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Fishing Tips: Saltwater Flyfishing
by luv2fish
Although I grew up fly fishing in fresh water, as the nearest salt water
was hundreds of miles away, ( kinda far to ride a bike ) When I moved to
California I bought my first car for $25, a 1952 Plymouth. Gas was 18
cents a gallon, $2.00 would last for 200 miles. I could rent a rowboat
at the Santa Monica Pier for $2.00 for 6 hours.
Back then Bonita were around most of the year. I saw people catching
them from the pier with a splasher rig ( a clear float filled half with
water to give casting distance, with a Bonita feather tied about 15
inches below the float). They caught lots of Bonita, so I figured I
should be able to catch then on a fly rod. The next time down I brought
my fly rod and a couple of freshwater bass flys ( white streamers ).
I was so excited as I rented the rowboat and rowed out beyond the area
the pier casters could reach with their rigs. After about 10 minutes of
unproductive casting, I came to the conclusion that the bubble rig the
pier casters used worked because the Bonita were attracted to the
plastic bubble splashing along on the surface, then hit the fly trailing
along behind. While I was trying to figure out how to get the fish's
attention without putting a splasher on the flyrod, I heard some loud
squawking behind me, turning around I saw a couple hundred seagulls and
pelicans diving into the water.
There was also lots of big splashes ( boils as salt- water fishermen
call them ) I knew a school of fish had chased a baitball to the surface
and were actively feeding on them. I rowed as fast as I could towards
the commotion, and when I was in casting range I cast the fly to the
edge of the boils and started stripping line fast to match the speed of
the fleeing baitfish. I was totally unprepared for what happened next!!
On about the second pull there was a big splash where my fly used to be,
and the rod was nearly yanked out of my hand. My rod tip was pulled into
the water and the line started running off the reel at warp 7. Three
seconds later it was over, my leader, fly line, and twenty feet of
backing that had worked so well in freshwater was gone. I sat there in
stunned silence for a few moments wondering what I could have possibly
have hooked, then I saw about a eight or ten pound Bonita come clear out
of the water chasing a bait fish. Could these things really pull that
hard and fast? I soon learned how hard they can pull when I cast out a
silver spoon I had on a spinning reel with eight pound test mono on it.
Again the rod tip was pulled down to the water and the line peeled of
the freshwater size spinning reel and in less time than it takes to type
this my reel was empty, my spoon was gone, and I sat there with a blank
stare on my face not believing what had happened, both rods had been
stripped of their line, my lures were gone and I still had five and a
half hours left on my rowboat rental and no line on my reels. BUT, BOY,
WAS I EVER HOOKED ON SALTWATER FLY FISHING!
Soon after moving to California from Georgia I got a job at the Golden
Valley Gun Club, working on the trap and skeet ranges. This gave me the
money I needed to upgrade my tackle to saltwater class, a fly reel with
200 yds. of backing and a larger spinning reel that held 250 yds of 12#
test.
Every chance I had I was at the Santa Monica Pier in a rented rowboat,
learning about saltwater fly fishing. I soon learned bonita didn't care
about color as they were color blind, they just wanted the fly to go
fast. They were very easy to catch when they were up and feeding on
baitballs, but finding a baitball within reach of my rowboat was pretty
tough.
I saw lots of them offshore, but they only stayed up for 5 minutes at
best and before I could even get close they were gone. I solved the
problem somewhat by chunking up frozen anchovies ( anchovies broken up
into inch long pieces, then throwing a chunk in the water about every 10
seconds ).
This made a trail of chunks clear to the bottom, and when a school swam
by they would follow the chunks to the boat. When I saw them flash in
the chunks I would throw a hand full out and they would go nuts on the
chum, a fly cast in the chum and just allowed to sink slowly like the
chunks would usually bring an instant hit. These inshore "bones" (
bonita ) were usually under three pounds, but if there was baitballs
around some of the jumbos would show up.
And when one of them hit I knew I was in for an incredible fight. They
could easily run 50 to 60 yds. of line off my fly reel and take 15
minutes to land. My fly fishing charters continue to be some of my most
popular charters. I also learned to catch calico bass, sand bass,
halibut, yellowtail and the occasional white sea bass on the fly. Tuna
are color blind and they don't care about color, but the other fish can
see colors and color in the patterns for them sometimes is very
important.
Usually you can't go wrong with white streamers with a red patch at the
throat, but I found when I rode on the party boats that herring and
tomcod ( brown bait ) usually caught the larger fish. So I started tying
larger patterns with brown in them and started catching much larger
calicos and sand bass.
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