I headed out over the rocks at 8am looking forward to a good days fishing. I have a new 9 weight reddington rod and sage reel set-up so was looking forward to giving it a good workout.
The wind was a little strong and I struggled to get a touch. I did get a few follows from some 30cm kahawai and later in the morning managed to raise one. I had moved to a gut were I had caught my last big kahawai and had the most bizarre thing attach to the end of my line. A squid! I managed to get it all the way to shore before it let go as I lifted it from the water. I probably would have been able to scoop it out if I had a net. next on the most bizarre. I thought I had a big fish on the line only to see a shag come out of the water with my fly in its mouth. lucky for me it popped out.
A very slow day. I had even put some bait on the hook at one stage just to see what may have been there but it was a long time waiting and even then it was soft touches.
There are certainly plenty of reports of fish around so maybe I was there at the wrong tide/moon or something as normally I have been there on a fuller tide.
Wednesday, 9 December 2015
Friday, 6 November 2015
Designing Salt Flies
I have been tying trout flies for years but when it comes to salt flies I have found things a little different. This is because there are now a whole lot of different factors to consider when tying flies that you don't need to with fresh water. Here I am going to cover some of these factors and some insights into what I have found.
Casting
This is mainly to do with larger flies, deep water and casting distances. Trying to cast big heavy flies all day can be tiring and different materials also have weight when wet. e.g. rabbit will hold more weight than Slinky. Most synthetics don't hold water and will be easier to cast. I mainly fish shorelines where water is under 2 metres so I weigh mine lightly even when I am tying a bigger fly as I don’t want to be getting hooked up on bottom all the time.
Ease of use
The ease of tying a fly with a material can be a major factor as you will then enjoy tying it and also cut down on the time it takes. There is nothing more frustrating than spending hours just to tie a couple of flies especially if you lose a few each time you go out.
Movement
This is critical as this will effect the amount of fish you will catch. There are two main factors here and that is movement and bulk. You need to decide what material you want to use to how much movement and the action in the water. Mainly I will use softer materials for the tail and stiffer materials at the head therefore gaining both movement and bulk.
Shape
There are two main things here and that is bulk and also hold shape. Some materials look great when you tie them but need maintenance to keep the shape. EP is a classic example of a material that needs work to keep its shape. Also how it is tied will determine how it stays in place.
Tail wrapping
Clousers are designed so that they do not tangle and hold their shape . Tying the belly down the length of the hook is important to keep the materials from wrapping round the hook. the stiffer the material the less the wrapping but the less movement you get.
Weight
Weight is required to get your fly into the right area especially for snapper but this will also mean your fly will be harder to cast. This may just mean you need to be closer to where the action is or tying the right weight for the depth of water you are fishing. Generally in estuaries and flats I keep the flies light and deep drop off's like Waiheke I will use heavier flies.
Over time your will find works for you but even then you cant help but getting more creative.
Casting
This is mainly to do with larger flies, deep water and casting distances. Trying to cast big heavy flies all day can be tiring and different materials also have weight when wet. e.g. rabbit will hold more weight than Slinky. Most synthetics don't hold water and will be easier to cast. I mainly fish shorelines where water is under 2 metres so I weigh mine lightly even when I am tying a bigger fly as I don’t want to be getting hooked up on bottom all the time.
Ease of use
The ease of tying a fly with a material can be a major factor as you will then enjoy tying it and also cut down on the time it takes. There is nothing more frustrating than spending hours just to tie a couple of flies especially if you lose a few each time you go out.
Movement
This is critical as this will effect the amount of fish you will catch. There are two main factors here and that is movement and bulk. You need to decide what material you want to use to how much movement and the action in the water. Mainly I will use softer materials for the tail and stiffer materials at the head therefore gaining both movement and bulk.
Shape
There are two main things here and that is bulk and also hold shape. Some materials look great when you tie them but need maintenance to keep the shape. EP is a classic example of a material that needs work to keep its shape. Also how it is tied will determine how it stays in place.
Tail wrapping
Clousers are designed so that they do not tangle and hold their shape . Tying the belly down the length of the hook is important to keep the materials from wrapping round the hook. the stiffer the material the less the wrapping but the less movement you get.
Weight
Weight is required to get your fly into the right area especially for snapper but this will also mean your fly will be harder to cast. This may just mean you need to be closer to where the action is or tying the right weight for the depth of water you are fishing. Generally in estuaries and flats I keep the flies light and deep drop off's like Waiheke I will use heavier flies.
Over time your will find works for you but even then you cant help but getting more creative.
Wednesday, 9 September 2015
New setup
Well i finaly did it. I got my new saltwater fly setup. I purchased the Reddington 9 weight predator rod and sage 2100 10 weight reel with rio outbound line. I got it out on thursday to give it a bash and although i didnt catch anything i did get to give my setup a good test and hell what a set it is. I had tried the rod at home and struggled on casting a bit but as soon as you put a heavy fly on that all changes and you can chuck line like a master. I decided to see how much line i could throw and I was just shy of casting the whole line. And the reel is smooth as silk. My only problem is that on the last part of my day I slipped on some rocks and fell with my rod landing on the rocks. My first thought was did I dent my reel but as I inspected it I realised the tip wa broken instead. There were a few profound words that were utered before I left for home. Just as well these rods have lifetime waranties.
Once I get it fixed I will be looking to get out and catch some good fish and plan to try and catch a kingfish.
Bring on summer fun.
Sunday, 5 April 2015
Cornwallis
I have been spending quite a bit of time on the Manukau harbour as i am now closer to here than the Waitemata and I have been finding it difficult to find areas not so muddy. I have found that to get the cleaner water you really must be past Cornwallis. there is some good looking water here but once again needs a bit of time.
I headed out last week on the high thinking i would head round the rocks but found they were a bit too high to navigate so with no other option headed onto the wharf to see what's happening. after some talk with a guy there I headed back to the car to get my rod with the idea of jigging my fly. I cast a couple of times out with no success as I found I was not getting the depth required so added a bit of bait. yes I know sacrilege as this is not really fly-fishing. the bait disappeared pretty quick but what was left was a number of fish busting all over each other to get my fly. why this should be I am not sure but the first one I hooked fell off soon after but the second took off for the end of the wharf and three quick wraps of the pole I was stuck. one of the guys had a look and confirmed the fish was still on. now what! the same guy declared he would go for a swim to try and catch or untangle the fish but after about 1/2hr to 1hr the fish finally broke off. I went back to fishing but couldn't wake another and i tried other techniques and flies to no success.
as the light started to fade a couple of guys came down to fish off the end and within minutes one of them was on a brought in a 50cm trevally. it goes to show there are a lot of fish around here and what may be needed is a kayak
After this I have some ideas about adding some extra weight to jig my fly closer to the bottom or looking at what other areas around here that may be more suited to fly-fishing. after seeing the bay at low and full I think half tide may be best although when the fish came on it was right on high. not sure if there was something in this or just dumb luck.
I headed out last week on the high thinking i would head round the rocks but found they were a bit too high to navigate so with no other option headed onto the wharf to see what's happening. after some talk with a guy there I headed back to the car to get my rod with the idea of jigging my fly. I cast a couple of times out with no success as I found I was not getting the depth required so added a bit of bait. yes I know sacrilege as this is not really fly-fishing. the bait disappeared pretty quick but what was left was a number of fish busting all over each other to get my fly. why this should be I am not sure but the first one I hooked fell off soon after but the second took off for the end of the wharf and three quick wraps of the pole I was stuck. one of the guys had a look and confirmed the fish was still on. now what! the same guy declared he would go for a swim to try and catch or untangle the fish but after about 1/2hr to 1hr the fish finally broke off. I went back to fishing but couldn't wake another and i tried other techniques and flies to no success.
as the light started to fade a couple of guys came down to fish off the end and within minutes one of them was on a brought in a 50cm trevally. it goes to show there are a lot of fish around here and what may be needed is a kayak
After this I have some ideas about adding some extra weight to jig my fly closer to the bottom or looking at what other areas around here that may be more suited to fly-fishing. after seeing the bay at low and full I think half tide may be best although when the fish came on it was right on high. not sure if there was something in this or just dumb luck.
Saturday, 4 April 2015
Waiheke Re-Visited
I headed off to Waiheke again last weekend on different tide so i wasn't sure how the fishing was going to be compared to last time. The first spot i didn't spend much time in but the main point I did. At first it was quite slow but as the tide changed and started coming back in I managed two snapper with one being legal. I moved my round the ledges but came back to the first one. I switched flies to an interceptor and immediately got another 2 in quick succession then all went quiet. There were quite a few work ups going on but just out of casting reach. By one o'clock it was almost time to go but decided to head round the bend a bit. there was nothing at first but i could see the water was deeper so i put on a larger heavier fly and got a small snapper then just as i was about to finish for the day something solid came on and started screaming off. my reel has problems with start-up and usually end up in a birds nest so i kept my fingers around the line to control the drag. this worked well but i was soon in the backing and getting worried. I held on tight and managed to get in some line before it peeled off again. i reeled in again and this time got some decent amount of line back on the reel. By now I was getting confident that i had it in the bag. I saw the fish take a leap and there was no denying it was a kahawai of a decent size and when i got home and weighed it, it was 5lb.
The day was certainly a learning experience and i learnt a bit more on using heaver weights and larger sizes. i was using a size 1/0. my flies have been getting larger every year. To think my first flies i caught fish on were size 4 clousers.
I have been experimenting with the weight of the dumbells i use on my flies and I have found if i am fishing the inner harbour lighter flies with smaller dumbells work best if not just because they hit the water lighter but in open side of sea with deeper water larger dumbells to get down deep are better.
Here is a rough guide to my fly size to dumbel ratio
inner harbour. clousers in size 2 with small to med dumbells and size 1 to 1/0 interceptors with small to med dumbells
open sea with deeper water size 2 clousers with med beads and 1/0 interceptors with med to large dumbells.
having the same fly with a couple of different weights give the options for different water.
The day was certainly a learning experience and i learnt a bit more on using heaver weights and larger sizes. i was using a size 1/0. my flies have been getting larger every year. To think my first flies i caught fish on were size 4 clousers.
I have been experimenting with the weight of the dumbells i use on my flies and I have found if i am fishing the inner harbour lighter flies with smaller dumbells work best if not just because they hit the water lighter but in open side of sea with deeper water larger dumbells to get down deep are better.
Here is a rough guide to my fly size to dumbel ratio
inner harbour. clousers in size 2 with small to med dumbells and size 1 to 1/0 interceptors with small to med dumbells
open sea with deeper water size 2 clousers with med beads and 1/0 interceptors with med to large dumbells.
having the same fly with a couple of different weights give the options for different water.
Sunday, 8 February 2015
Refining your new spot
After a few seasons of saltwater fishing i soon came to the realisation that to find fish in a new spot you often had to visit it numerous times and at different tides to get to know the layout and how it fishes. often i had almost given up on a new spot until i found the secret or had good success the first time and not so much after. getting consistent results means fishing it in different times of the tide as well as wind direction etc. i now have a couple of good spots that when all else fails i can fall back on.
wind plays a major part in the water quality you are fishing and i find that at low tide with an onshore wind will churn the water to a sludgy brown if you are in a muddy harbour. I have had this happen in both the waitemata harbour and the Manukau. if the water is too muddy the fish will just not see your fly.
Tide is the other major factor with low tides giving access to weed edges and channels but high tides to the guts and structure you saw when the tide was low.
I have quite often found i prefer the outgoing tide as it always seems clearer to me but this will tend to be dependent on the spot your fishing.
Recently i have been trying to find a new Manukau spot and this has proved quite difficult as its not called the big muddy for nothing. last night i tried Laingholm as i had seen some fingers of structure that went into the harbour but most of the water round it was shallow and murky. i got to the point but the channel was out of my reach.
much to say there is plenty of research and walking just to find the location let alone the tide and weather.
wind plays a major part in the water quality you are fishing and i find that at low tide with an onshore wind will churn the water to a sludgy brown if you are in a muddy harbour. I have had this happen in both the waitemata harbour and the Manukau. if the water is too muddy the fish will just not see your fly.
Tide is the other major factor with low tides giving access to weed edges and channels but high tides to the guts and structure you saw when the tide was low.
I have quite often found i prefer the outgoing tide as it always seems clearer to me but this will tend to be dependent on the spot your fishing.
Recently i have been trying to find a new Manukau spot and this has proved quite difficult as its not called the big muddy for nothing. last night i tried Laingholm as i had seen some fingers of structure that went into the harbour but most of the water round it was shallow and murky. i got to the point but the channel was out of my reach.
much to say there is plenty of research and walking just to find the location let alone the tide and weather.
Thursday, 8 January 2015
Waiheke Island
I had the option of going to my usual spots or going somewhere different and since i had to pick up my son from the island i decided that's where i would head. on arriving i walked round the beach at Matiatia. as i sat on beach to construct my rod i saw a tail flapping around in the shallow that would have been snapper but by the time i got my rod together i had no idea where it was and after a dozen casts i moved off.
I headed up the walkway and at the first point i saw a pod of fish so scrambled down the rocks to fish for them thinking it was kahawai only to realise after a few casts they were mullet. next time i will take a net.
i moved round to another point and had a lot of mullet cruising past and a few kingfish but couldn't bring up any snapper. I decided to head out to the island point where there were also plenty of mullet cruising and the odd kingfish. then out of the depths a kingfish came up and smashed my fly. i managed to hold the fish in front of me and felt like i was in control before the fish went for its first blistering run. my reel went into free spin and line came out so fast it wrapped itself around the reel and the fish was gone.
I then got yaking to an Asian lad and while i was busy talking tried to take a step only there was a jagged rock right by my foot and i went arse over and scraped up my leg and hands on the rocks. I also managed to slice both my big toes so i think i need some better shoes.
By now a ray had turned up followed by a couple of big kingfish one being well over 1 metre. I plonked a big clouser and let it sit near the surface as the kings came over and had a sniff before moving on. this happened a few times before moving on.
It was some pretty hart stopping stuff and now i am keen to get some of my gear sorted for fishing for kingfish. including a new rod and reel set and some line for my 10 weight rod. next time i go there i am king hunting.
although with the kids i dont get out much and i cant wait till they are old enough to take with me.
I headed up the walkway and at the first point i saw a pod of fish so scrambled down the rocks to fish for them thinking it was kahawai only to realise after a few casts they were mullet. next time i will take a net.
i moved round to another point and had a lot of mullet cruising past and a few kingfish but couldn't bring up any snapper. I decided to head out to the island point where there were also plenty of mullet cruising and the odd kingfish. then out of the depths a kingfish came up and smashed my fly. i managed to hold the fish in front of me and felt like i was in control before the fish went for its first blistering run. my reel went into free spin and line came out so fast it wrapped itself around the reel and the fish was gone.
I then got yaking to an Asian lad and while i was busy talking tried to take a step only there was a jagged rock right by my foot and i went arse over and scraped up my leg and hands on the rocks. I also managed to slice both my big toes so i think i need some better shoes.
By now a ray had turned up followed by a couple of big kingfish one being well over 1 metre. I plonked a big clouser and let it sit near the surface as the kings came over and had a sniff before moving on. this happened a few times before moving on.
It was some pretty hart stopping stuff and now i am keen to get some of my gear sorted for fishing for kingfish. including a new rod and reel set and some line for my 10 weight rod. next time i go there i am king hunting.
although with the kids i dont get out much and i cant wait till they are old enough to take with me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)