Fishing with a bomber

[hawkingfisherman]

Has anyone had much sucess fishing with a bomber fly in the UK. I know that in Canada and Russia they use them for Salmon and they can be quite effective for both getting them to take on the surface and for finding where fish are lying. It looks like a great way to catch a Salmon.

[Speyducer]

Until such a determined fly fisherman utilises the bomber, either on repeated short dead drifts over the known lies (as the Canadians do) or by 'waking', at almost every available fishing opportunity - ie using this as your FIRST method of fly fishing - on UK waters, rather that a wee bitty of a try when nothing else is working, then I don't believe that much success will be reported here.

However, there is no logical reason to suppose that it wouldn't work, as salmon are taken regularly in the UK on surface fished flies, especially Collie Dogs, Sunray Shadows & the Scandinavian Monkey (all similar in type & use), and the hitched & skated flies. It is thus known that salmon in UK waters do rise for the flies fished on the surface, and will take flies freely in the top couple of inches of water, with spectacular takes & boils at the fly.

So it should be possible to be successful on bombers too.

In an assimilation of what has been written & spoken about Collie Dogs, Sunrays etc, the method often induces fish to come out of their lies, and either rise & smash at the fly, or follow with a subsurface wake, and do the same. Even if the fish comes short without a hook-up, you have determined that there is a 'player' about, and a rapid change to a different fly offering may just result in a secure hook-up, even if you have to change the fly half a dozen times of more over the same fish (that's how the Canadians have been successful with the floating flies - multiple changes of fly over the same 'player' until a hook-up).

However, in the circumstance of the UK waters, such activity of repeatedly casting over the same fish could be interpreted as hogging the lie, and not within the normal spirit & etiquette of cast & step down. It may be this latter phenomenon that affects UK fly fishermen & thus presents a relative inhibitory factor in deploying the bomber more often.

It is certainly not the case that UK Atlantic salmon are a breed apart from the Canadian & Russian fish, and our waters are as varied as elsewhere.

Mike

[Sagecaster]

It's my favourite method of catching salmon, I have only succeeded in Scotland once, although I have hooked and lost several. My recommendation through my own personal experience is to only use it in the summer when the temperature is up a bit and there are a few grilse about.

There is a knack to fishing the bomber to its greatest effect and this really only comes with experience. I've never had any success fishing purely dead drift, even in Russia, its usually a combination that works for me. IE Fish upstream like a dry fly dead drifting, let the current carry the fly downstream until it starts to drag, then skate the fly across the lie. I have found that the most reaction happens as the fly starts to swing round and begins to drag.

As speyducer comments, you really have to target your fish and sometimes cover the lie continuously before any you get any reaction out of the fish.

[salmo]

Does anyone have a picture of Mikael Frodin's Green Bomber?

[G Ritchie]

www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=325

[salmo]

Thanks for the link Graham. Very nice looking site as well!

salmo