmon anglers and it is tied in multiple colors and size. The story goes: that Mr. Smith got his inspiration to the Bomber fly after seeing a salmon rising to the cigar-butt he had just thrown in the river…   See Bombers intended for Steelhead fishing Read our page on Bomber styling [hr] White Tube Bomber - Steelhead and salmon dry fly tied on tube

Fishmadman Tube dry flies 1990

In 1979 Lee Wulff wrote in his book Lee Wulff on Flies about his experiments with dry flies and skaters tied on plastic tube. Lee was intrigued by the possibilities of making flies up of sections thus designing the right size fly at the riverbank – without having to change the size of the hook. We at Fishmadman took the concept of tube dry flies a bit further and in 1995 we tied the classical Bomber patterns and other salmon dry flies on very thin tubes. With this approach we created light dry flies with a very different hook-hold than that of the traditional salmon dry fly. Our flies can be fitted with small wide gape hooks with no considerable weight and superior hooking abilities. Our first tube salmon dry fly was the TUBE BOMBER ™ designed for fast flowing waters on big rivers…A big +2 inch salmon dry fly that would have been very heavy salmon dry fly - if tied on single hooks. Most of our Tube Bombers ™ are designed to be fished at dead drift - but we will from 2013 be doing a range of Bomber's tied to fished as wake flies. See our flies in the E-Shop Buy salmon & steelhead flies Monster Tube Caddis - Big salmon dry fly

The Monster Tube Caddis salmon dry fly

We also made a imitation of a caddis found in great numbers at the rivers we fish in Northern Norway. This fly is: the MONSTER TUBE CADDIS ™ – A salmon dry fly with a fantastic capability of pulling big salmon to the top - A must have… in the fly box of any modern salmon angler. Read about this salmon dry fly in Norwegian

caught on Tube Bomber  dry fly

The Bomber: Probably the most versatile salmon dry fly ever made.

See how to tie the Tube Bomber ™

[hr]  
Fishmadman Tube Bomber salmon dry fly
 

Read more on salmon dry fly tactic

    [hr] ®©2008-2012 Fishmadman All Rights Reserved. All rights reserved. Except for use in a review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, known or hereafter invented is forbidden without the written permission from Jesper Fohrmann/ Per Fischer - --RESULTS-- Array ( [0] => Array ( [0] => Tube Bomber salmon dry fly [1] => Early salmon dry fly [2] => Early salmon dry flies [3] => The first salmon dry flies [4] => Traditional salmon dry fly 1920 [5] => Mr. George M. La Branche &. Colonel Ambrose Monell salmon dry fly pioneers [6] => Lee Wulff salmon dry fly series [7] => The Atlantic Salmon By Lee Wulff [8] => The Bomber salmon dry fly tied on single hook [9] => White Tube Bomber - Steelhead and salmon dry fly tied on tube [10] => Buy salmon & steelhead flies [11] => Monster Tube Caddis - Big salmon dry fly [12] => caught on Tube Bomber  dry fly [13] => Fishmadman Tube Bomber salmon dry fly ) [link_url] => Array ( [0] => [1] => [2] => [3] => [4] => [5] => [6] => [7] => [8] => [9] => [10] => http://fishmadman.auctivacommerce.com/Tube-Bomber-C287583.aspx?sid=8375 [11] => [12] => [13] => ) [img_tag] => Array ( [0] => Tube Bomber salmon dry fly [1] => Early salmon dry fly [2] => Early salmon dry flies [3] => The first salmon dry flies [4] => Traditional salmon dry fly 1920 [5] => Mr. George M. La Branche &. Colonel Ambrose Monell salmon dry fly pioneers [6] => Lee Wulff salmon dry fly series [7] => The Atlantic Salmon By Lee Wulff [8] => The Bomber salmon dry fly tied on single hook [9] => White Tube Bomber - Steelhead and salmon dry fly tied on tube [10] => Buy salmon & steelhead flies [11] => Monster Tube Caddis - Big salmon dry fly [12] => caught on Tube Bomber  dry fly [13] => Fishmadman Tube Bomber salmon dry fly ) [img_url] => Array ( [0] => http://www.fishmadman.com/pages/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Rav-fra-2004-2009-11-1024x611.jpg [1] => http://www.fishmadman.com/pages/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSC03323-1-609x1024.jpg [2] => http://www.fishmadman.com/pages/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Billede-21-682x1024.jpg [3] => http://www.fishmadman.com/pages/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Billede-1-1-682x1024.jpg [4] => http://www.fishmadman.com/pages/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSC_58721-1024x1016.jpg [5] => http://www.fishmadman.com/pages/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Billede-2.jpg [6] => http://www.fishmadman.com/pages/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/8-of-92-300x210.jpg [7] => http://www.fishmadman.com/pages/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/P1020930-11-232x300.jpg [8] => http://www.fishmadman.com/pages/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSC_5874-300x198.jpg [9] => http://www.fishmadman.com/pages/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Rav-fra-2004-2009-2-e1328877425401-300x179.jpg [10] => http://www.clker.com/cliparts/5/b/5/0/11949857881524867289hotel_icon_grocery_stor_01.svg.thumb.png [11] => http://www.fishmadman.com/pages/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSC_2841-version-2-e1328878852224-300x173.jpg [12] => http://www.fishmadman.com/pages/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSC_9172-1-1024x643.jpg [13] => http://www.fishmadman.com/pages/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSC_6535-1024x603.jpg ) )