Fishing Reports

 

The king run continues with quite a number of rats coming to the boat on fly and, embarrassingly, quite a few making it to the reef. The first run on even a small king can be very hard to hold. In frustration we've searched for better fishing spots where kings can't get away so easily and have lucked on to a good reef that has so far delivered fish up to seven kilos on fly. A great spot!! There's still weed at this spot so the CD 10-12 Down-Under fly rod remains a minimum. It's a lot gutsier than some other brands to so rest assured- we're not letting these kings push us around!! The great revelation has been that kings will eat flies on the drift. The best retrieve we've come up with is to pull the fly rapidly with a hand over hand retrieve out of the depths and then stop when the flies comes in sight. With a good pair of polaroids you can see if any kings eat it. The hard part is keeping the fly still. They sometimes circle it for a few minutes before eating it. The urge to impart some life into the fly is huge! But don't do it. A static fly after a fast retrieve is the fly that is taking the hits. A fly drifted across a reef in a strong current is also working. With this second method though it is much harder to see the take. We've discovered that watching for the take improves your hook-up rate on kings by about five hundred per cent. So many kings hit and spit a fly without any strike registering on the rod tip that flyfishers fishing blind could be forgiven for thinking that kings don't like flies. Nothing could be further from the truth. Believe me - they love them. Flies we've been using have been basic baitfish profiles and 'surf candies' tied on Gamakatsu SS15 and Gamakatsu 'Gamefish' fly hooks (SL12 & SP11-3L3H). Clousers and weighted squid flies are tied on Gamakatsu SC15 hooks- a very effective hook when riding in the hook-up position. The extreme sharpness of the gamakatsu hooks are absolutely mandatory when you only have such a fleeting chance with which to make that hook stick. Also the SS15 and Gamefish hooks are solidly made and have a great sink rate. This is helpful when building flies with added weight and epoxy bodies. A good solid hook keeps the fly swimming in an upright position. The SC15 is the hook specifically designed to swim in the up-turned position, the other fly types you want to swim straight in the normal manner, any sort of weight imbalance can make them roll- very undesirable. Keeping a fly swimming straight whether it is a turned-up fly or a turned-down fly is very important when those damned kings swim out of nowhere and nip at your fly. Be prepared!!

 

From Craig Worthington

Report type: Saltwater

Report date: 30 March 02