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Help on saltwater fly outfit


Pugs

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CJ-

 

i have tried the okuma airframe, its a top reel. slightly pricier at £45 quid is the Danica Techno, which weighs the same but has a sealed drag.a new reel just come out is the LOOP evotec CLW which at £95 is very cheap for Loop quality. they are all Large Arbour composites.

 

with rods - you can get great quality for £80/90, Greys GRX, fulling mill, redington all produce SW 8/9's that are well known to do the job.

 

a number of online places now sell SWFF flies - sportsfish, English Flyfishing shop, fulling mill etc. these are based on US patterns & most SWFF flies i have bought tend to be too large and overdressed. I now tye my own which is very easy to do - i have only been tying since january & have never tied before ! i tie sandeels, clousers, blondes and deceivers in size 2 on mustad 34007 hooks. chartreuse and white and blue and white are the two combinations i mainly tye.

 

An excellent site to learn is the US site -http://www.branhamssaltwaterflytying.com/ excellent frame by frame tying pictures in Beginners Corner, just remember the sparser the better, cut what you need then half it.

 

i have to declare a bias here ( i regularly correspond with one of the owners) but oceanflies.com are the best i've seen - they are well tied, durable and not overdressed. they do have an online catalogue as well.

 

hope that is of help.

 

GB

 

ps - had 4 pollock to 1.5lbs and 2 wrasse to 2.5lbs yesterday in a rip between two rocky areas on a local beach.

www.swff.co.uk - Guernsey Saltwater Fly Fishing

 

Member of B.A.S.S. - www.ukbass.com

 

Member of NFSA www.nfsa.org.uk

 

"better to have fished and lost than never fished at all "

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Very informative banter on UKSWFF :)

 

I've been experimenting with over the last few monthes here in West Wales. GRX 7/8# Rod is a neat package for the price by the way. I've just bought one for my wife (new to fly fishing) and she's very happy with it and casting an 8# very well.

 

Most interested in guernseybass' comment on shallow sandy beaches fishing well compared with more rocky marks...we have a lot of very shallow sloping snady beaches here...although fairly featureless...not many gullys etc. So I have tended to only fish the rocks for the bass...sounds like I maybe missing out! We certainly catch a lot of bass with bait from the open sand. Is dawn better than dusk, was my other question?

 

I have been targeting flounder on the sand as I met a New Zealander last year, and he flyfishes for flounder regularly in New Zealand. I naturally thought he was talking about a different fish...until a guy next to me pulled one out on his beachcaster and the New Zealander confirmed this was the very fish he catches back home.

 

Typically he was dragged away by his bored wife before I could discuss tactics and flies...but I'd be interested to hear if anybody has had success or even tried it!?

 

Anyway enough waffle..back to work!

 

tite lines all

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Artful,

 

you are not really looking for gullys as you'd usually think of them. what you are looking for are much shallower features, some may only be 18 inches deep but on a flat beach with one channel, guess where the fish will be concentrated ? this where the current will wash food which attracts the fish. same as sand bars etc.

 

the important thing is to watch the water move - what you are looking for is current and structure. most beaches will have current ALONG the beach, so any channels may be parallel to the shore. similarily if there are any rocky or gravelly patches or spits on the beach, watch what the current does - does it speed up or become choppy ? if so thats a rip, a prime place for fish to gather.

 

also if you have rock running out perpendicular from a beach and sand between the rock and the beach thats a another prime spot for a rip as the current has to squeeze through the gap,compresses and so speeds up.

 

as i said before , treat the beach like a river - easier to do on calm days - watch how the current affects any feature you can see and you won't go far wrong.

 

also I can't recommend highly enough reading Ed Mitchells "Fly Rodding the Coast" - from Amazon, you'll never look at a flat beach in the same way again.

 

Dawn does seem to be better than dusk, although quite a few SWFFers have had very good catches after dark, and my fish on Saturday were taken at lunchtime !

 

As to flounders its not something we have in Guernsey but i have checked and a bottom bouncing clouser in brown n white or red and white seems to do the business - the current unofficial UKSWFF record is 2lb 8oz.

 

best of luck

 

GB

www.swff.co.uk - Guernsey Saltwater Fly Fishing

 

Member of B.A.S.S. - www.ukbass.com

 

Member of NFSA www.nfsa.org.uk

 

"better to have fished and lost than never fished at all "

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Many Thanks GB :)

 

I'll buy that book for sure. The problem with most of my local beaches are that they are 'really' flat...the deepest gully would be the individual ripples on the sand...if you've ever been to Pendine Sands nearby you'll know what I mean (they didn't try land speed records there for nothing!)...although a recent episode of top gear has now seen a ban imposed on vehicular access!

 

Anyhow I can think of a few beaches not to far away which may exhibit the very features you mention :D

 

So many thanks again and I'll get tying a few clousers :D:D:D

 

I'll let you know how I get on over the coming monthes.

 

Tight Lines

 

Art

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Artfulfisher:

The problem with most of my local beaches are that they are 'really' flat...the deepest gully would be the individual ripples on the sand...if you've ever been to Pendine Sands nearby you'll know what I mean (they didn't try land speed records there for nothing

in which case i'd either try near the low tide or high tide line - i've never seen a totally flat beach, you'll be surprised what you see if you look closely enough.

 

this would be similar to flats fishing, for the low tide try an hour each side of low tide at night or dawn, especially if you can find a drop off to deep water.

 

the ripples are actually a sign of current and themselves can be a good place to fish

 

its also worth trying any estuaries - of which i'm sure you have a few in that area, particularly where piers or jettys stick into the current, or there is a narrow channel, will give you a good chance of bass and mullet and of course sewin too!

 

basically anywhere where you can dead drift a fly will give you a very good chance .

 

good luck

www.swff.co.uk - Guernsey Saltwater Fly Fishing

 

Member of B.A.S.S. - www.ukbass.com

 

Member of NFSA www.nfsa.org.uk

 

"better to have fished and lost than never fished at all "

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Pugs:

Good day gents,

 

Can anyone recommend/list a 'starter kit', rod/reel/lines etc for a newbie to the art of saltwater fly fishing? I'm on a budget too!

Hi Pugs,

well it seems to me that you have started a good topic here with loads of informed input and some cracking pics.

 

Back to your original topic, Norrie has my rod from www.fishingbargains.co.uk and it sounds like a cracker, I pick it up in Lymington on the 21st, cant wait.

 

Fishing bargains is well worth a look at, loads of advice with each rod/reel, the prices are good but watch out for the extras as in postage and vat on the postage.

 

If you are a member of a club (if not join one) the bulk buy bargains are out of this world.

 

I hope you find someone to help you with the casting, keep in mind that if you start with errors then they turn into habits and like smoking are hard to break.

 

Good luck to you and especially

Tight lines.

 

Alan 66

ANMC Founder Member. . www.the-lounge.org.uk/valley/

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Alan,

 

a sage piece of advice there.

 

if you are within a couple of hours drive of an APGAI instructor, its well worth the trip.

 

i only had 2 days tuition with a 15ft DH spey rod with a chap called Doug Lock in Ireland and 5 years later what he taught me i never forgot.

 

to any trout fishers reading this - try it, it gives you loads of ideas as to what you can do with a 8ft or 9ft trout rod. it improved my fishing no end.

 

fishing on the sea, as i said is about being able to get 15yards out in a F5. but only sometimes thankfully, we live by the tides and the times......when they're good we fish. >:-D

 

my best fish incidentally is 7.25lbs, caught 3 yards out in 18 inches of water. it fought like a 12lb salmon or a 15lb over wintered rainbow.

 

its a shame that we commercially kill them for a price per lb less than mackerel.

 

its a funny old world sometimes, huh ?

 

Mark

www.swff.co.uk - Guernsey Saltwater Fly Fishing

 

Member of B.A.S.S. - www.ukbass.com

 

Member of NFSA www.nfsa.org.uk

 

"better to have fished and lost than never fished at all "

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guernseybass:

Alan,

 

a sage piece of advice there.

 

if you are within a couple of hours drive of an APGAI instructor, its well worth the trip.

Mark, as soon as I get my rods and bits I will be going to an instructor, must be well worth the costs involved to get the best out of the tackle.

 

Smashing fish by the way.

 

Pugs, this is your topic, how are things progressing :)

 

Alan

ANMC Founder Member. . www.the-lounge.org.uk/valley/

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Guys,

 

Thank you all for your opinions and ideas. Now I'm really going to have to go for it and get setup.

 

Where I fish there are quite a lot of SWFF. They have had success when the Bass could not or would not take to more conventional tactics i.e. surface lures/redgills etc. However, I setup with a bubble float/4ft trace and some bought trout flies(white best) and caught too :-) I know that’s cheating a bit but it did work. However I would still love to give the 'real thing' a go.

 

The only observation I have made was this. At this particular venue the fly fishermen were catching the smaller school Bass (but more often and hardly no blanks), than ones(still schoolies) caught using Dexters/redgills/small plugs etc. Maybe the guys need to up the size of the flies or something. Any ideas? And what colours are best for Bass flies?

 

Last one, any good people out there willing to teach a novice the arts of fly fishing? The casting looks damn hard to me

 

guernseybass:

Do you also fish with plugs etc and what method do you find best in very shallow(down to a foot or so) and/or with a fair amount of light drift weed? Hence for me, the bubble float idea with redgill/fly

 

Oh and one more. How far can you cast with a saltwater fly fishing rig? :D

 

Neil

B.A.S.S

 

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