Fly rods:
For Atlantic salmon fishing I
personally prefer a single handed rod for most locations
and conditions. Only in really big rivers, like the
lower Humber, for example, I would use a double hand
rod, but mainly for experiments because I simply don’t
like to play a fish with such a big and powerful rod. I
also like a rod with a stiffer tip, so that I can use
the rods in saltwater, estuaries and with sinktip lines
as well. A good salmon fly rod usually start at #7 line
weight and go all the way up to the 10/11
weight. Although I have landed many grilse with #6
weight rods, I still advise other people to take a
weight #7 or #8 rod, just because it’s better for the
fish when you release it again. I play rather quickly
and powerfully, but many people play too softly, and it
will take ages to land a grilse with a light rod. If you
play it too long, there is
a big chance that the fish will not survive anyway! The
action of the rod I would prefer is medium-fast and
fast, just to be sure to be able to cast in the windiest
of conditions. Rod lengths from nine and nine and a half
feet will do perfectly for most fishing techniques but
some people like to use a eight or eight and half feet
when the river is quite small. I always take at least
one spare rod per person. Personally I use a weight #6
rod for brook trout and grilse in small rivers
Reels:
For many people, a fly fishing reel
is an extremely important item among their fly fishing
equipment. Other fly fishers see a reel as a line holder
only, and I must confess that I never had any high
priorities for reels until I started to fish for salmon
and sea trout more frequently. Actually the reel became
very important to me when I ran into the bigger fish!
While years passed quickly, I discovered how to catch
salmon and sea trout in the beautiful estuaries of
Norway, and there I noticed that saltwater had an
enormous impact on my reels. In spite of cleaning them
quite often, I could not protect them against the bad
influence of the salt. The reels that I owned in my
early days were simple, and not built for saltwater, and
therefore most of them didn't last long. When I gained
more and more experience, and the fish became a lot
bigger too, the need for an excellent drag system became
more important as well. I was lost for quite some time
in my search for the perfect reel that fit me the best,
and because there were so many different reels
available, it was really hard to make a quick choice.
This is why I started to do some very serious testing
with reels. I can imagine that the nowadays fly fisher
has similar problems. It is not easy to find a good
reel, and prices for excellent reels are high, which
surely has an enormous influence on a fly fisher's
decision or choice. After more then 30 years of fly
fishing experiences, I learned a lot of things, and in
spite of the fact that I started with rather cheap
materials and equipment as most of us did, I quickly
realized that good quality has a high price too. All
hobbies are expensive, and the more serious people are
into their hobby, the more money they are willing to
spend.
After many years I finally started to realize what I
really wanted. The reel I was looking for must have an
excellent and perfectly
adjustable drag system. During
all the tests I did, I quickly discovered that cork is
still one of the best materials to use for the drag
system, because cork is able to compress well but always
will return to its original shape again. Many reel
manufactures have replaced cork for synthetics or
composites, and some of those reels indeed work quite
well, but not as perfectly as with cork. At least
that has been my personal impression over the years. The
biggest problem with cork is that not all manufacturers
using high quality cork, and when that happens, you
create bad stories easily. If you use cork, you have to
use the best of the best.
I
prefer a reel with a large backing capacity, and to
reduce price a bit, I became quite enthusiastic about
interchangeable spools. I don't mean spare spools, but
spools that can fit on different types of reels. For my
special way of fishing, I wanted a large abor reel
because it lays the line in much larger coils on your
spool which will not only reduce reel memory in the
line, but also prevents kinking and twisting. There are
even more benefits because it will also makes the
retrieving a lot faster, because you gain much more line
by each turn of the handle.
Fishing Flies:
I always keep to the
rules, and when the rules are telling me not to use
weight in the flies, I don’t, and even tie my nymphs
without any lead at all. For salmon fishing I use
dry flies, wet flies and even unweighted nymphs. For
trout and estuary fishing I also use streamers, bugs and
terrestrials. I mostly chose flies feelingly and when
everybody using a Blue Charm, I absolutely will tie on a
complete different one! Most of the time I use my own patters,
such as special surface skaters and wakers and of course
the Bondal Series!.
The flies with most power are those who you belief in
the most but neve runderestimate the help from a good
and reliable guide too. They usual know the best which
flies will do the damage!
Fly lines:
I mainly use floating lines in
Newfoundland but there is one exception. When I fish
coastal waters and estuaries I discovered that a 100-175
grain sinktip line can be extremely powerful and seems
to work a lot better in windy conditions as well. So far
I succeed best with light sinktip lines above a floater
in coastal waters.
Leaders:
I
only use my own made intermediate braided leaders and
leader system for private use and workshops and classes
as well, so I have no experiences with other leaders or
leader materials
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Pictures by
Hans van Klinken
