Sunray shadow fishing for salmon

[Lgraydonflyfishing]

I find fast stripping of salmon flies quite hard work ! I can well believe that he ended up sweating ! I can manage about 20 minutes of it, after that it becomes more of a chore than a pleasure (for me). Mind you, if I was caching plenty on it, might be different !

I've had quite a few boils and one or two takes but nothing has stuck yet but to be fair not fished it that much.

Great video thats what its all about!.....and yes 30 mins then a break then another 30 haha be some workout, but like you said if you get a couple of takes its all forgotten about

 

[Occasional salmon fisher]

I like the idea of a smaller fly in conjunction with a sunray. A bit like loch trout that are attracted by the top dropper then take the middle dropper as they turn away.

 

[Lgraydonflyfishing]

Closest I came to landing a fish on one was the Dee at Park in the spring. Fishing the tail of Kirk's.. it was the most normal take and reaction to a fly.. maybe as I'd given up stripping and just let it swing for a change lol...

I always carry a few and fish them sporadically, usually where I've more room in bigger river. maybe should be a more regular thing.

Definitely worth a shot after you've ran threw with a standard shrimp fly pattern ?

 

[Lgraydonflyfishing]

Same experience here ,I tried them and had a lot of fish come around and follow it or boil behind the fly.

I then was thinking they are too big, so instead I Now tie a half inch Wing on a silver body and black front hackle on a size 10 Kamazan B175 and fish it the same way as a sunray. They seem more obliged to take the smaller fly than a sunray on a tube.

Sometimes you get a better reaction with the bigger sunray in terms of the amount of fish you stir up so it's hard to find the right balance,

I might start putting on a smaller dropper on a long leader when I fish the sunray next. I need to keep experimenting!

Sunray and a small double chances are they'll take the double everytime could be a successful method ?

 

[simonjh98]

I generally fish my normal size 12 shrimp flies very fast in slow pools, the same way you would fish a sunray. Short but rapid strips after a few drifts. You just see the big wake coming behind your fly and then it locks up in your hand. There is no better feeling!

 

[FaughanPurple]

I generally fish my normal size 12 shrimp flies very fast in slow pools, the same way you would fish a sunray. Short but rapid strips after a few drifts. You just see the big wake coming behind your fly and then it locks up in your hand. There is no better feeling!

I naturally seem to fish quite square and quick too, always retrieving... dont let them see it for too long, especially at pool tails with running fish... rarely mend the line as well, except for a downstream mend to get round eddies and slacker flows on your side of the stream and speed things up..

If you reduce to half and inch with a collar hackle, is that not a stoat tail rather than a collie dog or did it just not take its roids that day??

We're lucky in that most of our rivers are small and shallow so we get those big bows at times to wee Shrimps fished quickly dancing back toward you... just close your eyes and keep pulling to it pulls back ?

 

[Jack Holroyd]

Sorry guys , you seem to think I was talking about FLY fishing. Fast lure is what we have . Fly is olive dun, sedge. When I catch salmon on the collie dog , it is on an escaping lure , which the salmon MUST snap before is escapes. A dropper must be fishing too fast if it is fishing fast enough.
Don't fish it all day. You will be knackered and disturb the water.
Cover new fish, or fish in known lies for a couple of mins then move on , or sit out and watch. You will be surprised what you learn watching the water for an hour.
I've had more success with my 11' than the big rods, possibly because the retrieve on the wee rod is more jumpy.