Winter is here and before I get too busy I usually spend an
evening clearing out my fly box, which often turns into a neglected mess after
the slow months of the fall, and this year was no different. In fact, I wound up tossing out 2/3rds of
the patterns I had in there. There were so
many cool looking flies I whipped up myself and others had given me that had
never been tied on the end of a leader.
It wasn’t that I didn’t believe they could catch fish, I just trusted a
handful of patterns so much more.
So that’s the subject of this month’s column. For the big four inshore species that top
every local fly angler’s list, tarpon, snook, redfish, and sea trout, I’ve
narrowed down my four best patterns to use for them in the waters off Pine
Island.
We’ll start with the easiest and most cooperative species
first, the sea trout. There isn’t much
this year-round gamefish won’t hit and my choice of fly for them is also an
easy one, the Clouser Minnow. This
simple pattern was originally tied for smallmouth bass on the Susquehanna River
but has been used to catch everything from bluegill to blue marlin. A hungry sea trout won’t hesitate to hit it
either. There’s no limit to the size and
color combinations for this streamer but the original chartreuse and white on a
#4 hook is by far the best bet. Clousers
are both effortless to tie and inexpensive to purchase, and that alone makes
them the perfect fly. If your entire box
is full of just this pattern in different sizes and colors, you’re in pretty
good shape no matter where you’re fishing.
Next up is the redfish, which is actually Florida’s most popular
gamefish since they’re found on every mile of the state’s shoreline. Like the sea trout, there isn’t much they
won’t hit but fly casting to tailing reds require a bit more effort. Spin anglers have used weedless gold spoons
with great success for more than a century and there are several modern flies
that do the job almost as well. My
favorites are the epoxy spoon patterns created by Capt. Jim Dupre. These are a great combination of flashy and
wobbly and rarely fail to get the attention of hungry redfish with its head in
the mud. They’re not cheap or easy to
make but they’re durable and last almost as long as their metal
counterparts. That’s why the Dupre Spoon
has become my favorite redfish fly.
Snook are far from an easy catch on a fly rod, especially
the big over-slot sized fish that cruise our shorelines and beaches. These are a one of the wariest inshore
species and they respond to live bait far better than artificials, especially
flies. My favorite fly for working them
out of the mangroves is a bulky Deceiver, a decades old pattern that, just like
the Clouser, is effective on every other gamefish in our waters. The Deceiver is a beautiful looking baitfish
imitation that is also surprisingly easy to tie and cast. There are countless variations to this fly
but for snook I like mine to be almost all white.
Finally we come to the tarpon, my favorite species to catch
on any tackle, especially fly rods.
These massive fish eat almost anything but some of their most effective
flies imitate tiny worms. A red and
black Tarpon Bunny, which is nothing more than two pieces of rabbit fur tied to
a 2/0 Owner hook, has been my go-to fly for over ten years. This is another effortless pattern to tie and
I can whip one off my vise in less than a minute. It always amazes me to see a six foot long
fish attack one of these three inch long flies.
Their migration is still a few months away but it’s not too early to
start filling the tarpon box.
So those are my four favorites for Pine Island. Ask ten other guides for theirs and you might
get forty different choices, but if you’re new to the sport it’s a place to
start. Good luck out there.