This piece was painted for the 2023/24 Salmon Conservation Stamp competition in which a Chinook salmon, fresh from the Pacific, rises quickly to the fly as he instinctively feeds in fresh water.
During the summer I would wade into local rivers and snap underwater photos to try and capture the right look and feel I had in mind. I wanted to paint a river scene to encourage the feeling of depth within the painting using river rocks. Once I got something I liked I made up the fish from my imagination, but I decided to add a fly to give reason to the sudden explosive movements of the fish. A lot of modern salmon flies are very bright coloured and obnoxious looking, I wanted to add a more subtle fly as to not distract the eye from the fish, so I decided to use a Royal Coachman. I also placed the fly just out of reach of the fish to create tension.
- Joshua Hansen -