Fly Fishing in the sea

[fishing bairn]

hi i have been interested in Fly Fishing in the sea. could anyone recomend a Sea fishing Fly reel for me? Do i have to get a specialised rod or just use my fresh water Fly rod?

thanks for the help

 

[mark]

just use you're normal reservoir gear. 9ft or 10ft rod will do the job perfectly, as for reels, I'd avoid anything too expensive and made of alloy, sal****er will make a mess of it quickly. I picked a masterline large arbor reel up at the fly fishing show at nissan a couple of years back for 15 quid with 3 spare spools works a treat. At the end of the day a fly reel is just there to hold the line so go for something cheap as chips and plastic! I learnt that the hard way, being a bit lazy I used a greys grx couple of times but dind't strip and clean it in fresh water properly afterwards, soon corroded badly and seized up

same for lines, I jut use cheap lines or bin ends as they get wrecked quickly especially if fishing from the rocks, fast sinkers and shooting heads, as heavy as your rod will allow

 

[fishing bairn]

I wasn't sure whether the sal****er would spoil the rings on my rod.

Thank for the help Mark

 

[mark]

I wasn't sure whether the sal****er would spoil the rings on my rod.

Thank for the help Mark

not noticed any adverse effects on any of my rods from sal****er, even the chrome snake rings seem ok, not noticed any rust or anything anyways

did break a rod fly fishing from the rocks once though, mind you I did put it down then turn around and stand on it!

 

[fishing bairn]

Don't think i will do that but thats cleared alot of things up.
Cheers Mark

 

[Phantom of Hook House]

I do quite a lot of this when the conditions are right...which is for about 2 weeks a summer if were lucky!!!!!

Any 8 or 9 weight rod will do, just rinse it in fresh water after use. Reel wise, the Okuma Avalanch (is also called the okuma integrity) is a cheap large arbour and is sal****er proof (about £30 and the spare spools are only a tenner, I know Glasgow Angling Centre still do them).

Lines, The airflo 40 yard expert lines are excellent as they act like a shooting head but don't tangle as much. ( If you register for the airflo catalogue, they have them half price once or twice a year.

Good luck.

 

[fishing bairn]

Cheers mate i will have a look. Is it only in summer you can go??

Thanks for help

 

[mark]

pretty much up here, not a lot of fish inshore to make it worth a go, maybe the odd coalie, I'd imagine that'd be your whack

elsewhere though there are options, southwest/cornwall and the like

 

[RobAdair]

Just noticed this thread - I use a Bloke Bass Special #8/9 sal****er fly rod, Okuma Integrity #9 reels (you could also use the cheaper Okuma graphite reels) and shooting heads which I make from mill ends from Mullarkeys (works out at about £1.50 per shooting head this way so you don't mind damaging a few in the rocks). I make mine about 22g in weight and they sail out (and I'm crapper than a crap caster with all the self taught faults I've learnt myself)

Mainly the spring/summer/autumn up here (although most of my SWFFing is done in SW Scotland and N Wales), but February is always a good month locally for flatties close inshore. A heavy fly which "bounces" along the bottom to stir up the mud and sand always catches their attention. Try a clouser with heavy dumbell eyes or a snake fly with a few micro beads threaded up the leader or even try any large fly fished on the point to stir up the bottom with a smaller shrimp type pattern or Crazy Charlie on a dropper about 2 foot up the leader (bright coloured Charlies in yellow, red, orange and pink apparently work well but I've had more success with tan, cream and olive patterns from our coast)

Some of my flattie patterns

Another technique which works quite well is to dip your fly in pilchard oil and let that wash around in a rip or use a very slow "jerky" retrieve, but thats not for the purist and probably not strictly fly fishing.

 

[fishing bairn]

Great info Rob.
What sort of marks localy would fish for flattys?
would somewhere like Alnmouth or the wanesbeck be any good?

Thanks for help

 

[Phantom of Hook House]

Budle bay is the only place I would try to fly fish for flatties for...fish it from half tide down as the water is running out in the channel. I've never done it with the fly here but used to catch spinning with a flounder spoon and small mepps so the fly should work. You'd need a very fast sinker though or heavy fly to get it down to them. Never did catch the sea trout I saw there!!!

 

[fishing bairn]

Thanks for the advice mate.

 

[gazzawill]

what about wading chest deep near peirs ect for macky ?