SALTWATER - INSHORE
ESTUARY & BASS
For quite a long time I have been catching estuary
species such as bream, flathead, trevally and whiting in estuary waters
around Wollongong and in various South Coast fisheries on lures and in
particular on soft plastics. Several years ago I started experimenting
with flies but with limited success. On analysing what was
happening,
it wasn't the delivery system that was the problem, it was just that I
couldn't make any of my flies do what a soft plastic would do so I set
out to change that. I needed a fly that could be fished like a soft
plastic
but could be delivered as a fly. The outcome was this estuary fly. This
fly has now accounted for bream, flathead, whiting, trevally, mullet,
tailor, flounder and bass and I expect it will be attractive to many
other species. My
preferred
colour is green as described below but of course other colours work
very well
also.
On a floating line this fly works well in water up to about 2 meters
deep. Vary your leader length depending on the depth of the water. For
most species the best strategy is to cast into structure and then
retrieve with very short strips with stops between each strip. Whiting seem to like a
slightly faster strip and flathead favour a
very slow continuos retrieve.
This fly fishes well in deeper water on an intermediate line through to
full sinking line depending on the depth. The most rewarding retrieve
involves counting the fly down to the desired depth and then retrieving
the fly with repeated medium length strips followed by a one
or two second stops. A good alternative is a fast figure of eight
retrieve.
Whether fishing this fly on a floating line or sinking line keep in
contact with the fly as takes can be at any time from when the fly is
settling through the water column right through to the lift and they
can range from subtle inquiries to dramatic whacks.
Some proven
colour examples are:
As
an all rounder in
clearer
water - tie it with cherry crystal chenille, black tail and black bib
For Bass - dress it
in
Bass
Vampire colours i.e.. black crystal chenille, chartreuse tail and
purple and black
bib.
For Black Bream - tie
it
with cherry crystal chenille, pumpkin seed tail and chartreuse bib.
The hook type
and size
and
dumbbell weight are important because I have found that thicker hooks
such
as the 34007 Mustard are too thick and heavy and wont turn over unless
you
use a much heavier eyes and then the fly is hard to cast and the action
of the tail may be impaired.
MATERIALS
FOR
GREEN
ESTUARY FLY:
Hook - Size 2
Gamakatsu
SS15/T.
Silk - Olive.
Eyes - 5/32” OR 3/16"
real or dumbbell eyes
Tail - Pumpkin /
black flake coloured small size rubber fly tails.
Body - Chartreuse crystal
chenille.
Beard/Legs - Sparkle flash –
light
olive pearl and or chartreuse.
A)
- Starting
at the 95% position wind the thread in touching turns to the bend of
the hook and back 2/3 of the way toward the eye of the hook.
- Tie in a set of
eyes on top of the hook shank
at the 2/3 position using figure 8 wraps. I think "Real Eyes" are better than Dumb Bell
eyes because the sockets are convex and easy to paint
Positioning of the eyes at the 2/3
position
described above is important because you need to leave enough room in
front of the eyes to tie in the bib dressings and to form a nice shaped
head.
- Position the tail along the side of the fly and tie
it in tightly just behind the eye of the hook.
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B)
- Tie the tail in
all the way to the bend of the hook shank and then back to just behind
the eye of the hook. The curve of the tail should fall below the hook
and the wraps of thread down at the bend of the hook should be softer
toward the tail than they are close to the eyes. This helps eliminate
break off of the tail.
- Strip the fibers
off a length of crystal chenille and tie it in by its chord just behind
the eye of the hook. Tie the crystal chenille all the way to
the bend of the hook. The wraps of thread down at the bend of the hook
should be softer toward the tail than they are close to the eyes. This
helps eliminate break off of the tail.
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C)
- Wind the
crystal chenille forward using tight touching turns of the chenille all
the way to the
eye of the hook.
- Take the
Crystal Chenille over the top of the eyes
and tie off on top of the
hook shank in front of the eyes.
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D)
- Trim the excess crystal chenille off in
front of the eyes.
- Turn the hook
over in the vice.
- Take around 8 or
10 strands of sparkle flash that are around twice as long as you want
the beard/legs to be and tie them in directly in front of the eyes.
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E)
- Double the sparkle flash over on itself at
the tie in position and take a couple of folds of thread over the tie
in position to secure them in place.
- The beard/legs should extend beyond the bend of the
hook anything from just a little to around the length of the hook
shank. In any case the beard/legs should partially obscure the bend of the
hook.
- Build
up a nice head with thread whip finish and varnish the head.
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