Surf and Grass Reds

[Tailn'Jax 0]

Got my work done early today and decided to head out to the beach to throw at some surf reds. It was finally a good day for it, after being either overcast or smoky for the last few weeks. It took me a little while to find the fish, but I came across a few. The water was a bit dirty today like last time, but it was clean enough to see what I needed to. I tied up a new fly for the surf with a lot of .35 lead wire and a big set of metal eyes. My last few trips out there have been met with absolute frustration as I watched countless reds ignore my fly, or have it swept out from in front of them because of the current. I have found that lately these fish want the fly right on the bottom, and right in their face. They aren't willing to chase it down if the current or wave action moves it away from them.

It needs some work, but the sink rate is good, and it sticks to the bottom like glue. I caught a nice red on it today, didn't have a tape, but I did the old hand measurement and I think he was somewhere around 27". It was a great bite, and the fight was pretty good too. These surf reds are a lot stronger than their inshore relatives.

When it started getting close to high, I headed in and made my way to the flood grass. I saw several fish tailing, heard more busting, and found a nice group of three mid slot fish working a shallow pocket toward the end of the tide. I fed one a spoon and called it a night.

I'm glad the reliable flood grass fishing is finally here, its been a long dark few months without it. This is by far, in my opinion, the most exciting fishing NE Florida has to offer.

[NJ All Day 0]

Those are some awesome fish! Thats a nice fly also, can we get a material list or something?

[DavidR 0]

Nice going once again - didnt even see a fish that I could cast to last night - glad to hear someone else is "enjoying" the smoke, been getting up this way on a regular basis.

[Tailn'Jax 0]

NJ, I will put something together on that fly this evening. David, you must be getting the smoke when its nice down here, glad we can share it. I sure will be glad when its gone.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Man, that is just to nice. I don't know what its like to wade and site cast to redfish. Beautiful backgrounds and fish. I'm sure you've said somewhere along the line already, but where are you fishing - not coordinates, just the closest town.

Nice fly, is that a long shank hook? Looks like a Mustad Signature 34011 Z-Steel hook.

 

Kirk

[NJ All Day 0]

NJ, I will put something together on that fly this evening. David, you must be getting the smoke when its nice down here, glad we can share it. I sure will be glad when its gone.

Thanks!

[Tailn'Jax 0]

Kirk, I'm in Jacksonville, FL. I normally fish from St. John's County (St. Augustine) south to Nassau county North (Amelia Island/Fernandina). I just happened to be north of town yesterday. Inshore we've got super soft bottom, probably much like you do over in LA, but on flood tides when the water gets in the grass its wadable in some spots. As for the fly, heres the materials/tying instructions:

materials:

- mustad S74S SS 1/0

- .35 lead wire

- large/xl metal eyes

- EP streamer brush (5" fibers)white

- EP silky fibers red

- EP sparkle brush chartruse

- Palmer chenille pearl

- broad neck or saddle hackles white

- white thread

 

1) wrap the lead on the shank first, and make sure its tight, from about 3 eye lengths behind the hook eye to just before the bend.

2) cover the lead with thread, cross wrapping at first helps to keep the lead together and allows for a base to cover the lead with thread completly

3) attach the streamer brush behind the lead and wrap back to the bend of the hook

4) palmer the brush a few times up the the back of the lead and tie off. use a hair brush to evenly distribute the fibers around the hook, trim it down if neccesary to create the proper taper.

5) attach a couple of hackles first, then the palmer chenille on top, right behind the lead

6) move the thread forward and attach the eyes clouser style (want the hook to ride up) just in front of the lead

7) move your thread back just behind the eyes

8) coat the lead area with sally hansen's , then palmer your chenille forward (I just turn the rotary head on my vise for this, and hold the chenille under a bit of tension, it lays out very nice and you don't have to work it with your fingers at all) and secure the chenille right behind the eyes.

9) palmer your hackles forward together, while wiggling them a bit to get in between the wraps of chenille (this helps you keep some of the chenille standing between the feather wraps) and secure behind the eyes.

10) take a small bunch of red silky fibers and fold them, cut them, fold them again and cut them until you have about a 1.5" bunch, fold them over the thread, pull up behind the eyes and secure (these make the gills, and you do not need a big bunch to start)

11) move in front of the eyes, tie in your sparkle brush (a streamer brush would work for this too if you wanted a bulkier head) and wrap forward to the eye of the hook

12) I figure 8 the eyes once with the brush, and make a couple wraps up towards the eye and secure, making sure to fold back any errant strands before finishing the fly.

13) make sure the head cement is applies well on the finsihing wraps. a couple coats won't hurt in the durability department.

 

Hope this helps, one note I have is that I used the webby portions of the hackles for this fly, it looks funky out of the water, but looks like the pic in the water. I'm going to use the other part of the feather going forward, as I think it will help the sink rate more and give the fly less wind resistance. This was just something I put together in a few minutes after a frustrating trip with flies that wouldn't get down enough, the lead and the eyes are really the main event, the materials were an afterthought. Now I know it works, so I plan of refining it a bit. Thanks for the praise guys, hope you catch something on it. And watch the back of your head, it casts like a brick!

[NJ All Day 0]

You Da MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

That was nice of you to put up a SBS.

Looks like that is Mustad's Signature version of their old 34011, which is the hook I use for my Rattle Rouser.

 

Thanks,

Kirk