LOOP SHAPES
Practice loop shape. Stand in the yard and aerialize 40 feet of line. Using the double haul, experiment with how a harder or longer haul effects loop shape. The double haul is not only effective for line speed but can also significantly decrease loop shape. Gain control of your cast by continually practicing and learning how to throw large loops and small loops. Use a firm stop on the forward cast and a sharp haul to achieve the smallest possible loops. Once perfected, apply this to your long casts
FLY LEADERS & SINK RATE For faster sink rates and easier casting, tie an entire leader out of Rio Fluorocarbon material. The Fluorocarbon sinks like a rock and is almost like using a sink tip. The advantage over a sink tip is the ease at which you can pick it up from the water and recast. Fluorocarbon also abrades differently and I find that it is tougher than regular monofilament. Do not use a fluorocarbon leader on surface flies as it will take them under or at least down enough to eliminate a lot of the “pop”.
FAST SINKING FLIES
If you want a fly to sink faster, use a fluorocarbon leader and tie a loop knot to the fly. This loop will allow the fly to tilt downward, eyes first and sink much faster than the same fly tied with a clinch knot. Loop knots are also generally stronger than a more conventional clinch style knot. My two favorites are the “Non-Slip Mono Loop” and the “Steve Huff Double Figure 8”. Look for Lefty’s book, Practical Fishing Knots for the Mono Loop and Trey Combs’ Bluewater Flyfishing for Steve Huff’s Knot
TANGLED FLY LINES
Another way fly line can become tangled is if it has become twisted. Remove the fly and drag the entire fly line behind the boat. Twisted fly lines are unruly and difficult to fish with. The tangles result in missed opportunities and lost fish.
Fly lines become twisted by improper spooling, flies that twist in the air or in the water. Drag lines daily for best results.
MAXIMUM PRESSURE
To get the maximum pressure on a fish with a fly rod, try to eliminate the rod from the equation. In other words, fight the fish with a straight rod instead of with a lot of bend in the rod. Pull so that the rod bends in the butt section of the rod only. Have a friend hold a scale and call out the pressure that you are exerting. You will find that the straighter the pull, the more pressure you put on the fish. This also results in fewer rod breakages.
STRETCHING FLY LINE
Always stretch your fly line. Stretching your fly line at every stop will prevent tangles from forming. Pull until you feel the line stretch and then stop. The fly line should lie out in nice wide coils.
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FLY FISHING TARPON -
When flyfishng for tarpon, set the hook hard with the stripping hand only. Try to eliminate the rod from the equation and set the hook with a direct pull. Once the hook has found a home, continue to “hammer” the hook into the fish with repeated jabs. Be ready to release the line and clear it to the reel.
TARPON ON FLY -
Upon first hooking a tarpon on fly, fight the urge to watch the fish jump. Your concentration should be firmly focused on clearing the line to the reel. Make sure you are not stepping on any part of the line and that it has a clear path to the reel. Apply slight pressure with the stripping hand so that the line will smoothly go from the deck to the reel with no obstruction. Once on the reel, move the rod but right into your belly button and maintain a high rod angle. When the fish jumps, you will be able to “bow” the rod to the fish and create a little slack in the line which will help keep the hook in the fish’s mouth.
CASTING DRILLS -
Practice with 2 targets. Go from the ready position to a target placed at 11:00 and 50 feet. Deliver your cast and then pick up and go to a target at 9:00 and 70 feet with as few false casts as possible. Strip back in and get back into the ready position quickly. This is one of the most realistic practice situations. Visualize a fish swimming towards you and coming across the bow. Cast to it at 11:00. Imagine that your cast went unnoticed, pick up and cast farther at 9:00. If that doesn’t do it
STRAIGHTEN HEAVY MONO
To straighten heavy monofilament for tarpon leaders, cut a 25 inch piece of 1/4 inch PVC pipe and install a cap on both ends. Cut the mono to length and put as many pieces as you can in the tube. Over the sink, pour boiling hot water into the tube with a cap on one end. The mono will straighten immediately. Allow to cool and cap the other end.
Ease your work load and use Rio 60 pound Fluorocarbon. This material is easily stretched on the boat and has a greater abrasion resistance.
NON-SLIP MONO LOOP KNOT
When tying the Non-Slip Mono Loop Knot, begin by tying an overhand in the leader. Go through the fly and then back through the overhand knot. Go 4 times around and back through the overhand again. Tighten by gently pulling on the tag and fly until the knot begins to form. Wet the knot and then tighten by pulling ONLY on the leader and not the tag end. The knot should cinch down tight and look like a clinch knot does but leave a small loop.
For the smallest loops, draw the first overhand down right to the eye of the fly before continuing with the rest of the knot.
KNOT STRENGTH
To increase the strength of your knots it is very important to snug them down properly. Too many anglers do not pull knots down tight which results in slippage and then breakage.
To increase knot strength, wear leather gloves for knots using more than 15-pound test. Lubricate the knot very well with saliva before tightening it down. A trick I learned from Simon Becker that aids in tying is to also lubricate with Chap Stick to help the mono to slide more readily. When the knot cinches down, all the Chap Stick is pushed out and your knot will be tighter and stronger than before.
TWISTED MONO Regardless of whether the label is up or down, monofilament never seems to go on a spinning reel without some twists. Fill spools to capacity and then drag the mono behind the boat on the morning of fishing. Doing this will prevent line twist occurring at the reel and save time and frustration. Drag line in deep water. Do not make the mistake of dragging fresh line through coral, sea grass or other abrasive obstacles
MONOFILAMENT
Many types of monofilament and fluorocarbon tippet and leader material do not tie well together. Knots slip because of different finishes on the different brands. The best bet is to find a brand that is easily accessible, ties easily and that you have confidence in and stick with it for all of your tying needs.
My favorite is Rio’s Fluorocarbon tippet material.
LIGHT MONO
Lighter monofilament casts farther. Spool spinning reels with 8 and 10 pound and compare the difference. Many days, distance is crucial. Always have a spool of lighter mono aboard to take advantage of the days where distance is demanded.
NEW TECHNOLOGY
Take advantage of technology. Instead of sharpening all of your hooks, begin to use Gamakatsu hooks which are chemically sharpened and are sharp enough to fish right out of the box. Because it is coated everywhere, these hooks will not corrode as fast as a hook that has been sharpened; exposing the metal to the salt. Your flies will last longer and you will catch more fish with the new, thinner, stronger Gamakatsu Hooks. I particularly like the SC15 Wide Gap. It is the choice for my own tarpon flies.
SHARPENING HOOKS
The best way I have found to sharpen a hook is to triangulate the point. Sharpen towards the point making even angles on the top of the hook. When done properly, this should create a sharp edge on the top of the hook. Finish the point with a flat bottom. Don’t elongate hook points as they can roll over but do not make them too stubby either
TARPON HOOKS -
Tarpon have extraordinarily hard mouths and the act of making a hook penetrate has frustrated anglers since the inception. Today’s hooks are far superior to the hooks we used even 7 years ago. Try to use a chemically sharpened hook designed for tarpon fishing. The Matzuo O’Shaugnessy is a hook which penetrates extremely well and has a point capable of standing up to the hard mouth of a tarpon.
GUIDES
Try to treat your guide with respect. If it is obvious that he is working hard for you, he is trying his best. Do not second-guess your guide as that can make him deviate from his plan and flounder for the rest of the day. He is the expert there and that is why you hired him. Always tell your guide your goal for the day. If you want to catch a permit on fly, make that the target for the trip. Have realistic expectations regarding your skill level and the specie that you pursue.
RIGGING SHRIMP
There are several ways to hook a shrimp. For Bonefishing and redfishing, I have found that the best way to hook a live shrimp is to begin the hook point on the underside of the tail of the shrimp. Put the hook point in the anus of the shrimp and run it around the bend of the hook. Make it weedless by turning the hook and returning the point into the body of the shrimp. Make sure to have the point of the hook protrude slightly from the shrimp
THE TRAVELING ANGLER
Traveling anglers should have a wide variety of flies and always bring them with you. When traveling, buy a few of the patterns that are working for you and include them in your collection. These flies will come in handy somewhere. If they do not work well at your next location, they will at least be an interesting conversation piece for you to discuss with your next guide.
TOURNAMENTS
Tournament angling is the BEST way to become a truly great angler. Get involved with tournaments in fresh or saltwater. The Florida Keys has many different tournaments for all ages and preferences.
ON THE WATER ETIQUETTE
Observe the etiquette of each area that you fish. Every area will have slightly different slants on what is appropriate behavior. Go to the tackle shops and ask how close is acceptable and then add 100 yards to that. When scouting or learning a new area, a conservative approach will often go a long way with the locals. Give every boat plenty of room.
YOUR PROPELLER
Enhance your boats performance by making sure that the prop is not dinged or bent. Small dings can be repaired by filing the edge with a metal file to resharpen the edge. A sharp edge will dramatically improve performance
COMMUNICATIONS
Always have a back up communication device whether you are going offshore or staying on your favorite home water. Cell phones are an excellent device but can easily be dropped in the water or you could be unexpectedly out of range.
VHF radios are always a reliable way to get help if you need it. I carry both on my skiff at all times and so should you!
PUSH POLES
If you are using a push pole with ferrules, avoid long-term storage in the push pole holders of your boat. Sometimes ferruled poles will take a set. When this happens, the pole is unruly and difficult to handle. Stiffy Brand push poles makes the world’s best push poles in a pre assembled one-piece design that eliminates the set problem.
BAD FRUIT
Bananas are bad luck on fishing boats. Regardless of your superstitious nature, this fruit was not meant to be aboard a fishing vessel. This is proven over and over again. Do yourself a favor and avoid the “bad luck fruit” while fishing.
PREVENT RUST -
To prevent rust on hooks, flies and even tools, store them in Plano boxes and use the Inhibitor. These little cardboard pieces are saturated with a rust prevention spray and REALLY help to keep rust off your valuable products.
POWERPOLE
Wire your Power Pole to your main power switch on your console. This way, when all the power is off it is impossible to accidentally engage the pole. This can happen on the highway and cause all sorts of problems at 60 mph.
WAYPOINTS -
Back up your GPS waypoints on your computer. Not only is there software that will enable you to plan routes, name your waypoints with your keyboard and view overlays of GPS waypoints on arial photos, but you also keep a valuable backup in the case of complete loss of data.
DO IT YOURSELF -
If you are tired of paying $2 for a cork bobber, buy a swim “noodle” at the store and cut it into 1 inch pieces. Run the line trough the middle and loop it around the tag end. This will be enough floatation to hold up a pinfish or other baitfish.
GILLING BAIT -
If you happen to accidentally throw your cast net on glass minnows or other baitfish so small that they get caught in the net, hang the net up at the dock and swat at it with a bait net to remove the glass minnows. Better still is a 3700 PSI pressure washer.
BUY A CHART =
Before going to a new fishing location, purchase areal photo charts of the area. These can be purchased online from Backcountrycharts.com
featured article
Tarpon Leaders-Slim Beauty vs Two Turn Blood Knot 2004-10-27 - Tom Rowland
After reviewing the search string statistics for my site, www.bigblueflyfishing.com, I noticed how many people are visiting the site to read about the Slim Beauty knot. I then googled the Slim Beauty and came across endless mentions in articles, books, videos and web site reviews. The numbers of people who not only know about this knot but use it, test it and swear by it floored me because of my familiarity with the knot and its history. To see it popularized is a testimony to the effectiveness of a true grass roots and word of mouth growth of an idea because with the exception of my site and a mention of the web site Midcurrent (http://www.midcurrent.com/CGI-BIN/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=slim+beauty) neither Simon Becker nor I have written about the knot.
The Slim Beauty was born in 1995 when I was living with my guide mentor, Capt. Simon Becker of Key West, FL. Simon and I were tying up countless Bimini Twists preparing for the upcoming tarpon season. We would tie the bimini and then hang them on a coat hanger awaiting the rest of the leader. While the Bimini is not a difficult knot, it does take some time to construct and is probably easier to tie lots of them at home rather than on the boat.
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