IN THE SALT FLY FISHING - ISSUE#6

ISSUE#6 // WINTER ‘18

ARABIAN FLY SPORT FISHING CHASING SILVER AITUTAKI BLUE SALMON ACCURACY & PRECISION www.inthesaltflymag.com.au

AL SO INCL UDE D : TIE ‘N FLY BO X THE TAILING L OOP STUFF YOU NE E D

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CONTENTS

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14 CHASING SILVER 30 ACCURACY & PRECISION 48 60 THE TIE ‘N FLY BOX 75 SPECIES SPOTLIGHT 81 STUFF YOU NEED ESCAPE TO PARADISE 86 102 THE TAILING LOOP

ARABIAN FLY SPORT FISHING CLARE & BRANDON KING RASMUS OVESEN PETER MORSE GAVIN PLATZ

DR JULIAN PEPPERELL ITS CREW

MARTIN DVOŘÁK GRAEME COX

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These ghosts haunt us when we’re not catching them!

Photo: Peter Morse

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THE ED JUSTIN WEBBER THE ADS JUSTIN WEBBER THE EYE DAN CALLISON JUSTIN WEBBER THE WORDS DAN CALLISON CONTRIBUTORS CLARE KING PETER MORSE RASMUS OVESEN GRAEME COX DR. JULIAN PEPPERELL MARTIN DVOŘÁK PHOTOGRAPHY PETER MORSE CHRIS BYGRAVE GRAEME COX PAUL DOLAN BRANDON KING RASMUS OVESEN MARTIN DVOŘÁK JONATHAN JONES SUBMISSIONS IN THE SALT WELCOMES ALL SUBMISSIONS, CONTENT OR PHOTOS. WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO PUBLISH THE ARTICLE OR CONTENT. THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS MAGAZINE ARE NOT ALWAYS OF THE MAGAZINE OR ITS OWNERS. IT IS ILLEGAL TO COPY OR REPRODUCE THIS MAGAZINE. CONTACT US

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ISSUE #6

IN THE SALT

FLY FISHING MAGAZINE Welcome to #6. In this issue we have traveled across the globe from the temperate waters of the Gulf of Oman to the icy coastal shores of Denmark and then to the breath taking islands of Aitutaki. Clare King gives us a unique insight into the world renown Arabian Fly Sport Fishing and what makes their operation tick. Rasmus Ovesen gets us frothing over Sea Trout in Denmark, not so much a tropical location, which holds some incredible saltwater fishing options. Peter Morse takes us through the importance of casting accurately and precisely. Then Martin Dvořák gives us his first hand experience of the tropical oasis that is Aitutaki.

We have gear you need and places you want to visit!

The journey we are on has not always been easy and straight forward but I think this and the past 5 issues speak for themselves. We have have a long road ahead of us but we can’t wait to see what the next 6 issues bring!

Welcome to IN THE SALT a fly fishing magazine dedicated to saltwater fly fishing and travel.

A huge thank you must go out to all that helped put this issue together, without you of course none of this would be possible! Thanks to our loyal subscribers and followers for your continued support from across the globe. We have some exciting things on the horizon and to start that joureny off you’ll notice our new logo. There’s more to come but for that as they say, “you’ll have to watch this space”.

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LOCKED AND LOADED! Photo: Andrew Mckinstray

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Arabian Fly SPORT FISHING

We get the low down from Clare King on business, life and what has been happening in one of the worlds premier fly fishing destinations, Oman!

Words & photos by Clare & Brandon King

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Who is AFSF? Arabian Fly Sport Fishing is a fly fishing company based in Salalah, Oman (Middle east). Owned and operated by myself (Clare Carter/King) and my husband Brandon King. We offer professionally guided tailor-made trips to our fly and spinning clients.

What made you decide to start up a fly fishing operation in Oman?

We were looking for a destination that was easily accessible to our clients, with exceptional fly fishing and that had no other fly fishing operations in the area. It was important for us to be somewhere we could have a family and build a life/home, not just a business. We also wanted it to be a place that gave our fishing clients the option to bring any non-fishing partners/family/friends to join them for a holiday‌..so basically we were looking for the impossible hahahaha.

How long has Arabian Fly Sport Fishing been operating for?

We have been operating for 3 seasons now.

How did you guys get started?

Wow that is a tough one. In Oman you need a local sponsor to run a business which was the starting point.

From there we needed to set up the company, which is near impossible as the Omani’s had never heard of fly fishing before. Then we had the task of finding a suitable boat or boat builder so that we could custom build everything to our specification. During all of this we needed to explore the 3,000 kilometres of coastline to assess the best base for the business. It was tough the first year, living in tents and some seriously dubious hotel rooms (by this I mean squats) while exploring. Many happy moments and just as many tears and frustrations along the way but we made it in the end and it was worth every moment.

How big is your operation?

At present, we have one boat and two guides.

What would a typical day be like in the life of AFSF? For us the day starts at 5 AM and ends around 7 P M so days are long yet fulfilling, especially when we have great clients.

For our clients, the day starts around 6 AM if we are on the boat or 7 AM if fishing the beaches. We have a vast array of species to target and locations that we can fish which is a real advantage, especially on the rare occasion that the weather decides not to cooperate. Luckily weather is pretty stable throughout the season but I love that we have options as it mean our clients never miss a

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day fishing (so far‌. touch wood).

Our beach based fishing is mainly to target Indo-Pacific Permit that come right into the shallows to feed. Depending on the time of year we can also encounter big GTs, Bream, Bluefish and Shark. Some beaches are easy to reach and can be driven on to then walked, others we hike in to. It all depends on tides, time of year and which area we know is fishing well.

Our other option is boat based, both inshore and offshore. Inshore we target T. Africanus (our second species of Permit), Trevally, Milkfish, Bonito, Bluefish etc. and offshore we tease for Dorado, Tuna and billfish. We are very fortunate that the drop off is only a few hundred meters from the shore so we can offer both in and off shore easily throughout the day without having to travel large distances by boat.

The day is eight to ten hours long and we offer a full lunch spread of meat (spicy beef/meatballs/chicken salad/Thai chicken patties), salad, fresh fruit, cake/biscuits and dates on board each day. The day ends around

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4 PM when we return to the marina and our clients can enjoy a relaxing swim, massage or sundowners overlooking the marina.

What are the species people could hope to target when they fish with you?

We have 2 species of Permit, the Indo-Pacific (Trachinotus Blochii) and the T.Africanus (Trachinotus Africanus) these prove very popular among most of our clients‌.but like all Permit they are not easy to catch.

We also have Queenfish, Blue Fish, various Trevally (Giant, Golden, Bluefin, Big Eye, Yellow Spot, Black Tip), Milkfish, Dorado, Sailfish, Marlin, and Tuna would be the main species.

What are your favourite species to get your clients fishing for?

Permit are the most challenging but I also like the Dorado fishing as both fishermen/women (we take a max of two anglers on the boat) can fish at the same time.

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Dorado are great fun when it heats up with doubles being landed and fish swarming around the boat…. a scene that really gets the adrenaline pumping.

Hardest target species for your clients?

Permit…always Permit. We see many Permit but landing them is another story. If you don’t understand the complexities, frustrations and challenges of Permit fishing then I would suggest you don’t target them. But we have lots of return clients who love to (as one client says) get the middle finger from a Permit. So, they keep coming back for more... ha ha ha.

Where do the majority of your clients come from?

America and Europe but also SA, Australia, Russia, Ukraine.

What’s the easiest way to get to come fishing with you i.e., book a trip, flight destination etc.?

The best way is to get in touch with me via email: info@ arabianfly.com We fish from October to the end of April so tell us when you would like to come, how many in your party and what species you like to target are all good starting points. From there I can advise you on dates that match your request. I then handle everything on the ground so our clients just need to fly in to Salalah, Oman (Via Qatar, Dubai or Muscat is the most common route) then we organise transfers from the airport, which is 25 minutes to the hotel. We arrange hotel accommodation (in a beautiful four-star hotel in the marina) on a half board basis (breakfast and dinner), guided fishing and lunch/water/soft drinks on board each day.

What sort of gear do you need to come and fish in Oman i.e., Rod weight etc.?

We suggest a #9WT or #10WT and a #12 WT. We

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have flies tied specifically for our species by The Fishient Group, and I always suggest buying these direct from us, nothing worse than getting to a destination and being told you have spent a fortune on the wrong flies.

Is it flats fishing or offshore?

We fish from both the beach and boat (inshore and offshore). We don’t have any flats as such so there is no wading.

The famous “jumping Permit” is this a normal thing or is it rare?

If the next generation of young fly fishing businessmen/woman wanted to start a guiding company do you have any good advice?

Yes, be patient…very patient and find somewhere that is undiscovered yet accessible and sustainable. By that I mean somewhere you can have a life not just a business.

You work for so many years I think it is important to do something you love in a place that you can call home.

What’s on the horizon for the AFSF crew?

I can’t tell you all of our secrets, but as they all say…… watch this space!

Oman is the only destination that you can target these jumping permit (T.Africanus) on fly sight casting. When the tides are right and you know where to look we find large schools of five to 100 fish which is an awesome sight to see that many fish tailing.

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A large Blue Salmon on fly is a real prized catch Photo: Peter Morse

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Check out that dentistry!

Photo: Paul Dolan

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CHASING SILVER Words & Photos by Rasmus Ovesen

- DENMARK Coastal fly fishing for Sea Trout isn’t for the faint-hearted. It is a waiting game – one that requires skill, tenacity, and persistence. The rewards are great, however. And once you have landed your first glittering bar of pure silver, you are doomed to haunt the howling coastal realms forever.

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DESPITE ITS GEOGRAPHICALLY MINUTE CHARACTER, Denmark boasts a staggering 7,300 kilometres of rugged coastal shoreline. Along the whole length of this windswept barrier against the roaring seas, great fishing can be had. Several species of fish thrive here, but for the initiated fly fisherman, there is only one fish to pursue – the Sea Trout (or Sea-run Brown Trout). These shy and elusive fish are the real kings and queens of the coastal realm, and no one who has ever caught one of these beautiful fish will ever doubt or question this. With their strikingly good looks; their silvery and iridescent metallic blue flanks, their myriad patterns of recklessly strewn black dots, their incredibly compact physique and their soulful eyes that posses both the coldness of a determined killer and the brittle nerve of an anxious being – these fish are challenging silver trophies. And they’re not just desirable for their good looks.

Once hooked, they’ll rush off with incredible force, jump maniacally, and try to throw off the hook with excessive amounts of violent head shaking.

COASTAL FLY FISHING for Sea Trout has become a bit of a national sport in Denmark. Being a relatively small country surrounded by salty waters to all sides, heading to the coast in search for Sea Trout is quite simply the obvious thing to do. One shouldn’t forget, however, that Denmark happens to offer some exceptional Pike, Perch, and Zander fishing, and that if you’re into dry fly and nymph fishing, the peninsula of Jutland boasts some alluring Brown Trout and Grayling fishing – as well as a handful of salmon rivers that keep setting new records year after year. So, people aren’t simply heading for the coasts because there aren’t other places to find good fishing.

The reason why coastal fly fishing for Sea Trout has become such an immensely popular endeavour isn’t simply because it is so readily available to everyone. It should also be found in the challenging character of the fishing and the magnitude of the rewards. Generally, Sea Trout aren’t something you just go and catch, and to even be able to locate and hook a relatively scarce fish in a body of water so overwhelming as the ocean, is definitely a humbling feeling.

Being a good Sea Trout fisherman requires the willingness to spend hours and hours searching the coast line one cast at a time, while waiting patiently for that electrifying strike to tear the angler out of the hypnotism of mechanical fishing. That feeling is something extremely exhilarating and exciting, and something that is very addictive. While the average fish might not be more than 45-50 cm, every now and then you’ll set your hook in considerably larger fish – and this is what keeps people going; the dream of catching that big silver trophy. Every year an impressive amount of five plus kilo Sea Trout are caught on the Danish coasts, and amazing trophy fish up to eight and nine kilos are also occasionally caught too. The current Danish fly record for s Sea Trout – which is, by the way, also the European record – was a monster 10.3 kilo brute.

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IN A PARADOXICAL CONFUCIANIST TWIST, one of the main things I have learned along the way as a Sea Trout fly fisherman, is that the more experience I get, the less I actually know about my target fish.

They truly are enigmatic fish, and even though I have gradually improved my catch statistics as time has gone by, these fish continue to puzzle and surprise me. It seems that whenever I make one discovery, this discovery simply leads to several other questions that cannot readily be answered.

I have been a Sea Trout fly fisherman for almost 20 years, and besides discovering the simple virtue of humility, what I have learned is a couple of things about the gear and the techniques that produce fish. And luckily enough, catching the fish doesn’t necessitate fully understanding the fish.

But hey, let’s get to the fun part. After an eight-hour flight to Copenhagen, you suddenly find yourself in Denmark. And within an hour, you park the rental car at one of the pristine Zealand coastal stretches, and suit up in your snazzy wading gear. With the fly rod in a firm grip, you head for the water thinking: “How on earth am I going to catch fish in this immense and unreadable body of water?”

Well, here are eight pieces of basic advice that’ll help you optimize your Sea Trout fishing adventure.

FISH WITH TWO FLIES Although Sea Trout are generally greedy, voracious, and opportunistic fish, they do have days now and then, when they tend to feed rather exclusively on specific food items. This is especially the case when food items are abundant, but sometimes certain Sea Trout just seem to develop a taste for certain food sources such as Gobius, Palaemon, sandeels or Gammarus.

At other times – especially during fall and winter they aren’t actively feeding and need to be provoked into striking. Furthermore, during winter - when temperatures plummet and the Sea Trout struggle to regulate their metabolism, they will tend to favour small food items.

While there certainly are general rules to be followed in terms of choosing the right fly, why not just make a safe bet and fish with two flies? This way you’ll maximize your chances of luring whatever fish you come across into striking. I usually fish with two imitational flies during summer: a Gammarus imitation and either a Gobius or Palaemon imitation - one big fly one small fly. During fall and winter, I’ll switch over and use one naturalistic fly and a colourful or even fluorescent fly as a supplement. This way, I’ll have a chance at both the actively feeding as well as the rather lethargic metabolism-struggling fish and not least the big pre-spawn fish moving towards the rivers. They quite often stop feeding way before they enter the rivers, but they can be provoked into striking – especially using bright yellow and orange flies.

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Oh, and don’t be afraid to experiment a lot. If you’re like me, you have a couple of favourite flies (or maybe even A FAVOURITE FLY), that you’re using throughout the year, but the additional fly lets you try out new creations – risk free!

FISH ACTIVELY – MOVE A LOT Sea Trout move around quite a bit, but even though they are inherently impatient and nomadic creatures, they are likely to linger around certain spots for shorter or longer periods. As such, it would seem very tempting to just wade out and wait for the fish to swim by, but in all honesty, you could end up waiting a LONG time! Longer than most people’s patience let’s them persevere - and definitely longer than necessary.

First of all, Sea Trout aren’t the most abundant or widely distributed fish, and even though they are almost constantly on the move, they don’t simply roam the coastal shores at heady paces without aim

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or objective. In the fjords, they’ll calmly move in and out with the tidal currents in search for food, and on the open coasts, they’ll patrol reefs, bays, and seaweed plateaus.

And whenever they come across a coastal stretch rich in food sources, they’ll stop for a while and gorge. Sometimes whole schools of fish will congregate in small pockets of water, and if you come across one of these pockets, you’re in for some great fishing. The bottom line is, that it makes sense to search for the fish and be proactive.

You’ll find the fish a lot faster than they’ll find you – and you shouldn’t be afraid of unintentionally passing them by. Even if you’re adhering to a strict one-cast-threepaces-to-the-right fishing technique with rapid retrieves, you’re likely to catch fish if they are there. Don’t forget, Sea Trout have great vision, and if they are in a feeding mood, they’ll attack just about anything within reach. So get moving and cover a lot of water – because sooner or later you’ll find the fish!

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DRIVE-BY FISH SEVERAL SPOTS As mentioned previously, Sea Trout are nomadic creatures with an ever-present sense of urgency.

They’ll congregate in certain spots at certain times, but they won’t stay there forever. And it is not uncommon that an area that offered great fishing one day is completely devoid of fish the next.

If Sea Trout are present on a certain coastal stretch, usually you will see them or make contact within an hour’s worth of fishing – (of course providing that you fish actively and cover a lot of water). So don’t linger in one spot too long if nothing happens – it gets boring anyway. Fish for an hour and then move on to another spot – preferably one that distinguishes itself in terms of bottom texture, depth, wind exposure etc. If you try different archetypes of coastal regions, odds are that you’ll find the fish sooner or later. And then you can relax and enjoy some good sport!

FISH AT THE RIGHT TIME OF DAY As hinted at already, you’ll achieve a lot by simply fishing like a mad man. However, when you refine your timing, you’ll enhance your chances of catching fish dramatically. Timing of course is an intuitive virtue possessed by few, but there are a few rules to follow. First of all, you’ll generally achieve a lot by fishing the twilight at dusk and dawn. It seems the Sea Trout are more actively feeding during these transition periods between light and dark. Especially during summer, when water temperatures rise dramatically, the fishing at dawn can be sublime. During the winter months, on the other hand - and especially during early spring, daytime fishing in sunny conditions is usually the most productive. Dusk generally is a great time to fish year around, and usually you’ll want to end your fishing trip at some place you know well and fish until the darkness densifies around you.

Apart from dusk and dawn, it’s a great idea to fish when the tides are changing – especially in those places where the tides generate real tidal currents.

Generally, they have massive influence on when the fish are feeding and when they can be found close to shore. I usually fish up against the tidal current.

Because the fish usually move along the shores with the tidal current, I optimize my chances of coming across a school of fish. Especially when the tide changes from high to low, you’re likely to find some good fishing, and all of a sudden an otherwise dead coastal stretch will come alive for half an hour or more, and then you better make the most of it!

EMPLOY YOUR STEALTH SKILLS Sea Trout are sensitive creatures, and even one clumsy cast can spook off a whole school of fish – especially in calm weather conditions. So be the tip-toeing fly fishing ninja you we’re born to be -

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wade as carefully as you can, and make as little noise as possible. And even though wading shoes with metal studs provide good traction, consider the noise they make under water. Water, after all, is an extremely efficient carrier of sound.

Wade out carefully, when you start fishing, and don’t forget to fish the shallows before heading into the water.

In fact, don’t generally neglect the shallows. You’ll be surprised at how many fish lurk around in knee-high water in search for something edible.

VARY YOUR RETRIEVE Usually, Sea Trout will hammer your fly with great determination no matter how you retrieve it. But as always in Sea Trout fishing, there are exceptions. Sometimes, the fish will be finicky – for instance during summer and winter, or when the water is extremely clear. You’ll be surprised at what speed the Sea Trout can attack your fly, so in general don’t be afraid to speed up the retrieve.

Every now and then – especially during late autumn, summer and fall, I lodge the fly rod in my armpit, and use both hands when retrieving. This is a super effective way to speed up the fly and cover some water, and it will often result in hard and ferocious strikes that will make your heart skip a beat.

While speedy retrieves are generally great for actively feeding Sea Trout in temperate water, you’ll generally want to slow down the fly’s pace when the water temperatures drop dramatically. Sea Trout respond significantly to variations in temperature, and especially when the water temperatures drop below the Sea Trout’s optimal temperature range - which is 8-14 degrees, it’s feeding behavior changes. Under such circumstances, slow retrieves are usually to be preferred, and the strikes will be circumspect and careful.

We all develop our own style of retrieve, and it’s very natural to adhere mechanically to this style. (As you might have gathered already, sea trout fishing is an inherently mechanical discipline). However, you’ll improve your catch rate even further by varying your retrieve, and experimenting a lot – not only in terms of pace, but also with regards to the length and frequency of the individual pulls on the line. The sheer amount of Sea Trout simply following the fly all the way to the rod tip without striking isn’t just a sign that your fly isn’t convincing enough.

The retrieve is also a decisive factor, and an erratic and unpredictable retrieve might have been what made the fish lose its cool.

casting style for quick delivery? If you can place the fly at 25 meters with two blind casts, why waste your time with three additional blind casts to get painstakingly near the 30 meter mark? Keeping it simple, not only results in you having the fly in the water as much as possible, it also minimizes the stress on your physique.

And considering the fact that Sea Trout fishing is a lot of hard work to begin with, this is worth taking into account.

In general, don’t forget, however, that you’ll improve a lot as a Sea Trout fisherman when improving as a fly caster. In a lot of ways, the Sea Trout is a fish of a thousand casts, so being a good caster makes everything much easier and enjoyable. Being a good caster also enables you to fish in rough weather conditions, and rough conditions can stimulate the fish’s feeding moods quite a lot. Especially coastal stretches exposed to headwinds can offer great fishing. And even though casting into head winds isn’t the most enjoyable experience, being a good caster will allow you to do just that, and a lot of times it will pay off. The turbulence, that head winds create, whirls up a lot of the small food items that Sea Trout feed on – especially Gammarus, Idotaidae, and Corophium Volutator, and they will in turn lure in hungry Sea Trout. Also, the turbulence will usually add a bit of colour to the water, and this generally is preferable, as it tends to make the fish less leader shy and cautious.

USE THE RIGHT GEAR Even though there will always be as many opinions about gear as there are fly fishermen, there are a few general pointers in terms of equipment for Sea Trout.

First of all, I prefer a fly rod between 9’6” and 10 feet with a fast progressive action and a lot of backbone – a rod that will deliver long and precise casts with a minimum of blind casting. Since effective casting is the name of the game, I recommend a #8WT. It will handle large flies, long casts in heavy winds, and it has the backbone to tame even the biggest Sea Trout. (Don’t forget that they grow to 10+ kilos).

DEVELOP AN EFFICIENT CASTING STYLE

In terms of fly reels, I use standard saltwater resistant large arbour reels with simple drag systems. And as for fly lines, I use generic WF lines. Even though this may seem anachronistic to the many shooting head-enthusiasts out there, I find the WF lines preferable in a number of ways. First and foremost, I value presentation over distance. And since the best WF lines on the market, deliver equal distance potential without the relatively abrupt crash-landings and all the shooting line tangles…

Fly fishing for Sea Trout is all about having the fly in the water as much as humanly possible– and not necessarily about being an elegant fly casting equilibrist (although the two go rather neatly hand in hand). While distance certainly plays a role under some circumstances, distance usually isn’t a single key factor – most of the times casts at around 20 meters will do the job brilliantly. And rather than blind casting a lot to reach for another two to three meters, why not simply optimize your setup and

As for all the rest - the importance of the lunar phases, the weather, the seasons, the water temperatures, the salinity, the atmospheric pressure etc. etc. I’m starting to realize a few things here and there. In general, however, I have found that all I need to know for sure is that the Sea Trout are always out there, and that they are hungry, opportunistic hunters. The rest is a matter of applying some basic techniques and being a stubborn and laborious fly fisherman!

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How to get to Denmark Fly to Copenhagen - which is situated on the Island of Zealand - and rent a car in the airport. From here it is only a one hour drive to some of the most productive Sea Trout spots in Denmark.

Especially on the Islands of Zealand and Fyn (which is connected to Zealand by the Storebaelt Bridge), you can have some incredible Sea Trout fishing. Guides can be found by checking one of the following websites: www.fishingzealand.dk (For Zealand) www.seatrout.dk (For Fyn)

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Holding up you first Bonefish is a feeling you’ll never foget. Martin with his first Aitutaki Bonefish Photo: Rasmus Ovesen

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A beautiful Oman Permit Photo: Clare King

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ACCURACY and PRECISION

WORDS & PHOTOS BY PETER MORSE

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P ut a bunch of casters in a park, or on the water for some practice and drills, and its inevitable it’ll become

a distance casting challenge, especially if it’s a bunch of young blokes raised on a diet of saltwater. Nothing wrong with that, being able to cast a long way means we improve our ability to handle inclement conditions, and at shorter distances everything is supposed to become easier. With big booming distance casts we can reach fish that others can’t—being able to cast further has never been a disadvantage in my book.

But I REALLY like the old golfers adage “drive for show, and putt for dough”. Improving your short accurate game should always be a goal. I know I’ve just about peaked as a distance caster, but a bit of age brings a bit of wisdom, and these days I’m more interested in improving my casting in areas that mean catching more fish, and I think accuracy, and precision are neglected skills that put more fish slime on your hands than any other aspect of casting.

There are plenty of fish and situations in this country where just hitting the water with a fly somewhere near the fish is going to get you a bite, but as much fun as those situations can be we do grow out of them and then we discover that there are many situations where a pin point cast with a delicately landing fly is THE priority. The line between accuracy and precision is a grey one, for mine accuracy is about hitting the target, precision is about what bit of the target you hit, and in fly casting how you hit it.

Among a handful of really succinct sayings that fly fishermen should take heed of is the one that says, ‘make the first cast count”. The element of surprise drops off dramatically with each succeeding inaccurate cast. We don’t want to be sending in any warning shots to the fish and that is what a badly placed cast is, get the first cast in the right spot and generally the fish is yours, and often with the wind at the wrong angle and a bad dose of nerves. But even landing an accurate cast heavily often means “all over red rover”, that’s where precision plays its part.

subtle but powerful influence on how the forward cast unrolls; does it unroll straight or does it unroll “skew wiff” – a word my Dad would use for something out of alignment. This is called tracking and getting the back cast straight is the first step in getting the forward cast delivering the FLY to where we want it to go.

There’s a really fundamental principle in fly-casting that’s known as the 180 degree rule. Essentially your back cast and your forward should be 180 degrees to each other, in both planes, vertical and horizontal. If we throw a high backcast and follow it with a horizontal forward cast (less than 180degres) we’ll throw a loop that will probably tangle and will certainly not unroll well. It’s not a tailing loop, but the fly leg of the loop (the top leg) unrolls in a circle and the fly will probably catch the line.

Put this out to the side in a different plane – laterally - and we have a sideways unrolling inaccurate mess.

To help you understand tracking stand in the middle of a clock - 12 o’clock is right behind you and 6 o’clock is your target. If I throw my back cast to 10:30 or 11 O’clock, then try to throw at 6, the line coming through will actually want to go towards 4:30 or 5. This is when we get those big swinging sideways loops that unroll from the side. They’re finally pulled straight by the line we’ve thrown at 6 but, they curve and they crash and they look ugly and are pretty ineffective and inaccurate. Its one method of throwing a hook cast, but in that case we do a deliberately out of plane backcast/ forwardcast.

Football fields are good for practicing casting because apart from an open space they have straight lines drawn on them. If you live in an area where AFL is played you might want to get yourself a length of rope and lay that out nice and straight on the ground, or to another country or state. Straight lines on the ground are handy for determining how straight your back cast might be laying out, and this in turn will help you straighten it if its hooking left or right, or just simply off track.

Precision is more than just putting your fly on the spot, especially when it comes to creatures that live in snags and in cover. Being able to put a fly line through a slot in the vegetation or deep in under the vegetation is precision. The fly line unrolling through the air has a capacity to catch twigs and leaves we didn’t even notice were there a second a go. Precision is about making a heavy fly land quietly, not easy to do, but the way the loop unrolls plays a big part. A loop unrolling fast over the top with a heavy fly is going to make noise, a loop unrolling from the side not so far above the water is going to be quieter. A loop unrolling from underneath is going to land a fly “like a butterfly with sore feet”.

Most only see the forward cast, very few will watch their back cast when practicing, and this is a mistake.

To watch your back cast without rolling your shoulder as you turn to look, you need to stand in what is called an open position, like a boxer’s stance. A right handed caster would have their left foot forward and shoulders turned to align with their feet. If you stand in a closed position, that is toes lined up square to the target, and you try to watch your back cast, you’ll probably swing your shoulders on the back cast when you turn to take a look, thus creating a swinging back cast and a dodgy forward cast will follow.

The often quoted rule that the line will go where the tip of the rod sends it is partially true, and is an OK general rule, however what the line is doing in the air on the forward cast is predicated by where the line was on the previous backcast. The back cast has a

Filming your back cast from front on is also a great help and will give you a good idea of your tracking. Its even more helpful to do it with a just a meter length of white painted dowel instead of a loaded fly rod as this will give you a very clear indication of what your rod tip might be doing.

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The other neglected aspect of accuracy is to use an appropriate leader. One that continues the taper of the fly line is going to give you the best turnover and the least kick as it straightens. Some kind of basic taper helps, even if its just two sections, a butt followed by a tippet (and in the case of Barra a shock tippet). For Bass and Bream I like to build a slightly more complex taper into my leader and usually make it from four or even 5 sections, each one getting thinner than the previous until you ultimately have the fine tippet you want to fish your fly on.

You can also buy tapered leaders and then add a tippet to this.

These will all improve your basic accuracy but only practice will refine it to the degree where you can get your fly exactly where you want it every cast. Natural hand-eye co-ordination that doesn’t require some practice and refinement is a rare thing. All sports that require accuracy require practice, and this should be repetitive practice using and refining good technique at targets at a range of distances, and also at targets in, around and under obstacles at varying distances and with the wind at a variety of uncomfortable angles. And when you get that right start adding weight to the fly and cast at short distance targets. Adding all these tips with your tracking practice will really begin to pay dividends.

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Down the hatch with Mackay Fly & Sportfishing Photo: Paul Dolan

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Critical fly selection Photo: FlyCastaway

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THE

FLY BOX FLIES BY

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Gartside Minnow Fly Rodding Stick Baits.

I think now days we all know what a stick bait is, seems every lure angler has some in his lure box. I was first introduced to them by my good mate Damon Olson, the owner of Nomad Sportfishing and today Australia’s premier lure designer.

I started using a similar fly many, many years ago before I even knew what the hell a stick bait was. I’d use it with a floating line when chasing Tuna especially when the surface of the water was calm and casting a floating line wasn’t really a hassle. The idea for this amazing fly wasn’t mine and it all started when Cam Sigler Jr showed me an amazing material he called Corsair Tubing and was raving about its possible uses in fly tying.

Cammy Jr, like all the great fly tiers from the 90’s, didn’t take credit for this discovery but directed me to a series of articles on flies tied by a well know American fly tier named Jack Gartside and his Gartside Minnow.

Man, it was certainly a pretty fly, you know what they say; “the fly must catch the fisherman first before it will ever catch a fish”, it sure caught me!

Jack Gartside was considered by many of his peers to be the most talented and Innovative fly tyre of the modern era. His tying style was considered to be impressionist and to a large extent based around the hackling of marabou blood feathers and the use of natural fibres to create the impression of life. But when he discovered saltwater fly fishing he started adding some innovative synthetic materials to enhance his range of impressionistic patterns. Some of the patterns Gartside developed, and I’m sure a lot of you use them in one form or other, are; the Gurgler, Fish Head, Sparrow and Feathered Streamer to name only a few. Many fly tiers put an extra feather or an extra bit of fur on a fly and call it their own … but not Jack his patterns were all very original.

Jack, a school teacher by trade, was the first fly angler to be profiled in Sports Illustrated where he said it was safer driving a cab in Boston at night than teaching in a Boston school in daylight. Jack was 66 when he passed away on 5th December 2009.

Jack was famous for saying to new fly fishers – “I’m not a rock, jetty or boat angler. I fish up with the tide and down with the tide. I go where the fish are and I fish very quickly”.

The flies which attracted me are Corsair Minnows and they were beautiful and so easy to tie which I always like. Once I got my hands on some Corsair tubing I tied and used them everywhere I could. It was a little hard at the time to get a regular supply, so those fly tyres which had some kept their secret flies locked away. We’re lucky now as there are a number of reinforced tubing’s available on the market; Flexo and Ez Body to name just two.

So, the Gartside Minnow is where the idea of my Stick Bait came from. So how did I change the Gartside Minnow? Jack already had the Floating Gartside Minnow. Well true story …. As a tight arse fly fishing guide, I started using less and less foam in the construction…… yep tight arse fishing guide alright …… keep enough foam and maybe one day I’ll afford to eat a steak!

Anyway, what I found on swimming my anorexic Minnows was they started sitting tail down and they started drawing strikes on a slower retrieve….and the action was very interesting.

So, in writing this article I decide to tie and recreate a Stick Bait action.

When I realized what was happening it reminded me of the true Booby Fly; sits hook eye up and hook bend down. Judicially positioned weight and buoyancy to create action. So, there was only one more thing to try add lead to the back of my Gartside Stick Bait and I just happened to have some Tungsten Crustacean bodies… easy tie, one in the tail and see what happens.

Let’s tie A Gartside Minnow … with a little twist. Hope he likes it.

Jack Gartside was a real character in the fly industry and could be seen tying his unique flies at the USA fly fishing shows. In between that and fishing, he drove cabs in Boston and tied flies on a vice strapped to the steering wheel of his cab. At the shows he’d tell stories about faraway places he’d been fly fishing and today these remote unheard-of places are the places we all want to fly fish.

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Gartside Minnow As tied by Capt. Gavin Platz Step 1 - Tie flash around Crustation weight.

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Step 2 - Hold Crustation weight in your hand & tie inside end of braid.

Step 3 - Insert foam cylinder into braid ready to tie in.

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MATERIALS Hook Thread Body Weight

Gamakatsu SL12S #2/0 Mono Thread EZ Body Braid Crustaceans Body

Step 4 - Insert the hook into the braid. Step 5 - Secure the braid to the hook.

Step 6 - Add eyes and epoxy head.

To finish use a marker pen to colour.

Great looking fly don’t you think? Here’s a picture (Left) of it in a floating position. Looks like a stick bait don’t you think? I wish I could tell you my version of the Gartside Stick Bait has caught heaps of big trophy fish, but truth is I just made it.

I find by learning the techniques of the great fly tyres it allows our creative juices to flow and I’m sure that’s why the great fly tyres taught us their techniques, to inspire us to create our own ideas from their theme.

Search Jack Gartside on the web there’s heaps to learn I think you will enjoy his creative fly-tying style.

• • • • • • • • • • •

Born 1942, Died 5 Dec 2009 age 66yrs Fly tiers like Jack Gartside knew this and used it to perfection to create some of the most awesome flies.

1st fly tier to utilize reinforced mylar tubing in fly tying back then called Corsair tubing A great easy way to form and create a shape without messy epoxy It’s reinforced cylindrical shape is great for making minnow shapes.

Created a range of flies around this new material – Fish Heads but I think the first time I saw on it was called Fish Guts, maybe heads were more palatable In slow water he fast strips the fish heads and in fast water he lets them drift Corsair Minnow, Flutter bug Bonefish Fly made famous in Andros, Gartside Gurgler Drove a cab in Boston was showed how to tie his first fly by the famous Baseball Legend Ted William Gartside always likes to fish fast and cover country He was an Exhibition Fly Tier and was

Have fun tying.

Gavin www.inthesaltflymag.com.au

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Say ahhhhhhh....

Photo: Jonathan Jones

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R

E T IT F T U O G IN H IS F Y L F R E T A W T L A S T IS L IA C E P S Y AUSTRALIA S ONL ‘

KR

PRIL V YTER & A O R A IN T IS

OKEY

!

U O Y S A E T A N IO S S A P S IS A O H W E N O E M O S M O R F E IC V D A D N A R A E G R U O Y ET ‘

G

FIND US AT

BE GUIDED BY CPT. GAVIN PLATZ ◦ Saltwater & tropical Freshwater Fly Fishing Specialist ◦ FFFcasting instructor ◦ Hardy Pro Staff ◦ Tuna, Mackerel, Billfish & Saratoga

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The Whitsundays producing the goods. Chris Bygrave here with a beautiful release of his PB Blochii Photo: Chris Bygrave

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A beautiful Snapper caught by Terry Hayden on a recent trip with Mackay Fly & Sportfishing Photo: Paul Dolan

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Pull the Trigger!

Photo: Andy McKinstray

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©Stephan Gian Dombaj

pass me some

sea saLT

.COM

AUS & NZ DiStribUtioN: Kickelly P/L Email: antti.vappula@visiongroup.fi | tel.:+61 4020 51759

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~ The blue salmon was one of the first Australian fish to be illustrated by European explorers.

This watercolour was painted in 1770 by artist Sydney Parkinson while Captain Cook’s ship, the Endeavour was careened in what is now the Endeavour River near Cooktown, northern Queensland (Natural History Museum, London) ~

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Species

SPOTLIGHT

Blue Salmon (Eleutheronema tetradactylum) and other Threadfins

BY DR JULIAN PEPPERELL, PhD. Dr. Julian Pepperell, PhD, is one of the best-known marine biologists in the world and a leading authority on Marlin, Sailfish, Tuna and Sharks.

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Ivarious t is an abiding mystery (to me, at least) as to why the species known for good reasons as ‘threadfins’

have been given the name ‘salmon’ in Australia. Globally, there are at least 42 species of threadfins, all members of the family Polynemidae, which aptly translates as ‘many filaments’ – that description referring to the long-separated fin rays that trail from the bottom of the pectoral fin on each side of the body.

At present, about six members of the family are recognized in Australia, all of them distributed around the northern half of the continent. Only two of those, however, grow to a size of particular interest to Australian anglers. They are the blue threadfin, Eleutheronema tetradactylum, known as the Cooktown salmon in northern Queensland but more universally as the blue salmon, and the king threadfin, Polydactylus macrochir, also called the Burnett salmon. Two other smaller species that might be encountered here are the blind threadfin, Polydactylus multiradiatus, also known as putty nose perch, which occurs from Moreton Bay north, and the seven-finger threadfin, Polydactylus heptadactylus, found throughout the northern half of Australia.

River WA to Brisbane R). The blue salmon has a similar range, but extends to about the Exmouth Gulf in the west to the Sunshine Coast in the east. The habitat of the threadfins is coastal, extending into estuaries and rivers.

REPRODUCTION AND MOVEMENTS As is also the case for barramundi, all threadfins begin life as males, changing into females after several years.

For example, on the northeast Queensland coast, most blue salmon have changed to females by fork lengths of 45-50 cm. Fish with both male and female gonads may be around one to two years old, while females first appear as two to three year olds. In the case of king threadfin, all fish less than about 75 cm are males, and all fish over 95 cm are females. Spawning of king threadfin takes place during summer whereas blue threadfin probably spawn slightly earlier. Baby threadfin as small as 3 cm have been found around tidal flats during summer months.

Some tagging of threadfin salmon has been undertaken in northern Australia, and has shown that their movements, as might be expected, are coastal. King threadfin IDENTIFICATION have moved as far as 550 km, and blue threadfin up to 150 km. It is not known however if the widespread Threadfins have robust bodies, large scales and two well threadfin populations in the north belong to separate separated dorsal fins They are easily identified by the genetic stocks, or not. long, stringy filaments seeming to extend from the chest area. These filaments are actually the lower rays of the GROWTH pectoral fin that have lost the interconnecting fin membrane. Some threadfins have few filaments while others Not only are the growth rates of the threadfins poorly have many – as many as eleven in one Asian species. understood, the maximum sizes to which the different The function of these long fin rays is not known, but it species grow are not easy to discern. The Game Fishing seems reasonable to assume they act as ‘feelers’ in Association of Australia lumps the threadfins under one murky waters to find shellfish, worms and other food. general category for the purposes of records, listing the all-tackle record for the group as a 14.6 kg fish caught in The two large Australian threadfins can be easily identiRoebuck Bay, Broome in 1995. Ern Grant in his ‘Guide fied as follows: The king threadfin has five of the pectoto Fishes’ states that blue salmon reach 18.5 kg and that ral filaments on each side, some of them reaching as far king threadfin attain a whopping size of 30 kg. back as the vent, while the blue salmon has three or four much shorter filaments never reaching as far along the One of the few studies conducted on the growth rate of body (its second Latin name, tetradactylum, means four threadfin found that blue threadfin reach about 30 cm by fingers, by the way). the end of their first year, and 45 cm in their third year.

Male king threadfin only attain around 2 years of age, Similar to bully or sea mullet, the eye of the threadfins is at which point they spawn and then turn into females by covered with a transparent gelatinous layer known as an the next spawning season. As females, they continue adipose eyelid which presumably has a similar function growing and may reach 170 cm and 22 years of age. in protecting the eye from silt and mud in turbid water.

This feature is also the reason that the threadfins are sometimes called ‘blind salmon’, although they would appear to have quite good eyesight.

DISTRIBUTION The threadfin family occurs mainly throughout coastal southeast Asia, extending around the Indian subcontinent. In Australia, the range of the king threadfin is from about Noosa in southeast Queensland right round to Broome in Western Australia (GBRMPA: Ashburton

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The illustration and many others can be found in a new book by Julian Pepperell about to be published in Australia – “Fishing for the Past.

Casting nets and lines into Australia’s early colonial history”.

In the book, Julian draws on his life’s work as a fish biologist and fisheries scientist to tease out the earliest written and visual accounts of fishing around the Australian coast by the first Dutch, English and French explorers.

Fishing for the Past attempts to answer such questions as what fish were caught by Captain James Cook and many of the other early European explorers and mariners when they first cast their nets and lines on our shores?

Were they struck by the abundance from Australia’s pristine waters? How have coastal fish populations fared over the past 200 to 300 years? And if one fished the same locations today using similar methods, would the same fish be caught? The answers to these questions are sometimes surprising. Fishing for the Past will be in bookshops from early September ($34.95). It will also be available as a leather-bound limited edition of 100 copies with a tipped-in plate, numbered and signed by Julian. Price – $175 plus postage.

If interested, email julianp@internode.on.net.

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Beautiful Bastard!

Photo: Peter Morse

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A blue tractor a.k.a. Tuskie. A ferocious fish found in shallow rocky areas in tropical waters that will f#@k you up in seconds!

Photo: Paul Dolan

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Underwater perfection!

Photo: Peter Morse

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Escape

To Paradise Words & Photos by Martin Dvořák

- AITUTAKI Martin Dvořák takes us on a his first trip to the famed Aitutaki in search of big Bonefish, GT’s and Triggerfish.

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W inter here in New Zealand is not really cold like back in my native land (Czech Republic), but it is cold

and wet with frequent grey rainy periods of weeks on end. That’s why we decided to escape for a few days to the Cook Islands. In fact, this wasn’t a pure fishing trip but rather a R&R vacation with my girlfriend to enjoy some tropical sun.

I started to prepare for this trip before we went to New Zealand. When I shared the plan with my girlfriend she didn’t protest. What a surprise when we discovered that Aitutaki is referred to as the most beautiful lagoon in the world. More importantly for me, there are Bonefish and Trevally resident in the area including the mighty GT. Giant Trevally have been on my bucket list for a long, long time. I started to collect information and tie flies a few months before the trip. Finally, at the end of May we left our home in Tauranga for 12 days of adventure. We spent a few days on the main island of Rarotonga and then flew to Aitutaki. Funny thing we discovered was that this short, 50-minute flight was more expensive than the much longer international flight from Auckland to Rarotonga. We booked accommodation via Airbnb and got a nice bungalow. Our little room was quiet and tidy with fresh fruit in the garden.

Aitutaki is a small island, so the best way to get around is to hire a scooter. I had a problem at the rental office as my European driver’s license wasn’t valid without a motorcycle rating. Our host Enoa helped me with this challenge and let me borrow his personal scooter and I would like to thank him again. For fishing the local lagoon you’ll need a fishing permit. The permit will set you back $10 NZD per day or $50 per week. Because I’d never fished for Bonefish before and I did not have enough time to explore the lagoon by myself, I decided to hire a guide for two days. There are two possible local guide options and I decided to try each guide for one day. My first day was with the American guide Butch Leone.

Hard Lesson

My first day started in the early hours of the morning. I met Butch at the local sailing club and we rode by boat to the end of the lagoon. Being a novice to this sort of fishing, my guide patiently explained the important differences between salt and freshwater fly fishing. I’d had some salt water trips in the past but nothing similar, so I listened well. He also told me that today’s weather was not going to bring ideal fishing conditions. West winds and high swells filled our lagoon full of cloudy water.

Normally water depth is to your calf, but due to these weather conditions our water depth was up to the hip.

At our first stop we didn’t see any fish, but we got to chatting and soon realized we had a common friend in the US. The fly fishing world is truly small! On our second stop Butch poled his skiff in stealth mode but we also failed to spot any fish. The whole time I marvelled at the colours of the lagoon which were spectacular.

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Our third stop was on a shallow beach. We walked slowly, looking for fish. Suddenly Butch grabbed my arm and turned me in the right direction. Finally, I saw my first Bonefish. I cast my fly but our first target Bonefish didn’t show any interest. The same with the second fish.

“That’s not normal” said the guide and he suggested I change out my fly. It didn’t help as the third fish cruised by without noticing the new fly offering. For the next pattern choice, I tied on Butch’s favourite – a white and yellow clouser, and it stayed on the end of my leader the entire day. Another fish at least turned out and took a look on my fly. We walked the beach for another 100 meters but nothing happened. Around midday we turned out and went back to the boat to have lunch.

A few meters from the boat both of us saw a Bonefish cruising the lagoon. I casted well ahead of it and the fish followed my fly. I felt a gentle eat so I strip set the hook. Is it very hard to change your habits if you’ve spent months fishing for trout with nymphs? Yes, I set the hook by a quick strip but I lifted the rod tip right after.

My Bonefish was spooked. I quickly finished the tasty sandwich and cold beer that Butch prepared for me and I was then ready for another flat.

We now hunted close to the sailing club. We spooked one good Bonefish that both of us missed sighting and then I got another shot on a good fish. No interest once again, so we moved to our last flat for the day, ending up right where we first launched our boat in the morning. The water on the entire flat was dropping and the sun was shining so we had almost perfect conditions for sight fishing. At that moment the wind started blowing hard. We saw a few more fish but no success. There was always something not quite aligning the planets - weed on my fly, cast too close to the fish, too little a lead in front of the fish, etc. Time was running out fast and the end of my first day was near. Suddenly I saw a big grey tail running through the water. My heart just stopped, and I tried to cast. When a Bonefish is tailing, it’s eating something on the bottom and you have to cast very close. In heavy wind it is not easy to hit the spot, roughly the size of a dinner plate. I got three shots but wasn’t accurate enough to attract its attention.

On my fourth cast, a small Goatfish took my fly and spooked the Bonefish. That was end of our day. I was broken. I’d heard that Bonefishing was hard, but I didn’t expect just how hard it actually was. However, I had a great day out on the water in the lagoon of paradise and so marvelled at so many new experiences.

Not only Fishing

The next day we spent cruising and exploring the lagoon and its gems. We took an expedition with a small family-owned company called Teking. It was a good choice. A smaller boat means less people and a better relaxed atmosphere. Because clouds had moved in that morning, some passengers decided not to come, and we had just two couples with two local guides which we really enjoyed. We had a great day filled with snorkelling, walking remote islands, listening to local

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history and then the highlight- a tasty barbecue sourced from local cuisine. The lagoon was just awesome. We catalogued many types of fish around the corals and saw giant clams for the first time. We were also lucky and saw a few big GT’s.

Eagle Eyes

The next day of adventure was planned for fishing. My guide Rua, from E2’s Way, picked me up at my accommodation in the morning. We drove to the boat ramp and embarked across the lagoon. There were four of us, my girlfriend Martina the days photographer, Rua the guide, a young guide in training and myself. The wind was blowing harder than the days before, but Rua found shelter behind one of the Islands. Guides helped me to choose the first fly, a pattern called Aitutaki’s secret originally tied by Christopher R. Hall from Australia.

Here is a shout out to Chris for inspiring me and telling me may essential things about Bonefishing. The strip for this pattern has to be very slow, to ensure the fly drags the bottom and that you feel the ever so slight tap of the eat. Bonefish here are feeding mostly from the bottom and rarely take a swimming fly.

Due the deeper water and waves made by the blowing wind I couldn’t see the bottom, but Rua could see the Bonefish and my fly as it crawled across the bottom. I still don’t know how it was possible but like they said, Rua had eagle eyes. Rua always communicated the clock direction and distance before I casted. It took approximately an hour and then I was able to strip my fly well and set the hook properly. The first fish I managed to hook up on surprised me with its power and speed. I held the fly line too tight and the Bonefish broke off my fly right away. I tied on a new fly and waited for another chance. Finally, I did everything right and enjoyed the classic sound of a screaming reel and the sight of my backing peeling off the spool. After a few minutes, we landed my first Bonefish ever. Size doesn’t really matter on your first Bonefish and I proudly held my ‘trophy’ for a photograph.

The fishing became easier after breaking the ice. I casted where Rua said and set the hook properly, sometimes even before the guide gave instructions. This was a different game than sight fishing on the flats, but it was the only option in such bad weather. Before lunch I managed to land all the fish I hooked up on. Deep in my heart I hoped for a double-digit fish, but five Bonefish ranging from five to seven pounds was a good result for my second ever day of Bonefishing. The biggest of the five took almost 100 m of backing.

Geetz

We enjoyed lunch sitting on the famous One Foot Island and then the ‘big game’ of GT fishing started. It was a lot easier than I’d ever expected, as GT’s are found all around the island since they are fed by tourists. It took

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only two casts and I had a fish on! I’d never had such a big fish on the end of my line in my life. The strength and speed of the fish was absolutely brutal. It was like I had a train on the opposite end of my fly line. The cunning predator ran straight to the bottom and proceeded to tangle my line around a corral. Rua dove down and unwrapped the line. The Giant Trevally wasn’t finished yet and he immediately changed the direction of his tug.

Luckily, he headed straight for the open water. I don’t really know how many meters of backing were lost, or how long it took to win back all the line, I just put my head down and focused on the fight.

After a while I had most of the fly line back on the reel. A few more minutes and the monster fish was close to the boat and Rua could grab the leader. He then tailed the fish onto the boat. It was bigger than I expected and too big to handle for photos by myself. The guides helped me put the fish into the right position for sun angle. We snapped a quick couple of pictures and I released the fish. Rua said the fish weighed approximately 35 kilos!

Amazing experience, but I was a little bit disappointed how easy it was. I was expecting hours of casting and striping, not just two casts. After that the guides took us back to our accommodation.

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Other Days I tried to fish on the beach the next day. The weather was pretty bad, but I saw a few fish and one Bonefish chased my fly close to my feet but didn’t eat. Then it started to rain and it was the end of my fishing on Aitutaki. We returned to Rarotonga for a couple of days and one day I tried to fish the shallow flats scattered around the island. I got a few small coral fish and one Trevally.

Fun, but nothing compared to the thrill of the elusive Bonefish.

Conclusion Bonefishing on Aitutaki is a hard game but it absolutely took my heart. The lagoon is just beautiful, and I think it should be on the bucket list of every Kiwi or Aussie fly fisher. I definitely want to go back next year…. just for Bonefish.

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The Gear Aitutaki is well known for its heavy winds and strong currents. The best setup for Bonefish in these conditions is a #8-10WT rod. A floating fly line with a clear intermediate sink tip is essential. I used a 9ft #9WT rod.

My reel was filled with 300m of gel spun backing and a Rio Flats Pro Stealth fly line. For leaders I used straight fluorocarbon leaders in 15 and 20 pound test. My setup performed extremely well. For fighting Bonefish, I can imagine an #8WT or even a light weight # 7WT rod would be even more exciting, but when those strong winds started blowing I often wished I had a #10WT.

Quick dry shirt and shorts with a high UV protection rating are essential to allow you to enjoy hot days on the water. A neck buff and sun-gloves minimize sunburn.

For fishing from the boat, you don’t need boots and it’s nice to just enjoy the freedom of bare feet as you feel for the times when you step on your line. For wading beaches, you’ll need some boots with a solid sole. I used Velcro strapped sandals. A pair of good polarized sunglasses helps find the various ‘ghosts’ on the flats. I would recommend amber or copper coloured lenses. Of course, you’ll need gobs of sunscreen with a high UV protection rating. Don’t forget to drink plenty of water and enjoy the game!!

Your favourite Bonefish patterns should be on hooks size 4-6 tied with medium and large lead eyes. My choice was Gamakatsu SL12S and I didn’t have any problems. For GT’s you need a #12WT rod and a reel with a strong drag and full floating line. You’ll need leader material tested for at least 100 pounds. My guides’ choice of fly was a black brush streamer on a 6/0 or 8/0 hook. I had these flies on a Gamakatsu SL12S and had absolutely no problems.

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Fish with a good size Weipa Permit Photo: Peter Morse

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A picture paints a thousand words!

Photo: Rasmus Ovesen

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Queenfish are one of the more splendid fish to catch on fly. They take you into your backing more often than not and jump like circus animals.

Photo: Peter Morse

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TAILING LOOP The Final Fathom The Blues Between Trips

By Graeme Cox So, I thought I would start off by reciting my weekly/ daily rituals:

to catch it. It still amazes me that in almost every conversation I learn something new. Little tips and tricks.

•

What this does in the main part is get you to a stage where you are so keen to get out on the water that when you are there you are happy, well accepting, to spend a couple of hours without seeing a fish on the flats because Google told me this is the spot, well... could be the spot.

• • • • •

Monday morning check Bureau of Meteorology (BOM web page) Check Willy Weather to make sure BOM hasn’t got it wrong check Windytv to make sure Willy hasn’t got it wrong either Look up the coast, look down the coast Tuesday copy paste Mondays activities Wednesday copy paste you get the idea...

This usually goes one of two ways, I get so pumped for the upcoming weekend of good weather I can’t really concentrate on anything else or I know it’s a “mowing the lawn” kind of weekend which makes the week at work seem not too bad.

So, what do I do fishing wise to beat the blues between trips? Besides dabbling in fly tying which leads to my new activity of removing dyed bucktail hair from the carpet and explaining to the Mrs why my fingers look like they have been tarred and feathered, I also use Google Earth and QLD Globe. Well actually I abuse it, because of the amount of times I have scrolled in on flats looking for fishing potential, researching areas and looking at the timelines to see changes in rivers systems and flats out the front. If a seagull changes the rock it craps on I would probably study that if I knew it would better my chance of catching fish. At the end of it all these are just time fillers in planning for the next trip.

Probably the most important thing I do, which now forms part of our fishing language (and is probably not defined in the Oxford Dictionary) is “frothing”.

“Frothing: frɒθT/ verb: the act of excitement or expectation around the potential landing of a chased species of fish” or something like that.

This and the residual froth on the brain.

And it works, we spent an age preparing for the latest chase we even built a boat for it, but it worked. We went out on a near perfect day (I say near perfect because there was a hint of cloud) cruising the flats, tides were what we had aimed for, weather had been perfect in the lead up (probably shouldn’t have promised my soul for flat water that weekend, might have some negotiating to do in the future) all in the hope of finding those bloody Permit...and we found them in numbers.

The first couple of casts were “Hail Mary’s” as the fish were moving too fast and not really feeding. Then we came across three that looked to be feeding. I remembered all the writing from my last instalment, took a breath and cast my fly slap bang right in the middle of them. I gave it a few quick taps and watched on for what seemed like an eternity. Almost like they were staring down the last sweet in a lolly bag they just looked at it, until the greedy bastard swam up, smashed his head into the sand and I was on.

In a moment of clarity the plan had worked, but without the blues it would not have been as satisfying as I’m sure it will go down as one of my most noteworthy captures in terms of the whole story around it.

For now, I’m untangling lines and learning through laughs!

I like to think the group of mates I fish with specialise in this, we get ourselves so worked up and keen that when its blowing 15-20 there is almost a chance of us heading out. Just sitting around with a few cold beverages, talking fishing for what, when and how we want

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Final Offering From the editor

ISSUE 6.

As I look back through the previous issues and nit pick all my “learning curves” it suddely dawns on me that I am literally living my dream job. I was asked as a young graphic designer what my dream job one day would be and well to be honest, it was to be a major part of a fly fishing magazine. Those days it was mainly Trout and fresh water for me, as that was where I lived and fished. Today it’s 180 degrees in the opposite direction and is now saltwater that fills my veins. So with every word, picture and full stop know that this is what I love and will continue to pour all my passion and energy into this magazine for as long as the journey allows.

As we have said in previous issues we have so many exciting things happening in the coming months so WATCH THIS SPACE! CALLING ALL WRITERS & PHOTOGRAPHERS. We are on the look out for fun, engaging stories to share with our readers so if you have something to write about please send it to info@inthesaltflymag.com.au. After all, besides hitting the water and practising, thats how we all learn.

With every new edition our readership grows exponentially. We are reaching some far off shores and distant waters with our publication and its bloody great!

As always, thank you for reading our publication and we hoped you enjoyed it as much as we did. Thank you to all our incredible contributors without which none of this would be possible. Thanks also to all our advertisers, new and old, we are super stoked to have you all on board and look forward to this continuing journey together.

In closing please practise catch and release as often as possible helping sustain our incredible fisheries and those that we visit.

Be sure to like us on Instagram and Facebook. Sign up to our newsletter to get this publication delivered direct to your inbox and also stay up to date with what we’re up to.

Till next time, tighten those drags and give them nothing!

Justin Webber Editor & Publisher

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