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Fishing On The Fly

Photo by FRANK SARGEANT

Tiny crab imitations such as this one fool anything from redfish to trout and snook.

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By FRANK SARGEANT

Tribune correspondent

Published: February 28, 2009

Updated: 02/28/2009 08:11 pm

Fishing tiny, weightless lures has a long history in fresh water, but it has only become popular in saltwater in the past few decades. It is safe to say there are now more fly anglers in coastal waters than ever, and the number continues to grow each year.

The interest in fly fishing is not only in the challenge of learning to cast a weightless lure and fight a fish on a rod that seems scarcely stronger than a willow switch, but also because it's a highly effective way to fish. For some species in some conditions, such as tarpon in clear, shallow water, it often works far better than using conventional tackle and heavier lures, despite the size of the fish.

The same is often true of redfish found tailing in the shallows. Where a quarter-ounce jig plunked down next to them sends them rocketing for deeper water, the silent delivery of a two-inch streamer often provokes an instant strike.

And, of course, for schooling species that prefer to dine on glass minnows - Spanish mackerel, bluefish, ladyfish and small jacks - the tiny flies are the perfect imitation of the baitfish. Some, like the Carl Hansen Glass Minnow Fly, are little more than a hook wrapped in monofilament, but they catch fish by the barrel.

And after sundown, when snook are feeding around lighted docks, an inch-long polar-hair fly, which also apparently imitates a glass minnow, can be the only thing the otherwise-wary linesiders will eat.

In short, there are a lot of opportunities for a skilled fly fisherman in inshore waters, but there's a bit of a learning curve to become proficient enough to get the flies where you want to without whipsawing many yards of line through the air and occasionally burying a speeding hook in your hat - or your ear.

There are numerous instructional videos and books, including many by Lefty Kreh, probably the world's best-known fly fishing instructor, who was a regular at the Tribune's Outdoors Expo & Boat Show until an accident at last year's Tampa show slowed his travels. You can get Lefty's books online, and if you do a Google search, you'll get close to half a million hits.

Lefty is not at this weekend's Expo at the Florida State Fairgrounds, but the show boasts one of the heirs-apparent to the Kreh magic in Ed Jaworokowski, whom Kreh calls "the best pure fly-casting instructor I have ever seen."

Jaworokowski appears at the Expo Casting Pond today at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., and on the main stage at 3:30 p.m.

Jaworokowski and other instructors emphasize starting with balanced gear; for saltwater flats, most recommend 8-weight tackle and weight-forward floating line.

In fly fishing, you throw the weight of the line, not the lure, so it's a matter of getting enough line in the air to flex the rod and get some energy flowing through the line as it unrolls out over the water.

The key to successful casting, most experts advise, is timing; make a back cast and wait until the line straightens behind you before making the forward cast. Many also advise a slight pull on the line with the left hand, for right-handed casters, to increase the line speed and therefore the power and distance of the cast.

The cast is aimed slightly above the water, so that it unrolls the leader and lets the lure fall onto the surface with very little disturbance. From that point on, it's a matter of a few small twitches, for crab and shrimp imitations on the flats, or of high-speed hauls, for glass minnows fished for high-speed predators like mackerel and blues.

Fly fishing is not the easiest form of fishing, but for many it is the most satisfying, and it can also be the most productive. It is well worth having one of these long wands in your arsenal any time you head for the coastal flats.

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