MAINE - Life in the Slow Lane
Bill
The guys I know that fish the lower MSW ( no names no pack drill) swear by the Black Ghost tied on #2 or 1/0 hook with a split wing like a butterfly and a little pearl crystal flash in the wing. The call it the Black Ghost Butterfly ( I didn't claim these guys were too smart 
) They said last year they were slaying fish all day long!! If you fish Quarreyville you would know some of these guys.
Hmmm Mike, sounds interesting a combination of the two fly's. What were they using for wing material? calf tail? I think that I'm going to try tying up some smaller flys as I've got lots of large ones.
BG
Bill
The flies that worked the best for me when spring fishing were all tied on short shank 1/0 hooks. I found that dark green marabou palmered on the hook with a collar of wood duck was the nuts. I caught 8 fish on this fly one evening on the NWM, got a fish about every 10 min. Also ty the same hook with white marabou and lay colored bucktail over the back, not a large bunch but a small bunch of red or blue or green worked well. Also had great luck with lefties deceivers in while and blue, white and green as well as white and red. Hooked my largest fish ever on a white and red deceiver, fish had to be 48 inches if he was an inch and he cut me off 20 minutes into the fight.
Thats my two cents on the subject.
Lee
OK thanks Lee, kind of sounds like the fly's were not real bright colored and size 1/0 hook I would consider to be middle of the road for spring fishing. You don't happen to have the name of these flys or pics would be nice? I'm sure that you lost them long ago in the mouth of that 48 incher that got away.
Thanks BG
Bill
I would call those flies soft hackle marabou's and they where only about 2 to 3 inches long, not real big. But they worked OK.
Lee
Bill
I'm not sure what they used in the wing but I figure calf tail would be too small for 1/0 hooks ?? I'll try to find out for you han I next chat with my NB buddies on the phone.
some calf tails have longer hairs near the tip that I have used for spring salmon streamers before. I really like the mickey finn tied with calf tail. Another fly that I've had success with is what I call the black fairy it has a black body with oval tinsel rib, pink deer hair wing with black hackle.
Bill G.
Bill
My buddy in Fredericton told me last night that he ties the fly with either calf tail or goat hair. He swears its a killer fly.
Mike
When I first started angling for Spring salmon in 2002 I had always heard that for the spring season bigger is better and that really big flashy fly's tied on big hooks were the best. On numerous occaisons I've been fishing out of my boat doing OK and landing a few fish, when some one else in another boat is just laying them in, one right after another. Sometimes anchored and some times trolling. So I ask myself what am I doing wrong that is only producing a few fish. Location aside I realize that there are some sweet spots or honey holes where the fish will stack up just out of the current in their zen zone and if you know the spot it helps alot. But I'm wondering if I should be downsizing my fly selection perhaps a little smaller hook size and more subdued colour might work better. In the last few years every time I go to the Miramichi in April all the locals are complaining that the river is low and should be higher. So if that is the case then flyfishing doctrine would say use a smaller less intrusive fly. However we're dealing with a fish that has been starved since it left the ocean. Once on the NW Miramichi I saw a guide and sport catch a fish every 10 mins all afternoon long, other than he knew the exact spot to anchor and to fish, I was told by another local that the guides that year were using a fly that I think was called the black slime. Which is a black fly with a black marabou wing which would seem to fly in the face of traditional ( pardon the pun) thoeries. Can anyone shed some enlightenment on this subject, your own ideas or other peoples or experiences that you may have had with fly selection versus water height/clarity in spring salmon fishing. I'm getting to break out the flytying box, get my new bench set up and tie up some new fly's so I'd appreciate a little advice.
Thanks
Bill G.