Lockdown has been extended so only one thing for it, an upgrade of the deadly Alistair tube. The Alistair has firmly and fashionably taken over from the Megan tube which was the absolute "go to" tail fly of the past. Very few rods would be seen on the river Helmsdale in summer without a Megan tube on the tail end of a classic dibbling dropper set up. Nowadays its the Alistair tube and who would argue that is not more successful than the awesome power of the timy black & blue Megan?

Well, the rise of the Alistair is complete, it has powered its way on to most rods for much of the season in all forms, coneheads, copper and aluminium tubes, Pot bellied pigs, Tigertails and more but in summer it is the plastic tube version that now commands the top spot.

I had one of my best ever seasons around 15 years ago in the Highlands landing around 100 salmon mainly over the summer. The water was low all summer but the salmon were still running. At that time my top fly by a long way was a Baby Temple Dog I had designed. I had witnessed how lethal large Temple Dog tubes were on many rivers particularly in Russia, and I knew they were the most popular fly in Scandinavia. I had to design one small enough for UK rivers in the low clear waters of summer so the RS Baby TD was designed and it was a colossal success. The first one to roll off the vice was the obvious one in orange black & yellow which are our famous Willie Gunn colours. The body was gold and the hairwing constructed with mobile Arctic fox. The last part of the deal was, how was I going to jazz it up like its awesome bigger brothers. Jungle cock eyes were a definite but for me the defining aspect was 4 strands of orange Mirrorflash. It is thicker than Angel hair which was used in most bigger TDs but the mesmorising reflective "glint" of this amazing synthetic fiber certainly caught my eye and I was sure it was going to hypnotise salmon also. I was correct, the tiny tube just kept catching fish of all sizes and became a Helmsdale Co best seller which it still is to this very day.

The great news is that I have designed a new Baby TD series in 8 different designs which should be ready for a Lockdown exit later in the season. Keep a lookout of those, they are stunning and will only available from Helmsdale Co ofcourse!

So, back to the new Alistair tube which is the real subject of this read. There is something about it, totally different from decadence of a Baby Td for instance in that it is simplicity itself in construction. It is not a wispy lightly dressed silver stoats tail tied with sparse hair, by definition it is more chunky as it is tied using beefier bucktail which is a hollow fiber and helps the fly skate more when tied on plastic tubes. Is it this surface (almost hitching )presence which makes it more successful or is it the rich golden brown/yellow mix of colour? whatever it is, it works a treat.

The upgrade I have introduced is simply the addition of the same 4 strands of mirrorflash I use in the super deadly Baby TD construction and it lifts the visibility and aura of the fly to another level along with a brighter fire orange head. Tied on our 2mm Baxters tubing it also holds any tube hook without the need for extension tubing making a very solid arrangement.

The new Alistairs are tied and available in the most popular summer size of 1/2", so, when Lockdown eases and we are unleashed to hunt salmon once again you should grab a few to fish on any river that holds atlantic salmon, you won't be disappointed.

New RS Alistair tube, click here to buy them now - http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/new-rs-alistair-tube.html

Nordic Cascade size 14, one of our fabulous new low water flies which as you can see is tied on a super sharp and very strong Nordic salmon single. You can also see how small it is against the pen point. This is heading for "best seller" status already so you need some in your summer flybox! Once these take hold, they are pretty much in for good...