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Salmon Fly Fishing

Tips On Fly Leaders – More Important Than Your Fly Rod Yet Often Overlooked

Oct 11th, 2011
by Andy.
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Umpqua Red Hot Power Taper - Tapered Leader

Fly Leaders are the most important piece of tackle there is yet is is not thought about enough! So when Umpqua Feather Merchants launched one of the hottest fly fishing tippets we have ever seen we have been desperate for stock. We took our Red Hot Tapered leaders, played with them and loved the results.  This is by far the most innovative Fly Tippet or tapered leader we have ever seen. My eyesight used to be fantastic in my youth, however as my hair gets more and more grey my eyes get weaker at the same time and all too frequently I find I lose the fly as it floats down the river or I miss bites due to missing gentle and  subtle takes. Since fishing with the Red Hot Tapered Leader I have found I miss less fish and see more bites due to its innovative colouring of the butt section on this stunning tapered leader. However, this made us think how under-rated the most important piece of tackle a fly fisherman uses is! Typically we all take tapered leaders and leader material for granted however next to the fly it is more important than even our fly rod, [...]

Salmon – an understanding of different types of salmon for our fly fishing knowledge

Oct 10th, 2011
by Ann Kitchener.
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What is a Salmon? The Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) is an anadromous migratory fish found in the temperate and arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Unlike the Pacific salmon that have complex and varied life histories that vary widely within and between species, the Atlantic Salmon have very similar life histories and are capable of surviving spawning and re-migrate to return again. Pacific salmon migrate from freshwater to the sea at different ages. Pink and Chum Salmon migrate at any time from one week to a month, Chinooks from 12 to 16 months, Coho Salmon from 12 to 24 months and Sockeye from 12 to 36 months. What does anadromous mean? The Atlantic salmon is referred to as being anadromous because of its habit of migrating from the sea into fresh waters to spawn. This is the exact opposite of the common eel which leaves fresh waters to spawn in the Sargasso Sea, and is therefore called catadromous. Is there just one species of salmon? When we speak of “salmon” we are referring to either Atlantic salmon or Pacific salmon. There is only one species of Atlantic salmon: Salmo salar. There are six species of Pacific salmon: pink (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha), [...]

Summer Sale!

Jul 21st, 2011
by Ann Kitchener.
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Just to let our Essential Fly bloggers know that we have today lauched our summer sale*!  Time to bag yourself a bargain and take advantage of the discount! Flies, leaders, tackle, lines – all products are eligible under the discount.  Time for some new gear maybe?  Go on treat yourself…..get to the site today *Minimum spend of £25 exc p&p is required to activate the 15% discount.

Truly International

Jul 19th, 2011
by Ann Kitchener.
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We are delighted to have customers from all around the world.  For us at The Essential Fly, it feels like we travel the world every day!  Just a quick look around the site to see who is on just now showed customers actively on the site now from, UK, Ireland, Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, The Netherlands, America, Canada, Sweden, Finland and Denmark!  Wow that was a quick worldwide tour. These customers buy flies from us, but also accessories and tackle. Our fly tying materials seem pretty popular too! Its really not a problem for us to ship internationally.  However we are delighted too to receive emails/calls from anglers around the world with their news/stories/photographs and experiences – we can all learn so much and of course dream for a moment that we were there too….. Happy fishing everyone From all of us at www.theessentialfly.com

Tip – an easy way to learn or practice your casting technique!

Jul 13th, 2011
by Ann Kitchener.
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Tip – an easy way to learn or practice your casting technique!  On a sunny day, practice your fly casting in the bright sun. Stand in such a way that you can see your own shadow (ie the sun is to the side of you). Then start casting and watch your shadow. Whilst this may not be an ideal way, it means you can study your casting on your own if you don’t have a teacher/buddy to help. Of course, if you really want to check your casting thoroughly set up a video camera!

10% Discount On Fly Fishing Flies

Jul 5th, 2011
by Andy.
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There is an Independence sale running from Monday 4th July to midnight Thursday 7th July where you can get 10% discount with a minimum spend of £15 on fly fishing flies at www.theessentialfly.com. This is on all trout flies, salmon flies, grayling flies, saltwater flies and pike flies.

Fly Fishing Sunglasses – HD Video Recorder & Camera Sunglasses

Jun 5th, 2011
by Andy.
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Video Recording Polaroid Sunglasses Package

Essential Fly Fishing Video / Camera Polaroid Sunglasses Review Sun glasses are essential for fishermen, both for keeping out the sun, helping focus on a fly, seeing the trout / salmon below the water rise and take our fly and most importantly to protect eyes from flying hooks!I remember watching one of my wife’s TV programmes about hospitals and seeing a fisherman get a arsley bomb (lead wight) embedded in his eye and have always taken real care, after all it is more of a dangerous hobby that we realise at times. Fly fishing sunglasses are the most essential gear for fishermen, they should be purchased before we even purchase a rod and line for protection. Ok I must confess, fishing and computers are a passion. Both loved, drive me to distraction, frustrate and excite me so when I first saw these fly fishing sunglasses with a difference – fly fishing polaroid video sunglasses I really got excited. Polaroid lenses, with a HD video camera 1280 x 720, audio recording and digital camera build into the fly fishing sunglasses frame, lightweight these fly fishing sunglasses are suitable for men and women.When I first saw the camera on these I was [...]

HD Video 1280 x 720 and 12 mega pixel camera POLAROID FISHING SUNGLASSES

May 31st, 2011
by Andy.
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Essential Fly HD Video (1280x720), 12 mega pixel Camera Polaroid Sunglasses

Essential Fly Fishing Video / Camera Polaroid Sunglasses (1280 x 720 pixel video 4gb video 12 mega pixel camera) Polaroid sun glasses are essential for fishermen, both for keeping out the sun, helping focus on a fly, seeing the trout / salmon take and most importantly to protect eyes from flying hooks! These fishing sunglasses are something different. These lightweight comfortable fishing glasses incorporate a HD video recorder recording 720P HD video in 16:9 video format and 1280 x 720 pixel camera for still photo’s. So when your mates cannot be there or when you hook into that special fish simply click the button by your ear and start the video recording. At 30 frames per second recording you can show exactly how you caught that fish! Simply plug directly into the USB port of your PC when you get home or remove the Micro SD card and put that into your computer then replay the fight with that magical fish again! With 3 modes of operation these stunning pair of video fishing glasses can take a series of 3 pictures each 12mega pixel 4000x 3000 pixel photo’s in snapshot mode or can be swapped to audio mode where it [...]

Salmon Fishing Fly Selection

May 26th, 2011
by Andy.
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Salmon Fly Colour & Size Recommendations By Season

So you are going salmon fly fishing, what a superb sport but the problem is what salmon flies do you use? Well it is not like a trout where we can see them rising to flies and eating from the surface, with salmon we are triggering the predatory instinct as they cannot eat once they enter fresh water. If you speak to Finnish fly fishermen they use small sparsely dressed flies quite often traditional patterns like Hairy Mary salmon fly, Willie Gunn tube fly, Stoats Tail green butt known in USA as Black Bear green butt, or a Blue Charm salmon fly. Speak to a Norwegian they more modern hairwing salmn flies like Monkey tube flies and Sunray Shadow tube flies talk to a Scot and you will get yet another answer. These are the same salmon species yet everyone fishes for them with different flies. Flies like Ally Gowans Allys Shrimp range have proved to be superb for Atlantic salmon from Scotland to Iceland and as far as Russia. So what salmon fly do you choose when you go salmon fly fishing? Well there is no magic answer, without doubt modern hairwing flies create stunning movement and account for an [...]

Tapered Leaders

Apr 21st, 2011
by Andy.
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So what is a tapered leader? It is a specially designed leader with a long and heavy butt for turnover power and a supple front taper for delicate presentation. A tapered leader is just tat a leader that tapers to a fine point! The thickness at the front of the leader varies according to the tippet diameter giving different strengths of line, with delicate 7X tapered leaders having tippets as small as 1.8lb and 0x with larger tippets of 10.5lb. These tapered leaders are an excellent choice for fishing with small and mid-sized flies on spooky fish and ideal for even underhand casting. Product Tippet Diameter (mm) Butt Diameter (mm) Tippet Test (KG) Tippet Test (LB) 0X 0.279 0.64 4.8 10.5 1X 0.254 0.58 4.1 9 2X 0.229 0.56 3.5 7.7 3X 0.203 0.53 3.1 6.8 4X 0.178 0.53 2.4 5.2 5X 0.152 0.5 1.8 3.9 6X 0.127 0.43 1.2 2.6 7X 0.102 0.43 0.85 1.8 Typical Fly Usage For Leader Sizes To calculate tapered leader size a time used formula is to divide the fly size by 3, this gives you and approximate tipper size. For example for a size 16 fly 16/3 = 5.33 so recommended leader diameter [...]

Superb Alternatives To CF Fly Boxes

Apr 18th, 2011
by Andy.
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Fantastic New Waterproof Fly Box Alternative to CF35878 Fly Box Holds 672 flies! We worked with our manufacturers to produce an alternative box to the CF Design Fly Boxes at a sensible price and this stunning fly box is the result. Similar to the large CF35878 which normally retails at around £35. As usual with The Essential Fly top quality products at prices that are unbeatable! Dimensions (Approx) 190mm x 105mm x 45mm Each compartment is approx 22mm high fitting the biggest hackles on dries, lures or streamers Lightweight fly case Weight: 210g. Large capacity slit foam case for small flies Designed for flies ranging from large streamers and lures, salmon flies to small dries. 7 pocket slit foam in lid, flip panel and base. Stores up to 672 flies Superb Fly Box Holds 672 Flies, From Streamers and Salmon Flies to Small Dry Flies Fantastic Essential Fly Double Sided Fly Box Alternative to CF1506F Superb, holds 408 flies on 4 faces Dimensions (Approx) 130mm x 85mm x 35mm Each compartment is approx 20mm high fitting the biggest hackles on dries, lures or streamers Lightweight fly case Large capacity slit foam case for small flies Designed for flies size 14, 16 [...]

Sonik Range Of Fly Fishing Clothing, Rods, Reels, Fly Fishing Lines and Luggage Released

Mar 27th, 2011
by Andy.
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Sonik Fly Fishing Tackle & Clothing Range Released We are pleased to announce the release of the Sonik range of fly fishing products, including the sonik rods, sonik reels, sonik fly lines, sonik luggage and sonik waders. We had been examining the market and found that Sonik range was the most complete on the market, with superb waders and boots and tremendous fly fishing rods, ranging from their delicate Sonik #3 weight 7 foot trout fly rod weighing just 2.65oz great to their tremendous Sonik Sk4 Double Handed Salmon Fly Fishing Rod 15 feet 340gm, with the expertise of the team and knowledge the Sonik tackle impressed us, superb fast rods, great action covering all eventualities. Check them out here at The Essential Fly. For this week any customer purchasing of Sonik products will automatically receive a gift voucher, £10 for each spend of £100 on Sonik Products for spend against your next purchase with us. Sonik Waders & Boots Sonik SK4 Waders & Boots Sonik SK3 Waders & Boots Sonik Fly Fishing Fly Lines Sonik Fly Fishing Luggage Sonik Fly Fishing Reels Sonik SK4 Fly Fishing Reels Sonik SK Lite Fly Fishing Reels Sonik Cassette Fly Fishing Reels Sonik [...]

Salmon Hook Size & Colour Selection Through the Year

Oct 8th, 2010
by Andy.
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Early around the salmon season size 4 hooks with green colored salmon flies are more dependable at stimulating salmon, As the year progresses towards the summer season altering to yellows (try Allys Cascade Shrimp) and then to oranges with smaller hooks is more beneficial. Through the top of summer you could be using salmon fishing flies as tiny as size 16. Near the end of the salmon season red flies then purple color fly fishing flies tend to be more reliable……………………