August pinks on the island- + THANKS!!!

[dogtooth]

Spent the second week of August hitting a couple spots on the east coast. Most of the folks I met on the beach (and this forum) were quite friendly and generous with information, and I looked forward to meeting them on the water at the next tide. The well known spots I fished sometimes got crowded, but I could usually still find some extra elbow room and still get into fish if I was willing to move around and leave the bucket to the locals. Fishing wasn't wide open, but I got into enough fish to allow me to experiment with flies and presentations.

So in the spirit of sharing, here is an outsider's limited perspective:

1. Nile Creek Fly Shop was a great first stop. This is the place to go to get oriented.

2. Their are some locals that have their spots seriously dialed in. I fished next to a few old and not-so-old timers that put me to shame. Talked to these guys and learned a lot quickly.

3. Lose the trout flies guys :-) most of the salmon flies appear to be modeled after stream flies in construction. They didn't work so well in the current. Rather than switch to a sink tip with the standard flies, I simply hung out a sparse clouser on my floating line. With only a top wing, these flies sink well with little weight. Started out-catching (most of) the locals. Also tried a handlebar style fly with a reverse big-bead tail that would ride point up and not snag. This fly also worked well.

Finally when the fishing got slow with moving fish around, the advice of moving up a bit in fly size seemed to work both time I tried it, but this is a pretty small sample size.


Here are the flies mentioed- all in pink, but greens worked too:P8190486.jpgP8190484.jpgP8190487.jpg


4. Not much double hauling going on. It seems a lot of folks on this forum are looking for some distance. Might want to consider finding someone with a good DH to work with you before looking for that magic line, rod or going to the double-handed dark side. Most of the folks I saw did not have an effective double haul. Noticeably missing is the haul on the backcast, and slide-hauling was non-existent. Some really good fisherman fighting an uphill battle to get some distance.


Dogtooth

[SalaR]

Thanks for sharing that with us Dogtooth,it was good to have you here...safe journeys
C

Spent the second week of August hitting a couple spots on the east coast. Most of the folks I met on the beach (and this forum) were quite friendly and generous with information, and I looked forward to meeting them on the water at the next tide. The well known spots I fished sometimes got crowded, but I could usually still find some extra elbow room and still get into fish if I was willing to move around and leave the bucket to the locals. Fishing wasn't wide open, but I got into enough fish to allow me to experiment with flies and presentations.

So in the spirit of sharing, here is an outsider's limited perspective:

1. Nile Creek Fly Shop was a great first stop. This is the place to go to get oriented.

2. Their are some locals that have their spots seriously dialed in. I fished next to a few old and not-so-old timers that put me to shame. Talked to these guys and learned a lot quickly.

3. Lose the trout flies guys :-) most of the salmon flies appear to be modeled after stream flies in construction. They didn't work so well in the current. Rather than switch to a sink tip with the standard flies, I simply hung out a sparse clouser on my floating line. With only a top wing, these flies sink well with little weight. Started out-catching (most of) the locals. Also tried a handlebar style fly with a reverse big-bead tail that would ride point up and not snag. This fly also worked well.

Finally when the fishing got slow with moving fish around, the advice of moving up a bit in fly size seemed to work both time I tried it, but this is a pretty small sample size.


Here are the flies mentioed- all in pink, but greens worked too:P8190486.jpgP8190484.jpgP8190487.jpg


4. Not much double hauling going on. It seems a lot of folks on this forum are looking for some distance. Might want to consider finding someone with a good DH to work with you before looking for that magic line, rod or going to the double-handed dark side. Most of the folks I saw did not have an effective double haul. Noticeably missing is the haul on the backcast, and slide-hauling was non-existent. Some really good fisherman fighting an uphill battle to get some distance.


Dogtooth

[TakeMyFlyPlease]

Hey Dt, for the bead tail style fly, you use epoxy/head cement to hold it in place?

Couldn't agree more about making Nile Creek Fly Shop the first stop...a wealth of information, good people and awesome toys!

I've explored the so called dark side of double-handed casting, and although I find it a beautiful way to cast, I seem to prefer single handed. Yes, a good single handed surf rod with some serious double hauling can generate looooong distance casts.

But all you guys out there who have gals that fly fish with you...consider having them try a good switch rod. My gal wasn't enjoying beach fishing all that much because she wasn't getting her fly out to the fish often enough. Although she does exceptionally well in her float tube chironomid fishing a dry line. I tried to teach her to double haul but her wrist got too sore and she was getting frustrated. Then she tried my switch...bingo, she could cast far with ease. So we visited C at Nile Creek and he set her up with a couple double handers to try. She preferred the softer of the 2 rods and after a weekend of fishing the rod she just loves to fish it.

I only mention this story here because I've fished a few times since where there have been couples out fishing together. In each case the fella was hauling and putting out decent distance casts while the gal was "working the water a fair bit closer to shore". I was tempted to step in to tell them the story of my gal's experience with double handed casting but did not want to take the chance of my comments not being received well.

Sorry to handcuff your thread, but have been meaning to post something about this and your comment about the "dark side of double handed casting" got me thinking about it.

Also, if you are going to try a switch rod then go to a shop that believes in them. In my experience some shops' staff aren't big fans of these tweener rods that aren't quite "real spey rods". I watched C giving my gal instruction on how to double handed cast, she is definitely a better beach caster because of his help.

TMFP

[dogtooth]

bead is held in place by building up thread on the bend side. used the bucktail wing to ensure it would ride point up, but may not be nesc. If I had time to experiment, I would have tried wingless.

Hey Dt, for the bead tail style fly, you use epoxy/head cement to hold it in place?

TMFP