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Testimonials
Nov 2012, Morning Ron
Back a few weeks now but had an excellent trip thank you. Had two over 20lb, a 17lb, a 16lb and couple of 7lb. Lower Caen for the big fish. Not bad for three days. All but one on the below Autumn Alistair, a fly that I fish with confidence each year. Lost one and have retired the two flies that caugght the bigger fish so need a small restock. Please would you kindly tie up a few more of the half inchers on plastic and aluminium tubes, Thanks Ron
Miles
Hi, My flies arrived this morning, great service and the flies look great too! Many thanks and tight lines, Tony Graham
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Dear Ron
In the three for one offer that you are doing I would like a few of the RS Ally Gunn in .50 size as you haven't got them at the moment whenever you have them you can send them to me I had great success with that fly last year Thanks Tom Long, Ireland
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"Hi Ronald, I need to stock up on your supersnaelda, amazing fly you invented there. Caught 10 salmon at Yokanga on it and 6 at Swedish river Byske in a limited time of fishing this season. It was clearly catching fish when other normal well tried patterns failed. Best regards Michael PS Thanks for the 3 for 1 offer, I would be grateful to use that on this order DS "
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Hi Ron,
I was fishing on the Naver using one of your flies and have attached a picture of it after catching 22 fish in one week. - Gold bodied Willie Gunn copper tube looking ,very good!
Cheers,
Angus Fowler
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Hi Ron
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Hi Ron,
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Ron,Finally found time to say a big thank you to you and your staff for making my fishing season a memorable one.
I read reports whilst away from home on the daily catches from the spey , dee , tay , tweed , thurso, findhorn , nairn , ness
etc & it has been mostly a picture of gloom
For me, 2014 has been an incredible story of success , two weeks in UK in August ( part time fishing because of
the new baby ) produced 20 fish , up to 14lbs . Two weeks in October , limited hours on the water due to jet lag ,
saw me catching 25 salmon .
I believe I spent no more than 100 hours of fishing this season , caught 45 salmon to 15lbs , a smattering of sea trout
to 3.5lbs . The vast majority were caught on your feeler flies around 1.5” in chartreuse , yellow , orange etc, with the ½” black &
orange temple dog cone heads & alastair tubes taking a significant number in October with the lower river conditions.
The new line you sold me was perfectly balanced for the rod & even though casting in the winds we had in October
was a challenge , this made my success all the more rewarding .
The fly tying room in the new house has been made redundant ,due to me using Helmsdale Company flies instead of my
own inventions.
I won’t make the opening of season due to work commitments , but , I will be keeping an eye & an ear close to the pc
& phone , hopefully hearing news from home of an early springer. Roll on 2015 , hopefully for more of the same for me.
JohnSutherland
QC Coordinator – Fab Yard - batam
Varanus Island compression project
Batam Indonesia – Quality
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Ron: Attached are some of our pics to Yokanga River Lodge in Russia.
Here is the trip report for our week: http://www.flyfishyokanga.com/public/publicWrapper.php?t=1&p=13-2013Y
I would have to say our week would not have been so good without your flies. You totally dialed us in with the critical patterns we need for low summer conditions. The lodge did not have any small flies in stock, so guests that did not come prepared were left fishing some of the larger patterns with a much lower success rate. We ate up all of our small flies on fish and the ones that survived are battered, broken and totally tore up from catching fish. No regrets on increasing the size of the order or paying the extra exchange rate to order from the UK. I was totally relieved to have the right stuff. You should have seen the guides face when he opened our fly boxes. He was expecting a bunch of Yankee patterns from the US and probably wondering how he was going to make it work. Instead he just grinned ear to ear and said “good flies.”
I just wanted to say thanks for doing a great job picking out a credible selection for the Yokanga River. You definitely knew what to stock us up with and our trip would not have been as good without your selection of the right patterns and sizes.
I will definitely be ordering from you again for our next trip, and we will be back to the Yokanga! By the way the smallest patterns you picked were often the best flies that worked. Being used to throwing huge streamers for steelhead, I was most skeptical about the small sizes, but after the trip, the larger sizes were the only ones I had left
Well done!
Chris & Diane
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Ron,
Fishing the Helmsdale for three weeks in July / August, at least we had some water & could go out with a little hope !!.
The fishing was difficult but I managed to weedle a few fish for young George Hardy ( yeah the good looking chap ) & for JHS on
the Borrobol rods, all of which were captured on mini Alasdairs fished on the dropper & the tail.
Appreciate the service associated with my damaged sea trout rod replacement , superb turn out for me , so thank you for that.
Hoping to get back to try out my new rod before the end of the season, if not I’ll be making a pound or two to stock up on flies etc for 2014.
Good luck for the remainder of 2013 season & I’ll be praying for water for you guys ( BTW it is monsoon weather over here in SEA ).
cheersJohn (Hardy) Sutherland
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Ron,
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order no: 121111-205441-8361 - 12/11/12
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Hi Ronald,
Just received my flies in the mail.
Thanks for the quick deliver and excellent quality flies. I have ordered Salmon flies from a number of mail order companies in the UK and around the world, and your flies are easily the best quality flies available. Let me know the next time you have a BOGOF offer and I will really load up.
Regards,
Blair Cribb
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------To Whom It May Concern,
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Dear fellow angler
Please send in your experiences and success of your fishing trips using Helmsdale Company flies. We hope that by printing your stories or testimonials here others will benefit and learn form your experiences.
Send your feedback to Ronald Sutherland.
Many Thanks,
Ron
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Dear Ron
I hope that you will be able to supply me with some more of the size 14 version of the PB Black Shrimps again for next season.
An excellent fly that accounted for dozens of grilse on the Costello and Dawros rivers in Connemara last season.
All the best.
Yours sincerely
Geoffrey H T Fitzjohn
Co Galway
Ireland
http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=615
Brand new sunray tsunami, no fly box should be without one!!
Steven Mackenzie - Head Ghillie on River Oykel.
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Dear Ron
Thanks very much Ron,
That would be perfect. I have had tremendous success using your patterns in the last week and needless to say I'm hooked!
One of my best friends was fortunate enough to finally catch his first salmon ever after 5 years. The secret was I had loaned him your cascade potbellied pig tube fly.
Dear Ronald
I had the best experince in Alta that you can think of.
Me and my friends caught 12 salmons from 15 kg to 8 kg and 8 of them
took on Cascade Alistair 1"copper tube.
From 8 PM 24.06 to 07 AM the 25.06 we took 8 salmon on the Cascade. I
got a 11 kg salmon on the first cast on the cascade. The weather was a
bit cloudy with some sun, just perfect for that fly.
My friends tried several other flies, but when i gave them my fly they
surrendered :-)
Can you make me some more copper tubes with the Cascade Alistair
pattern?
Hugo Breivik
We have been using Ronnie's coneheads, TDs and other patterns for many a year on the River Helmsdale to great success. What is more, the flies travel well too! A medium black & yellow Conehead TD travelled to the Mertoun beat of the Tweed in September 2006, after a busy week on the Helmsdale, and succeeded in catching Kola numbers of salmon on a particular morning session.
Thanks a million Ronnie!'
Hugh Colville
Ron,
Your small Willie Gunn tube scored on Saturday evening. A fine 4lb bright silver Sea Trout from the Rive Mole, North Devon. Add this to a brace of springers last weekend from the same river when others were failing, these were on the Conhead Willie dog, and, the Tweed springer in April when fish were only taking spinners. Your flies seem to be having an effect!!!!
Keep up the good work!!!
Cheers
Trevor Smith.
during my recent week on the Helmsdale. I had them first thing on the Thursday,when our best chance for the day was the Craggie Bend. I was up second for this pool after it had been well covered by a Helmsdale regular using an Ally Shrimp,no offers and nothing showing. It was the day after the spate and the water was very peaty. I tied on the copper tube and got started. As I reached the burn, several fish started to show,we could see them well enough to estimate their size at around the eight pound mark. While the usual discussion and swearing was going on,one of them took deep. Ten minutes later we had an eight and a half pounder on the bank. Within the next quarter hour a similar sized fish had been caught by another fisher using an Ally shrimp,and released, neither of these were sea-liced
It doesn't take long to realise that Ronnie's are the only flies Helmsdale salmon are remotely interested in! Over the weeks I have been fortunate enough to fish on the Helmsdale the coneheads and TD's are consistently the top flies, regardless of conditions.
Edward Cardozo
Ron
Thanks for turning my season into a cracker………………….. I bought a selection of your flies a few weeks ago and decided to give the little alisdair cascade tube a try in my home river just north of Stavanger.
1) Water height was perfect with a little colour after a spate………..nothing worked……………so I popped this little beauty on………………..3.5 kilo ………..first fish in my hom,e river this year.
2) Next evening in another local river………fishing the seapool…….after 2 other fly fishermen had fished up and down without a touch……………..I pop in with my favourite single handed rod…….11 ft 4 wt LOOP OPTI rod……………tide was wrong………low water…………….and pop first run through……………..4 kilo fresh run…………
Now I am beginning to think I am a lucky SOD.
3) Next day after a lot of rain…………………..fishing the incoming tide…………..and a lot of fish starting to move up………………..used heavier gear………..no luck………….went down in fly size………ally variants size 8 treble………….7 kilo and 5 kilo……………………then nothing…………….so I changed to a lighter set up and the cascade……pop 4 kilos
4) Next evening back in my home river………….very high water………………..blowing and raining……………………difficult to catch fish on the fly…………but try anyway………………nothing taking but fish running…………go to the car and get my other rod with sink tip and cascade on …………fish off the fast flowing main current just above the man made weir……………..see a fish showing as he cane over…………cast three times and pop……………..7 kilos…………………..carry on fishing the tail of the pool within 1-2 meters of the weir…………………….pop 3 kilos……………..pop 6 kilos…………pop 6 kilos……….pop 6 kilos……………………………..5 fish in 1 1/2 hours…………………..none lost all well hooked in a high dirty river……………………….even though I caught them on the side in very shallow water that was quite clear………………just hit them as they came over
5) Next morning get up at 6 with bad hangover……………….first run through.pop 3 kilos…………..10 yards above the hot spot……………….after that dead.
6) 3 days later……..river gone down a bit and cleared up…………………..nice weather…………………..caught a3 kilo in a place where I haven't caught a fish in 10 years
7) Next morning………………pop 4 kilos………………………. Eleven fish……………………..within one week on two different rivers, in totally different conditions………………..low medium and high…………….rain, sun …………wind, no wind…………….lunchtime, evening……………..low tide hightide………..floating line, sinktip…………………..not one fish lost.I have got religion……………………… And then I made a mistake………………..I told my colleague………..Hugo ( who you have communicated with………………..and he gets all hot and fuzzy and buys some………and what does he do………goes to another river and it catches him fish……………………
UN.......BELIEVABLE!!!……………………………excuse my french.
In my opinion…………………….I think the secret is
1) very small hook…………they suck it in and before they know what hit them they are hooked
2) Very lightly dressed……………
3) That fantastic cascade tail/wing…………………it must really hallucinate them……………and they just cannot resist.
I have since had two blank attempts in a very high river this weekend………………but I still have the faith………………….this fly is here to stay…………………….Suggested modifications……………variations………………….give it a bit of weight……………with a cone head or lead wire on the body…………….it is very light and does not roll over in a head wind
Keep up the good work and I will update you if there are successes.
Nic Jepson
Dear Ron
Many thanks
Delighted as always with the flies.
Please let me know when the tungsten Pot bellied pigs are back in stock. I have had somewhat remarkable success with them on the Welsh Dee and am anxious to replenish my fly box.
All being well we will be back up on the Helmsdale in May so will look forward to popping in to the shop.
Best Wishes
John Pette
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Hi Ron
Well the Tsunami flies saved the day, great fun fishing them, but we were getting a very poor strike rate from fish risen to fish landed, is that normal?? I got a small grilse as soon as I got back to the river on Friday afternoon having left your shop, I then got another one on Saturday and a friend who begged one off me also got a fish, but between us, we must have had at least a dozen rises/follows.
We got three on Saturday in total, which was good given the conditions and the party ended up with 12 for the week 11 off the Lower River and one off the Upper.
Thanks for the suggestion and tips on how to fish.
KR
Guy Hemsley
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Hi. My flies arrived this morning - including a free fly, despite already doing this & letting me keep those sent previously in error. I cannot commend your company enough. Customer service is second to none & will certainly be the first place I look when ordering in future.
Many thanks
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