How big are your biggest flies? (and what are you throwing them to)

[AndrewP 0]

In spending some time at some other fly-tying sites, I am somewhat taken aback over the size of some flies being tied -- large flies for obviously large fish. This seems (to me at least) to mainly be a Northern thing --these big bunker, herring, mackerel, squid flies often tied with bucktail. Flies from 6" to 12" are very typical, and I do love the innovative methods for producing light flies at these lengths that you can still cast.

 

Seems to be different in the South. I fish in Florida, and can say that I probably don't have any flies over 4" in length. The flies we (I) throw at big tarpon are typically 2" or so!! Although I have been re-thinking this ....... but I digress.

 

Anyway, it got me thinking to ask the group what are the biggest flies that they tie (pics would be great!!!) and at what specie do you throw it? I'm discounting offshore flies for the moment since these Northern giant flies seems to be mostly cast from the beach/shore or from the jetty rocks.

 

Just curious what your experiences are, and if you have anything to show .....

 

 

 

AP

 

 

 

[josephcsylvia 0]

I too am in Florida an I find I tie my everglades specials up to 5" to imitate some of the pinfish and mullet I have a few shark flies in the 7" range and a needle fish pattern that's 9" with two hooks. With synthetic fibers like ep. And craft fur casting the larger flies seems easier to do then a heavy clouser imo.

[nick2011 0]

i say mine are about 6-8 inches. i go after pike with them but i have not landed any yet.lol im still new to the pike arena.

[tidewaterfly 0]

I've progressed over the years to tying & using bigger flies for some fishing I do, but generally most are in the 3" to 6" length range. My heaviest rod is a 10 wt, so that limits either the size, or the distance I can cast really big flies.

 

If you look at what the folks use along the northern Atlantic coastal waters some of them use some real big flies. Bob Popovics flies are a great example. However, for the most part it's for specific situations & time of the season. They're matching the hatch so to speak with flies that have a profile & size to match what's available locally. When the fish are chasing big adult Bunker, they tie & use flies that match. When the sand eels are more prevalent, they use much smaller flies to match them, so it's not simply that they're using big flies, but are using them with purpose.

 

I've used some of the same flies in MD & the Chesapeake Bay, but it's still a different type of fishing than along the coast and particularly further north. The same size forage is there, but may not be where a fly angler fishing from shore could regularly take advantage of them or the size. I fished primarily in the rivers & creeks, so more often was using flies that were much smaller than what might work out in the bay. That would be the 3 to 6" range. But, there were times I went to much larger and had success. The trick is having what you need, when you need it.

 

Some of the flies I see now being posted in various forums are what I would consider "generic" in that they don't necessarily imitate anything specific, they'll work for a lot of different fish, and in many places. I have some big flies that are probably better suited for Muskies or big Northern Pike than they are for Striped bass, but the Stripers would still eat them.

 

Here's a big double rabbit strip I tied for the bay. It's about 10" long. When it gets wet, its very heavy, so it's not a fly that would be cast very far. When I found eels in the fish, this is a style that worked well.

 

These are more typical of what I used in the rivers & creeks. They might imitate various prey.

 

 

These are the bigger "generic" flies I've used. I didn't tie these but have tied similar. They're mostly in the 6" to 8" length range and some are tied on tubes. Some may be a bit longer than 8", but none are over 10". Most I've tied similarly are long, but with less bulk. IMO there's a time & place for bulk & sparser flies. I try to have both in my fly boxes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dave G. 0]

Maybe 4-5" or so. Surprisingly, I fish in the NE and these larger flies I tend to use in fresh water not salt. My go to in salt water locally are sand eel patterns maybe 2-1/2 to 3" long. In the creeks those are fine alone, out in larger water they are fine as teasers trailed off a big plug that will get you some distance. I've had many fish take those teasers vs the big plugs.

 

Clousers can be pretty good in the creeks too.

[mikechell 0]

A couple of years ago, there was a Tarpon tournament for rookie tarpon anglers. I was trying to catch the largest one, so I tie my Panfish Attractor in a very large size.

I don't use it much, as it requires a very large fly rod and line. Very tiring to make more than a few cast.

 

[utyer 0]

When I first moved down to Central FL, I started tying more salt and warm water flies. My primary targets would be Redfish, Trout, Snook and Tarpon, with Bass, Pickerel, and Gar as secondary targets. I started tying some flies that were in the 6 to 8 inch range, and after getting some feed back from other anglers, I found they were successful with smaller patterns. Now most of my patterns are between 3 and 4 inches. I still have the big ones, but since I am having pretty good success with the smaller patterns, that I what I will continue to tie.

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Most of the flies I hand my anglers in the 'Glades are less that 2/0 in hook size and usually (but not always) four inches and less.... When it comes to bigger fish, though, particularly tarpon, sharks, grouper, cobia, big snook (except in winter when big snook will eat little flies...) we do tend to go a bit bigger..

 

Most tarpon flies these days for clear waters (like the Keys) are pretty small (compared to the size that was common 30 years ago) but in the dark waters of the Everglades in bays or small rivers we're using flies that are six inches and bigger with great results. Here's my go to pattern for the interior when we're hunting big tarpon... it's called the Tarpon Snake and I've been drawing royalties on it for some years now.... (1st pic). I do it in two sizes, the original is in 4/0 on either an Owner Aki or a Tiemco 600sp and it's just a big, black fly (back when it was a "secret weapon" almost thirty years ago, Lefty Kreh mentioned it in an article as that "big, black bastard"...) or in a smaller version, size 2/0 for fish less than sixty pounds... These days we also use a few variants in fl. green and white, red and white, fl. pink, fl. green, etc. (remaining pics), We always toss this bug with intermediate lines and heavy leaders (hard Mason 20lb with an 80lb fluoro bite tippet -a bit smaller for the 2/0 version but still 20lb hard Mason to 60lb or occasionally only 40lb bite tippet) using a 12 or 11wt for the standard 6 t0 7" fly, and a 10wt for the smaller version 5 1/2" to 6" size...

 

I got a big kick recently when a friend came who had attended the recent IGFA fly show reported that two different tyers told him that the Tarpon Snake was their original pattern.... My friend is a top local shop owner, a former prominent guide in the 'Glades, and a very skilled angler himself.... He was good and didn't let on that he knew they weren't exactly being truthful.....

 

[Philly 0]

Most the flies I use in salt water are 2 to 4 inches long. The fall run is the prime time along the S Jersey coast and inlets when the peanut bunker, silversides, bay anchovies(I think ya'll down in FL call them white bait or rain fish)and finger mullet start moving out of the back bays or south. We don't see a lot of sand eels in S. Jersey.

 

Silverside

 

This is one of the bunker patterns I use

 

This is my favorite finger mullet pattern

 

I've done well with this pike pattern in salt water, all white works well

 

The biggest fly I've tied was meant to imitate an adult bunker for spring fishing when the slammer blues show up in the back bays and they're mean and hungry chopping up the adult bunker that are in there spawning. So I tied this monstrosity up. I could chuck and duck it about 30 feet with my 8 wgt.

It's a shade under 11 inches.

 

It was a tube fly

 

It's now two smaller bunker patterns. To much wear and tear on my shoulder to cast the full size one.

[Ol'DirtyCaster 0]

 

I spent my college years, and a good portion of my time in the service in Maine/Rhode Island, and I always thought it was strange that the local bass guys would use these massive bunker flies even when there were no bunker. They tie sand eels 4x bigger than any sand eel in existence. All the while chasing one of the most opportunistic species in the ocean. People tie what they want to tie, and fish what they want to fish. It all works, fish aren't as clever as most would like to believe.

[FlaFly 0]

Mike... don't think nobody noticed your cool fly! You could also use it as an anchor. That's a cool pic.

[mikechell 0]

LOL Thanks. I am not so sure it would be a good anchor fly. Maybe a good anchor, for a kayak.

[Adam Saarinen 0]

I thought it was a rooster!

[JAMAL 0]

Big fly? or biggest fly? using drill and wire making fly.

refer to

 

[Permitcapt 0]

As Uncle Bob already stated, tarpon, grouper, snook, and other species love giant flies in the stained water of the Everglades. I also like to throw these big devils at cobia , trout, reds, striped bass, as well as troll them at the drop-off on the Bahamas Bank, for wahoo, tuna, cudas, and whatever. Here are a few I play with, if I can figure out how to attach them.

 

Well, I can't figure out how to attach a few photos. This site puzzles me. It has more options than buying derivatives, but something as simple as attaching photo is a complex chore. Why?