Good push of Umba Whoppers this week despite the warm and quite unusual weather this time of year. Every night we have celebrated new and old members joining the 20 Lbs Club. Umba veteran Jamie Tabor – from UK – landed 3 beautiful Umba salmon in just 2 days of 18 Lbs, 20 Lbs and 24 Lbs. All on a Silver Doc fly seize 6. Umba veteran of them all, Illtyd Griffiths – from Wales – landed 2 beauties the first bonus day and as always caught on his own very special – please read more below – Boyo fly.
Benjamin Domange – from France – fished Doc Pool yesterday – from land – and hooked a super strong who pulled him around for 10 nerve wrecking minutes, jumping all over, backing emptied for more than 300 m backing whereafter it decided to head for the White Sea. Again one of this fish you will never forget. The fish were estimated to +25 Lbs, we will never know.
Biggest Salmon so far; 7 between 10-14 Lbs, 3 between 15-19 Lbs and 7 between 20-24 Lbs. Most productive flies so far: Red Butt, Green Highlander, Boye (see picture), Silver Doc and Podolsky fly. Water temperature 14c and every minute enjoyed as Umba is slowly dressing in its characteristic Umba colors. An improvement from last week and we look ahead with great hope and optimism.
THE BOYO FLY BY UMBA VETERAN ILLTYD GRIFFITHS
Illtyd Griffiths is a AAPGAI Master Fishing Instructor in both single handed (Trout/Sea trout) and double handed (salmon) disciplines. This is the most prestigious and difficult to attain qualification in the UK. Illtyd also share a deep passion for Umba river. A river he has fished fourteen times always with good result, maybe because he is almost always fishing his trusted Boyo fly. With permission from Illtyd, YOU have now a chance to fill your boxes for the upcoming season 2014 season with Illtyd Griffiths super fly – The Boyo fly
Dressing for Boyo:
Hook: Double 4,6,8,10 or 12 this fly is tied on a Salar Size 7
Tag: Oval silver
Back Body: Silver flat braid ribbed with oval silver
Mid Hackle: Orange hen or soft cock
Tail: Yellow and orange mixed Bucktail with a few strands of orange Flashabou Accent or similar.
Front Body: Black UV dubbing ribbed with oval silver.
Wing: Black bucktail or on smaller patterns Arctic Runner Hair
Front Hackles: Black and sunburst Yellow mixed hen or soft cock hackles
Cheeks: Jungle Cock tied below horizontal
Head: Black with band if fluorescent red thread.
Illtyd tells “I used this fly first in the late 80’s for salmon having had problems with the tails on my Ally Shrimps wrapping round the hook. The method of tying helped to avoid this. I initially used this mainly on my home rivers in Wales and in Scotland with great success and for many years I kept it as a bit of a secret only sharing it with some close friends – who more often than not came back for more!
Since the late 90s I have used the fly extensively and to say I am now a three fly man is probably true for most of my salmon fishing this being the first “go to” fly. I have caught fish consistently on this fly all over the UK, Norway and in Russia.
This year on the Umba the conditions were as testing as I can remember in the all my fourteen visit there for a September week. We had very low water and high daily temperatures with no sign of clouds throughout the week. The water temperature at 13/14°C was very strange for Autumn and of course the fish were difficult to tempt. The Boyo again scored very well with one fish of more than 20lb and a number of others in the teens in the toughest week of the season!”
Give this fly a go – I am sure you will enjoy it!
Illtyd Griffiths