Beginning Fly Tying for Saltwater

i wish someone had written this post before i started fly tying.  it would have saved me a ton of time and money.  i stumbled upon a post at Flytying New and Old that outlined the materials needed for a beginner to start tying flies.  i think this is an excellent, and much needed, post.  however, i do think it was focused more on freshwater/stillwater flies than saltwater.  here is my own list of what a beginner would need for saltwater fly tying...particularly inshore flies for the NE.

one general thought about color choice.  as Lefty Kreh says, "If it ain't chartreuse it ain't no use."  you also might hear the saying, "it can be any color as long as it is chartreuse."  that being said, the main colors used other than chartreuse are: white, olive, gray, tan, pink, black, red, and light blue.  but as a beginner, and if you are trying to save money, just buy chartreuse and white.

disclaimer:  by no means is this list comprehensive.  i've placed an * next to the items that i believe are necessary.  if you have any questions, or if you want some tying help, or even want to know some tricks to save money, feel free to email me.  good luck and stay salty!

Tying Tools:

• vice*  -  with ability to handle right size hooks (sizes 6-3/0)  
• ceramic bobbin(s)*  -  2 or more will make your life easier
• saltwater hooks* (sizes 2-2/0)  -  i prefer Gamakatsu as a good blend between quality and price
• thread*  -  just needs to be strong enough.  i used Danville's Flax Waxed Nylon
• mono thread*
• general scissors*  -  i use 5" Fiskars
• detail scissors  -  i use Anvil  
• Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails*  -  for securing thread wraps
• super Glue*
• wire cutter -  for cutting bead chain eyes, etc.
• pliers*  -  for crushing barbs
• Matarelli style whip finisher  -  helps create better thread heads on smaller flies
• toothpicks  -  in place of a bodkin
• coffee grinder - it is so much cheaper if you make your own dubbing
• Clear Cure Goo or Tuffleye or Loon's UV  -  i use Aleene's Fabric Fusion
• fly drying wheel  -  helps tremendously when tying surf candies
• different colors of Sharpie markers
• 17-22 lb hard mono  -  for weed guards
• 30 lb mono  -  for making shrimp/crab eyes

Tying Materials:

• bucktail* (chartreuse, white, olive)  -  used in common flies such as clousers and deceivers
• pearl krystal flash*
• pearl flashabou*
• saddle hackle* (white)
• marabou (white, chartreuse, olive)
• synthetics*  -  super hair, ultra hair, EP fiber, etc...although congo hair is cheap, relatively
• polar fiber (white, olive, tan)
• bunny strips (white, chartreuse, olive)
• peacock herl*
• polyester rug yarn (beige/tan, olive, brown)  -  for crab flies
• dumbbell eyes* - brass in different sizes (black, nickel)
• beadchain - (black, silver)
• braid* (pearl)
• estaz (pearl, chartreuse)
• deer belly hair (white, chartreuse, olive)
• craft foam  -  for tying poppers and crease flies

if i've forgotten anything on this list, let me know.

XXA

Man Love

if there was anyone in the entire fishing world (fresh/salt or conventional/fly) that i would have a man love for, it would be John Skinner.  sure, i could have man crushes on guys like Jose Wejebe (RIP), Lefty Kreh, Bill Dance, and all the guys at Skinny Water Culture, but not man love.

John is the author of "Fishing the Bucktail, Mastering Bucktails from Surf and Boat", creator of FishersLog, and is a blitz of information.  (you gotta love a guy who creates software to analyze his fishing).  i had seen many references to John at Surfcaster's Journal, and i think even Zeno has a man crush on him.  i've never met John, but i would love to fish with him.  i'm sure my angling skills would quadruple in a matter of hours.



as some of you might remember (highly unlikely), that one of my 2013 goals is to catch my first fluke this year.  i'm all for catching stripers, blues, and albies, on the fly, but when my wifey says to bring home dinner...

i was doing countless hours of researching on the internet, and couldn't find what i was looking for.  and then...i stumbled on John Skinner's YouTube channel.    GOOOOOAAAALL!!!!

not only did he present the information that i was looking for, he freakin' just caught fish after fish.  and to top it off, he uploaded an underwater video showing the technique and the effectiveness.  what the whhaaaa???

all that being said, the reason why he is at the top of my list is because he seems like such the "salt of the earth" type of guy.  totally genuine, and just loves fishing.  nothing more.    check out his book, YouTube channel, etc....you won't regret it.

Let's Get Kinky!

i bought a hot pink marabou package from a local hobby/craft store, and i've been trying to find fly patterns that will help me use some of this stuff up.

i decided to tie up a couple kinky muddlers for the first time, and see if they'll trick some stripers.  here is the fly pattern i used, with the addition of the pink marabou collar.

King's Kinky Muddler

then, i found essentially the same concept by 'Jonny' at stripersonline.com.  click on the image to go to the forum page.

  

i tied two different versions.  one is the standard, and the second is a 'clouser' variation with dumbbell eyes, and it should swim hook up.




not bad for the first attempt, but not great.  here are my thoughts:

1) i think i need to add a bunch more marabou to get the same pink effect.  mine is looking a little sparse.  i think it's due to the quality of the craft store marabou.  there is too much of the unusable webby portion of the feather.  it works well with some patterns (e.g. used for some pink dubbing), but not for this one.

2) i realized that i don't like this pattern (although i haven't fished one before), mostly because it takes so long to tie, and uses so much material.  i could replace the synthetic, kinky hair with deer belly hair and it would be so much quicker to tie...although just as messy.

3) i'm going to see how they fish, and if they get me a little luvin', then i'll tie some more with more pink.

anybody have any ideas what other patterns i could tie using the pink marabou?

2013 Goals: Get'm Done!

well, 2013 has started off pretty slowly, but at least i was able to end 2012 right.  in December, my goal was to catch some atlantic herring, so i could live line them and see if i could get a holdover striper.

i did a little research, and found out that most people use sabiki rigs to catch herring.  from what i've read, once you've found a school, they're pretty easy to catch.

i decided to tie up my own sabiki rig, seeing as how they didn't look that complicated, and i had all the necessary materials on hand.  i used 6' of 18 lb Rio Hard Mono Saltwater for the main leader line, from which i made 6 dropper loops, and then used about 4-6" of 12 lb Rio Hard Mono Saltwater for each dropper line.  i decided to use the Rio Hard Mono Saltwater mono here so that i could prevent as much tangling as possible.  for the weight, i used a 1 oz kastmaster without the treble hook.  most people use a bank sinker, but i thought the extra flash would help attract some fish.  then i tied 2 different flies, 3 of each.

Red Rocket Minnow
hook: Mustad 3366A - size: 8
thread: Danville 210 Denier Flat Waxed Nylon - red
tail: white feathers from sofa cushion, pearl krystal flash, Celebrate It Metallic Crinkly - iridescent

Simple Glow Shrimp
hook: Eagle Claw ML226N Octopus - size: 8
thread: Danville 210 Denier Flat Waxed Nylon - chartreuse
tail: glow in the dark fibers
body: pearl estaz

Red Rocket Minnow

Simple Glow Shrimp

from what i've heard through the grapevine, there are boat slips 2 minutes from my house that is usually a good place to catch herring this time of year.  when i arrived around sunrise, there were 5 other guys (mostly Russian, i think) already there, all fishing off the end of this slip, within 5 feet of each other.  as i joined the group, i realized these guys are braving the cold to bring food home, and less for sport.  i knew then that i wanted to try eating one.  forget the striper...after all, herring must taste good if people risk frostbite for them.

the technique: cast, let the rig sink until you hit bottom, then reel in slowly, dragging the weight across the bottom.  every few seconds i would twitch the rod a bit, then reel in the slack.  it was not rocket science.  i ended up catching 6 herring in 1 hour time (only one of the other guys was out fishing me).  the hit ratio was 2:1 in favor of the Red Rocket Minnow.

once i got home, i filleted them, and pickled them for 2 weeks.

toasted wheat bread, sour cream, pickled herring, diced onions, celery leaves, and lemon juice.

finally, without much ado, here is my 2013 fishing goals (in no particular order):

1. in the Spring, i want to catch more white perch on the fly, and eat them grilled.
2. i heard that the local reservoir has monster carp.  in the spring and summer, i want to hunt a few down with a fly, ideally using a crayfish pattern.  
3. in April and May, i hope to catch a striper on the flats, sight fishing from my kayak, and using a crab fly.
4. i want to catch from my kayak, black sea bass for the first time, and cook them whole.
5. i want to catch from my kayak, blackfish for the first time.
6. i want to catch from my kayak or from the shore, flounder/fluke and make fish tacos.
7. i want to catch lobster, and make an herby lobster roll.
8. i want to go clamming locally and use them to make linguini con le vongole, with red pepper flakes.w

they're not that ambitious, but very reasonable goals with one 17 month son and another due in the summer.  

more to come, so stay salty,

XXA

XXA's Top 5 Videos of 2012

okay, i know i've been MIA.  i have a been out fishing a few times, but have nothing that interesting to report.  i've been doing some thinking about the direction i want this blog to go, and decided that i want the majority of the content to be about gear reviews, fly tying, and educational information.  no one, including me, really wants to see another grip and grin photo.  i will post some fishing reports here and there, but judging by the stats on this blog, the pages with the the above information has the most page views.  so, stay tuned to XXA v2 in 2013!

now drumroll, please!~  here are my top 5 videos of 2012.  this is purely subjective, so don't complain if you don't see one of your favorites here.

1.  i don't hunt, and it's not about fishing, but this video gave me the tingles...everywhere, and i mean everywhere.  *wink wink.


Searching for West from Helio Collective on Vimeo.


2.  i want to go to there.


REBOUND from SHALLOW WATER EXPEDITIONS on Vimeo.


3.i haven't caught a permit on the fly, so i was peeing in my pants with jealousy.


Summer of 2012 from Chris Lewis on Vimeo.


4.  Bill Wetzel and his passion for the sport is inspiring.  he gets so worked up...which is AWESOME!





5.  the fact that you could potentially catch these GTs sitting on one of the beach chairs, drinking a fruity cocktail, is a dream come true.

Must Try this Fishing Technique!

i'm always on the lookout for techniques to improve my fishing, and i think i found one that will definitely improve my catch ratio.  i'm sure this will also become a huge fad, upon which many new products will be based and introduced at next year's ICAST.
 

Typical Montauk Fall Blitz (almost)

well, i think i made the trip to Montauk two weeks too late.  the wind on Sunday was around 20 mph, gusting to around 30 mph.  unlike prior years, there were hardly any boats on the water...about 7 in total.  while most of the boats had cancelled their outings, we decided to brave the elements.  believe it or not, we didn't see any striped bass or albies, and the blues were of typical Montauk size...a bit on the smaller side.  all in all, around 10 blues in about 3.5 hours.  oh well, that's fishing.

Timing is EVERYTHING

the fishing has started to get good.  really good.

about a week ago, i caught my personal best bluefish.  15 lbs.  pow!  the brute took me on a sleigh ride all around the harbor, and it took me 20 minutes to reel in.  i was on my kayak, and was having the hardest time working it.  if i set the drag too loose, it would take off.  if the drag was too tight, it would just drag me around.  it was hard enough trying not to bump into the boats tied up on their moorings.  when i finally landed it, and laid it down inside the kayak, its head and those chompers were six inches from my crotch.  yowzers!  a bit too close for comfort.  i didn't even take a picture as i wanted that thing weighed and released pronto.

this past weekend, i had one of my best days fishing ever.  i had been going to this local outflow area where i was having fun catching snappers and small stripers on light tackle.  on thursday night, i caught 7 snapper blues and 1 tiny striped bass on zoom flukes in the arkansas shiner color in about 1.5 hours of fishing.  not bad, but not great.  (i know what you are thinking...why would i use soft plastics with blues around?  the answer is that i had no choice.  for whatever reason, they wouldn't hit anything else.)

i considered it good practice as i was perfecting the slow retrieve/twitch that would prove to be key.  i went back around the same tide on friday, and it was completely different.  stripers were busting on bait everywhere!  i kid you not, i landed 20+ stripers in 1 hour.  the largest was 32", and the rest were around 25-26".  for about 40 minutes, i caught a striper every cast....literally.  some other anglers saw all the commotion, and came over and tried to join in.  they asked what i was using, and i told them that the zoom super salty flukes were producing, and I even gave them a few.  they couldn't get the presentation right, so i was the only one catching fish.  all that practice paid off.  the crazy thing was that i left to go home even with the fish still biting.

i ended up taking one home and you can see what they were gorging themselves on...peanut bunker.

on saturday, i went back around the same tide again, and while i caught 7 stripers, the largest one was 14".  it is really amazing how timing is everything.  i'm studying my log to see if i can pinpoint why friday was so different than thursday and saturday.

also, i'm headed to east long island this weekend, and going to Montauk on Sunday to fish the blitz.  this time around, i'm going to focus more on taking pictures for the blog (when i'm not chasing the albies).

stay salty.  XXA

Gift that Keeps on Giving (hopefully)

i'm the richest man in the world!!!!  look what arrived today as a birthday gift from my in-laws.

i guess i know what i'll be doing this winter.  hopefully this gift will keep on giving (i.e. i'll catch some bonefish using flies i've tied from this book).  nice!

update:  i've been going through this book and it is definitely worth the price!

Tailing

western LIS version.