Bomber Time!

[sagecaster]

Really prompted by the Yellow Dolly thread, but I find this time of year the best to try the dry bomber.

You guy's out there who like to try something different should consider trying the Bomber just now where there are fresh grilse about. Best with a single handed rod, floating line and nylon, not fluro(too heavy)

The secret is to cast(shorter the better -more control) a well Ginked up bomber upstream like a dry fly and let the current skid it gently across the surface. Not too fast, let the bomber wiggle, too fast and it loses this action. Fish tend to take the bomber as the line straightens out below you. Be prepared to target a lie, cover it again and again, countless times, be persistent, especially if you know there are fish there. Watch for fish just under the surface, its a technique that induces countless follows.

The best places are in swift glassy areas of current, usually in the heads and tails of pools where there is a positive surface tension, broken water is a no-no and drowns the fly.

As rpsalmon says the rivers of the far north seem to be more attracted to the bomber, but I have had success on the Naver and Dee and several heart stoppers on the Findhorn, Spey and N esk.

In my view its the most exciting form of Salmon fishing ;D

[hornet]

Sagecaster,

What size bombers would you recommend.

Cheers

Hornet

[castlikeaghille]

sagecaster said:

Really prompted by the Yellow Dolly thread, but I find this time of year the best to try the dry bomber.

You guy's out there who like to try something different should consider trying the Bomber just now where there are fresh grilse about. Best with a single handed rod, floating line and nylon, not fluro(too heavy)

The secret is to cast(shorter the better -more control) a well Ginked up bomber upstream like a dry fly and let the current skid it gently across the surface. Not too fast, let the bomber wiggle, too fast and it loses this action. Fish tend to take the bomber as the line straightens out below you. Be prepared to target a lie, cover it again and again, countless times, be persistent, especially if you know there are fish there. Watch for fish just under the surface, its a technique that induces countless follows.

The best places are in swift glassy areas of current, usually in the heads and tails of pools where there is a positive surface tension, broken water is a no-no and drowns the fly.

As rpsalmon says the rivers of the far north seem to be more attracted to the bomber, but I have had success on the Naver and Dee and several heart stoppers on the Findhorn, Spey and N esk.

In my view its the most exciting form of Salmon fishing ;D

Hello S/C

Not entirely clear from the above if you are distinguishing the Bomber fished as a wake fly or dead drift as they do in PNW. We fully understand the effectiveness of the former (although it has to be said on some rivers not others which we probably haven't got to the bottom of yet), but not sure on the latter. Mind you, you couldn't think of a worse season than this to experiment!

Regardeth

CLaG

[splash]

castlikeaghille said:

sagecaster said:

Really prompted by the Yellow Dolly thread, but I find this time of year the best to try the dry bomber.

You guy's out there who like to try something different should consider trying the Bomber just now where there are fresh grilse about. Best with a single handed rod, floating line and nylon, not fluro(too heavy)

The secret is to cast(shorter the better -more control) a well Ginked up bomber upstream like a dry fly and let the current skid it gently across the surface. Not too fast, let the bomber wiggle, too fast and it loses this action. Fish tend to take the bomber as the line straightens out below you. Be prepared to target a lie, cover it again and again, countless times, be persistent, especially if you know there are fish there. Watch for fish just under the surface, its a technique that induces countless follows.

The best places are in swift glassy areas of current, usually in the heads and tails of pools where there is a positive surface tension, broken water is a no-no and drowns the fly.

As rpsalmon says the rivers of the far north seem to be more attracted to the bomber, but I have had success on the Naver and Dee and several heart stoppers on the Findhorn, Spey and N esk.

In my view its the most exciting form of Salmon fishing ;D

Hello S/C

Not entirely clear from the above if you are distinguishing the Bomber fished as a wake fly or dead drift as they do in PNW. We fully understand the effectiveness of the former (although it has to be said on some rivers not others which we probably haven't got to the bottom of yet), but not sure on the latter. Mind you, you couldn't think of a worse season than this to experiment!

Regardeth

CLaG

Interesting. Catching upon a bit of holiday reading Stateside as its been a tad windy to get out and chase the pelagics. Current book of choice has been been to re-read Lee Wulff's "Atlantic Salmon" where he describes catching salmon on both bombers and riffle hitched flies on the Dee at Balmoral and also describes the chagrin of his host at his choice of methods Its an excellent book and well worth seeking out. I know a couple of people who met Wulff and he has a reputation as being one of the very few "names" who did not disappoint when you met him in person. You may not agree with all his theories or his devotion to the single handed rod but a) the guys thinking was way ahead of its time and b) he was a genuine all round fly angler comfotablewith tarpon as much as trout and c) he could fish

All the best

Splash

[sagecaster]

hornet said:

Sagecaster,

What size bombers would you recommend.

Cheers

Hornet

I have only fished with either 6's or 8's and tend to favour the smaller version.

I have never had success in the UK with the pure white bomber only the green, hence the size 8 green bomber is the current favourite.

Another tip, its best to have a selection pre-Ginked and let them dry before you go out. Once they've been drowned a fewtimes they are a devil to dry off and get a float again.

[rpsalmon]

When I made my remarks about surface lures, perhaps I should have mentioned what I thought was obvious, in that outside the Northern climes, ie.. in the vast majority of places in the UK, such surface tactics will have a negative impact on your own and others fishing. If you have a Ghillie then ask his advice on whether such a tactic may work and whether he would suggest using it, in most cases people Will have very strong views on educating fish not to take a lure...or plain scaring fish out of the lies!!! If you are fishing on club water don't try it in eyesight of other anglers as I doubt they would appreciate it!!!. Surface tactics on rippled water can be very effective, they are "another tool in the bag". But do not ever fall in to the "Lee W american trap" of thinking our traditional methods are second rate, I'd easily say that in the UK our various traditional methods are better on 99% of occasions.

[sagecaster]

castlikeaghille said:

sagecaster said:

Really prompted by the Yellow Dolly thread, but I find this time of year the best to try the dry bomber.

You guy's out there who like to try something different should consider trying the Bomber just now where there are fresh grilse about. Best with a single handed rod, floating line and nylon, not fluro(too heavy)

The secret is to cast(shorter the better -more control) a well Ginked up bomber upstream like a dry fly and let the current skid it gently across the surface. Not too fast, let the bomber wiggle, too fast and it loses this action. Fish tend to take the bomber as the line straightens out below you. Be prepared to target a lie, cover it again and again, countless times, be persistent, especially if you know there are fish there. Watch for fish just under the surface, its a technique that induces countless follows.

The best places are in swift glassy areas of current, usually in the heads and tails of pools where there is a positive surface tension, broken water is a no-no and drowns the fly.

As rpsalmon says the rivers of the far north seem to be more attracted to the bomber, but I have had success on the Naver and Dee and several heart stoppers on the Findhorn, Spey and N esk.

In my view its the most exciting form of Salmon fishing ;D

Hello S/C

Not entirely clear from the above if you are distinguishing the Bomber fished as a wake fly or dead drift as they do in PNW.

Regardeth

CLaG

ClaG,

Interesting, you should point this out. I watched some Americans in Russia a few years back who claimed to fish nothing but "dead drift" method, they were catching fish so curiosity got the better of me.

These guys were casting upstream, but the fly was definitely not "dead drifting", the current was so strong the fly would only "dead drift" a couple of feet before the effect of tension on the line would kick in. They were swimming the bomber downsteam with the current at first (with a down stream mend in the line) and as the line came perpendicular to the bank this mend would then straighten up causing the bomber to accelerate in a sharp curve. This is the point at which the fish tend to take. This is the method I use.

Hence I deduced that the "skating" method that the Yanks refer to is simply casting slightly downstream and skating straight away. Having watched fish through polaroids, they are definately more agitated by the "dead drift" method.

With the "dead drift" method, the fish take interest as soon as the fly hits the water, then think about following it and as the bomber accelerates through the curve it almost induces the fish to chase and take. Great to watch through polaroids!

I should point out that this is only based on what I have learned and been taught. I have never read up on fishing the bomber, so am quite open to being corrected on the terminology. I have been lucky enough to catch a few fish up to 17lb on this method, so really just passing on the benefit of my experience.

Mind you, you couldn't think of a worse season than this to experiment!

Not sure what you mean here? Water has been high, which counts it out. Conventional methods will be working quite well granted, but some rivers do have good numbers of grilse about and I have found that they love chasing bombers. Hence I'm now viewing it as part of my armoury rather than experimenting.

Incidentally, a friend lost of fish of approximately 20lbs two weeks ago on a bomber, tempted after a spate in the glassy V in the head of a pool. So the big fish clearly like them too!

[castlikeaghille]

SC

I note what you say, and understand why it works. But there is a very distinct style of dead drift fishing they use in Canada. Collie Dog has used it over there. He has shown me it, but I will defer to him to explain it.

Mind you, you couldn't think of a worse season than this to experiment!

Not sure what you mean here? Water has been high, which counts it out.

That is certainly true, but I had something else in mind. Generally tactics like Bombers, hitched flies, cezch nymphs are techniques for where you have a good population of resident salmon and you are covering very precise areas of water where you know salmon are. We have, so far, not had that this season in a lot of areas.

Almost every time I have been fishing this year I' ve had to use early spring like approaches i.e. You have to cover as much of the water for as much of the time in the hope that when a travelling fish comes in you put yer flee in front of it, and with the rivers so big with water temps in the high 50s those fish could almost be anywhere. The tactics above are for attacking a resident population, not search and seek for travellers.

Regards

CLaG

[sagecaster]

castlikeaghille said:

SC

That is certainly true, but I had something else in mind. Generally tactics like Bombers, hitched flies, cezch nymphs are techniques for where you have a good population of resident salmon and you are covering very precise areas of water where you know salmon are. We have, so far, not had that this season in a lot of areas.

CLaG

Agreed. It's a technique that is quite difficult to get a handle on, recognising where and when to use it are as fundamental to success as being able to fish it properly and this only really comes with experience.

I tend to only use it where I recognise excellent "bomber water", and only after I have exhausted other methods. My only caution would be to be to avoid using it in bright sunshine as the shadow it casts appears to spook the fish, other than that if you are careful, it is my experience that fishing the bomber won't spook fish any more than any other method. More importantly, its caught me the odd fish when other methods have failed.

Look forward to Collie Dog's take on it.