Just recently got into fly fishing for reds. I use a kayak to get around in the flats and usually get out of the yak (when I can) to cast to tailing fish in the flats. I have not caught one while seeing it tailing but makes my heart stop every time I see one. I am not a good caster yet but efficient enough to get close enough to present a fly. I have only used copper clouser or crab pattern.
This past weekend I went out and presented to 6 fish with 4 looking to be in the 6-10 lbs range. I get a few good casts to the fish but they seem to not be interested and just disappear (not spooked because they meander off)and I can see them start tailing further down and so I go after again and the same thing happens. Obviously, something I am doing is not quite right.
Any advice because so far this is the most exciting fishing I have done and I really need to hook into one (although I may have a coronary if I do)?
change your fly, try leading the fish by a few feet if they swim right over it, put it right infront of them. if they don’t spook they will somtimes eat. just keep trying and you’ll get it. theyr tricky but at least your seein them. havent seen one yet this year, well havent really looked too hard
strip…strip…FISH ON!
Keep casting at them. They probably did not see the fly. I use the distance between my leader and tip of the flyline as almost a sight/window. When I toss the fly I try to put the fly in front of him (anywhere from 10’ to a foot -depends on how fast the fish is traveling) in the direction he is travelling and a little behind so that when he keeps tailing and if I did not strip the fly he would travel beneath the leader. When he is tailing along and you made a decent cast, strip the fly so it will get close to his head. Also, use a heavier fly to get the fly to his feeding area. They are digging in mud. They will cruise and eat stuff off the top, but for the most part they are rather preoccupied with crabs or shrimp on the bottom of the grass flat.
So, when and if he turns around and is going to miss that window between your leader and the end of the flyline, recast. When he looks like he is going to go go through that window, don’t strip it so fast that he misses it. It is sort of like a car wreck, you want the two to collide.
Another thing, if you miscast and it does not look perfect to you, leave the fly there until you know he is not going to be spooked by you retrieving the fly. Sometimes they will do a 180 on you too and go right to where your fly was. That same spot you thought was a bad cast. Always fish a bad cast, even if it is just for a short time.
Two more items…
I think that reds have two modes of departure. Paddle across the top of one or hit him with a fly and you see the first mode, he bolts running hard across the flat. The second mode is more just going quiet. If I make to much noise/commotion near a fish (e.g. noisily pulling a poor cast back off of the water), I think they notice and stop and wait for a little while before they start foraging again. In this case, I can sometimes track them back down… but, not often. Once they go quiet, I have a hard time getting them to look at a fly.
The second item is to work your fly past the fish’s nose when he is moving, not actually tailing. If his tail is in the air, his nose is in the mud and he’ll never see even the best placed fly. But, if you see a tail, cast past and leading him as mummichog says, then, when his tail drops, strip some line to get the fly across in front of him… and …smack! I don’t strip a lot quickly. I usually use a small spoon fly and give a few quick short strips just to get the fly to flutter a little but keeping it in the vicinity of the fish.
17’ Henry O Hornet
26’ Palmer Scott
i fish alot of crab flies and one thing i see many people do with them is move them. A crab will not flee from a predator but will try and hide using its camo. every time. dont strip a crab when a red is closin in, it is very unnatural behavior. most crab patterns have enough movement through flash and breathable materials that it is essentialy “quivering” anyway.
www.flyfishingsc.com
quote:
Originally posted by scotty d
i fish alot of crab flies and one thing i see many people do with them is move them. A crab will not flee from a predator but will try and hide using its camo. every time. dont strip a crab when a red is closin in, it is very unnatural behavior. most crab patterns have enough movement through flash and breathable materials that it is essentialy “quivering” anyway.
www.flyfishingsc.com
zactly.
If the cast was correct the crab should be sinking and thats all it should take. So often if you put it in that perfect spot they will nail it as soon as it hits the water.
If it makes you feel any better, I found the fish this past tide cycle to be pretty lockjawed. They weren’t tailing hard either, mostly just cruising on the surface. It made me wonder if they were feeding on snails or something. I did manage to land a few on a spoonfly but I cast at quite a few more that ignored my fly when I knew they could see it. Usually they either spook or bite.
All of the advice above is 100% correct. keep it in front of the fish.
chris.
Throw a copperhead on man. If they are tailing in the grass, they are eating! They are either not seeing your fly, or your fly looks unnatural. If I’ve caught a few, I’ll try a new fly every now and then, but the way I see it, if it aint broke don’t fix it. Copperhead killz em!