Fly Fishing

joey · Location: Colorado

I was giving this some though today and wondered if anyone has tried it? It seems to me that nymphing for salt water species would work if approached properly. I have seen folks casting into inlets and drifting baits during the incoming/outgoing tides and catching fish. The water moving in and out of these inlets act much like rivers and fish take advantage of this movement as feeding oportnities. I would like to set up a nymph rig with a crab or shrimp pattern and fish a tide much like a river and see what happens. I will be in florida in March and am definately going to try it. What do ya think?

Marcel_Karssies · Location: Enschede - The Netherlands

Never tried static fishing but I have spent some time fishing the
passes down in Florida and have seen baitfish and
crabs floating in and out with the tide.

Down in Naples I often walked on the inner sandbar
in Gordon pass.
Loads of Snook and Jacks visit such places so I guess
a drifted shrimp or crab might get intercepted.

Not sure what kind of line you would use then.
In Naples the Snook where often roaming the very skinny
water.
I would almost go for a clear floater in that situation.
I have fished crease flies on a Teeny T-300 in one of the
deep passes and did pretty well with that setup.

MarshallD · Location: Naples, Fl

Yesterday, I felt I was salt nymphing. I was fishing Pine Island Sound with John Stark, in his shallow water Hells Bay. I was sight-fishing a Crab fly which was just the right color for the clearer water where it matched the bottom. Man, I've never seen so many big Snook in one area. Big. 35"-plus and picky, spooky, downright hard to fool. Spook at the fly in the air!

Here's the nymphing part with is so cool! We're set up off a piont where the current is running accross so it's like a river, but muddy. We're both saying, "There's got to be a Snook on this point!" I chuck the crab upcurrent and everything sinks but the tip of the flyline....just like nymphing. The Crab was dead-drifting propelled by the current near the bottom and I wasn't retreiving at all. The big difference was when the Snook ate the crab, he exploded on it....so cool.

John and I felt that we brought the right tactic to the fish. Very similar to nymphing.

jeremy · Location: Portland, Maine

Joey,

There is a guy here in Maine (Henrick) who used to work the late shift at LLBeans. He was an incredible fly tier and fly fisherman and funny dude .. I have not seen him there in a year or so now. Anyway, he used to tie do all sorts of crazy things such as tie prince nymph flies out of his hair and clipped toe nails (i kid you not) and he would catch fish on those flies. Anyway, I was up there one night and talking/laughing with him .. he was on a new kick .. and that was Indicator Nymphing to stripers .. It was hillarious! He had a monster chartreuse stonefly tied up and had a bet with his brother or someone that it would work ... then, the last time I saw him I asked him how his nymphing for stripers experience was .. he said he did very well ... so anyway, many inshore saltwater spots are no different than river systems and depending on tides and stages of tide and type of fish i could definately see where it would be an effective tool .. and, if nothing else just something fun to change it up .. i can think of an almost unlimited number of spots where it could be implemented .. I'd imagine the setup would be very close to our long leader/indicator steelhead setups and a dead drifted clouser type fly ... i know many rivers here in maine where the stripers hold in the same exact pockets as atlantic salmon and sea run brown trout .. that is why there are often stories of atlantic salmon and sea run browns being hooked by striper fisherman .. and the stripers literally act like trout (gian trout of course) in the sense that they just hang there in the current and wait for baitfish to come to them ... this definately takes place most during the herring and pogie runs in the spring .... good post .. try it out when you go to florida .. i think it would defiantely work on the night/dock snook game that you like ... especially the dock infront of your dad's place .. cast way "upstream" and get a little shrimp pattern or glass minnow down below the "obvious light" .. dead drift it .. i think the snook would crush it?

ShinnecockFly · Posted: Sat 12/13/08 10:48 am Post subject:

Here on long island, new york on the flats i dead-drift or "nymph" a small wool crab fly lightly weighted and just keep the fly line tight as the fly drifts down the edge of the flat. The Stripers love crab immitations here seeing how the bay is full of lady crabs, blueclaws, and green crabs. In the peconic you can use to same drifting style for weakfish with a shrimp or silverside immitation. You just sit at the mouth of a small cove or almost like saltwater creek on the outgoing tide and the weakis just are postied up.
Hey jeremy, I love the site, the videos are awsome and your music is great. I was just wondering in your striper flats video, the fly you were using looked like a small black clouser with ez body and ostrich herl. I was wondering if you could post a pic of the fly seeing how you guys were slaying those cows. thanks abd tight lines.

jeremy · Location: Portland, Maine

thanks bro. hmm .... if you were talking about the striper video where there was like 7 of us (striper mike, whip, krane fly, louie etc...) .. we were all tying different versions ... but basically in the spring we use very sparce black clousers with some green flash (just a couple strands) .. and man, the stripers just seem to crush them on the flats ..... for that spring flats fishing i don't know what it is about the small/sparse black clouser .. it just seems to work on certain environments .. don't be afraid to mess around with it too .. as all sorts of little variations seem to work .. but my "bread and butter" is small/sparse black with a touch of green .. ps. don't be afraid to throw it into the stripers when they are "tough" to catch when they are on the Krill or the "critter bloom" as on of my friends calls it ... they crush a small black/sparse clouser with a smigen of green ... every cast (i kid you not) .. when other flies were much less productive during the "critter bloom" .. man its something to see though when the stripers get on that krill .. kinda weird really ... anyway, hope this helps .. thanks again!

ps... i will have to try "nymphing" the the wool crab fly per your suggestion ... it sounds pretty cool .. . and i got some perfect little spots in mind ..

Piscineidiot · Posted: Tue 02/10/09 1:28 am Post subject:

Having now done a little after a trip to New Zealand, I'm thinking about it too...

We sometimes get clouds of what we call 'jelly prawns' (much like krill) bunching up against the shore after a good wet season and pods of indo-pacific tarpon and trevally roll through them gorging themselves.

Might try drifting small pink shrimp patterns under an indicator just to see what happens this year.

camperw · Posted: Sun 02/15/09 11:37 am Post subject:

Although a creative art, fishing requires practical thinking skills. Methods used in freshwater are applicable in saltwater and vice-versa so long as variables are similar. Nymphing in saltwater is a great tactic since these fish prefer eating when the tide isn't slack. My greatest success wtih sensitive laid up tarpon has come by casting up current, drifting the fly so the fish can simply sip in the bug instead of sliding around to eat. Also, snook in South Florida's inlets will devour drifting shrimp or crab imitations presented under lights on outgoing tides. Applying methods from different types of fishing hightens every new experience.

Linesidesonthefly · Location: Old Orchard Beach, Maine

If you ever get a chance to read Rich Murphy's book look at the chapters covering Marshes. Do it. It is by far the best.
Lou Tabory has also penned a couple of books that will greatly shorten the learning curve.
When consider nymphing for Stripers I think night time, cut banks and Eel flies. Like a black Rhody flatwing.
Over time as the dropping tide scours away at the sod banks large pieces fall off into the channel. Stripes cruise this area searching for dinner. Nothing gets them going better than a nice fat Eel.
These broken sod banks are also home to Crabs, Shrimp, and during certain times Squid.
During the days surrounding the full and new moon phases throughout the summer some very unique conditions come into play.
The first is a Worm hatch. Think of a red flat wing about 4" long. For some strange reason the length and color of these hatching worms vary season to season and location to location. If you luck out you'll have a blast. If not you'll be watching fish crashing all around your fly without catching a single fish.
The second is the Crab hatch. This happens during the Lunar High tide when the marsh grasses are covered by water. Don your waders and head lamp and get out there and drift some Crab flies. I have heard that a larger General Practitioner is a great choice as it also a great immitation of a Mantis Shrimp.
My most favorite is the Squid fly. Like Stripers, Squid are apex predators as they are related to all the food stuffs in the Marsh. In June Squid often enter the marshes to feed upon the previousely mentioned critters. Stripers can't refuse a nice Squid floating past its ambush location.