Flymen Blog
As I pull back on the oars my eyes settle on a small current break with nice holding water and some overhead cover.
It’s a solid spot that has produced many times throughout my years as a fly fishing guide.
I relay the information to my clients, and what happens next is...
A) The client lands the fly an inch off the shore, lets it sit for a couple seconds, strips, pauses, and the smallmouth eats the fly.
B) The fly lands 3 feet off the shore, well short of the current break, and the client fishes the fly back to cast again.
C) The client false casts so many times that the fly is never given a chance to catch a fish, even with me frantically pulling on the oars trying to hold the spot.
D) The fly lands in the spot but is quickly stripped well out of position, the fish chases and turns off.
E) The fly lands an inch off the shore, the client lets it sit for a couple seconds, strips, pauses, but no one is home and hungry today.
The following 3 tips will help make option A more likely of a situation for you on your next smallmouth fishing trip.
The fact that redfish can be found everywhere throughout Florida’s Atlantic and Gulf coasts makes the Sunshine State an obvious hotspot for anglers looking to slip a fly into a school of tailing fish.
With world famous fishing destinations like the lagoon systems on the east coast, the Everglades to the south, and the crystal clear grass flats of the Nature Coast to the west, there is certainly no shortage of epic environments in which these fish can be targeted.
Learning a fish species like this from scratch was a challenge but also allowed me to learn from my mistakes. Hopefully sharing what I learned the hard way will help you the next time you target redfish on the fly.
Intruder Style Flies Are Designed to Provoke Aggressive Strikes From Steelhead.
As the name suggests, the idea is to "intrude" on the steelhead's territory and trigger the "fight" response of fight or flight.
Meahan's Intruder is an approachable pattern for all fly tyers. So many Intruder fly patterns call for some exotic material, but with everyday materials Meahan's Intruder is a good fly for beginning steelhead tyers, but also a quick, good-looking fly for veterans as well.
The small rear loop on the Fish-Skull Senyo's Articulated Shank makes it easy to attach the rear Kona Big Game Hunter hook and allows the shank to be held straight in any vise, avoiding the need to tie the fly at strange angles. Not to mention, the splash of color added from the Senyo's Articulated Shank and the different variations available give you nearly endless color combination options for this fly.
Fly Tying Recipe
Hook Section
- Hook: Kona Big Game Hunter (BGH) hook, size #1
- Tag: Floss
- Body: Sparkle Braid
- Wing: Schlappen
Shank Section
- Shank: Fish-Skull Senyo's Articulated Shank for Steelhead and Salmon Flies, size 40mm
- Tag: Floss
- Body: Sparkle Braid
- Hackle: Schlappen
- Spreader: Deer Hair
- Wing: Schlappen
- Feelers: Ostrich Herl
- Hot Spot Wing: Schlappen
Pocket Water Can Be Some of the Most Exhilarating Waters to Fish
What makes a pocket water fishery are the boulders that block the general flow of the river, forming hydro-breaks where fish lie in wait in the darkness, ready to dart at a moment's notice for food.
As a trout guide, I can’t see myself guiding or fishing anywhere else during the peak season but on my home river in the Adirondacks, the West Branch of the Ausable. Here are some tactics I've picked up from guiding and fishing these waters that may help you next time you're on the water.
The Body Tubing Baitfish Is a Great All-around Baitfish Pattern
This fly can be sized up to chase peacock bass in the Amazon, or sized down to target small-stream smallmouth — any fish that eats baitfish will eat this fly!
The extended portion of the Body Tubing Baitfish has 2 main benefits for fly performance:
- Keeping the flash well behind the hook point makes it impossible for the flash to "foul" around the hook like is so common with flash tails.
- The Body Tubing acts as a rudder, giving the fly great movement in cross-current situations.
Fly Recipe
- Hook: Kona Big Game Hunter hook, size 2/0
- Tail: Flashabou
- Tail Extender: Fish-Skull Body Tubing
- Underbody: UV Polar Chenille
- Body: Craft Fur
- Underwing: Bucktail
- Wing: Craft Fur & Ripple Ice Fiber
- Eyes: Surface Seducer Dragon Eyes
- Head Sealer: UV Resin