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Women Talk Fly Fishing
© 2010 Pudge Kleinkauf
Column #6, April, 2010
Fresh Water Fly Fishing & Saltwater Fly fishing
Probably most of you reading this article will be fishing in fresh water lakes or streams or lakes. Others of you, though, will have mostly a salt-water environment in which to do your fly fishing. What are the differences? Let’s start by thinking of what sport fish are in what type of water. I’m sure that you’re also wondering if you’d fish with different gear and equipment in the two different environments. Let’s see.
Salt Water Fish and Fresh Water Fish
There are not just hundreds of different kinds of fish in salt water, there are thousands! Many, many more that you’ll find in fresh water. That’s mostly because oceans cover so much more of our planet than do the non-salty waters of rivers and lakes. There’s just more room for lots more fish species in salt water. What are some of the popular salt water species that fly fishers target?
Salt Water Fish
Salt water target species depend on what salt water location(s) you may be fishing. Divide salt water into in-shore and off-shore areas and that will help you to get an idea about the fish that fly anglers pursue in one place or the other. Popular in-shore areas all along both coasts of the U.S. are those that include river estuaries where anadromous fish like salmon, char, and West Coast Stripers may stage while waiting to head up-river to spawn or to wait for seasonal feeding opportunities as smaller species return to spawn or feed. (An anadromous fish is one that is born in fresh water, goes out to see to mature, and then returns to its place of birth to spawn.) Many parts of estuaries can be fished from either the shore or a boat.
In the Florida flats, fly fishers go wade- fishing or fishing from a boat after bonefish, baby tarpon, sea trout, and snook, among others, while coastal waters off of Texas will find people pursuing red-fish and striped bass from both the shore and from kayaks. Chesapeake Bay in the Northeast hosts a huge fishery for Striped Bass, Blue Fish, Sea Trout, Atlantic Croaker, and Perch, while San Francisco Bay offers fly fishing for striped bass and largemouth bass from fall to spring. Sink-tip lines may also used to catch fish lying deeper like halibut, cod, and flounder in many of these locations.
Off-shore fishing is famous for fly fishers with extra-sturdy fly rods and reels pursuing marlin, tuna, Dorado (mahi-mahi), sailfish, tarpon, and more from boats. These are the fish that many people can not conceive of fishing for with fly rods, yet these are the fish that reward competitive anglers with huge money purses, and gleaming trophies in the myriad of fly fishing tournaments that exist everywhere every year.
Fresh Water Fish
To think of fresh water fish, you must divide them into cold-water and warm-water species. I don’t think that there is any question but that rainbow trout are the most fished-for cold-water species, and that large and small-mouth bass are the two most popular fresh water species in warm water. Because it fights long and hard, anglers everywhere revere the rainbow trout. Other trout species such as brown and brook trout are very popular too, but not nearly as prolific. Brook trout is actually a char and not a trout at all. Other char species that are popular in cold water are Dolly Varden char, Arctic char, lake trout, and bull trout. The five species of Pacific salmon and steelhead are also important cold water species in fresh water as are northern pike & their close relation, walleye.
Warm water fisheries exist in many places, and besides all the different bass species, the fish that are important there are bluegill, catfish, crappie, perch, and, increasingly, shad, which is now enjoying a resurgence on both the east and west coast. Warm water fisheries exist in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. Huge tournaments held for competitive bass fishing are popular all over the mid-west and south. Who hasn’t heard of “Bass Masters”? These tournaments are mostly for people who fish with conventional tackle such as spinning rods and bait (or level-wind) rods, however. Only recently has fly fishing become more popular in the warm water fisheries, but it’s spreading fast.
Different Gear?
Do you fly fish with different rods & reels when you fish for saltwater fish and fresh water fish? The answer is yes, sometimes. The 5 or 6-wt fly rod that you use for trout and bass, can be used for fishing some in-shore locations, depending on the size of fish that you are after. The 8-wt rod that you use in fresh water for salmon, red-fish, or steelhead is perfect for lots of the surf fishing that you’ll be doing in estuaries or even from the boats—again depending on what size fish you’re fishing for. One piece of equipment that you will definitely need when you begin fishing the surf is a stripping basket. Usually made of stiff mesh, it looks like a dishpan, hangs around your waist, and provides a place to strip line into to prevent the surf from wrapping it around your legs.
Where gear differences really come in is when you head off-shore to the “Blue Water” fisheries. That’s where the denizens of the deep reside and you have to be prepared for them. When my clients and I fish off-shore in Mexico for Dorado, tuna, marlin and more, we go equipped with at least 10-wt rods. Preferably, the rods are in the 12-wts or sometimes even 14-wts. We fish there in the spring, so we are not as likely to encounter the 500 lb+ marlin that swim in Mexican waters later in the summer, where even heavier rods would be necessary.
Fly lines must, of course match the rod weight for the rod to cast well, so heavier rods require heavier fly lines, which may be floating or sinking tip or full sinking. Just as with any other fly fishing, your reel must match your rod so that the rod balances when you cast, and so that it can hold the weight of fly line that the rod requires. So, the reels for off-shore fishing are much larger and stronger than the ones we use in fresh water.
A word of caution: all of your gear will need to be rinsed in fresh water after you fish the brackish water in estuaries or the salt water farther out. It’s also a good idea to see if your reels are anodized to help prevent salt water from corroding them. When in Mexico, we rinse our equipment in the beach shower as soon as we come off the boats, and then when we get to our room, we dissemble our reels and soak them in hot water in the bathroom sink.
Do many fly fishers fish in both fresh and salt water? Yes, definitely. Many of you who live near salt water probably also fish the local river or your favorite lake, and traveling to distant places to go fly fishing is getting more popular all the time. Most fly fishers are eager to catch a new species or experience a new location, or experiment with new flies. Fishing lodges exist everywhere these days and make it easier all the time for fly fishers to explore and experience all that fly fishing has to offer. Don’t miss out!
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