Ballynahinch Badger Atlantic Salmon Fly

This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Ballynahinch Badger Atlantic Salmon Fly.

Ballynahinch Badger | www.johnkreft.com

This is one of five Atlantic Salmon flies my friend Jim Fisher purchased during his 1986 fishing trip on the river Spey in Strathspey, Scotland.

Atlantic Salmon Flies | www.johnkreft.com

He was successful landing a 32 inch, 12 pound Atlantic Salmon on a Munro Killer using a Winston 9′ 6 weight fly rod paired with a double taper floating line. He told me it was the only rod he had with him. He fished the fly like steelhead fishing, casting 3/4 downstream and letting the fly swing.

Two Small Ballynahinch Badger Flies | www.johnkreft.com

I was surprised by the size of flies used to catch these fish. I assumed larger flies were used to catch those beautiful fish. He purchased a box of Mustad # 3562 C in sizes 6 & 8 to tie additional flies. He states their sizing is interesting; a size 8 is equivalent to a size 10 standard dry fly.

Jim used Hairwing & Tube Flies for Salmon & Steelhead by Chris Mann, to identify the fly.

I appreciate having a researcher I can count on!

Enjoy…stay home, stay safe!

(John Kreft is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.)

Similar Posts

  • Flies for a New Fly Fisher

    I’m putting together a few flies for a new fly fisher. The question is, which ones do I send him? There are so many effective fly patterns to choose from. I’ve thought about a list of flies for a while. The problem I have is it depends on where and when he plans to fish….

  • Matts Fur

    Here is a Matts Fur fly I tied and fished in the 1970’s. Found it in Kaufmann’s Tying Nymphs book which was my bible in those days.  It still works! Use it for a Golden Stone nymph imitation.

  • Happy New Year 2020

    Happy New Year 2020 everyone! I thought today’s post would be a good time to take a look back at 2019. I’d like to express my gratitude to all the RiverKeeper Flies subscribers and readers who have found me one way or another. 2019 has been another good year. I’ll begin with a few statistics…

  • Copper John

    John Barr’s Copper John is this week’s TBT fly. He completed the fly design in 1996 after three years of development. The Copper John is such an effective fly design, John Barr ties it in many colors and variations. The original fly is tied in sizes 10 – 18. But in his book, Barr Flies, he…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *