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An optimistic attempt at some salmon shrimps


oscarsdad
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I am hoping to at least attempt to catch a salmon this year, either on the South Tyne or a river in western Scotland. 
 

I have some bought salmon flies but really would rather fool / anger one into taking a fly I have tied myself. 
 

I don’t really have the right materials in my box but have managed to come up with a few passable shrimp patterns which I am hoping will do the business. 
 

A big thanks to Walker570 for donating a lot of tying kit to me - including these hooks. 
 

Now I just need to get one in front of a salmon and not in a tree / my ear / my neck / the dog / the wife…

 

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5 minutes ago, twenty said:

You've made a good job of those, well done.

Thank you. 
 

I don’t trust bought ones much now - too many tied in Africa and China with awful monkey metal hooks and rubbish materials - seems nonsensical to me to risk losing a fish on rubbish hooks and also I would rather catch one on something I’ve tied. 
 

I think I need to tie some smaller shrimps and other patterns too as these are pretty big. 

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1 minute ago, Walker570 said:

Glad to know the stuff is being put to good use and those look ok to me BUT I ain't a salmon.

I have very little experience of Atlantic salmon, from what I understand, the fly isn’t so important as trout fishing? Apparently 2 or 3 patterns in a variety of sizes, sparse and more heavily dressed flies are all that’s needed. 
 

Probably more that it makes no difference as so few salmon in our rivers the chances of the fly being seen by a salmon is minimal! 
 

These big shrimp patterns are an awful lot easier for fat thumbs me to tie than some of the intricate small dry flies I have attempted and failed at. 

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On 07/05/2021 at 10:58, oscarsdad said:

I am hoping to at least attempt to catch a salmon this year, either on the South Tyne or a river in western Scotland. 
 

I have some bought salmon flies but really would rather fool / anger one into taking a fly I have tied myself. 
 

I don’t really have the right materials in my box but have managed to come up with a few passable shrimp patterns which I am hoping will do the business. 
 

A big thanks to Walker570 for donating a lot of tying kit to me - including these hooks. 
 

Now I just need to get one in front of a salmon and not in a tree / my ear / my neck / the dog / the wife…

 

77747FE6-6726-4077-BBCB-7DDF85CADB8D.jpeg.7e5eaa27ae3e21f14083c66a8e6a7e42.jpeg5FE68DCE-7B07-4464-9CAF-E643B74D78AE.jpeg.91ff0a6ca94f1eaec6c96d6799119f70.jpeg07E1FB21-B517-412E-9D62-E0CC00B40496.jpeg.1becf609af121661eddf2d8ca59298b1.jpeg

You have done a great job. Looking at the angle of the hackle nearest to the eye, try the ones with the squarest to the shank in faster water as those with an angle closer to the shank will flatten and not be as noisey as the former. In fast runs I liked hackles that stood proud, but in slacker water there was more subtlety in more angled hackles.

Tight lines

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13 hours ago, henry d said:

You have done a great job. Looking at the angle of the hackle nearest to the eye, try the ones with the squarest to the shank in faster water as those with an angle closer to the shank will flatten and not be as noisey as the former. In fast runs I liked hackles that stood proud, but in slacker water there was more subtlety in more angled hackles.

Tight lines

Thanks - a useful tip. I need to get some more hackles which are closer to the right size as I only have ones which are a little too larger for these and much too large for anything smaller. 

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Those will catch salmon without a doubt.

I have been lucky enough to catch hundreds of salmon over the years and my Dad has caught a lot more than me.All he ever used were 2 flies both tied on Esmond Drury tables.He used to skin a road kill badger and preserve it then dye it either hot orange or yellow and he fished these two flies on the one cast.The flies were just a bunch of hair tied in at the eye and given a coat or two or two of mums nail varnish to keep the thread from unraveling. There was no tag or under body or anything just badger hair. I imagine that you would not be meant to use a badger now and I always tied more fancy flies but I am not sure they were any more successful. 

My dad always maintained that if the conditions were right salmon were easily caught and fly choice did not matter much.What was more important was knowing where they would lie and being able to reach the lies.

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