I’ve been walking some flats with my spinner and doing pretty well when the fish are there. With the spinning tackle, I throw a Gulp Jerk Shad a few feet in front of the tailing red and hold on, no movement of the shad after it splushes. When I use the fly rod, what type of fly do you use? And, do you strip the line or hold tight where you cast, assuming a decent cast?
Thanks for your help, I’d really like to try the fly just don’t want to totally waste my time.
No matter how much detail you learn here, there is no substitute for getting out there and doing it yourself. The idea behind fly fishing is to immitate what the fish are feeding on. When the redfish are up in the marsh grass, they are feeding primarily on fiddler crabs. There are hundreds of crab patterns out there. Go to Charleston Angler and talk to the guys there. They are extremely knowledgeable about local patterns with what works/doesn’t work. They will set you up. Personally on the flats, I’ve caught fish on crabs, mudminnow, baitfish patterns, and spoonflies. Depends on how aggresive they are eating at the time depending on which fly you can fool them with.
If you put an artificial anything in front of a fish, it usually is useless without action. The same holds true for flyfishing. Sometimes you need to strip it fast, sometimes you need to just twitch it a couple of times for a reaction bite. That’s what you’ll find out for yourself on the flats. Different people have different techniques and not all fish react the same way. I will tell you this though, catching a redfish on the flyrod with the extended challenge that it is, will ruin you for spinning gear. It feels like cheating after you’ve caught fish on the fly…you’ll see soon.
Good luck and we look forward to you posting a report of your first red on the fly soon!!!
Thank you 23. As a matter of fact I was just at the Angler and bought a new crap pattern. They are a great source of help/knowledge. I am going to try this tomorrow evening if all goes well.
Thanks again.
Sea Hunt 220
Yam F225
Amount and type of movement is dependent on the type of fly. If you’re imitating a crab, twitch it in front of him. Crabs swim a little, but, not as fast as a bait fish. Act like a crab :-p I use a Hamilton spoon fly a lot. I throw it 3-4 ft. in front and 2-3 ft. over his line. Then as he moves, I try to strip the spoon within a foot of his nose. Make it look like a swimming bait fish. When I actually make a good cast, that usually results in a hammer, …fish-on!
17’ Henry O Hornet
26’ Palmer Scott