I have a 9 wt fly rod I used in Inagua for bonefish about 8 years ago and have not used it since. Thinking about trying it down on the Pungo/Pamlico for the local species. Any recommendations on over-the-counter flies, how to fish etc? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Would love to see some pics of recommended flies. Consider me a newb to inshore fly fishing.
I mostly fresh water fly fish, but have caught sea trout on Lefty's Deceivers. I've heard from others that a Clouser is very good. White, or chartreuse should be good colors. Hope you get a lot more info here.
I love to fly fish but have been somewhat hesitant to do it here until I learn the waters. However, I do it almost exclusively when I go down to Florida and I'm just starting to break the long rod out here.
A couple thoughts:
Flies:
- Top water poppers are a must. There are all kinds, but with Striper around, nothing seems to beat a large popper.
- My favorite fly is a "Game Changer" - it's a bear to throw on anything other than a 9 wt, but when you see it in the water, you will realize why its worth it. It is an articulated fly and just looks awesome. Good for just about any fish you can imagine and you can fish it REALLY slowly.
- When in doubt, my go-to is a bend back clouser - flies tied with the hook point riding up. Very easy to tie and avoids snags. The bend of the hook looks like the belly of the baitfish and the hair hides the hook point. Match the hatch - white and chartruese, white and blue, etc.
The big thing is don't fall into the "bigger is better" temptation. Consider the bait that is around and keep your fly that size. I've seen so many situations (including this past weekend) where the fish were eating, but wouldn't touch a fly because it was too big. Don't overthink "match-the-hatch" - this ain't snooty mountain trout fishing, but keep your size and general color scheme similar to what bait is around and you'll do fine.
The other major thing to consider is your fly line. Fishing the Pam there are really two lines I'd want to have ready at all times - a floating weight forward line and an intermediate line (slow sinking). If I'm fishing more than 4 feet of water, I almost ALWAYS have better luck on an intermediate line. Less than 5 feet, generally a floating line is better. In that 3-5 feet range, I can adjust the weight of the fly I'm using to get the depth I want.
Good advice already. You might add some "wooly bugger" type flies...if you can find them...and some small crab patterns.
A variety of 2.5 - 3 inch Clousers work well as mentioned....also black and gold, brown and tan etc.
thanks for all the advice so far! should i just go to bass pro? or even better, if there is any folks out there who tie flies, let me know if i can send you some cash to send me some of the flies Green, chiefly, or roused are talking about. PM me. Antbody got any pics of these flies? like i said, i am considering myself brand new to this.
haha not quite. Thank you for the kind words fellas.
I would highly suggest using small clousers. While some people like the bulkier clousers, I find that the really sparse tied clousers work best in the areas I fish. I like to bounce the clousers off of the bottom, so the sparseness allows it to get down and stay down vs what Stump1187 just said. Both are effiecent, just fished differently. Id get a handful of both and see what works best.
If you want to get adventerous, you can try crab and shrimp flies...but I havent had tremendous luck with those. They mostly catch the fisherman and not the fish. They do look awesome.
For striped bass I would go a little bulkier on streamers. As already mentioned, the deceiver patterns work best for them....just based on alot of reading and pictures ive seen. I have no experience with striper on the fly. I have been messing with a variation of the deceiver from Sweden's finest, Andreas Andersson's design. The deer hair head is shaped so that it creates unpredictable movement and jerking under the water....thats what fish dig most.
Or you can go all out, with a typical swimbait style fly. Its bigger and has some rattles and stuff in it.....Its articulated so when you pause the stip it cuts to the side, breaks, and flairs out.
Clousers are your best bet to be honest. I've tied up a bunch of other stuff and the only thing that I seem to tie on is a clouser (or my variation of).
Here are some of my favorite ties/colors:
Here is a result 4.5lb
I'm no genius like ECU Daniel, but I tie mine a little bulkier than a normal clouser for that slow fall/suspending action. The pick above and most of my fish have come from a black/white combo although I have caught a few on a Texas Chicken (Pink White and Chartreuse) when they wouldn't take the black/white. I did however tie a few game changers as Greenmonster advised above. They can be expensive to tie in relation to a clouser, but I'll let you know if it's worth it to me after this weekend.
I tend to agree - for saltwater, simple is better and I've caught far more fish on a simple bendback white and chartreuse clouser than all the other flies combined, thought the game changer is catching up in a hurry. Shrimp flies, as cool as they look, just can't keep up.
Yea ive tied a few of them. I havent tied them since last year to be honest....never really had much luck with them. After awhile its like casting a wet sock too. Here is a crumby one I tied back last August. Its kinda bluky, it was my first attempt. Im glad you brought this up....I may tie one tonight just for my own box.
yeah I throw them on a Sage Bass II Largemouth which is 330grain....basically 9/10ish. Still flapping in the air past your ear is a frightening sound haha.
Fellas - i must say that those are some really pretty flies. i especially love those clousers you tied ECU! Thanks for the pics - i am going to try to find something close to those at bass pro tonight. Unless, ECU, you want to offload some of those to me at a fair price!
Thanks, unfortunately I am not allowed to sell my products or advertise my business on NCAngler because I dont pay for that privilege. Normally, I would suggest purchasing smaller business's products, but in this case, I would reccomend looking at Great Outdoor Provisions and picking out some beefy clousers and some skinny clousers. White, chartreuse, and pink are normal producers.
My 2c would be to actually go buy a few bucktails so you can experiment as much as you want. At <$10 a piece you can do whatever you want with them and they go a long way. I don't remember the last time I looked in store at how much a clouser was but I would guess $2 a piece. Just buy white, black, chartreuse and whatever other colors you feel like.
Bass Pro and Great Outdoor Provision are probably good options to check. I would expect them to carry some flies on stainless hooks for salt. I keep a few clousers on hand but don't sell many due to the store's distance from the coast. I can work up a mail order if you can't find any in your area. I would guess there are plenty of online options if you can't find them locally (or strike up a private deal...)
As stump said....some of the saltwater patterns are pretty easy to tie. A few bucktails, some stainless hooks and dumbell eyes...and you are on your way to turning out Clousers. Tying your own is nice...especially after you encounter a school of blues or hungry spanish and they proceed to shred all your flies. Tie a few christmas tree tinsel strips to a hook and let the blues destroy those or other flies that look too shabby to fish.
Yea, I haven't found anything that can take the brunt of a bluefish frenzy.
The only reason I say tie your own flies is that there is a certain feeling you get when you hook and land a fish with something you created. Its much more satisfying to say the least. It feeds your ego if you have one. Call me shallow but pulling up to the dock and having everybody come over and ask you how you caught so many(after watching them catch 1 to your 5), and then showing them a homemade lure and fly rod does it for me. (Don't get me wrong, I do not brag at all) I started with salt water and still buying fresh and now have even donated some of my funds to Chief for a little baggie of freshwater goods in the mail.
Again, tread lightly with fly tying at your own risk. I started with $25 bucks of bucktails, hooks and eyes. I got hooked and I'd say I'm in for well over $500 now. I hated going to hobby lobby. Now I scour craft stores with my wife looking for my next 'fix'. I look at Christmas trees ornaments and decorations with new vigor. Everything around me is a material......
I have thought about it, short haired kitty would make some good dubbing, but mine is a strange color grey/blue. Plus my wife would more than likely murder me if I shaved the cat.
great thread, very useful info. Thanks guys ! I started out just going to tie some bucktails, you know where that ended up. I did pick up a clouser an deceiver from the local tackle shop cause they were tied with WAY less material than I had been using. I"ll use them for patterens. I agree with stump, Its highly addictive.
The thing is, just to get started tying, you could buy just the materials to tie Clousers. Those materials would also work for other flies. Bead chain from the hardware store will work well for eyes, and you can get that in different sizes. If you would like to keep the cost down. synthetic fibers could be used in place of the bucktail, but I think the Clouser would work a little better using bucktail. Bob Clouser has a video on youtube explaining why he created this fly the way he did, and also teaches the tying for it.
There are inexpensive vises that would work until you know you want to keep on tying that work fairly well.
For $50 you can have closers for the next 5 years. Vice included in that price also.
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