Bluewater fly fishing

[Tarpon Tamer]

Hello Larry,

I am an avid fan of your show and style of fishing! I also suffer from Megalops atlanticus syndrome and it may be a terminal case. I will take fish anyway that I can get them, but I prefer to throw a fly if possible. I have limited bluewater flyfishing experience(schoolie bluefin, dolphin, kingfish, little tunny) and have caught sailfish on conventional tackle off SC and NC coast.

I wanted to get your advice for an upcoming bluewater trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic at the end of May. According to our charter Captain Michael Wagner "We should have shots at Blue Marlin(good), White Marlin(great), Wahoo(great), sailfish(maybe) for a tease & switch with a fly."

I am bringing all my own rods, reels, flies and tackle out of necessity and wanted to pick your brain about how to proceed with a foreign charter.

Here is a list of rod/reel combinations and CURRENT backing/line setup:

9wt: Loomis GLX CC 9'/Islander LX 4.0/225yds-20lb.backing/WF-float 9 SA Mastery Bonefish

10wt: Loomis GLX CC 9'/BP Tarpon/325yds-30lb.backing/WF-float 10 SA Mastery Tarpon

11wt: Loomis GLX CC 9'/Islander LX4.5/325yds-30lb.backing/WF-sink(1.50 ips) 12 SA Mastery Striper

12wt: Loomis GLX CC 9'/BP Marlin/600yds-30lb.backing/WF-float 12 SA Mastery Tarpon

13wt: Loomis Mega 13 9'/Tibor Pacific/600yds-30lb.backing/sink(5.0 ips) 13 SA Mastery Billfish

15wt: Loomis CC 8"3/Tibor Pacific/no backing/no fly line

1) How would you tweak this current setup to meet your bluewater demands?

2) Do you have a favorite brand of bluewater backing and fly line?

3) Any advice on backing-->fly line-->leader, knots and leader setup?

4) How do you deal with the captain/mates if they want to keep/sell fish and you want to practice catch & release?

Any hints and tips that you can pass along to make our trip less stressful would be very much obliged! I might already know hint #1: Mr. Murphy is hiding in my tackle bag!


Thank you

[dahlberg]

Hi TT,
All the knots, connections etc. you use for tarpon will work fine in bluewater.
You simply address the issue of killing fish AHEAD OF TIME, BEFORE YOU BOOK, PAY OR GET ON THE BOAT. You are the customer.

Hope for a small blue, a hungry white (they can be very picky), and if you're captain can tease in a wahoo to do a bait and switch he's a better man than I!

IMO the 12 weight is really all you need. Given flylines are built with a 30# core and you'll likely be using 20# tippet the max pressure you'll be pulling is likely to be no higher than the low teens.
Usually the biggest problem is getting the fish to come the last few feet. Lots and lots of flyrods have been broken by anglers trying to get that last 3 or 4 feet so the fish can be beaked.
Instead of "high sticking" to lift the fish the last few feet, I like to either stand on the gunwale or climb partway up the ladder so I can apply pressure with a much lower rod angle. It keeps the rod from breaking plus allows me to get more than 4 times the pull I could achieve if I stayed on the deck!
Good luck and have fun!
best,
L

[Tarpon Tamer]

Thank you for the info! I will hopefully have the opportunity to try the elevated "down and dirty". The fishing method for Wahoo sounds like a tease & chum technique & dead drift + barely twitch?

Any thoughts on a dacron + super braid combination for maximum backing without burying the backing on the spool?

If you are ever around Charleston, SC let me know and I will try to put you on some jugbelly redfish or in Georgia to sight cast to monster tripletail in 4ft-10ft! World record tripletail is 42lb5oz and Georgia record is 38lb14oz!:wink: Take care and keep up the good fight!

Thank you

[urban angler]

The deal with the boat keeping the fish is that the charter boats and the commercial fishing fleet is the same in some of these island destinations. When you go to the pub at the hotel and order the grilled Mahi sandwich it was some ones catch on a charter boat the day before. It is also how the boat supplements their income. The boat usually has to buy a license for you to go out and fish. I conform to the local customs even if they are different from my personal philosophy.
Urban Angler

[dahlberg]

hi tt
I'd go with performance braid all the way and not mess with the dacron.
Thanks for the invitation. sounds like fun.
good luck,
L