Leaders.....?

Land Locked

Senior Member
Chris, that has got to be one of the most understandable fly fishing answers I have read.
I have just one question, what exactly is a dropper and how would one attach it?
 

Hooked

Senior Member
A dropper is when you fish more than one fly.I used to fish a tadpole pattern up front with a dragon nymph behind.Gives the illusion of the nymph trying to catch its breakfast and can really bring on the bites.I forget witch knot to use but u basically just leave the tag end of the knot on and keep it long.
 

SuperFly

New member
I fish for yellows on the vaal and what I do is attach a 1X or 2X tapered leader (any brand) then to the end of that you attach a 60cm tippet of 3X tie on one heavily weighted control fly (some sort of a caddis immitation) and then from the shank of that fly a further leader of 3x (30 cm) to a smaller fly like a GRHE nymph or an atomic worm, blood worm, etc. With this set up you do not cast far, litteraly 1 or 2 meters max, what you are looking to do is just drift it past you in the rapids (which you will be waiding in)

It is a very detailed exercise and for true enlightenment you can search the threads on http://www.flytalk.co.za/forum/index.php for all the information you could ever ask for.

Ps. It is so much easier to go fishing with someone who knows a little about it. Are you going to fish the vaal anytime soon?

As a tip all this i
 

SuperFly

New member
Ps you need the flies to bounce along the bottom so sometimes I add split shot to get them down and keep them down.

Also a strike indicator makes this so much more effective.
 

duane

Senior Member
Thanx Chris. I think I speek for everyone when I say that it is realy appreciated when an, obviously experienced,  fly fisherman like yourself is prepared to make the time to pass on his knowledge to raw begginners like myself.

After only trying my hand at fly quite recently, I regret not getting into it sooner. On the other hand they do say that it is never to late to start and that a person is never to old to learn!!!!!!  

As I indicated earlier, I am mainly focussing on the saltwater aspect of the fly fishing art but would never the less like to try my hand for freshwater bass from time to time.

I am only consentrating on estuarine fish for now but would obviously like to migrate to full blown sea fly angling once I have developed the necesary skills.

The fish that I am mainly targeting at present are :-

1) Garrick (Leerie)

2) Skipjack (Springer)

3) Cob

4) Spotted Grunter  

Recommended points for discussion would be :-

1) Leaders and how to construct them. (Diagrams or hand drawn sketches)

2) Recommended Fly's to use. (Pictures for those of us who tie our own)

3) How to fish the fly and recomended retrieves.

4) General casting skills.

Once again thanx to Chris and Others who are hopefully going to be prepared to part with some of their knowledge in the future.

GONE FISHING..........................

                                                     
 

duane

Senior Member
Superfly - Thanx to you as well !!!

What is a strike indicator and how do you use it. (I told you I know very little and am a raw beginner - LOL)
 

SuperFly

New member
a strike indicator is either a small piece of wool traeted with floatant or a little ball like a small float that drifts on the top of the current while your flies drift across the bottom. Any hesitation / movement on the indicator and you strike.

As for salt water leaders a lot of guys just use a straight length of mono of the strength you feel will be heavy enough for the fish targeted but thin enough not to put the fish off.

People use ordinary Maxima line, it's not "professional" but it does the job
 
Spot on Superfly! Maxima with it's high abrasion resistant qualities and good knot strength is definitely the line of choice for saltwater leaders.

Strike indicators are generally not used in the salt.

As for the fish you intend targetting, we could basically split the fish into two categories, i.e. bottom feeders and top feeders, with Grunter and Cob falling into the bottom feeding category with Leeries and Skippies more on the top or just sub surface.

Grunter are probably the most frustrating species that one could hope to target, and a lot of thought needs to be put into presentation of the fly. MC Coetzer has had a lot of success with his Jam fly, which is a shrimp like immitation, but the secret of the fly's success is in the way it 'sits' on the bottom. One needs to play around with bouyancy in the construction of the fly, the end result of which is a fly with neutral density, one that is dense enough to go down, but will still sit and scoot upright on the bottom, no matter what. As MC has proven, it pays to experiment a lot in this regard. Tank test your flies first until you hit the right formula. These flies will be fished on a dead slow crawl with the odd strip to jetisan the fly backwards, much like a prawn would do if it should flick it's tail

For Cob, large streamer patterns are the way to go. What you need to immitate is a fleeing baitfish, so eratic strip retrieving is the way to go.

For Skippies and Leeries, poppers (preferably white) on the surface attract lots of interest. Try to make as much commotion on the surface with different speed strip retrieves. The commotion caused on the surface by your popper is great for blind fishing, because it is sure to attract fish from nearby. Once they lock onto the sound, what they then see is a fleeing wounded baitfish on the surface, and they simply cannot resist that! I have had on occassion 4 Leeries fighting over each other in pursuit of my popper. This has to be the most exciting way to take a Leerie.

If you are sight fishing to swirls and scattering baitfish, you could also try going sub surface and a very good fly of choice will be something like a Clouser which gets down quickly. A fast strip retrieve should be commenced immediately after the fly hits the surface to ensure that you dont land up dredging in weed from the bottom. Chartreuse works particularly well.


Casting is something that most salt water fly fisherman become extremely efficient at. The guy who has the ability to cover a lot of water is the guy who is going to be getting into more fish by the end of the day. Invariably one has wind to contend with at the coast, so one needs to become proficiant at the double haul to increase line speed during false casting coupled with the ability to cast a tight loop that will cut through the wind to give you the desired distance. For the beginner, I would suggest that you experiment by aerializing a short line firstly. Concentrate on the 11 o'clock back and 1 o'clock forward casting stroke. Let the rod do the work, and try not to force the cast too much. Feel the weight of the line tugging at either end as it reaches the end of its travel. Once you are comfortable with that, with your stripping hand, give a short 6 inch tug on your line as you commence each of the forward and back strokes. Once you have mastered this, try shooting line out back and forward a split second later.

In this case, it is a matter of easier done than said :) It is really not easy to explain, and if you don't come right, rather approach a pro and ask him to demonstrate the principal to you. The rest will be upto you. Practice, practice and more practice makes perfect!

I hope this long winded post helps
 

Land Locked

Senior Member
Gentlemen, these are wonderful informative posts. Thank You and please keep the information comming.

Bass on fly?
Kurper on fly?
 

duane

Senior Member
I agree Landlocked.

Extremely informative Chris, thanx and keep the advise coming if you happened to think of other things that might be of assistance to us dummies.

GONE FISHING...............................
 
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