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...anything that moves on a small hook should do
...I use orange myself, btw

Submitted by Paul Kispert on

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this fly is easier to tie with an eagle claw bendback hook. I fish for striped bass on the new england coast and have had good success with it. For some reason, pink bucktail is particularly effective. Get Bob Popovic's book - Pop Flyes. It is terrific and will save you a good deal of money in tying your own. Much more satisfying when you catch fish with your own flies? Glad to hear they work on salmon.

Folks:

I am so sorry that many of you experienced no-show guides. I understand that the guide used in this article is no longer at Nervous Waters, so, I hesitate this article to be a specific recommendation for Nervous Waters as it is so much a destination article for bonefishing Oahu.

When I wrote the article in 2003, Nervous Waters was the only fly shop with a formal guide service. I understand there are additional and capable guides available now. A quick Google search will identify them.

Regardless of the guide service you use, this article is very applicable to Oahu bonefishing.

Thanks to all who have commented,
Steve Schweitzer

Martin:

I am preparing for my umpteenth bone fish trip soon and I still find this article to be sage advice. I always like to read and re-read it again to drill into my brain the importance of what you outline. I must say that being able to cast with windy conditions is one of the most important bonefish skills to have, only being superseded by being able to find & spot working bonefish in windy conditions.

Steve Schweitzer
Partner & CoFounder
globalflyfisher.com

Submitted by Brian Petroski on

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I picked up an 8wt. 3 pc. last year. I mostly fish for small mouth bass on a large river in PA.
This rod has oversized recoil snake guides. Like you my wiggle test was not very conclusive.
Fished it quite a bit last year and wow. It has a nice med/fast progressive action that is wonderful for some of the big clousers and buggers. This is one of my go to rod any more.

Submitted by Neil Nice 1737246381 on

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Thanks for the comment, I was a bit limited with the Canon G5, because it is a compact, albeit with SLR
features apart from the lens, but I now have a 40D with additional lenses so I will be experimenting. The 100mm macro lens makes a good portrait lens as well as the normal macro which I have used to take some insect pictures.

Submitted by Jan Johansen on

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love anything like this,envy people that can draw and paint well done, When i start to paint with water colours i feel as if i should stick to painting back doors and sheds take care Jan Johansen

David,

I generally concur with Jerry in his post. Personally I have only few fresh water patterns in my box, and the ones I won't be without are:

- CDC&Elk - a caddis dry. An Elk Hair Caddis will also do
- Klinkhamer - an emerger type fly. Quite large, but very efficient.
- Hare's Ears Nymp - a universal nymph. I carry both with and without weight, and some really small ones too
- Copper John - a heavy nymph. I tie them a bit simpler than John Barr's original
- Some terrestrials - large hoppers, ants, beetles, many of them foam flies
- A few wet flies like Red Tag, March Brown and the like for the odd downstream swing
- Assorted local patterns depending on hatches, recommendations from guides, shops, fellow anglers etc.

Martin

Submitted by Bob Mansel on

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To bad you feel that way about wet flies. I am 73 yrs old have been fishing Nymphs for over 50 yrs I also
teach Nymph fishing here in Michigan. I started using the old stile wet flies last summer, like the wickams
fancy and the winged hares ear and a few more old patterns, I am a guide here on the Muskegon river and
my friends thought I was nuts to use them old flies. I never caught so many nice fish, some 20 inch browns
and rainbows. I can tell you one thing it's not the flies that are so effective it's the way you fish them, that
makes the the big difference.

Submitted by Capt. Ken Roy on

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Thank you for these great suggestions. I plan to build my first home made shooting head tomorrow.
Do you have any suggestions for fly casting from a kayak?

If you ever plan a holiday in Florida, contact me. I'll take you fishing.

David:
Two that I would have in my box, actually have in my box would be the CDC and Elk and the Usual. I also carry a pattern loosely based on one called Quigley's Cripple/Emerger. Another pattern that's worked for brookies up in Vermont is one called the Nalle Puh. If you don't tie, you might have trouble finding these, though the Quigley pattern might be available on line or in catalogs, and it's possible the Usual may also be available. My nymphs are pretty limited. Pheasant Tail Nymphs tied with a bead head and soft hackle in Natural, Olive and Brown. Some hares' ear nymphs tied the same way and the old Pennsylvania standby the Green Weenie.
The drys are range from size 12 to size 20. The nymphs range from size 12 to 26.

Dear Martin, in fact fishes are most important ,even i you put them to the water.Most important is biting and draging. We still hunters. Best wishes

Submitted by Paul Towers on

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Hello Janess
This article is one of the best winter fly fishing stories I have ever read, I really enjoyed it.
I fish for coarse fish only on the fly. Roach, chub, perch, pike etc.
Any more information on fly fishing for coarse fish would be fantastic.
Once again well done and thankyou.

David,

I don't have much experience with kits, but I bought a handful of spools Maxima in different thicknesses in Walmart for almost nothing, and that stock has served me well as a foundation for leaders for several years now.

You can in general opt for most monofilament for the butt part of your leaders. You might want to be a bit more picky with the tippet, where breaking strain and knot strength has a great influence on performance. Some 4-5 spools plus tippet will roughly cover you for most leaders if you are not completely hysterical about the formulas. You might also take your starting point in Steve Schweitzer's [url=http://globalflyfisher.com/fishbetter/leadercalc/]LeaderCalc[/url] and make your shopping list from a well defined formula.

My Maxima i rather stiff - other brands are more supple. This does have influence on the finished leader, although not as much as you would think in my opinion.

Martin

Ken Bonde, thanks for your answer. I will test it during my trip to Denmark in March together with Partridge CS11.
I used to tied all similar flies on Kamasan hooks but they seems to me too heavy.

Pike....

The hook I used for Magnus and Grey Fred is Tiemco`s TMC 777SP - a very nice shaped hook, and very SHARP:-) But any other "medium-length" streamerhook might do the work..

Ken Bonde

Submitted by Richard on

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They will work on any warm/cold water predotary specimen that chase on bait fish :)
I love these streamers very light and easy to cast into the wind !!

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