While flipping through the pages of the latest issue of Atlantic Salmon Journal I found an article about some very interesting deer hair salmon dry flies. Naturally it grabbed hold of my interest and I just had to try my hand at tying some. The Bomber, a salmon dry fly. I could not find the origin of it but I did find there was someone who had called it a "cigar butt". The bomber is not an easy fly to tie, and it is as messy a fly as I have ever tied. The amount of deer hair used for the body is incredible. The shaping of the fly can give a person a bout of insanity. I came close to creating a few new cuss words while tying this fly.
Just a few ingredients make up the list. Calf tail, deer hair and dry fly hackle. The deer hair is tied in 5 segments from back to front. Man that is tough. I did tie a couple of them to test and I hope the trout will find them worthy of striking them.
Here are 2 Bombers I tied. One has a calftail wing and tail the other has Aero Dry wing and tail. I'll let you guess which one I tied first. They tell me that the more you tie these the better you get at it...well..
The Ausable Bomber...a comfort zone for sure. A fly everyone should have in their box.
The Ausable Bomber in watercolor. I believe this was the work of Joel DeJong. He is an artist and successfully ran a blog named "A Year On The Fly" each day for a year he posted a fly on that blog. That my friends is an accomplishment.
That looks like a tough one to tie, Alan. You did a good job on it though. That will float like a cork for a good long time, good on its own and as a strike indicator with a midge tied on to the hook bend also.
ReplyDeleteSam
DeleteThanks
It's an awesome floater. I can't wait to see how it performs on the Farmington. Sam a midge would work.
Joel is Awesome. He designed the NCT logo for me. Your Bombers should work quite well. Reminds me of an Iraq War joke. "How do you clear an Iraqi bingo parlor. Yell B-52" OK, I'll go now.
ReplyDeleteMark Kautz
DeleteThanks
Mark you to have been blogging a long time and Joel's blog was the first I looked at in the morning. I have several watercolor pictures that Joel did. Do you remember The Poudre Canyon Chronicles and the Midgeman?
Vaguely. We've been privileged to see a lot of good blogs come and go.
DeleteWe have been around a long time. Could we be doing something right?
DeleteWe have your B52 's here in the UK. We have also had 3 B2's recently. A very different aircraft
ReplyDeleteBureboyblog
DeleteThanks
They are awesome planes the B52's
Those bombers, in real B-52 size, are a favored fly on the Restigouche and the Upsalquitch; although you couldn't pay me to tie them. The Ausable Bomber goes everywhere with me.
ReplyDeletemike
DeleteThanks
Mike it says in the journal Autumn on the Restigouche, "It's Bomber Time"...they are one hell of a messy fly. Same here on the Ausable Bomber.
Good morning Alan, I might try the B-52 for smallmouth on the Housy but there are far too many excellent trout patterns I would favor, on the Farmington.
ReplyDeleteJohn Dornik
DeleteThanks
John they would make a great skater for smallies. Maybe next year, but it will be on Colebrook.
Picky trout on the Farmington today. Three hours, several hookups and zero to hand.
HI Alan, Beautiful watercolor painting of the dry fly bomber pattern, I could never try to make one fly, because here there is usually a lot of wind and dry flies are used rarely, but it is a good pattern to consider.
ReplyDeleteArmando Milosevic
DeleteThanks
Armando, Joel is a good artist like you. I here those Tierra del Fuego winds are quite awesome.
Alan, it's amazing how some folks can pack so much hair onto a hook. You know how much I love those body-hackled dries. Also love those classic 9672 hooks.
ReplyDeleteMatt Harding
DeleteThanks
Matt those bombers have 5 different bunches of deer hair tied into each one. They will not sink. Those old Mustads, probably more fish taken on that brand then any other.
I used to love fishing Bombers on the Dixon Pool, Penoscott River
ReplyDeleteGot 3 Salmom one morning, used real big ones about 3" long
Unknown
DeleteThanks
That is great to hear. I've had a few good outings featuring those 'big bombers"...