First Coast Fly Fishers

April 2010

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First Coast Fly Fishers 2010 Officers and BoardApril 10 Practical

Casting Day w/ David Lambert

Come join us for our Annual Practical Casting Day, Saturday, April 10 at M & M Dairy.

Again this year our Spring Casting Day will be lead by master casting instructor and casting ace David Lambert.

The day will start with a short refrresher on casting fundamentals, then a question and an-swer period where you can request instruction for specific casts and improvement. Then we’ll go to the casting fields to start work. The day is free to dues paid members

Specific for the day: Casting to redfish in the grass,. casting from canoes and kayaks, dynamic roll casts, and spey roll casting for a single hand-ded rod.

If you’ve ever wanted to learn some of the cool spey casts and functional rolls for your 9-foot rod, come on out.

Lunch and drinks will be provided. Lambert will also provide casting evaluations and sug-gestions for improvement on a personal basis, as time permits.

Nationally recognized casting coach and writer David Lambert will be our meeting speaker, Monday April 5 at the South-point Marriot and will conduct Practical Casting Day Saturday, April 10. Join us

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MUDDER noun - Slang. - A redfish that buries itself in the dark mud that lines the creeks, estuaries and salt marshes of North Florida’s.

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Fly Reels John Berry (adapted from the Mid South Fly Fishers newsletter)

The fly reel is just a fly line storage device until you hook a big fish. Then it quickly becomes the most important piece of gear you own. When you go to a fly shop or look in a catalog there are literally dozens of choices. They vary widely in price, come in a variety of colors and shapes and all make some pretty impressive claims.

Which one do you buy?

There are a lot of different types of reels. We all remember Grand Pa’s automatic reel. It was really pretty cool. It had a strong spring in it that could wind in any excess line pretty quickly. They are just too heavy, have a limited capacity to carry backing and have no effective working drag system.

I have a multiplier reel. If you turn the crank one full revolution the spool turns one and a half times. This feature allows me to get control over slack line very quickly. I bought it over twenty five years ago after attending a Dave Whitlock seminar on fly fishing for bass where he mentioned one. I have never fished with it. It is too heavy and I just do not need to gather up slack that quickly.

I have an anti reverse reel. This reel allows line to come off the reel without turning the crank on the side of the reel. It was designed for fishing in saltwater where strong fish can take long runs. If you were to place an errant finger in the wrong place, you could easily break a digit. I have never fished with this reel either. It is too heavy and was ridiculously expensive.

Then there is the single action reel. You turn the crank one time and the spool makes one revolution. It is simple to use and reliable. This is the one that I use for all of my fishing.

There are two basic drag systems for fly reels, spring and pawl and disc drags. The spring and pawl is basic nineteenth century technology. It is basically a ratchet system that prevents the spool from freewheeling on long runs. They have been around forever and are easy to maintain and do a great job. The disc drag is a technological breakthrough. It is just like the brake system on your car. They can be adjusted to put just the right amount of tension on the fly line. I am a traditionalist, in that, I mostly fish reels with spring and pawl drag systems.

Cheap reels are stamped from sheet metal. They

are flimsy and unreliable. Moderately priced reels are made from cast aluminum. It is an inexpensive material and is reasonably strong and reliable. The high dollar reels are lathe turned from a solid block of aluminum. This not only makes them stronger but ensures that they will run true at high revolutions per minute (rpms).

Most reels come with interchangeable spools. The spool is the part of the reel that holds the fly line. If you have interchangeable spools you can buy multiple fly lines and put each one on a different spool. This allows you to easily change from a floating line to a sink tip or a full sinking line. You should have a five weight line and a six weight line on separate spools. This would allow you to use the same reel on two or more different rods. I have spare spools for most of my reels.

The current trend in fly reels is to manufacture them with larger arbors. The arbor is the hub on the spool. If you have a larger arbor you can crank in more line with a single revolution of the spool. There are mid arbor and large arbors.

The simple fact is that they are significantly heavier than a reel with a conventionally sized arbor. Over the last few years fly rods have become lighter and at the same time fly reels have become heavier and heavier. It is not just the large arbors that have added weight. The switch to disc drag systems from spring and pawl drag systems has also increased the weight of these reels.

I have never understood the allure of the large or mid arbor reels. Their increased weight does not balance as well as that of conventionally sized reels. I have never been in a situation where I had so much slack line out that I wished that I had a larger arbor to crank in the slack quicker. It is a cure for a problem that I do not experience. I would rather fish with a lighter reel.

When choosing a reel pay particular attention to their capacity. What sizes of line will they hold and with how much backing? Backing is the thin Dacron line that is attached between the reel spool and the fly line. It acts as an insurance policy in case a fish takes a long run (longer than the fly line). I want a reel that will hold the line I am buying it for and one hundred yards of backing.

Whatever you choose, have the fly shop install the backing and fly line for you. This will make everything easier. If you are going to use your reel in salt water make sure that it is designed for that purpose. Many of the high priced reels on the market are not designed to survive the abuse of salt water. At the same time, there are several moderately priced reels that function well in salt water.

by Gordy Hill,

A Letter to Gordy Hill:I have been watching Pirates of the Flats on

ESPN. It is a special and features Tom Brokaw, Lefty Kreh, Michael Keaton, the actor, Yves Choinard (sp) founder of Patagonia and Thomas McGuane, the author on bonefishing in the Bahamas. If you have not seen this it deals with the decline in bonefish populations.

First, I was not aware that bonefish populations were declining and in this weekend’s episode there was a statement that the bonefish population in the Keys had experienced an 85% decline since Ted Williams fished for them.

They did not, however, give and ideas or theories for the reason for the decline. If you have any ideas or read any authorities on this I would appreciate you sharing those.

A Letter Answered: Perhaps as good an “authority” as any might be a fly fisher who has lived here and fished regularly for bonefish for 50 years with his eyes wide open. Me.

Those percentages are close to what I would estimate on the conservative side !

Here is what I observed over the years, in a nutshell :

1.) Rays stopped following flats fish in the late 70s when mosquito spraying included the use of insecticides mixed with diesel fuel. Huge black clouds of these combined toxins were dumped on the islands regularly by DC-3

Partly due to over fishing for the roe which was sent to the Orient to be sold at fantastic prices.

3.) Snook populations declined so that by the 90’s, they had almost disappeared from the lower Keys.

4.) Gross over fishing by shrimpers reduced the population of pink shrimp to the point that the large fleet of shrimpers at Key West declined from a peak of over 400 boats to only a fraction of than number ... because the shrimpers couldn’t get enough shrimp to pay for their fuel. The few remaining are those with freezer capability and long range capacity so they can range all the way to Mexico. The “Mom & Pop” privately family owned shrimpers got together. They now go way out and shrimp at night, then in the morning pool their combined catch and one of them goes to port to the fish house while the others anchor at sea to conserve fuel.

5.) The population of forage shrimp on the flats declined precipitously as a result with occasional “shrimp hatches” in the fall and winter. We guard the information as to their likely appearance and the sites carefully, now, for obvious reasons. Shrimp form the principle diet of our bonefish.

7.) In the 70’s and 80’s, we witnessed gill nets being stretched across channels with thousands of dead bonefish in them as we saw them pulled. Sometimes I’d follow a net dragger as it went toward port and saw the men on board throwing bonefish after bonefish into the water so they wouldn’t be seen at the fish docks.

Once, my dad and I saw a bonefish flat glistening like silver in the morning sun. The tide

aircraft including the mangrove islands. This meant that they were spraying it into the water since those mangrove islands flood with every tide. THEY SYSTEMATICALLY KILLED THE PLANKTON INCLUDING SHRIMP LARVAE AND JUVENILES UPON WHICH THE FLATS FISH WERE FEEDING.

2.) At that point, the mullet population plunged.

Ted Williams and Keys Bonefish

Bonefish - The Decline of

was out. I pulled my skiff up and noted hundreds of dead bonefish there. These fish, I thought, got stranded as the tide went out.... UNTIL I picked some of them up. Every fish had net marks !

8.) Although I have no proof, I suspect that the decline in Bahamian bonefish may be due to a diminution in the available food. Their shrimp population is comprised of the same species as those in the Keys.

During the 70s, I personally witnessed a scene in the Joulter Keys north of Andros in the Bahamas. The entire town of Lowe Sound had set a net on the flats there. That net must have been several hundred yards long. They pulled it by hand on the flat. As they closed it, there was a roar like thunder as the dying bonefish succumbed by the thousands. I talked with those natives. THEY WERE USING THOSE FISH FOR FERTILIZER ! I saw the same thing in Mexico. 9.) Tarpon fishing changed dramatically. Right in front of my home, ich is on the Bogie Channel, we used to have thousands of big tarpon during the migration from late April to July ..... sometimes it appeared that one might even be able to walk across to No Name Key on their backs as they rolled about !

With the decline in the mullet which formed one of the principle food sources for the tarpon, there was a change in the migration pattern. Whereas formerly the fish would come and feed with ever increasing numbers collecting, they now come through in few numbers AND THEN LEAVE so we have to get to them when we can. Their population doesn’t swell as it used to. They come and stay for a brief time and then go as others dribble in.

10.) We have had, along with the Bahamas,

an explosion of the invasive cormorant species. These fish devastate populations of small and juvenile fish. (They were originally introduced as a curiosity at the Seattle Exposition near the turn of the century (1900 ) and released.)

NOW SOME GOOD THINGS ARE

HAPPENING !

1.) Economics has helped the shrimp problem as sea caught shrimperies cannot any longer effectively compete with farmed product. Our flats shrimp are starting to increase bit by bit. The high price of fuel has helped, too.

2.) The Florida net ban has resulted in a slight increase in our silver mullet population. No longer to net boats discharge whole schools of hundreds of bonefish accidentally swept into the nets before coming to port.

3.) Though late in the mosquito control

program, the scientists have taken note of the damage done in the past.

No longer are mangrove Islands sprayed.

No diesel fuel is used in the spray.

An aqueous low volume dibroma spray is used which (I’m informed) mainly keeps the mosquitoes from reproducing. In the concentrations used, it is not so toxic to other creatures studied.

Other much less damaging methods of mosquito control are also used. (I could do a paper on that alone.)

Our scientists have been heeded. Now spraying is done with pin-point accuracy on residential Keys areas with strict attention to wind currents, etc.

f. Fish are just beginning to follow the rays again! Why ? Because the wings of the rays are dislodging forage critters again for the fish to eat.

The Bahamas has passed laws preventing the netting of bonefish.

As you may know, I fished with Ted Williams back then. He and I got along fine partly because I never discussed baseball with him.

Also, he and I won the bonefish tournaments at Great Exuma in the Bahamas several years in a row. He copped the prize for the largest fish each time and each time I got the one for the greatest number.

Gordy Hill is a world class bonefisher and a casting board of governor for the Federation of Fly Fishers. He is a retired orthopedic surgeon who lives in the Keys and who has fished hard there for more than five decades.

Fly anglers tend to stereotype flies into rigid categories: trout flies, bass flies, salt water flies, and so on. A little creative thinking, though, reveals that many flies are capable of catching fish in several different environments, with only minor modifications— call them “cross water flies.”

The best cross water flies are those that can pass for several different prey species, like the Clouser Minnow and the Woolly Bugger. I’ve tied Clousers as small as size 12 for a customer who fishes them in Yellowstone for cutthroats, to aslarge as size 6/0 for a Brit who uses them for European sea bass. Depending on how it’s tied, the Woolly Bugger imitates anything from a damselfly nymph to a salt water baitfish. My own take on a salt water Woolly Bugger is the Magnum Glitter Critter.

One cross water fly category that takes some creative thinking is made up of tropical flats flies for crappie and white bass. Typically, a good crappie or white bass fly imitates a small minnow, sinks quickly, and has some component that moves when the fly is stopped.

Now consider the classic Gotcha (next page, bottom): the size, as usually tied, is in the one inch range typical of crappie flies. It has a lot of pearl flash, which gives it a minnow look. It has either bead chain or dumbbell eyes that let it sink quickly, and finally, it has a rabbit fur wing that undulates even when the fly is stopped. Sure enough, a Gotcha tied on a size 4 or size 6 hook makes a great crappie fly. Another salt water favorite that makes a great crappie fly is Billy Trimble’s Bucktail

Shrimp—obviously crappie don’t see it as a shrimp but as a minnow.

Flies for schooling fish are the most obvious cross water flies. Whether the schooling fish are black bass, white bass, stripers, speckled trout, or bluefish; the prey is generally small silvery baitfish on or near the surface. A white foam popper on a size two hook works for any of these species, fresh or salt. Likewise, any fresh water shad imitation doubles as a salt water menhaden, pilchard, or sardine. In fact, up on the Redneck Riviera where I fish, all these salt water baitfish get lumped together as “shad.” My Education Shad (next page, top), a weighted fly made with pearl mylar tubing on a jig hook, works equally well on white bass, schooling black bass, or speckled trout. It’s called the Education Shad because it teaches schoolies a lesson! Another fresh water fly, Ward Bean’s Red Faced Wobbler, designed for smallmouth bass, is one of my favorite beachfront speckled trout flies.

Another crossover category is flies that are designed for shallow water bass fishing that

Cross Water Fliesby Bruce Sublett

The Magnum Critter Getter

also work on marsh redfish. In fact, some brackish water marshes along the Texas coast can produce both bass and redfish in the same area. My favorite double duty flies in this category are the floating deer hair divers, especially when they get waterlogged enough to just barely float in the surface film. The Never-Sink Diver and the Mud Minnow (center, left) are two nearly identical flies, both distant cousins of the old Muddler Minnow through the Dahlberg Diver, that will catch both bass and redfish.

In general, about the only modification necessary to take a fresh water fly into salt water is a change of hook, and many new hook finishes are making that change unnecessary as well. The standard bronze hook for fresh water flies just won’t last in salt water, nor will gold or nickel plated hooks. I do use some gold-plated steelhead hooks for spoonflies, but only with the caution that they have to be thoroughly rinsed and dried after each use in the salt.

Although I’ve tied both salt and fresh water flies for years on the Mustad

34007 stainless steel hook, I’ve started moving away from stainless for a couple of reasons: it persists in the environment too long, and it isn’t the sharpest hook in the box. Instead of stainless, I’m now using mainly cadmium or black nickel plated hooks. Mustad’s Dura-Tin, Eagle Claw’s Sea Guard, and Gamakatsu’s Black Nickel finishes are all pretty durable in salt environments, provided you rinse the flies in fresh water after use. To be truthful, I rarely use a salt water fly more than once if I’m catching fish; by the time it’s caught several toothy salt water fish, the fly is usually too battered to save. One final consideration is color. Many materials that are color-fast in fresh water bleed or bleach out quickly in salt water. Stick a wet red and white Sea-Ducer in a fly box, and you’ll end up with a box of pink flies. Red hackle bleeds worse than any other material, but orange is much more color stable. Likewise, fluorescent colors like chartreuse fade quickly in a saltwater environment. The answer? Tie more flies!

About the author: Bruce Sublett is retired college English teacher who sells salt water and bass flies on line at Gulf andOzark Flies (www.goflies.com). His Genuine Imitation Plastic fly was featured in the Winter 2009 issue of Fly Tyer.

Some Flies Can Not Be Labeled

Let The Games BeginLeft: Dolphins Speed Through The Backcountry; Bottom: Chris Davis’ Grooms Cake; Bottom Center: Ernie Mancill Bass on a Round Dinny; Bottom Right: Woody Huband Drives a Custom Gheenoe

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