Boatless Fishing Forum, Reports, Info

There are three basic types of fly lines used in saltwater and several hybrids. They are:
1. Floating line - used mainly to cast floating flies / bugs / poppers, etc.
2. Intermediate - will retrieve your fly from just below the surface to a couple feet - depending on current and rate of retrieve
3. Sinking line- to get your fly down in deep waters or fast curents.
4.Sink-tip Line - A floating line witt from 5' to 20' of the casting end that sinks
5. Shooting lines - Fast sink lines with the tips measured in grains from 125gr. to 500gr. The higher the gr., the faster the sink rate - for deepest and/or fastest waters.
6. Shooting heads - 25' to 30' head sections that attach to a very small diameter running line. The heads can be floating, intermediate or measured in grs. as in shooting lines. Use is the same but, you can change the head section to suit the need and eliminates having an extra reel or spool.

Line Size
The most used sizes of saltwater fly lines are size 6 thrugh size 10. Sizes under 6 are best for freshwater. Sizes over 10 are usually for large pelegic fish offshore. Flyrod manufacturers mark on the rod the recommended size line that should be used on it. Some rods will handle a size larger or smaller but it's safe to buy the size line recommended.

Line Types

Fly lines come in various configuration codes which are:
S=Sinking
F=Floating
I=Intermediate

The first 30' of a flyline may be S,F or I and may be weighted or not
A line marked WF9F means it has weight forward, is size 9 and floats
WF or Weight Forward lines are probably the most popular for saltwater.

Practical Applications
When I'm fishing from my kayak in the Indian River Lagood or tributaries I have two flyrods set up and ready to cast. Both are 8 weight lines and are weight-forward(WF) lines. One is an Intermediate(WF8I) and the other a floaterWF8F).

If I see surface activity, I will cast the WF8F line
If I see no surface activity, I will cast the WF8I line and work it along the edges of sandy spots, obstructions, etc.

If I were going to fish near Sebastian Inlet, I would leave the intermediate at home and substitute a WF8S line or a shooting head, depending upon the current I expect to encounter.

When fishing the surf with my flyrod, I will go to a 9wt. rod when I know there are Tarpon around; otherwise, I use the same 8wt. rods as on the kayak. I usually go with an Intermediate line, probably WF9I most days as it's easier to handle when there is a swell or waves. I feel it gives me better contact(feel) with the fly. If Tarpon, Kings or Spanish show up chasing bait; I can tie on a surface fly and keep it on top as long as I retrieve it fast. If I'm sure those fish will be there, I'll go to a WF9F
line.

One bit of advice on flyfishing the surf; don't wade out or cast straight out unless you see fish/bait breaking there. Stay along the edge of the swash and work your fly to left and then to right, right in the first breaking wave or its' wash. This is especially important at night or on cloudy/rainy days as that is where many fish will lie. I wear shorts and sandles and, though I seldom wade out from the sand; I'm always wet from the waist down.

I often start in on Melbourne beach about 1.5 mi. from Sebastian Inlet and fish south to the inlet. If no bait is showing, I just work the shoreline down to my right with only an occastional cast straight out.

This year the flyrod has landed two Tarpon and a number of Kings and Spanish. I've also broken off some Tarpon that were probably bigger than I could handle - but that was fun too. My best tarpon was estimated to be 35# and that's a hell of a fish on a flyrod.

Yay for Onshore! Glad to see you!

For Christmas, I'm getting some Scientific Angler Mastery Series Striped Bass (Fast Sinking) Line. I should be able to get my flies down to those snook at the spillways and at the inlet.

For sinking lines, I normally like the Rio Deep 7 300 or 400 grain, or the Teen T200 or T300. However, I don't know how well those will handle in saltwater...

Frogfish101 wrote:For sinking lines, I normally like the Rio Deep 7 300 or 400 grain, or the Teen T200 or T300. However, I don't know how well those will handle in saltwater...

Those lines will handle well in saltwater when you have a fast current situation like at an inlet or deep water.

Onshore, enjoyed your detailed post about flyfishing very much. Although that post is about a year and a half old now I was wondering if you could share with us some of your favorite flies to use in Indian River. I'll be vacationing in Fort Pierce in a few weeks (late July early August) and plan to go after some redfish and trout if they're there. Also may do some spillway fishing with the flyrod at Taylor Creek.

frayedknot wrote:For Christmas, I'm getting some Scientific Angler Mastery Series Striped Bass (Fast Sinking) Line. I should be able to get my flies down to those snook at the spillways and at the inlet.

That is definately NOT the line you want to be using for jetty snook. The airflo "depthfinder" or TS-350 from teeny will cause you far less problems than the SA lines. SA kinda fell asleep at the wheel as far as density compensated/integrated heads go, they make the best intermediates but steer clear of the streamer express lines. If you really want to get it out there, and get it down, try the Rio T-8 with a braided mono running line. I've made casts up to 133' with that setup on a 10wt TCR. If you want to try the Teeny lines, I'll be at SI on the outgoing tide (10pm tonight). I'm pretty easy to spot.

Edit- I just looked at the date on the post. I'm going to finish my coffee now, and try not to post anything stupid the rest of the morning.

centerpinner wrote:Onshore, enjoyed your detailed post about flyfishing very much. Although that post is about a year and a half old now I was wondering if you could share with us some of your favorite flies to use in Indian River. I'll be vacationing in Fort Pierce in a few weeks (late July early August) and plan to go after some redfish and trout if they're there. Also may do some spillway fishing with the flyrod at Taylor Creek.

For surface feeding fish I use a 3"-4" mixed tan and brown Muddler or a 4" yellow Dahlberg Diver.

Sub-surface, I like a 3" or 4" White or Chartreuse over White Polar Bear Deceiver with silver tinsel in the wing or an all black one during hours of darkness. In the few areas that might be deep I often use a Chartreuse/White Clouser, about 4" but I substitute 2 beads(beadchain) for dumbells for eyes.

Thanks Onshore, I have a fairly large assortment of Clousers and Deceivers and will certainly try the colors that you mentioned. You talked about a Polar Bear Deceiver which I am not familiar with but I do have several Polar Fiber Minnows (maybe the same thing).

Have you ever tried the Borski Bonefish Slider or the DC Wiggler? The slider is supposed to be deadly on Redfish so I am told. Ditto for the Wiggler.

I have a few Muddlers that I use in freshwater fishing in the spring and fall that I might try. Am not familiar with the Dalberg Diver but will look into it.

Polar Deceiver is just a deceiver with polar bear wing tapered to shap of a hackle wing. In fact, I usually tie in a couple hackle tips and then build the polar bear over it. Haven't tried either the slider or wiggler but, may tie a few up next time I'm tying.

There's a guy that hangs out on another Flyfishing BB in Texas that ties a fly that resembles a shrimp and they call it the Reznikoff after some dead fisherman. He sent me a couple. That too is supposed to be deadly on Redfish but I have not yet tried it. And for a fly that I saw being touted on TV there's the Rattle Rouser.

I'm new to this board, and newish to fly fishing. I like surf fishing in the winter but have always used a surf rod with spinning reel. I do fish Melbourne beach and was wondering what to try with my fly rod this time of year? Thanks for any info.

jayhawk wrote:I'm new to this board, and newish to fly fishing. I like surf fishing in the winter but have always used a surf rod with spinning reel. I do fish Melbourne beach and was wondering what to try with my fly rod this time of year? Thanks for any info.

I dont live in Melbourne but with winter fast approaching the bluefish bite will be red hot, try a surface popper fly, its like the fly fishing version of a topwater plug, it will work great. Be sure to use a small section of wire on the tip of your leader to prevent break offs, good luck!!

Thanks, Old Salt, how far out do you need to get for the blues? I've caught a lot on a 12' spinning rig and with a fly it should be a blast. I had a fish fry for some friends one year that I limited out on blues and had a lot of whitting too. I seperated the fish so I know what everyone ate, and although a lot of people said they didn't eat blues, they cleaned me out of fried blues over the whitting, as long as they did not know what they were eating.

The names actually chris21, old salt is my rank on this forum anyways bluefish will really be prowling all over the shore shallow and deep, try a heavier popper to get a little more distance in your cast. You want to strip the line in short, sharp jerks so the popper can generate a lot of sound and movement that will attract the bluefish. About distance start of short and slowly work your way up to a longer cast till till you find them then cast that distance, good luck