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Any other salt water fly fishermen junkies out there

Pellman73

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Joined
Aug 9, 2016
Messages
1,762
getting ready to chase some bonefish next week.

wondered how many other people out there are also addicted to fly fishing as well as guitars like me

:yah
 

Big Al

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Joined
Apr 24, 2002
Messages
14,537
No saltwater up here. I haven't been able to fish much due to all the back yo back surgeries I've had that seem to happen at peak fishing Fall season. However this year no surgery and I've had the pleasure to hook up with some nice King Salmon which are running right now. I finally was able to hook and land a 20+ lb King on my 3 weight with an alb tippet. Something I have been trying to due for years. It took about 40 minutes and I was stumbling along the stream bank up and down trying to keep up with that monster. Though I have caught many larger Kings this was the most memorable catch of my life and I felt like a fishing god once I landed and released that beast!.

I caught him on a streamer of my own design, however I am not able to the much at all anymore due to my vision and nerve damage in my hands. Not to mention the rather useless left arm! I have always wanted to try saltwater Fly Fishing and Bonefish and Tarpon are the stuff of dreams that I plan to tackle in my next life. If all goes well I will have a great Fall/Winter/Spring season as up hear the King and then Coho's run, Kings first then later Coho's from now to December.

The big Brown Trout, (averaging about 8lbs, but I've caught many up to 16lbs), run in late fall and overwinter in the larger streams. As long as they don't freeze up the Brown trout provide KILLER nymph fly fishing all winter long. Theses are big grumpy trout and it is my favorite time for fishing the belligerent bastards. Then come Feb. the Steelhead start showing up followed by the Rainbows of spring. Steelhead fishing is the stuff of dreams and i am right in the middle of some of the best big trout flyfishing water there is.

I've been waiting over three years to be able to do this and plan on a great winter as long as we don't get an arctic Express freeze over. Even then the shore of Lake Ontario offers great fishing and only ices up in the worsts of winters.

Nothing like the sun and shorts weather you guys have but I really love it.

I hope you have hook ups so often your arms cramp and get spooled to the backing a few times with epic runs!!! I'll be there in spirit.
 

Pellman73

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 9, 2016
Messages
1,762
No saltwater up here. I haven't been able to fish much due to all the back yo back surgeries I've had that seem to happen at peak fishing Fall season. However this year no surgery and I've had the pleasure to hook up with some nice King Salmon which are running right now. I finally was able to hook and land a 20+ lb King on my 3 weight with an alb tippet. Something I have been trying to due for years. It took about 40 minutes and I was stumbling along the stream bank up and down trying to keep up with that monster. Though I have caught many larger Kings this was the most memorable catch of my life and I felt like a fishing god once I landed and released that beast!.

I caught him on a streamer of my own design, however I am not able to the much at all anymore due to my vision and nerve damage in my hands. Not to mention the rather useless left arm! I have always wanted to try saltwater Fly Fishing and Bonefish and Tarpon are the stuff of dreams that I plan to tackle in my next life. If all goes well I will have a great Fall/Winter/Spring season as up hear the King and then Coho's run, Kings first then later Coho's from now to December.

The big Brown Trout, (averaging about 8lbs, but I've caught many up to 16lbs), run in late fall and overwinter in the larger streams. As long as they don't freeze up the Brown trout provide KILLER nymph fly fishing all winter long. Theses are big grumpy trout and it is my favorite time for fishing the belligerent bastards. Then come Feb. the Steelhead start showing up followed by the Rainbows of spring. Steelhead fishing is the stuff of dreams and i am right in the middle of some of the best big trout flyfishing water there is.

I've been waiting over three years to be able to do this and plan on a great winter as long as we don't get an arctic Express freeze over. Even then the shore of Lake Ontario offers great fishing and only ices up in the worsts of winters.

Nothing like the sun and shorts weather you guys have but I really love it.

I hope you have hook ups so often your arms cramp and get spooled to the backing a few times with epic runs!!! I'll be there in spirit.

Al-- love that you are a fly fisherman! I think there's some similarities perhaps with guitars in that there are so many rabbit holes (gear rabbit holes, technique rabbit holes, different fish are like different guitars I guess??!) endless things to be passionate about.

20 lb salmon on a 3 wt? that's nuts. I would have liked to have seen that. that thing must have been bent like a noodle

yea the Salt thing is very addicting. i've been at the salt thing a couple years now. when I was in Virginia in early aughts I fished a ton for little native brook trout (so fun. they slam dries and are soo amazing to look at) I've caught some bonefish and a snook. This summer I went three times to try and catch a Tarpon (and Hooked one of the silver kings and it jumped out of the water about 6 feet up and spat the fly. thrilling) but I still haven't landed one yet.

Headed to abaco this wednesday for some more bonefish with the back plan of maybe trying catch a permit if there are any available. The permit----- its the 59 les paul of fish I guess you could say! :laugh2:

I've been learning to tie this year and I've gone crazy making different shrimp patterns. I"m gonna do some crabs this weekend.

does your Streamer have a name? Big Al's Salmon Slayer or something?
 

J T

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Joined
Oct 20, 2005
Messages
10,501
Didn't know salt water fish went for that type of bait.

Casting for snappers is the closest I got to something like that.
 

AA00475Bassman

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Joined
Apr 26, 2016
Messages
3,769
Tailing Reds are my favorite salt water fish ! Since we moved on a fresh water Island i really have all the game out my door , just was putting away fly rods today soon we will have ice .
 

Big Al

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Joined
Apr 24, 2002
Messages
14,537
For big fish, big flies work great. The larger streamers are worked much like a lure with fast, jerking retrieve that mimics a prey item. The nymph relation would be the shrimp and crab flies I've seen.

Pelhelm 73, I have hooked up with many Kings on the 3wt but have never been able to land them. They are on for awhile and I run out of backing and have to break them off, or more commonly the leap up and spit the fly right back at me if they haven't broken the tippet.
I have been trying this for years and it was a challenge I set for myself. I am very proud that I was able to finally do it. I spend most of the summer using the 3wt on local stream trout and panfish and I love that thing. I have a variety of outfits. I have a custom 6wt with a STH reel with lever drag for steelhead and for most Salmon and big Bass/Pike I use my Loomis 8wt which is my biggest outfit.

I wade and just envelope myself into the environment. The sense of being one with nature and the artistry inherent in fly fishing really appeals to me. I use teflon braided leaders to sink my fly rather than the dreaded split shot, (which I just hate. It is ugly to cast and I think defeats the the natural presentation of the fly.), and have extra spools rigged up with floating type leaders and braided teflon leaders so I can fish on or near surface or below.

The streamer I used has no name. I tied up a whole bunch of wacky Salmon/Steelhead flies on a whim and just free formed it. Some are more traditional and some are rather psychedelic as the bright showy types seem to piss the Salmon off and entice very aggressive strikes! They don't work as well on the Trout with the exception of a Royal Coachman streamer that seems to drive the steelies and Rainbows crazy! Mostly it is egg patterns and nymphs in the winter, some quite small, for the big Browns.

Everyone should try Fly Fishing IMO. It feeds the soul.

Oh, yeah. I am a raging fool for native Brookies and the 3wt was a result of that mania. I drive all over the state to fish streams with good populations of Brookies and though small and less difficult to catch compared to the bigger trout, everything you said rings true. They are so beautiful. I also sit on some Blue Ribbon Streams and Rivers with world class Rainbow and Brown fishing. I often encounter out of state fishermen from as far away as Japan and South Africa!!! I have given so many flies away to them!!!!

It is a sacrament. It feeds the soul. My wife calls it "going to church!'. She is right.
 

Pellman73

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Aug 9, 2016
Messages
1,762
I was lucky to be down in the Keys back in July and the guide took this shot from his platform on the flats skiff.

I think this qualifies as church for me too

 

Pellman73

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Aug 9, 2016
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Didn't know salt water fish went for that type of bait.

Casting for snappers is the closest I got to something like that.

shrimp and crab patterns

I am just learning how to tie but I've done these guys in the last few months

mostly they are supposed to look like shrimp and mantis shrimp



today I tried tying some crabs

the body is made from scotch brite! I didn't have the right stuff for the legs or the claws but here are the first two crude results

 

renderit

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Jan 19, 2009
Messages
10,951
I love tying fly's! Very calming to me. Course I do it for the mountain run variety of bull sharks and gators so the ancillary gear be different...
 

J T

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Joined
Oct 20, 2005
Messages
10,501
shrimp and crab patterns

I am just learning how to tie but I've done these guys in the last few months

mostly they are supposed to look like shrimp and mantis shrimp

today I tried tying some crabs

the body is made from scotch brite! I didn't have the right stuff for the legs or the claws but here are the first two crude results

Cool!

So you just use a standard freshwater fly pole and line?
 

J T

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Oct 20, 2005
Messages
10,501
...
Everyone should try Fly Fishing IMO. It feeds the soul.
...


Hmmm.:hmm

Yes I've got to try it. But, it's October, so the window for this year is closing. I guess now I will have a few months to get geared up. :jim
 

DoubleBoogie

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Jun 6, 2004
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I haven't tried salt water fly fishing, but it's on my bucket list along with Tarpon for sure. I have a hard time imagining catching a large tarpon on a fly rod! :yah
 

Pellman73

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Aug 9, 2016
Messages
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I haven't tried salt water fly fishing, but it's on my bucket list along with Tarpon for sure. I have a hard time imagining catching a large tarpon on a fly rod! :yah

Check out the show called “Silver kings” on YouTube
 

Pellman73

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Aug 9, 2016
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Cool!

So you just use a standard freshwater fly pole and line?

No- the adage for salt vs freshwater is for freshwater you put your money in the rod and for salt it’s in the reel. The reels for salt need to be really well made and have good sealed drag systems to help catch the fish and also be able to handle having salt water on/around them.

Salt water fly fishing is almost a different sport... much harder. Harder more technial casting, thenfront of a boat, often in wind. Very humbling. You are fishing — seeing the fish and then trying To cast to it.... whereas trout fishing is often more fishing the water patterns where you know they will be hanging out.

usually for trout or freshwater stuff you want 3-6wt rods and for salt it’s more like 8-12wt rods

It’s a good among of money to get some good gear but once you have it then it should be good for life.

like guitars!
 

J T

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Joined
Oct 20, 2005
Messages
10,501
Yeah salt water turns stuff to crap real quick. You have to wash everything down at the end of the day.

This sounds like a real challenge. A real sport that requires some skills.
 

AA00475Bassman

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Apr 26, 2016
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Just rinse your reel off good to go my Billy Pate is 20 some years old the reel works like new still today .
 

AA00475Bassman

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Pellmans description of casting is spot on for salt water on the fly ! The one thing about success is getting on fish in these massive flats . As one who has spent many hours polling a light tackle flats boat moving & holding the boat is a sport and challenge on its own ! So many things must come together when sight fishing with a fly !
 

F-Hole

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Sep 2, 2015
Messages
2,171
I've been saltwater flyfishing for 20 years, although not so much now as I used to. There was a period when I was going to Alphonse Island two or three times a year to chase bonies and Milkfish. Milkfish are like bonefish on steroids, a ridiculous fish. Spent a lot of time at the top end of Australia chasing big Trevally and Queenfish too.

Here's a Milkfish on the flats, on a fly. These things will jump 20 feet into the air when hooked, then head for deeper water at a speed that would embarrass a Bonefish. Check out its tail.

 
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