A Buyers Guide To Flats Skiffs
By Owen Plair
As the world of saltwater fly fishing steadily grows, so the does the market for poling skiffs.
There are tons of different flats boat companies out there today and an unreal number of different skiffs to choose from. Each flats boat is designed for a purpose–whether you want to get super shallow, pole deeper for tarpon, or simply have a boat you will only pole on the weekends before picking up the family for a day at the sandbar. Inshore fishing is a lot more affordable and easier than offshore fishing, especially in today’s economy and fuel cost. Be sure that you will use this boat more than 10-12 times of year because it’s often cheaper and always easier to hire a guide than own a skiff.
Steve Seinberg
Steve Seinberg
There are many different types of hulls. Each one is made for a specific kind of fishing, determined by draft and types of water you fish. In short, you want a skiff that will meet your needs in the waters you will be fishing. Write down what your priorities are for your skiff. Things like draft, poling ability, comfort, size, storage, engine, how many people you will have on board, and most importantly price. These are all factors that will help you decide what kind of skiff you will be happy with. Most of all, keep in mind that your wants may not be perfectly met, because no matter how you look at it, there will always be a compromise of one preference to achieve something more important.
DO YOUR RESEARCH:
One great asset when buying a flats boat is the internet. There are endless places to shop and get a feel for the flats boat market. Boat Trader, dealer websites, forums, and even Craigslist. Once you have an idea of the boat you’re interested in, start Googling for forums and articles about that certain boat. Websites like Micro Skiff and Skinny Skiff have good information on different poling skiffs. Another great trick is to look for the skiffs guides are using in your area. These guides make a living on their skiffs, and have plenty of good information from personal use. I always recommend going out with a guide who runs the skiff you’re looking at. Not only get more information about the skiff but actually fish on the boat.
THE TECHNICAL SKIFF:
DSC04420-1200x800The term “Technical” is used a lot in the flats boat industry. Mostly referring to skiffs that are designed for the angler who wants the absolute best performance when poling, fishing, and running. This is the badass side of the skiff market and usually the most expensive because of how they are built and how they perform on the water. People sometimes complain about how expensive these skiffs can be, but there is a reason they cost $35-60K for a brand new 17ft boat. Companies like Maverick Boat Company, Hells Bay Boatworks, East Cape Skiffs, Chittum, Beaver Tail, Dolphin, and other big names put a lot of time in research and development. These technical skiffs are designed and built for fishing the flats just like a Lamborghini is built for going fast. The history behind these skiffs is amazing and it’s truly unbelievable how much technology has been developed over the last 20 years. It all started with a boat to get you and your angler shallower, and closer to the fish in their natural environment.
GLIDE-2015-30-SUZUKI-ICE-BLUE-TILLE-PERRY-MCDOUGALD-EAST-CAPE-SKIFFS-BOAT-IMAGE-GALLERY-CUSTOM-BOAT-BUILDER-FISHING-SKIFF-MANUFACTURER-119fcb36b4-1200x884Size is a key factor for a technical skiff. These are skiffs between 15-18ft and draft between 4-8 inches of water. They are small, lightweight, and made for poling in shallow waters. Anywhere from 6 inches of water for tailing fish or 10ft of water for migrating tarpon. These are not boats to take a bunch of people on and usually have a limit of 2-3 people max. They are often a tad tippy when walking around but again they are designed to have a person on the bow casting, the other sitting on the cooler, and someone on the tower poling. The way these skiffs perform in their desired fisheries is what makes them “Technical” and they are one of the most important tools in saltwater fly fishing.
Lots of other factors come in to play.
Read More »Watch That Hook Set!
By Justin Pickett
You’ve just sent your flies along their path to greatness.
Your dry/dropper lays out sweetly onto the surface of the water, right where you wanted it. As you watch your fly doddle along the bumps and bubbles, it happens… The broad nose of a hungry trout emerges from the underworld and nonchalantly gulps down your dry. Everything goes just as planned as you wait for the trout’s nose to dip before setting the hook, and just as that snout tips… you set your hook right into a bush or a tree, possibly costing you a proper hookup on this trout. Maybe you smacked your buddy in the face. Or worse, what if your rod got hung in an overhead limb while the fish was hooked up and subsequently broke your rod tip? I’m speaking from experience on every single one of these examples!
Preventing any of these scenarios is as easy as just taking a look around before making your cast. Take note of your casting obstacles, many of them are likely to become obstacles during your hookset as well. The obvious killers are the overhead limbs and bushes, but don’t overlook
Read More »Restore an Old Bamboo Fly Rod #6: Video Series
Matt Draft is back with the 6th and final episode of our bamboo fly rod restoration series.
In this video, Matt shows you how to repair a bamboo fly rod that has delaminated. You’ll learn how to repair the separated sections and reinforce the repair with invisible wraps.
Thanks Matt! for this great series.
RESTORE AN OLD BAMBOO FLY ROD #5
Read More »Everything You Wanted To Know About Flyfishing Leaders But Were Afraid To Ask
By Kevin Howell
When I began fly fishing, quality leaders were very hard to find.
The best leaders were hand tied by the Dan Baily Company in Livingston, Montana or the Orvis Company. The problem is that the tying process involved wetting the knots which, when stored over a period of time, made the knots weak and anglers would use a new leader only to have it break at the knot. Today there are countless options for anglers to choose from — not only do anglers have to choose a length and a taper design, but leaders are available utilizing Monofilament, Fluorocarbon, Braided and Furled technology.
The leader is responsible for transferring the energy from the fly line to the fly resulting in fly turnover and how it lands on the water. Leaders consist of three sections — the butt section, the midsection and tippet. The tippet is generally the last 18-24” of the leader where it connects to the fly. The midsection is the next two feet, and butt section is generally 4-5 feet and considerably stiffer. The leader should start about the same diameter as your fly line and then taper down gradually and continually until it reaches the tippet which will be a 18-24” section of the same diameter.
Of the four major types of leaders on the market, the Monofilament leader is by far the most common, with Fluorocarbon claiming second followed by braided and then furled. Today’s pre-drawn mono leaders are leaps and bounds ahead of previous mono leaders. They are strong, well designed with quality tapers, and are even starting to specialize. You will find leaders meant just for nymph fishing, leaders for dry fly fishing and everything in between.
The only downside to the mono leader is that when it gets abraded or a wind knot, it is going to break every time resulting in lost rigs or lost fish. Fluorocarbon leaders are available in the same tapers as monofilament and also very abrasion-resistant, but come at a much higher price– 2-3 times more expensive than mono. Fluorocarbon leaders are also denser than water, so they tend to sink slowly. If you are trying to fish dry flies or watch your leader for strikes, this becomes quite difficult with a leader that is slowly sinking.
Braided leaders offer excellent turnover and are almost indestructible; you simply replace the tippet when needed. However, if you are fishing over-spooky or pressured fish, they will spook the fish every time. Water sprays out of the braided leader on the forward cast and it slaps the water when landing. Braided leaders are also heavy and struggle to float especially after being fished a little. They pick up water scum and dirt, causing them to sink more than they float.
Furled leaders do not spray water as badly as a braided leader do but do spray some water on the forward cast. They also tend to sink as soon as they are fished a little bit and absorb dirt and water. Since furled leaders are not commercially produced you will have to find someone to make them for you or invest in the jigs and material to produce them yourself.
After twenty years in the guiding and outfitting business, I have found a quality monofilament leader with a fluorocarbon tippet to be the best all-around leader.
The 5 Essentials Of A Good Fly Cast Revisited
Let’s take a minute to look at the 5 essentials of a good fly cast.
I was giving a talk about saltwater fly fishing the other day when i mentioned the 5 essentials. I was shocked to find that no one in the crowd knew what the 5 essentials are, or that they even existed. I’ve never written on the topic because I thought it was common knowledge. Apparently I was wrong.
I did some research and was even more surprised to find that there is a good bit of variation in what has been written on the topic and there is some of it I don’t agree with. That said, understand that what I’m about to set out for you are the 5 essentials as I learned them and as I believe they are best explained. They are roughly equivalent to the 10 commandments for the IFFF and there will no doubt be some who consider any variation sacrilege. I encourage you to read the original and take both as good advice. https://thelimpcobra.com/2012/11/27/fly-casting-instruction-2/
The 5 Essentials are the work of Bill and Jay Gammel. Their article on the subject was written in 1990 and while it’s important work, you should bear in mind that it pertains to single hand, overhead fly casting. Many of the ideas apply to other casting styles, but not all. I have discussed this version with some of the most knowledgeable IFFF casting instructors I know and am very confident in it.
The 5 Essentials of a good fly cast
The first thing I learned about the 5 Essentials was that there are 6 of them, so you can see that I’m off to a good start.
THERE SHOULD BE A SMOOTH, ACCELERATING APPLICATION OF POWER.
Lefty Kreh described this motion as feeling like throwing wet pain with a brush. If you start too quickly, the paint will fly back on you, so you start slow and speed up as you go. The casting stroke should do the same, start gently and accelerate smoothly, stopping at its fastest point. This leads us to essential number 2.
2. THERE MUST BE AN ABRUPT STOP
Here is where I first deviate from much of what is written on the topic.
Read More »Fly Fishing: Is There a Time When Anglers Should Admit Defeat and Move On?
IS THERE EVER A TIME WHEN AN ANGLER SHOULD ADMIT DEFEAT FROM A TROUT, PAY HIS/HER RESPECTS AND MOVE ON?
We’ve all been there before, sight-fishing to a trophy trout, only to have it ignore our flies time and time again. An hour or more can go by without the slightest sign of interest by the fish, while it remains in the same basic holding spot all the while unafraid, almost as though it’s staring you down and challenging you to catch it. You press on with unwavering persistence until your patience runs dry. You’d argue that the trout isn’t hungry, and that’s why it hasn’t eaten any of the fly patterns, but every time you start to believe it as a viable excuse, you see the flash of white, from the trout opening its mouth and sucking in a bug. You’ve changed flies more than a dozen times now, you’ve made well over a hundred casts, and you’re ready to throw in the towel. Yet every time you reel in your line and begin to walk away, the feeling of defeat shouts “halt, go back! Just make a few more casts. You can do this.” Sometimes you end up winning the battle, other times the take never comes. The times when your line does come tight and you do hook and catch the trout, do you ever wonder if the fish really ate your fly or if you just accidentally flossed it?
I have a good friend from Colorado that told me he once scuba dived in a river and watched his buddy drift nymphs through runs that were loaded with trout. He said he was astonished to see how many times the tippet of the leader drifting in the current went into the mouths of trout, resulting in the fly of the hook snagging the trout. If you’ve ever fly fished for fresh sockeye salmon, you know that the majority of the time that’s exactly how you catch them. Only on rare occasions do they eat your fly, and even then one could argue it’s only out of aggression from the pending spawn. When my friend told me his underwater account, it made me wonder how many fish I thought I’d gotten to eat my fly in the past, but were actually fish that I really just flossed with my leader and snagged. Were those catches legitimate? Not unless you believe calculated or accidental flossing is legit. Maybe if you’re starving to death I could go along with that, but most of us don’t live off the land.
Read More »Making the Switch to Two-Handed Casting
THE UNION IS DIVIDED, BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER.
Not since the rivalry of cats vs. dogs has there been a break like the one between two-handed and single-handed casters. Much of it stems from some practical issues of sharing the water but there’s more to the story. I found out exactly how much more when I first picked up the Spey rod. It’s highly uncommon to find Spey casters here in the southeast, and when I started some of my buddies reacted with outright hostility. Others, however, were curious and eventually most of them came around to asking me for a casting lesson.
Many of the guys I know who have fooled around with two-handed casting came to it through switch rods, because the idea that they could fall back on their single-hand casting gave them confidence. There’s nothing wrong with that in theory, but in practice it’s usually a disaster. The world of Spey is complex, and without a mentor it’s nearly impossible to master.
Too many anglers will set their switch rod up just like they do a single hander and fish it as a long nymph rod. Once in a while when nobody is watching they will try to pull off a Spey cast, yank the fly out of their neck and move on to a new piece of water.
Switch rods are simply short, lightweight Spey rods. Their tapers are Spey tapers and they are made for two-handed casting. They work in the world of single-hand casting but it’s not what they are designed for. They are more challenging for two-hand casting than longer Spey rods and choosing the right line for them is fiendishly complicated. Add to that the sheer complexity of the Spey cast and you have a goat rodeo for the uninitiated.
It may sound like I’m trying to talk you out of that switch rod, but I’m not. I love switch rods and I think everyone should fish them. I just want to help you learn in the best way possible. Like most fly anglers I know
Read More »Saltwater Ready Position: Video
I believe the Ready Position is the most important thing in saltwater fly-fishing.
Saltwater fly fishing is all about the fundamentals. Successful anglers are the ones who get the simple stuff right, every time. The best way to maximize your opportunities, and catch more fish, is to have a solid Ready Position. I’ve tried lots of different styles and have come up with what I consider perfect. Spoiler alert: It’s not the way Lefty did it.
In this video I’ll show you the details that will help you get your shots off clean every time. No more tangled leaders or flies stuck in your shirt. Just efficient, effective fly fishing. Give it a try and I think you’ll like the results.
Watch the video and improve your saltwater Ready Position.
Read More »Making an Effective Short Presentation
Most angler worry about casting distance, but an effective short cast is often the most challenging.
I once heard a captain say, “If you think casting a fly rod a hundred feet is hard, try casting one ten.” There is a lot of truth to that. I often see anglers struggle and fail with the short presentation. If you can learn to do it well, it will catch you a lot of fish.
This is never more true than when flats fishing. When disability is tough the action can get very close. Even big fish like tarpon can suddenly appear at your feet. The ability the make a short presentation, which is quick, accurate and free of slack can turn frustration into triumph.
I don’t know anyone who teaches this better than Bruce Chard. In this video Bruce goes over the fundamentals of making a tight loop and a perfect presentation with a short line. Put these tools in your bag and you’ll fish like a pro.
WATCH THE VIDEO AND LEARN TO MAKE A SHORT, ACCURATE, SLACK FREE PRESENTATION.
Read More »Your Odds Go Way Up When You See The Fish
Seeing fish equals catching fish.
More than casting. More than fly selection. More than any other skill, one thing separates highly effective anglers. The ability to see fish.
I don’t care if it’s tarpon or trout, bonefish or bass, seeing the fish is the best first step to catching the fish. For some species it’s absolutely crucial. Seeing the fish allows you to plan your presentation, observe the fishes behavior and know with 100% certainty when it has eaten your fly. It’s the difference between winging it and applying real skill and technique. There is no substitute for this tactical advantage.
Far too many anglers start with the assumption they can not or will not see fish. And they don’t, either because they don’t have the confidence or because they don’t try. If you slow down, and take the time to look, you will find a world of possibilities opens up.
REASONS YOU SHOULD SPEND MORE TIME LOOKING FOR FISH
edit-7290-2-2•Spotting fish allows you to plan your presentation. Get in the right position, get your rid dialed in, figure out how far you need to lead the fish or how to get the best drift.
•Watching fish let’s you
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