Nothing like fly casting a pound of bait... I was thinking more like...
https://youtu.be/yg1OrxOp2xw
Fishing the Keys
- Thread starter D Chapman
- Start date
Nothing like fly casting a pound of bait... I was thinking more like...
https://youtu.be/yg1OrxOp2xw
This.
Fishing the Intercoastal flats near Galveston is what made me pick up a fly rod.
Seriously, if you don't think fly fishing the Keys is worth it, you're insane. I know people who plan week long vacations every year just to fly fish the Keys.
I know people who plan week long vacations to the Keys so they can go to bars and drink. That does not mean I'm going top plan a week long vacation to the Keys to drink at bars.
I don't fly fish.
I don't fly fish.
Dan strikes me as a weekend warrior kind of fisherman. Would you expect Dan to take the time to learn how to double haul so he could cast 80ft with a big fly? I spent a day fly fishing in Key West and if you can't cast really well, you just don't catch fish.
I think Dan would be more comfortable drinking beers while trolling.
When I was about 12 years old I learned to fly fish. Somewhere in my dads storage area I've got a big tote of fly tying gear as well. I used to sell flies that I had tied at a little shop in my town until I was about 16 years old. I would ride my bike the 10 miles to Mossy Creek to fish before anyone ever really heard of Mossy Creek. I'm no stranger to fly fishing, just as I'm no stranger to baseball. I played baseball for 13 straight years but I don't play anymore. I just don't fly fish anymore, either.
You are the only person I've ever witnessed who would rather use conventional fishing tackle instead of a fly rod. The normal progression is that someone who has been fishing a while somehow picks up a fly rod and is hooked. As a kid, we would fish on small lakes in WI using spinning rods and bait casting rods. We would also fish on Lake Michigan using downriggers. It was fun, but once I picked up a fly rod, everything else was second place.
There's nothing like casting a dry fly in a tight spot on a river and seeing a trout come up to eat it. There's also nothing like being down in the Keys and using all the technique you've learned to make a 80 foot cast 2 feet in front of a rolling tarpon and watching the fish jump five feet in the air once it knows it's hooked. Sitting on the back of a boat and watching a rod start bouncing around and someone yelling fish on just isn't the same.
There's nothing like casting a dry fly in a tight spot on a river and seeing a trout come up to eat it. There's also nothing like being down in the Keys and using all the technique you've learned to make a 80 foot cast 2 feet in front of a rolling tarpon and watching the fish jump five feet in the air once it knows it's hooked. Sitting on the back of a boat and watching a rod start bouncing around and someone yelling fish on just isn't the same.
I don't know much about the area that far south. But if they fish for Snook in that area go looking for some of those.
The only time I prefer gear chucker setups is when I'm fishing riggers with my dad for salmon/browns/lakers. It's a pretty good time, we catch a lot of fish. However, I'd take one salmon on a fly rod over 10 on a spin rod.
If you want to go hang out, wait for fish to hit, great; you'll catch fish. If you want to chase the ultimate rush...well you already know.
Whatever...because who would want to be doing this when they can just sit in a boat...
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It's a really well done video. It's cool to see guys doing spey casts on a single handed rod, but damn it's so much easier to use a two handed rod to cast & swing for steelhead.
Western WA is completely loaded with trees right near the water edge, so sometimes I have to spey cast even when using dry flies. The good thing about it is that hardly anybody spey casts using dry flies, so you get a chance to present a fly to a fish in a way that they never have seen before.
For sure, single handed spey is fun and works well. Not always the most delicate presentation, but you can make it work. I just got into skagit last year and love it. Actually had a blast swinging clousers for schoolie stripers last weekend in Ipswich. 2 hands is just a lot more fun, and far less work.
Yeah, Skagit is awesome. It takes a while to get the knack of a sustained anchor cast. The entire concept is different than standard fly casting. In a normal cast, you back cast by accelerating to a stop and then come forward and accelerate to a stop (with or without a haul). With Skagit, the idea is to maintain a load in the rod the entire cast and then let the rod unload at the end.
Ed Ward is one of the pioneers of Skagit casting:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rUmxPCxAHt0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I went to a spey clave years ago an Ed Ward was there demonstrating the Skagit cast. All day, the demonstrators were using 15' rods with super long lines and would be casting 150' and expending huge effort to make the cast. Then Ed walks up with a cigarette in his mouth and uses a tiny 12'6" rod with a super short skagit line and sink tip to make 150' casts. His technique is super efficient and makes casting look simple.
Ed Ward is one of the pioneers of Skagit casting:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rUmxPCxAHt0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I went to a spey clave years ago an Ed Ward was there demonstrating the Skagit cast. All day, the demonstrators were using 15' rods with super long lines and would be casting 150' and expending huge effort to make the cast. Then Ed walks up with a cigarette in his mouth and uses a tiny 12'6" rod with a super short skagit line and sink tip to make 150' casts. His technique is super efficient and makes casting look simple.