This page is designed as a place to share effective tips and techniques for salt water fly fishing.  It can be anything from how to fish behind a shrimp boat for sharks with a fly or the best salt water leaders or flies.  Please feel free to comment or e-mail me with your best tips.  I will post them and give credit where credit is due.  CaptDave@flycastcharters.com.  After a while, this will become a great resource for salt water fly fishing “how-to” information.

Minimize False Casting

Successful fly fishing in salt water requires, quick, accurate, long casts.  Too many times, when an angler is sight casting to a fish, they make four or five false casts.  It is almost like they are trying to dry a dry fly before presenting it to the fish.  By the time they are ready to present the fly, the fish has either moved out of range or disappeared.  Fishing size 20 midges to finicky trout requires a delicate presentation with a high floating fly.  Typically the trout will rise repeatedly in the same spot.  In this situation, multiple false casts are helpful.  This is not the case in salt water.  In the salt water, the fish are typically moving and multiple false casts waste time and are unproductive.

When fishing in the salt water, the best way to present the fly is with one false cast and boom–shoot it to the fish.  The classic ready position on the deck of a flats boat is with 10-15 feet of line outside the tip of you rod, shooting line on the deck with your holding the fly at the hook bend.  When you see a fish, make a quick roll cast, one back cast with a haul and shoot the line to the fish  with a haul.  This is sometimes called the Redfish Roll.

If your line is in the water, and you have to make another cast, make a steady haul as you pick up the fly from the water, make your back cast while giving line. Haul on your forward cast, and present the fly.   In essence, you are doing a double haul cast while picking up the line from the water.  This is a great technique that will result in more hook-ups for you.  After all, I never saw a fish bite a fly why it is ten feet in the air.  NO MULTIPLE FALSE CASTS ARE NEEDED.

Presenting the fly to the fish

A common problem fly anglers have is presenting the fly to the fish.  Many fly casters make a good false cast and when they get ready to present the fly, they “push” their arm forward, drop the rod tip and kill their cast.  By pushing your arm forward and dropping your rod tip before the loop is formed to try to present the fly, you open your loop, kill your distance and limit your accuracy.   Anglers do this because they are trying to give the final cast a little extra “oomph”  and push the fly to the target.  This is the exact opposite of what you should do.

I see this problem when anglers are double hauling or simply casting.  It is a hard habit to break.

The proper way to present the fly is to stop the fly rod high, let the loop unroll, then drop the rod tip to present the fly to the fish.  To practice this technique, try to trick yourself.  Make a back cast, then a fore cast just like you are doing a false cast, but instead of making another back cast, just stop the rod.  Let the loop unroll, and see how much farther the cast goes.  Do this a couple of times to get used to watching the loop unroll.  Then let the loop unroll almost all the way, then drop the rod tip.  This is the proper way to present the fly to the fish.

How to practice to fish from the deck of a flats boat

Many anglers practice their casting on a lawn prior to a trip on a flats boat.  After practice, they find it easy to cast 60-75′.  However, once on the casting deck of a flats boat, standing on a 17″ high platform, they find it is a completely different situation.  To help simulate casting from a casting platform, I recommend lawn casting while standing on a cooler.  Place several hula hoops up at 30, 40, 50 and 75′.  Stand on the cooler and try to put the fly into the hula hoop with a maximum of two back casts.  Tie on a lightly weighted clouser with the hook clipped off.  Practice with the weighted fly and practice when the wind is blowing.  You will be surprised how much more difficult it is to cast in the wind with a weighted fly.

If you are going to be spin fishing, this practice will also help you connect when the time comes.

You will be surprised how bad a case of buck fever you will get when you cast to your first sight fished salt water fish.  Just realize you are going to get buck fever, calm down and remember what you did in practice.  While nothing can totally prepare you for when you are on deck and a school of a dozen or so reds are bearing down on you, this practice will go a long way to prepare you for that moment.

Setting the Hook in Saltwater, 101

One of the biggest problems with anglers I encounter on my boat is setting the hook.  Most anglers graduate from freshwater fly fishing where they set the hook by gently raising the rod tip.  This works fine when you are fishing a size 22 blue wing olive to ten inch trout.  When you gently raise the rod tip on a 10 lb red, you gently slide the fly out of his mouth.
When fishing to these big fish, you need to point the rod tip directly at the fly line and strip the fly back to you.  The strip technique is dictated by the time of year, water temperature, tide and other factors.  Your captain will tell you when, how fast and how long to strip the fly.   When a fish takes he might explode on the fly and hook himself.  More typically, the fish slowly sucks in the fly, and you feel a slight resistance.  Whenever you feel any resistance, strike.   When you strike, keep the rod pointed directly at the fly, grasp the fly line tightly with the line hand and quickly and aggresively strip the line.  I like to see an angler pull the line from right at the reel to behind his back in one swift motion.  Do not raise the rod tip.  An effective strip strike will improve your salt water angling success by 50% or more.

Flycasting for Saltwater, 101

To be consistently successful fly fishing in the salt water, you have to be able to cast at least 50′-60′ with tight loops and good accuracy.  For most people, this will require mastering the double haul.  Once you master the double haul, you will find yourself using it on short casts as well because it takes much less effort.  If you can put a fly into a 24″ circle at 50′, you should be able to catch salt water fish.  The only way you can do that is practice.  I highly recommend Joan Wulff’s fly casting video.  Purchase that video and study her techniques.  It will make you a better caster and a better fly fisher. Before you come to the Golden Isles, practice casting in the wind.  This practice will mean more fish for you.

Tight loops and accurate presentations,
Capt. Dave

Tailing Tides, 2010
Below is a list of dates through August where the tides should be high enough to chase tailing redfish in the grass.  If you have never done this, you owe it to yourself to give it a try.  Tailing redfish in the grass will give even the most seasoned angler “Buck Fever.”  Contact me now to reserve your dates  CaptDave@flycastcharters.com:

June 9, 10 and 11; June 21, 22, 23,24
July 9, 10 and 11   (I only have July 9 open at this time)
August 7, 8; August 13, 14, 15 16.

Capt. Dave

Fishing to schools of low tide reds: If you are fishing on low water, chasing schools of reds, try to stay well away from the school.  Try to cast to fish on the edges of the school.  Go slowly and try not to “bust” the school.  Once the fish know you are there, getting them to bite is hard.

Salt Water Leaders: Keep it simple and tie your own to save $$$.  Try this simple approach for a salt water leader for an 8 weight.  Five feet of 40 lb test mono, one and a half feet of 30 lb mono, one and a half feet of 20 lb mono and two feet of twelve to fifteen lb fluorocarbon.  I like using fluoro for the tippet because of its reduced visibility.  I prefer to tie the pieces together with a double uni knot, but a barrell or double surgeon’s knot works well too.  Keep it simple for salt.

Seeing Reds: When the wind is light and the water is flat, look closely and look for little swirls and tiny disturbances on the surface of the water. This is true for high tide fishing in the grass and low tide fishing on the mud flats. These disturbances are different from the wakes and splashes that bait make. It is hard to describe, but it is just a little disturbance made by a red as he is swimming by. The wakes are easy to see, these are much more subtle. You can only see these when the water is flat. Once you see it a few times, you can easily recognize it.

Casting with wind: Wind is always a factor in salt water fly fishing.  When casting with the wind, keep your back cast short and the loops tight.  On your forward cast, try opening your loop and letting the wind carry the line forward.  When casting into the wind, you can make a longer more open loop back cast, and tighten your loop on your forecast.

Feel free to e-mail me with your tips, and I will be glad to post them and credit them to you.  CaptDave@flycastcharters.com