Mark Hensel’s comment on Atomic Glow 7/19/2022
To: Alan Wood
You have provided an outstanding product – I’ve got no shortage of applications !
Looking forward to seeing your biz grow.
> Hello Mr. Wood
>
> Just received the product and did a down and dirty side-by-side with another product
> ‘charged’ both products for the same length of time with the same source
>
> No question who’s outshines
> Looking forward to field testing on my favorite trout stream!
> Thank You for providing such a superior product!
>
> I’ll be sure to keep you posted on how the field testing goes!
>
> -Regards
> Mark Hensel
Flyshops we visited as we crossed the United States from Washington to Wisconsin on I94 and back to Washington on I90.
Atomic Glow goes to Yakutat, Alaska
All summer long we gathered details and made plans. We scheduled flights, tied Atomic Glow flies, made food, packed equipment and checked on bear conditions for this trip.
After a summer of obtaining clothing, rods, reels, lines, cooler and many smaller items we were set well in advance! On September 23, we met Peggy in the terminal for our trip to Yakutat, Alaska where Paul would pick us up and take us to Leonard’s Landing Lodge in Yakutat, Alaska. Due to COVID only a few fishermen were present at the lodge upon our arrival.
Day 1 After a short lunch, we were off to the Tawah River which is a small shallow flowing stream for sight fishing along the bank. I caught my first salmon within 3 hours of my arrival in Alaska! This was even more incredible since the Coho run had “disappeared” from the normal fishing places. No worries! With Paul’s extensive knowledge of the area, he located plenty of fish for all of us. with Paul’s guidance of how to present our Atomic Glow, Clouser style fly we were successful with these aggressive Coho salmon!
Day 2 The next day, we had another treat awaiting us with the availability of a halibut charter trip arranged by Paul before our arrival. Usually these charters are booked months in advance but COVID made access to trips easier this year. We were joined by 4 other fishermen from another lodge that morning. We all had high hopes for landing “big” fish. I had expressed my “concern” of my wife “out-fishing” me. All the guys laughed until she landed 5 halibut before the rest of us caught one. That’s 5 fishermen to one fisher-lady and she “kicked our butts”. All in all, we had a great halibut run and everyone caught something.
Early afternoon, the captain found a school of seabass. It took less than an hour for us to reach our limit of 30 fish. The day topped off with a couple of ling cod and two small sharks, which were deposited back in the bay. Upon returning to port, Diane and I decided to have Leonard’s Landing Lodge handle our fish processing with deep freeze packaging included. Leonard’s Landing prices were very reasonable and on-site for convenience. We spent the rest of the evening telling fish stories and catching up on sleep.
Day 3 Paul had arranged a “fly-out” to the Akwe River. We drove to the airport only to discover our Halibut fishing buddies from the day before (Mike, Paul, Jeff and Melvin) were joining us on the same flight. After much laughing and kidding, we “masked up” and piled into the plane holding 10 passengers for a ½ hour ride to a small sand bank along the Awke river. A bear and moose were also spotted while in flight. I couldn’t believe how quick the pilot dropped us down on that small beach. In no time the two groups were headed in opposite directions to fish. Paul and Peg encouraged us to keep only the large hook-nosed male fish. Each of us were allowed 4 fish. We hooked and released several fish throughout the day wondering if we’d get a “bigger” one! (Something I’ve never considered before.) By pick-up time we all had our limited and worked our way to the landing site only to have a couple of the gear guys want to try fly fishing. They were casting flies in no time. Almost on the dot, our plane arrives and we load up along with our piles of fish. I had the thought, “I hope we can get off the ground”, screaming in my head, but quick as a hop we were in the air and headed to the lodge for food and rest.
That night I got a change to talk to another of Paul’s clients at the lodge. It turned out that Glen was a former neighbor that lived about a ½ mile from me on the same road when I lived in rural SW Clark County, WA. We both knew where each other lived! What a small “world”.
Day 4 We met in the kitchen and made breakfast and thought we’d kick back a little only to discover that Paul had arranged for us to go out halibut fishing with a local boat owner and fisherman. We layered up for another day on the water. Here is where I have to explain the idea of layering as suggested to us by Paul. Long underwear, long sleeved shirt, sweatshirt and a real good rain jacket? I soon realized that Paul lives in The Dalles, Oregon where they don’t get much rain. We live on the west side of the mountains where it rains constantly!! What he called heavy rain was simply normal “showers” to Diane and I. It was a lot easier to manage the conditions and attitudes about the weather once we experienced his Alaskan rain! I kidded Paul about this a lot…. Our day out halibut fishing didn’t fare so well for three of us. Paul had all the bragging rights this day. While out in the bay we noticed rougher seas and much stronger winds coming our direction.
We dined that evening at a local restaurant remembering that food in Alaska is very expensive. A regular priced meal at home is double in Alaska. While eating we met Don Nelson, former owner of the River City Fly Shop of Tigard, Oregon was dining at the same restaurant. Again, what a small “world”! After returning to the lodge we heard warnings that hurricane force winds, up to 75 mph, would be hitting just north of our location. Extreme winds are rare for Yakutat.
Day 5 Since high wind conditions were forecasted for the entire day, we decided to do a little sight-seeing by taking the Dangerous River Road to see glacier icebergs. The road goes about 30 miles to nowhere (literally a turn-around at the end of 30 miles). It is an exceptional experience to see the “iceberg blue” in a river with white snow around it. We also stopped at a local bridge along the way and observed the remains of an earlier sockeye salmon run. You could tell bears had been feeding on salmon leaving remains everywhere. It’s been a blessing that we haven’t seen bears up close. A bear encounter is always a concern when traveling in Alaska. There are warning signs everywhere to educate tourists you are in “bear country”.
Day 6 Glen left us this morning which gave me an opportunity to see shipping procedures of frozen fish. We still have one more day of fishing before our seafood would be boxed, weighed and strapped to be flown back to Washington. This day was spent fly fishing in the Village Lagoon where salmon jumped and played depending on the tide conditions. As usual, the ladies out fished the guys. I must admit, I was so thrilled for my wife to have this kind of action, my ego wasn’t bruised a bit.
The last morning was getting fish into special boxes, weighed and driven to the airport for inspection and shipping. This has to be done hours before the flight is scheduled to leave. Diane and I ended up with 210 pounds of salmon, halibut and sea bass to take home. We had so much fish we didn’t have enough room in our freezer at home. After a 4-stop flight we got in late and stuck as much fish in the freezer as we could. The next morning, I ran to Lowe’s to buy a small chest freezer before the deep freeze from the lodge wore off.
I can conclude that it was a wonderful trip with total success and a desire to return to Alaska next year. I will admit it was a little different than I had imagined (who wants to be chased by bears anyway!) but it was so much more!! We are checking our calendars for the July sockeye salmon run in 2021 with Fly Fishing Strategies as our tour guide. We would recommend their services to anyone who is looking for a great Alaskan experience. I saved the best for last…our cost was way less than most Alaskan trips. Call Paul at 1¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ (509) 930-4406 and let’s see you there in 2021.
Al and Diane Wood
Dave Thomas’s sea run cutts fly with Atomic Glow
Finally got a hold of some of your material, added it as a highlight on a small articulated Searun fly. I love it!
Joe Hopkins from JSH Custom Jigs
Joe’s superior jigs using Atomic Glow (see the special effects)
Jeff Delia of Quiclene, Wa
Searun Cutts
A Dozen A Day
I met up with my friend and fishing partner Vic Cutter Thursday morning at Fat Smitty’s Burger Emporium in Discovery Bay for the third day this week of chasing Cutthroat.
We’ve been on a quest lately after having some very slow summer fishing for Salmon and Sea-Run Cutthroat Trout, and finally on Monday and Wednesday of this week we finally found some cooperative fish and landed about 12-15 fish each trip, while missing another 25-30 between us each day, due to “slow hand Luke syndrome”, that has affected me more than Vic . I am a lot older than Vic , by at least three years , so that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it as I seem to keep maintaining the hookup to loss ratio, as evidenced yesterday late afternoon when we got into a school of very large, feeding sea-runs, and I missed seven good takes in a row casting one of my, no-name-so-far, new Atomic Glow patterns, hooked and landed the eighth fish, and missed the ninth before I had to check the fly and make sure I still had a hook?
The hook point was sharp and I was basically dull, continuing to miss many bites for the next couple of hours while drifting just off the shoreline of Indian Island, but not before Vic and I had spent a good part of the day after leaving the Port Townsend Boat launch , looking for Silvers and sea-runs in all the right places; from Kala Point to the entrance of Chimacum Creek, over to Government Cut, fishing both sides, the complete length of the Cut, then along the shore of Marrowstone Island for a few miles, over to Lower Hadlock and Skunk Island… and never saw or touched any kind of fish!
That’s a lot of high speed miles in the Flats Boat, in between fishing known fish producing habitats with nary a tug or a taste of what we were looking for.
One of the very real problems was that everywhere we fished the seaweed and algae was so thick that most of the time we couldn’t fish very effectively, reducing the actual time on the water fishing to a minimal, that was, until near the end of the day, and with a “never say die”, fishing attitude or illness we both have, and the fact that at 5 P.M. it was 76 degrees and hardly any wind on Admiralty Bay, we decided to make a break for it, and give Indian Island a last chance try before admitting defeat.
The kind of luck we were having for most of the day seemed to be hanging with us as we drifted and made cast after cast into the ideal cutthroat fishing shoreline we had fished very successfully in the past , and still not a bite or even a sighting of a feeding fish or two?
One of the great things about casting from the bow of a Florida Flats Boat is that you get to see into the water when the light is right, and you suddenly add 10-20 feet to your casting distance, adding to your confidence and opportunity to reach fish , if there’s fish to reach.
Just about the time I was thinking of throwing in the towel, or the rod(?), I had stopped stripping the fly as it neared the boat, and as it sunk down into the rocks below in about 5 feet of water, three or four large cutthroat came out of nowhere and tried to inhale the fly while I instinctively pulled it away from them, missing the first of many cutthroat chasing our
flies right up to the boat for the next two hours!
Once we figured out the fish were lying in the holes and pockets amongst the small rocks and boulders, we would cast and let our flies sink long enough to get in the fish’s field of vision , but not too long to hookup in the rocks, at least not every cast!
We found that we had to keep switching fly patterns to keep the bite alive, at least until we saw a group of fish tearing through a school of some kind of baitfish, and that’s when I missed eight out of nine bites casting right to the edge of the feeding frenzy with one my new Atomic Glow flieswhile Vic hooked and missed, and hooked and landed fish on one of his small baitfish patterns.
When the fishing slowed down a bit, Vic switched to a full sinking line and immediately started getting hits, misses, and fish on base while I stuck to the floating line with a little less success that didn’t seem to matter that much, as we were both getting and missing, and landing fish “our way”, to keep on doing what we were doing.
Along with the excellent fishing was the show of fish catapulting out of the water for nearly the whole time we were fishing , including seeing 4 of 5 fish that we both agreed had to be in the 20+ inch range, plus too many to count in the 12-18 inch size, often within casting range.
Finally, after 2-2 1/2 hours of action, we figured the fish finally moved on as the outgoing current, our outgoing energy, along with the evening light, were all changing, and the day was done.
As we hurtled across the Bay heading to the Marina, Vic yelled above the quiet roar of the engine, “ we need to do something about our hookup to fish landed ratio”. Boy howdy, he’s right, I thought, when we figured we had probably missed at least 30-40 good bites each, and landed maybe 15 very fat fish between us, all in the 12-16 inch range, and surprisingly, neither one of us got into one of the trophy cutthroat we had seen and cast to.
As most fishermen know, there is nothing like seeing Moby Fish to keep you coming back for more, and after today’s adventure, we know he’s still out there!
Until we fish again.
August 30, 2019
Post-Fish Update
Jeff Delia
Jeffrey Delia of Quilcene, Wa
My Atomic Estaz Flies.
North Idaho Flyfishing Expo Lewiston, Idaho
Atomic Glow just got back from the North Idaho Flyfishing Expo this past weekend in Lewiston, Idaho. It was a successful event sponsored by the Kelly Creek Flycasters Club. My wife and I were joined by Mike McCoy from
Snake Brand Guides of Vancouver, Wa. Mike is an advisor for Team USA “Masters Competition team” which placed 2nd this year in South Africa.
The hospitality of the Kelly Creek Club is the “best of the west” with members bringing vendors homemade cookies and drinks on the hour; and ‘lunch room fixings’ fit for a king or queen!
The customers were steady and curious to learn the advantages of “real glow” in their flies. We had good conversations with Darrick Darst of St. Marie’s Flies; and Matthew of North 40 Fly Shop of Lewiston. I know this area, having lived in Lewiston many years ago, and seeing the new development and growth in the town is exciting.
My wife and I were disappointed that we couldn’t stay longer to visit family and fish but business responsibilities beckoned us back home.
We would like to thank all our friends, “old and new” for dropping by our vendor booth and I wish them continued success in their flyfishing adventures. Our next stop will be at the Wasatch Intermountain Flytying and Flyfishing Expo in Sandy, Utah on April 12 & 13th, 2019. We hope to contribute to the success of this expo again this year!
Albany Show March 8-10, 2019
I would like to thank all the customers, friends, tiers and sponsors for their awesome support of Atomic Glow at the Albany Fly Show this past weekend. A special thanks go to Shawn West from “Bass Bugs by Shawn”; Mitch Smith & Kerry from “2 Rivers Fly Shop”; and Mike McCoy from “Snake Brand Guides” for their sponsorship, support and efforts to promote Atomic Glow to the fly tiers at the show. Also I want to thank Marty Fogel for video taping Atomic Glow booth interactions each day. He took the time to drive home each evening; edit his recording and produce a video so other tyers around the country can learn of the benefits that Atomic Glow adds to the success of flyfishers. I thank Jason Miller for tying his beautiful “works of art” spey flies with Atomic Glow which we will photograph and post on our website: www.atomicgolow.net! We offer continued thanks to Tom LaGrow who has developed fly patterns with Atomic Glow for sea-run cutts and coho’s in the Pudget Sound area. I am happy to update our growth with Len Zickler; “CEO of FFI”, in which we talked about working together on future events to strengthen the fly fishing experience and industry. With his efforts Atomic Glow was able to be a vendor last year at the Boise International show where we have added a great customer base. From Boise and additional shows we have been able to build Atomic Glows’ name to reach the attention of Marcos Veragas, manager of Hareline Dubbin, LLC. Hareline has become our distributor on a local and national level. I had an opportunity to share with Marcos, at the Albany show, the advancement of Atomic Glow’s quest to be available in fly shops across the United States and abroad. We appreciate Hareline’s professionalism, advice, and distribution process that is 1st class on all levels. It was also nice to chat with Mike Barnum who has developed the most outstanding hackle pliers for fly tyers (in my opinion<:). We wish him our best for continued success in selling his fine custom products! We thank all the friends of “Project Healing Waters” who stopped by the Atomic Glow booth. We are happy to lend our support to the fine goals these members have embraced for our veterans. It is especially comforting to see the “presentation of colors” at the beginning of each day at the Albany Show and gives us pause to honor the service and sacrifice that these brave people do daily so we all can live industrious, free, and happy lives. Lastly, but not finally, we thank you all again. All the customers, vendors, and staff who made this show a fun experience for all attendees.
Jeff Delia shared his latest creations with Atomic Glow for Sea Run Cutts in the Puget Sound Area
Joe Hopkins Custom Jig Flies Product Results!!!
Joe Hopkins with JSH Customs
Jason Osborne, owner of the Portland Fly Shop
Portland Fly Shop owner and guide, Jason Osborne caught this steelhead using Atomic Glow. He said “Doing a tying video on it tonight “. “It seems to work pretty good!!!”
Matt Schindler’s Fly Shack Atomic Glow Flies
Shawn West bass fishing in the Gorge
Made it out fishing for the third time this year. The winds cooperated in the Columbia Gorge to make for a pleasant day on the water. I managed to land 40+ smallmouth bass. Most were in the 14”-15” size range. I caught all of the bass using 4 different flies. The best producer was an Atomicglow Alwood Fox dubbing brush baitfish. I am a little sore this morning, but very pleased I finally got out on the water.
Pheasant Tail nymphs with Atomic Glow tied by Erika Forsythe
| May 23 (2 days ago)  | | ||
| ||||
Hi Alan,
Portland Fly Shop owner and guide, Jason Osborne caught this steelhead using Atomic Glow.
Al, I need some more atomic glow. Doing a tying video on it tonight as well. It seems to work pretty good!!!
Perch caught in Boise Idaho by my wife, Diane using Atomic Glow
Kokanee Fishing with Atomic Glow Flies by Jason Miller
Kokanee Flies by Jason Miller
Another application of Atomic Glow success!!!
Tom LaGrow Squid Pattern
Tom sent us these pictures from the Puget Sound area with great results on coho salmon!
Atomic Glow’s Spot at the Wasatch Show 2018 Sandy, UT
Ice Fishing with Atomic Glow
This picture was sent to us by an ice fisherman using Atomic Glow along with two friends. Each caught 14 fish within three hours.
Jace sent us this picture from the Wasatch Fly Expo 2018 as his proven trout fly.
Steelhead and Trout jigs by Joe Hopkins
Already playing with this awsome glow by Joe Hopkins
Steelhead and Trout jigs by Joe Hopkins
Steelhead and Trout jigs with Atomic Glow tied by Joe.
Bobby DeCotiis Striped Bass Story
The fishing was bad, 5 nights without a striped bass at least 4 other fisherman fishing and not a single fish. The next day my wife said to me why don’t you try some of the glow material and see if it works for you. So I tyed a fly using Atomic Glow and went fishing. I couldn’t believe it. The fourth cast and I got my first striped bass !! Then another till I had 3 in Almost no time!!! The next night I got two and the next night I got 3 striped bass. I had to know if it was just the Atomic Glow so the next night I fished without the the Atomic Glow for quite some time and got nothing! I put on the fly with the Atomic Glow and got 2 more Striped bass.This stuff really works great I would never have believed it if I didn’t see it for myself. Here are the pictures of the Striped bass I caught I called the fly “The Wood Night Light Fly” !!!!
Intruder fly tied by Mike McCoy
Mid body green Atomic Glow with lead eyes.
Intruder fly tied by Jason Miller
Coral Atomic Glow rib.
Intruder style fly by Jason Miller
Coral Atomic Glow flash strips
Spey fly tied by Jason Miller
Spey fly with blue Atomic Glow body
Spey Fly by Jason Miller
With Green Atomic Glow body.
Flies tied by Jason Miller
Spey fly with coral Atomic Glow body by Jason Miller
Al Wood
Fishing at the North Fork Lewis River
Eric Rice
I hope everyone is having a great time at Coldwater Lake this weekend! I wish I could have made it.
I did however, fish Goose lake on Friday and MAN, it was hot. Brought at least 30 to hand including rainbows, brookies and cutthroats.
One rainbow was 26″ and had to have weighed 8-10 lbs. It was caught using one of Al Wood’s Atomic Glow flies. …wish the pictures were better.
Eric Rice
I hope everyone is having a great time at Coldwater Lake this weekend! I wish I could have made it.
I did however, fish Goose lake on Friday and MAN, it was hot. Brought at least 30 to hand including rainbows, brookies and cutthroats.
One rainbow was 26″ and had to have weighed 8-10 lbs. It was caught using one of Al Wood’s Atomic Glow flies. …wish the pictures were better.
Eric Rice
OK. So I’m fly fishing with my nephew, Jon Lindner in W Virginia and ran across this albino trout. Here’s a little 36 second video clip.
Kudos to Al Wood for his Atomic Glow flies.
Fly pattern
Crawdad tied with Atomic Glow by Al Wood
Stephen Cushing
First fish caught with Atomic Glow tyed by Stephen Cushing in Royal City, Washington on April 10th, 2017
Doug Anderson
On Friday, 4/21 I caught 5 trout 16 to 22 inches and 7 small bass on a bead head PT Nymph with an Atomic Glow wing case (super flashback!). I caught one trout on another fly. Most of the time I was using a two fly rig with only one being a glow bug. I’ll be tying up a bunch for the Central WA outing.
Doug Anderson
Another incredible fishing experience with your atomic glow. Nine trout in 90 minutes. 8 on an A-G back pheasant tail and 1 on an A-G bunny leech. Missed just as many!
Shawn West
Playing around with Atomic glow. The eyes, tail, and face are made with Atomic Glow materials. Low light fishing conditions with top water may never be the same.
Steve Jones
Your Atomicglow brought in a couple of nice 14-16 inchers on Coldwater Lake. I tied it into a #16 chironomid and lookie what I got. I shot the second picture to show the fly as best I could. I fished the fly under a #8 bead head wooly bugger and a strike indicator.
Jan Holstein
Attached is a picture of a nice trout I caught at Deep Lake with an Atomic Glow fly. Doug Anderson gave me one to try out and I was very successful.
