IN THE SALT FLY FISHING - ISSUE#8

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ISSUE#8 // SUMMER ‘18

HARRY SPEAR A LIFE LONG JOURNEY

SYDNEY CITY LUKE SPEAR HUSTLE & BUSTLE A GUIDES LIFE BELIZE TROUT BUMS IN PARADISE

KAHAWAI MADNESS NEW ZEALAND DELIVERS

ALS O I NC LU DED // TIE ‘N FLY B O X // THE TA I L I NG L O O P // STU FF Y O U NE E D

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Endless flats, endless opportunities Photo: Al Simson

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EIGHT CONTENTS

12. SYDNEY CITY HUSTLE & BUSTLE JONOTHAN JONES 28. HARRY SPEAR INTERVIEW DAVE BRADLEY & HARRY SPEAR 44. TROUT BUMS IN PARADISE RASMUS OVESEN 64. THE TIE ‘N FLY BOX GAVIN PLATZ 78. SPECIES SPOTLIGHT DR. JULIAN PEPPERELL 85. STUFF YOU NEED FLY FISHING GOODIES 90. A GUIDES LIFE LUKE SPEAR 104. THE TAILING LOOP MARTIN DVOŘÁK

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Underwater wonderland Photo: Al Simson

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THE ED JUSTIN WEBBER THE ADS JUSTIN WEBBER THE EYE DAN CALLISON JUSTIN WEBBER THE WORDS DAN CALLISON CONTRIBUTORS RASMUS OVESEN DAVE BRADLEY LUKE SPEAR JONATHAN JONES DR. JULIAN PEPPERELL MARTIN DVOŘÁK GAVIN PLATZ PHOTOGRAPHY AL SIMSON GRAEME COX RASMUS OVESEN MARTIN EJLER OLSEN LESLIE BERKELEY 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

info@inthesaltflymag.com.au www.inthesaltflymag.com.au

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ISSUE #8

IN THE SALT

FLY FISHING MAGAZINE

Welcome to issue EIGHT! This issue marks two years for us and man have we got some goodies in here!

We are so stoked to bring you this issue and a huge thank you must go out to everyone that made it possible. We know how much our community appreciates the awesome stories, information and superb images!

What we have in store for you: We get down and dirty with Jonathan Jones as he hustles his way through the Sydney Harbor in search of Kingfish. Rasmus Ovesen takes us on an epic journey to the shores of Belize indulging in the amazing fishery they have on offer!

Dave Bradley sits down with legendry boat maker Harry Spear and finds out what makes him tick. We have

Spangled Emperor in our spotlight this month from Dr. Julian Pepperell. Luke Spear gives us his season on the fly in “A GUIDES LIFE” and last but not least, in The Tailing Loop, Martin Dvořák recounts his first Kahawai trip off New Zealand’s rugged coastline.

Our cover was shot by Al Simson on a recent trip to the Bahamas. This man has a great eye and we love his work, not to mention he’s a superb fly fisherman!

Please sit back, relax and enjoy this issue of IN THE SALT a fly fishing magazine dedicated to saltwater fly fishing and travel.

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Sydney City e l t s u B d n e a Hustl

Words & photos by Jonathan Jones

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rowing up here in Sydney I was lucky enough to spend all my time on Sydney Harbour’s waterways. Living in North Harbour, where it all began for me at the age of five, my grandfather would take me fishing down at the wharf, just down from our house, for Yellowtail to go into the live bait bucket. After loading up with fresh bait, he and my great uncle would go fishing for real fish. Later on in life I found out they would use these Yellowtail for Jewfish and Kingfish, so you could say my obsession with fishing started well over 25 years ago and the obsession only got worse. At the age of 12 my family headed down to Tasmania for a holiday. The place they had rented had three Trout ponds, and it was here my grandfather introduced me to what is now my biggest addiction - fly fishing. Back then I would have never imagined that I’d be where I am today or the scope of opportunities fly fishing would provide me with from just one brief moment in Tasmania all those years ago.

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After many years of fishing conventional tackle in my local waters of Sydney Harbour and all up and down the east coast of N.S.W. and southern QLD, you could say I was kind of obsessed with fishing. I was traveling at the time in the States - mostly just partying - when a good friend invited me to come fishing for Trout with a fly rod. I immediately told him I was in and all I’m going to say is that after a hot session of snagging flies in trees and hooking underwater logs I managed to hook a few small Rainbows. The moment I landed my first Trout in a small Colorado stream I was hooked on the long angler’s wand.

Before leaving the States I bought myself a #4WT fly rod combo from Cabelas. I think the combo was about $150 and as soon as I was back in Australia, I forgot about all my conventional gear and only took my fly rods with me everywhere I went. Most of my friends thought I was mad. One of my mates would say stuff like “that set up is too hard for anything, you can only catch small fish on such a light rod.”

Well I begged to differ and from that day on I set out to chase the biggest and most badass fish all over the world.

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I N T H E S A LT Years went past and I was just having fun with the sport, making some silly films and writing a few articles here and there, and suddenly my fly fishing career started out of nowhere. One day I got a phone call from a guy who was the owner of Nautilus fly reels and I lost my mind! I was like a kid on Christmas morning, and that was the start of what turned into a life changing friendship.

Sydney is not an easy place to fish by any means. You have to spend time working out the patterns and cycles for each of the seasons, which is exciting as this in when you begin to really catch fish and when you start to work things out after a few years of trying to crack the code. Long time friend Ben Foster and I managed to work a few little tricks out after everything we had experienced on the Harbour. We wanted to share this accumulated local knowledge and create life long memories with like-minded anglers, so it was time for me to get the drawing board out and get to work and figure out how all this was going to be possible.

Sydney was an interesting place depending on when you grew up. We grew up in the 90’s and early 2000’s. It was a little rough then, the place had growing pains and so did most of the people, which made it rough at times lol!! Those times made us a little rough around the edges although it taught us one thing - if you want something bad enough, NO ONE CAN STOP YOU APART FROM YOUR SELF, so we just applied that to everything we did. We went hard, we put in the time and the work when others were sleeping, we were fishing when others were partying. We were working non-stop as life won’t stop for a dream to come true…

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guiding as well if I could pull it all off. So I started doing my research on getting a boat in survey, and after a few months of reading and making calls to friends in the marine industry I found out this wasn’t going to be easy! Great I said, nothing easy is worth doing, so anyway I dove in head first and after about six months had blown by and after talking to almost every boat builder from Australia to the Americas, I found my boat - a PIONEER CAPE ISLAND 186. It was a bit of a nightmare getting the survey done with all the new laws, but persistence and a boat load of phone calls and emails got it sorted despite others saying it could not be done.

Big shout out to Shane May over at Ocean Boats for putting up with ME and for providing all the help. After a year passed by the dream was sitting on a trailer in my driveway! Who ever said ‘there’s no way you can pull this off,’ you just gave me the coal I needed for my fire - thank you!

After many sleepless nights and long days we have put together a few techniques to help you improve your fishing in Sydney. There are a few things some anglers overlook and those are particularly around what bait fish they are feeding on, and that people tend to ‘leave fish to find fish.’ If the boat is holding position the predators will show up at some stage, you just have to know your tide and time windows. This fishery can be just as fussy as the people that live here. You have to feed them something that will entice them to commit to an eat and as the saying goes ‘match the hatch to get the catch.’

Sydney Harbour is one of those fishing spots that can really kick your ass at times, while in other seasons or locations or weather types it can be exceptionally rewarding. After many years of throwing fluff around and chasing Sydney Harbour Kingfish and the old Aussie Salmon schools we were finding our groove.

When it comes to leaders and fly lines we only use SCIENTIFIC ANGLER fluorocarbon leader and fly lines. Our ‘go to’ Harbour leader set up is a 30lb bite leader tapering back to a section of 40lb and on to a 50lb section. For your fly line choice, our ‘go to’ lines range from floating all the way through to a 700 grain full sink line. This means whatever the conditions are we can cover almost every angler from top water to dredging the deeper wrecks and reefs.

After traveling a lot for work and fishing all over the place, I fell back in love with Sydney’s fishery and wanted to share this with my friends and clients. I had being playing with the idea of guiding here on Sydney Harbour and one day I said screw it, I’m just going to take the punt and do it. I’m going to set up a guiding company here in Sydney…. My good friend Ben Foster replied with, “Yeah man you never know it could be fun.” Little did he know he was going to be

We fish on the heavier side for Kingfish as you never know when that bigger fish is going to hit you and you’re better off being over gunned then underweight. We like to use some pretty big flies when chasing the bigger fish. We prefer hook sizes ranging from 4 to 8/0 just to be on the safe side, as the bigger Kings love to play hardball and really test your fighting skills and tackle setup. Some days you can throw massive flies at them and they don’t even move

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an inch, then switch down and throw a surf candy or sometimes a squid in there and they climb all over it like they haven’t eaten in a month. This is due to what I was saying earlier about spending some time finding out what bait they are feeding on and matching the hatch.

Sometime the big flies get the eat, sometimes it’s the small flies, so make sure your box is loaded with a large range of flies from candys and poppers to large streamers and bait patterns - like squid and garfish - so you can maximise your chances and catch more fish when its game time.

back every spare moment.

When it comes to chasing the schools of Sydney Salmon everything changes a bit with respect to tackle setup. We go from fishing #10WT and #12WT’s to 6, 7 and #8WT rods with much lighter leaders ranging from 12lb to 20lb bite leaders. This all depends on water clarity and what the fish are feeding on. For flies we have a massive variety of flies specifically tied for Salmon ranging from small candy’s to small articulated bait fish. Salmon can be fussy, equally so as their friends the all mighty Kingfish. The fish feeding patterns can change overnight and being prepared is a key element to success. Pay close action to the moon’s tides and available bait. Documenting your catches in detail will help you work out fish patterns and behaviours. The deeper you dig the better the angler you become….. well so I’ve been told anyway. I’m yet to get my head around it all, fishing is a time game - the more time you spend on the water the more you will learn. For us that is the exciting part. Working it all out and the desire to learn more and more is the draw that keeps us coming

With myself traveling a lot for work, Ben runs the boat Thursday through Sunday, and I pick up the odd weekday and mostly focus on the business side of things like paper work and bill paying. Sometimes I get to host some cool trips and work on some cool film projects so I guess that evens it all up!

Our business is going well and at the moment the heat is really on and the boat has been working her ass off with Ben and I putting the hours in. We are keeping our clients happy. For us at The Endless Session we are fisherman, this is not just a job - this is what we live for.

Ben and I have spent many long days and nights fishing the unforgiving waterways of Sydney. Unlike others we don’t chase fishing reports, we are out there putting in the work to make sure we are on top of our game.

If you’re looking for something new and some pure excitement come and join us, we have you covered.

You can find all our booking and trip information over at www.theendlessession.com.au and feel free to email us at theendlessession@gmail.com

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The silver king from a recent trip to the Bahamas Photo: Al Simson

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The “bow” bend in Belize Photo: Rasmus Ovesen

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A solid Trigger off the shore.

Photo: Al Simson

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HARRYSPEAR Words & photos by Dave Bradley & Harry Spear

A LIFE LONG JOURNEY

I was sitting with my good friend Harry Spear and casually chatting away when I said “you know Harry people are interested in this kind of history, why don’t we record some of this? I’ll write down a few questions to keep it rolling.”

Harry replies with “sweet man that sounds like fun” in his quiet southern accent that his Aussie friends have all come to love.

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Photo Š Solid Adventures

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Harry can you give us an insight to where you grew up and your introduction to fly fishing?

Harry lets talk about gear, what was all that like, rods, reels, push poles etc.. Harry laughs!

I grew up in Tampa Florida , born in 1950 so it was then a pretty quiet place. I was always the kid that if I wanted to do something I just did it. I was in the 8th grade when I went into the library in school and found this book by Joe Brooks called “Fly Fishing in Fresh and Saltwater”. I thumbed through this book and saw that he was catching all the same fish that I had caught growing up as a kid. I had never seen anybody fly fishing and I didn’t really know how I was going to go about it. I went to my local tackle store and found that I couldn’t afford the rods, so I decided to build my first fly rod. I bought a 1898 Fluger fly reel and a GAF fly line, made my own flies out of feathered trolling jigs, and bound them up with rod building thread onto a 2/0 hook.

My first boat was a Hewes Bonefisher, and for that early era it was a nice boat, though it was heavy and the draught wasn’t great. As a poling skiff it wasn’t an ideal set up but it worked. There were so many fish in those days it didn’t matter if you weren’t sneaking around in silence as much as it does for today’s guides .The tackle wasn’t bad, all fibreglass rods of course, but some decent reels were made in those days. Finnor and Seamaster, if you could afford them, were the pick of the market. The push poles were horrible, “Moonlighter” was the brand, they were super heavy, it was a real physical work out pushing a heavy boat with those poles. If you had to start with all that gear now you wouldn’t be too happy, but over time it all evolved.

In the book Joe had said if you want to saltwater fly fish you need to learn the double haul casting technique so all I did was go practice that and after a while I could make the line fly go the distance. I remember heading down to Bay Shore on a nice summer day at a spot where there were some rocks maybe 50 to 60 feet offshore. I stood up on the roadside railing making a back cast over the oncoming traffic, and after about three or four attempts a Snook smashed my fly and I got about three beautiful aerial jumps out of it and that was it - I was hooked - I was going to be a fly fisherman!

The fun bit back then was working out all the country, there was so much of if that just didn’t get fished. When I started guiding there was less than 40 people fishing the flats all the way from Key West to Key Largo.

A fair sized group were plugging away in the Isla Morada area, but they mostly stayed in local waters, and then there was us “Middle Keys guides” and we basically had the Lower Keys to ourselves. I went many days without seeing a single boat. Especially from Sugarloaf going west.

There was a tournament back then, the Tampa Tarpon Tournament (and it still runs today), and they had a fly division and it took me three years to catch one. We would fish the bridges at night, I hooked many Tarpon but they always kicked my butt, we were only allowed 12lb tippet back then. I did finally land one though.

From there I moved to the Keys and that’s where I actually learned how to fly fish properly.

I went to college in between and that was easy. At that point I thought I wanted to be a musician but that didn’t work out, so I came back home and discovered my friend Dale Perez had moved to the Keys, so I packed up all I had “which was very little” and hitched over to see Dale. I got a job on an offshore charter boat and Dale was already guiding. The next week he took me out to the Content Keys and shortly after our ride out to “the flats” he points to a Bonefish, asks me “do you see them?” I reply “I don’t see them. “ He quickly says “there’s two more do you see them cuz Ray Charles could see them.” Finally I see them and catch one, and I was hooked. I didn’t want to fish offshore any more I wanted to fish the flats.

That was 1973 by 1975 I was a full time guide, I found the fishing part easy and I’ve always liked people so that was easy. It didn’t take too long to develop a large clientele and build a decent business in those days.

Over time you got to learn that most of those flats had something on them most of the time, but a lot of them never got fished, so you could just go and explore new ground and always have decent results. Steve Huff probably found the most new terrain by far in those early days. He was an incredible explorer, his ethics and systems that he used to find fish are what I adopted and I’m as much a product of Steve’s mentoring as I am of my own talents.

Once you figured out where to go you could catch Tarpon most of the year round, but the Bone fishing was great, just piles of Bonefish. The water in the Lower Keys was amazing even on a windy day the water never got dirty on a windward shore, it may have got dusty but never dirty – those days are gone. The seagrass was long and lush, a real dark green colour and in some areas it grew over two feet long. The sand was a dazzling white. Behind Isla Morada the grass was black and when it was glassy calm it looked like ooze making fish sighting a real challenge. You’d be poling along with Tarpon blooping everywhere and you were concentrting hard just trying to get a glimpse of one to throw a cast at, next minute you’d pole over one and it would blast out of the water right under your boat. My heart would almost squeeze shut because you were so on edge trying to see one.

It was pretty intense back then, there were big wads of Tarpon rolling down the flats constantly. When that was happening it was pretty easy, all you had to do was get something in amongst them and drag it through the group and bang you were on. Funny enough is was hard to get the older anglers to fish for them! They’d

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I did have guys that wanted to Tarpon fish but I also fished guys that could care less, they’d be everywhere and they wouldn’t fish for them.

Now Harry let’s talk about flies, I know we guides are always tweaking flies with that little extra modification to achieve true perfection!

I was a tweaker, in fact I tweaked my way out of some good flies, you know what I mean!!

But the real limiting factor in the early days were the hooks – they were horrible and heavy. We’d have to sharpen hooks constantly, not like the new chemically sharpened hooks you get today. With the original style hooks we didn’t strike them properly, we’d jab strike them - pull hard, relax, and then pull hard again. If you strike that way the hook never sets in properly, so we lost way too many fish. I believe Ralph Delph was the first guy that started just holding firm on the take and setting the hook in properly rather than using the double yank method.

Once Gamakatsu and Owner hooks hit the market it made a lot of difference and we’d scale down in hook size for all our flies. Some guys used big 5/0’s but I never liked those as they landed like a sinker and you couldn’t cast them properly.

I believe I was the first one, at least in my area, to start using the smaller hooks. There were a few places where the fish started to get harder to produce an eat and I started tying smaller flies on 2/0 hooks. I recall a trip to Homosssa

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where we started with bigger flies and the fish were spooking so we switched to these smaller flies and started getting a bite every shot.

Pretty soon Billy Pate slid over in his boat and in his southern draw asked what we were using as he was having trouble feeding them.

We handed him some small flies and it worked, he started getting bites.

Tournaments, tell me about the history of those.

I didn’t start with the Gold Cup, my first tournament was the Fly Bonefish Tournament with Bill Leavy.

I think I fished four-five and can recall telling Steve Huff, “I’m never going to win one of these things.”

Shit would happen, fish would fall off or break off and Steve said “don’t worry Harry you’re going to win a pile of these things.” He could see, he knew what it took, he’d won a bunch and then when it all fell into place and I won my first one it was easy. You realise there are a bunch of small things that make a good team, the right tackle and working together. Watching from the back you’re the director once the talent has hooked the fish, once I figured out the little things it was easy. Once you fish the same angler a lot there’s not a lot, of conversation, you just have a sixth sense of communication.

As Middle Keys guides we had a lot more country open to us making it a lot easier to fish a five day tournament. Steve Huff has been friends ever since we met each other, we were best man at each other’s wedding and also keen competitors. There was a ten year stretch where we won or finished second in every tournament we fished in.

To be a good guide you have to hold a lot in your head. You’ve got to constantly consider wind, tides, and water clarity. Combine these elements with terrain and the way the target fish behaves under certain circumstances and you’ve just got to weasel your way into their lives and connect yourself with

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the little gossamer of thread and have some fun. I’ve always had a knack for it even as a little kid, I’d out fish my older brother and he’d be pissed!

Retirement, Harry what brought you to that? Changes in the fishery or people?

Several things really. Well you know how I told you back in my day there were 40 people over the entire Keys when I started, yes that’s 120-130 miles counting the Marquesas, 150 miles and then there’s the back county, a lot of territory. When I left there were thousands of anglers. Then there’s the water in the mid 80’s, I was in the middle of Florida Bay on one of the outer most banks and could see this mud offshore and I thought there must be a ton of fish out there but no, this mud cloud was endless it went to the north forever, I’d never seen anything like this, miles of it..

About three years later that mud made its way into the Atlantic and it went across the Lower Keys and stayed in Florida Bay. This killed the seagrass, it made the grass suffer greatly, like a drought on land. The whole Keys suffered greatly from this, so now you have thousands of people and a diminished fishery.

Does that mean there’s no good fishing left, hell no, there’s great fishing but it’s just not how it was and the combination of these things and my kids moving away

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to attend college started me thinking about my options.

We sought out some different areas and moved into west Florida, which allowed me to start my skiff company.

I’m really enjoying the challenges of that, taking me back to when my life was based around poling skiffs. I like to keep my skiffs based around poling not anchors and electric trolling motors.

I’ve also enjoyed watching my son Luke start his guiding career. I’m blessed to watch him progress, and being passionate about guiding, he wants to be great at it. It’s fun watching him develop and I’ve helped him, you’ve helped him, Gjuro Bruer has helped him a ton.

I’ve just stuck with sharing with him the knowledge details, go here or go there, try these types of flies, and other technical hints to help him develop his own methods and clients.

I’m sure we’ll see more progress from him and more to come from Spear Boatworks.. it’s been fun.

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Harry giving direction at the Panacea World Fly casting comp. 11# division. Right to left Gordon Dunlop, Dingo, Luke Spear and forward Mark Lollback

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One of the meanest fish you can tangle with on the flats, Barracuda Photo: Al Simson

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Say CHEESE! A happy Tarpon from belize Photo: Rasmus Ovesen

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BELIZE

Trout Bums I N P E R M I T PA R A D I S E

WORDS: RASMUS OVESEN PHOTOS: RASMUS OVESEN, MARTIN EJLER OLSEN, LESLIE BERKELEY

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THE HOARSE SCREAMS of my Sage 6010

reel won’t come to an end, and the dangerously arced fly rod is being pulled convulsively towards the surface film. I struggle for footing and lean back on the fish as much as humanly possible, but I have a bad feeling. I have caught Permit on the flats before, but the fish out here on the Elbow - a subaqueous reef in the Southern part of Belize’s Turneffe Island - use radically different tactics to get rid of the flies. They flutter and spiral irresistibly downwards, and even the slightest hint of leniency will have fatal consequences – usually resulting in snapped leaders. The crux of the matter is to prevent the fish from reaching the sheltering embrace of the jagged corals deep below. Once that happens, the fish will break you off and the battle will be lost.

It is like some mean-spirited prankster just tied a cruise ship anchor to my fly line. It is disappearing into the abysmal blue depths at a dangerously fast pace, and I can’t seem to do anything about it. As the backing starts peeling off, I know I’m done for, and only a few seconds later, I fall backwards as the line goes slack. “That was a BIG fish,” says the guide without offering much in terms of consolation, and he’s obviously right. He now materializes at the casting deck, where I am crouched in frustration and grabs my rod. He proceeds to check the drag on the reel, which I had set to a daunting 9/10 in the morning, and seconds later, he hands me back the rod and drops another Pizza Fly in my hand. As I tie it on and mentally prepare for another round, I glance

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down at the reel and notice that the drag is now set at 10/10…

LATER THAT DAY – after escalating winds

force us to quit the offshore fishing, I have a word with one of the dive masters at the Turneffe Island Resort.

He coincidentally happened to be out diving at the Elbow that day, and he saw a 35lb+ Permit racing towards the corals with a Pizza Fly in its mouth and a taught fly line dragging behind it. ’35+lbs!’, I repeat in an inquiring manner. “Yep, but I saw WAY bigger fish out there!” he says with a twinkle in his eyes. I don’t know whether to feel comforted or scared by this surprising info. All I know is that I really blew it today. I had three more shots at big Permit and managed to screw everything up. Now, I can only hope and prey that the winds will calm down, so I can head out to the Elbow again and have my revenge.

Over the next couple of days, me and my fishing buddy Martin’s patience is really being tested. Usually, the weather here in Belize is very sedate and stable in late April, but the calm serenity of our Caribbean sanctuary has now been blown relentlessly to sea. Fiery-tempered winds howl and hiss in the evergreen leaves of the palm trees, and the ocean is hardly recognizable now with its frothing 15-20 foot waves pounding the sheltering coral rims.

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DENNIS YOUNG, our

passionate guide, is challenged to find some decent fishing for us in the coming days – after all, there isn’t much shelter to be found when you’re stranded on a small and relatively featureless island out to sea. Nonetheless, Dennis manages to put us on some massive schools of tailing Bonefish that provide us with some exciting challenges.

And whenever we hook up with one of these ghostly speed devils, we even tend to forget about those alluring charcoal and silvery Permit out there on the Elbow with their bright yellow brushstrokes, powerful flanks, and soulful gazes.

WHILE FISHING THE MANGROVES, I’m fairly

certain Martin forgets about the Permit for at least 20-25 minutes. Here, he hooks up with one of the migrating Silver Kings that are just starting to rally. The self-assured Tarpon takes the fly with brute force and after the prescribed strip strike, it starts popping out of the water here, there, and everywhere shaking its head epileptically. When it finally tires of the frantic jumping, it employs new tactics to get rid of the hook. It writhes and turns; rolls aggressively on the surface – and all of a sudden it rushes for the entanglement of the mangroves. Martin is tiring out, but he is determined to land the fish, and in the end he succeeds. When he finally sits there with more than 40lbs of silvery armored Tarpon in his lap, he is as euphoric as I’ve ever seen him.

AFTER FOUR DAYS

of us continuously asking our guide when the weather is going to calm down, I can tell he is starting to get just a little tired of the repetitions. He is one hell of a guide, but no oracle - and he can only tell us that usually this kind of weather doesn’t occur at this time of year. All we can do is cross our fingers and make the most of the situation.

I do so by catching a ‘small’ Permit around 10lbs at Permit

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Paradise – an aptly named and fairly famous flat to the north of our resort. The fish engulfs a Merkin Crab in the middle of a big, muddy foraging frenzy, and delivers a heady fight with numerous long runs and powerful maneuvers. When I land it, I have a strange feeling that things are going to turn to the better. And that same evening – after a massive thunder storm passes, the winds suddenly calm down.

WITH TWO DAYS LEFT, Martin and I are eager

to get to the Elbow again. And when we wake up the next morning and issue out of our cozy little cabana, we are excited to see that the sea looks calm. When we meet with our guide, he isn’t quite as optimistic though. He fears that massive swells from the past few days might cause severe difficulties – and he is right of course. The unprotected Elbow reefs to the south are still being pounded by massive waves, and even though we agree to attempt some fishing from one of the resort’s big dive boats, things look gloomy. We see massive schools of permit, but we can’t really get to them. Our flies are being pushed towards the surface and out of reach, and after two hours of desperately clinging on to a rope in the front of the boat doing hap hazardous casts and being smashed by grueling waves – plus almost getting tossed overboard a few times, we agree that this irresponsible folly has to end.

We’re gutted. But we still have tomorrow!

WE CAN HARDLY BELIEVE the change

from yesterday, as we rush out towards the open waters of the Elbow again. With just this one day left, we are excited beyond words that the ocean is one big stoic expanse of calm azure blue water. The fish are here too, and it doesn’t take us long to find the first school of fish – and what a school. The ghostly

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shimmering of fifty or more Permit emits from the distorted mirror of the surface film.

Soon after, the heavy epoxy fly whistles ominously through the air and takes to the water with a big splash right in front of the nervous mass of fish below. I let it sink for a few seconds and start the ultrafast double-retrieve.

SUDDENLY, I feel a nerve-wracking

tug propagate through the line, and as I lift the rod to set the hook, the line starts disappearing through the guides at an unrelenting pace. This time, however, I’m prepared. Every single leader knot has been double-checked for strength, the drag is set to maximum, and I use whatever muscle power my #11WT can muster to prevent the fish from breaking me off on the corals deep below. After what seems like an eternity, the snarl of my tormented fly reel comes to an end, and I manage to turn the fish and bring it towards the surface for a bit. Hereon after, I am my usual confident self, and even an additional couple of maniacal runs can’t prevent me from bringing a pristine 25lb Permit to the boat. Moments later, I sit in the boat with the incredibly beautiful lead-coloured fish in my arms and a big smirk of a smile on my face. We snap a few pictures, and as I put the sturdy fish with its twinkly eyes and leathery skin back into the lukewarm water, I draw a sigh of relief.

As the day progresses, we hook up with several more fish – and land some additional 20lb+ Permit that make us forget completely about all the impatient waiting, the thunder storms, the ones that got away, and not least, the arduous upcoming journey back to little old Denmark. I guess that is the essential magic of sublime fishing; it dissolves whatever time-constrained psychological ballast you’ve been carrying around and provides you with an enticing window of opportunity. It feels divine!

The really big ones evade us this last day on the Elbow, but hey – it is always nice to have a reason to come back!

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FACTS ABOUT TURNEFFE ISLAND RESORT Turneffe Island Resort is a Belizean luxury lodge situated on its own little idyllic island in the southern part of the greater complex of coral and mangrove islands called Turneffe Islands. The island houses around 30 guests who are housed in beachside apartments and cabanas. Aside from the housing facilities, the lodge consists of a main building with a cosy dining hall, an outdoor pool area with its own wooden deck and bar as well as a marina.

Both the setting and the service - are fantastic. The same can be said about the food, and the atmosphere is relaxed and open-hearted. About two-thirds of the visitors on the island are there to dive and snorkel on some of the exceptionally beautiful and fascinating diving sites in the area. The rest are typically there to fish, and they are in good hands. A total of eight passionate and highly professional guides work at the lodge, and they know every single flat, every mangrove tidal current, and every reef in the overwhelmingly big and geographically chaotic island-complex as if it was the back of their laborious hands. Between them, they have in the vicinity of 200 years of experience in saltwater guiding, and most of them are born and raised on the Turneffe Islands, which has given them an enormously shrewd understanding and appreciation of the whole eco system.

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Typically, you’ll be fishing from eight o’clock in the morning until five o’clock in the afternoon - both wading and boat casting from the cool and practical boat setup.

This means that you have about nine hours of flats and open water fishing every day, and this is more than enough to try out different spots and different fish. One week’s worth of guided fishing - including housing at the resort, costs USD $2,990 in the high season, and it includes delicious lunch packages and cool drinks, so that all you need to worry about is catching that highly prized trophy fish. As a supplement, you can book some night fishing, which is a great idea, if you want to target Tarpon.

The season stretches across the whole year, but especially March, April and May are great for Permit fishing.

If you want to go fully focused on a Grand Slam, or if you are a sucker for Tarpon, the period from mid-May until the end of September is the optimal time to visit the lodge. The average size of the Permit is truly impressive with 20lb fish being common and 40-50lb fish being a real possibility – if you’re able to land them that is!

For more info, check out www.turnefferesort.com. Here, you can find up-to-date prices for housing and guiding and book your own trip.

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WHAT GEAR TO BRING When fishing for offshore Permit at the Elbow, your gear needs to be completely top notch. Any weak links will be met with severe punishment – i.e. broken leader tippets and snapped leader/fly-line connections. Generally, the gear has to be heavy duty – and being an overly optimistic ultralight fanatic doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. There are Permit up to 50lb+ at the Elbow, and even smaller fish (those weighing in at around15-20lbs!!!) will tear your gear apart if it isn’t up to the task. #10WT rods will do for the most part, but if you’re hoping to hook up with one of the real giants, a #12WT rod might be more suitable. You’ll be fighting the fish directly below the boat, so you’ll need a fairly short rod with loads of backbone. And forget about those double-handed saltwater rods. You’ll want to bend the rod right down into the handle, to put maximum pressure on the fish. By using a fighting handle further up on the blank, you simply shift the power center in the rod to a more lenient place. And in the process, you risk breaking the rod. (This has happened numerous times on the Elbow) In terms of reels, you’ll want one of many excellent large arbor reels out there – one of those with a drag system that can stop a team of horses. Don’t worry too much about the backing. If more than 30 yards of backing peel off your reel, you’re doomed anyway – and the fish will break you off on the corals below. It’s all about hooking and holding!

With regards to the fly lines, clear lines are certainly to be preferred.Permit have great vision, especially in open water. Solid fly-lines are quite conspicuous.

You’ll need a couple of different ones (floating, intermediate and sinking), since the depths at which the Permit are found vary. Sometimes, they’ll be popping

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their heads out of the water and feeding in the surface film, while at other times they’ll be further down, and the only way to get them is to use a relatively fast sinking line.

The leaders should be designed for pure abuse.

Double-check all leader knots and finish off with a 3ft section of 20-25lb test fluorocarbon. Only the very best and meticulously tied knots will hold up, so don’t be sloppy.

The guides at Turneffe Island Resort swear to a fly they call the Pizza Fly. It is a pink and extremely heavy epoxy fly that is as dangerous to cast as it is effective. With lightning quick retrieves, it moves erratically and unpredictably through the water like a shrimp, and it really gets the Permit agitated.

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A good size Mutton Snapper off the Bahama flats Photo: Al Simson

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Critical fly selection Photo: FlyCastaway

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Through the guides eyes, Jonathan Jones scours the horizon for fish breaking the surface.

Photo: Jonathan Jones

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FLY BOX FLIES BY

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Sigler Billfish Tube Fly I first heard of Cam Sigler in the early 90’s when I was managing the infamous D’Anglers Tackle Store on the Sunshine Coast. Back then we were all mad keen on catching a Billfish on fly and our mentor Rod “Harro” Harrison was at the forefront of the chase. He showed us all a Sailfish fly he’d brought back from a tackle show in the USA. This thing looked so pretty it didn’t really need to work for you, the anglers just wanted to buy it or wanted to copy it. But boy, work it did. Even today, if you look in any serious fly fisher’s Billfish wrap you’ll see a couple of copies, either rigged double or single.

An interesting thing that Cam said to me over a few shots of sour mash was the most important thing about Billfish on fly is the tease. Tease them properly and they’ll eat your shoe if you throw it at them. The Sigler Billfish Tube Fly is one of the most beautiful, and yet simple flies ever developed and the man who developed it is so modest he will not brag about the fly. He’s right of course, the tease is the trick but today’s fly tiers will tell you it’s the fly.

What made this fly so unique to us way back then was not only the interesting “T” Shaped Popper Head, but also the fact that we had never seen a tube fly before, let alone an articulated tube fly.

So who was Cam Sigler?

He was born on the west side of the Mississippi River in Plaquemine, Louisiana and like most addicted anglers/ outdoor people he grew up in in the midst of mother nature. For his whole life he followed his passion for fly fishing. He spent his early years as a bellhop in Florida working at night and feeding his passion during the day.

It was here he began to learn all he could about the gear used in the outdoors, not just used in fly fishing but in all styles of fishing and hunting.

It was with this knowledge that he was to become one of the true pioneers of the tackle industry.

Have you heard of the Eddie Bauer Company? – a hard core outdoor equipment company, not your trendy outdoor fashion company. If you haven’t heard of the company maybe you’re too young.

The young staff who worked there spoke of Cam as “The Legend.”

I was put in contact with Cam Sigler by the late Billy Pate in ‘94 and I had the great privilege of actually meeting Cam & his son Cammy Junior in ’95 at their home on Vashon Island overlooking Puget Sound. I found him to be the most modest human being I had ever met in the tackle industry …. then and now. I had

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heard all the stories about Cam’s exploits and yet he was so unassuming with absolutely no ego, something that seems to be lost in our Social Media age.

Cam & his family lived in a beautiful home, perched high up on the cliff overlooking Puget Sound and in his office I’ve seen a picture on the wall where Orcas are frolicking right in front of his office window. How amazing!

One afternoon Cammy Junior said “let’s go catch searun Cutthroat” …… right in front of the office would you believe it? It was one of the highlights of my life. I was able to return the favour in ‘97 by helping both Cam & Cam Junior catch their first Longtail Tuna here off the coast of Mooloolaba. Cammy’s fish was submitted as a world record. It was a real privilege and a fantastic learning experience to watch these two seasoned anglers fish ….. I certainly wasn’t their guide on that day, just the boat driver.

Cam Sigler manufactured several products for Orvis and other large manufacturing companies. Actually, nearly all major fly tackle companies have at one time or another, relied on Cam’s international sourcing connections and hence he earned a reputation as a “behind the scenes deal maker.”

Cam was also responsible for helping to bring such products as flats boats & breathable waders to the fly fishing market. This led to him setting up his own company and launching products under his own logo & name– Big Game Tube Flies, Heavy Tackle Saltwater Fly Rods, and Saltwater Fly Accessories.

The logo is a silhouette of an angler wearing a broadbrimmed hat fly casting, the silhouette was Cam Sigler.

Not only did he run a very successful business, but his best mate and mentor was the great Joe Brooks. He had a life that gave him complet bragging rights, but he never bragged at all. Instead he preferred to stay out of the spotlight and do his own thing.

Cammy Junior took his father’s fly and made it suitable for all fish by making all different sized heads. Junior’s fly casts well, it’s easy to tie, looks awesome, and most of all has a depth of culture you cannot jump over.

So let’s tie one, I’ll do a smaller version of the larger original Sigler Sailfish Popper on a medium Sigler Popper Head. I have caught a wide variety of fish with this size, both in single and double hook form.

Gavin

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An original Sigler Sailfish Popper Fly Large beside a smaller version articulated

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Sigler Billfish Tube Fly As tied by Capt. Gavin Platz Step 1 - cut a piece of a wire coat hanger and bend in an L shape as shown. Slightly bend the longer straighter leg. This will help in jamming the tube on.

Step 2 - cut hard plastic tube and Step 3 - Position wire Tube Tool in soft plastic tube to size & secure soft vice and slide tube setup into place. plastic tube to hard tube with flat waxed Nylon as shown.

Step 4 - Attach thread to hard tube and tie in saddle hackles to suit fly size.

Step 5 - Tie in the mixture of flash doubled over thread for strength.

Step 7 - Create a well-shaped head with the flat waxed Nylon. Attach some eyes and finish with Epoxy.

Step 8 - Fit the Sigler Popper Head to the front of the finished fly.

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Step 6 - Tie in a generous shoulder of Marabou.

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MATERIALS Hard plastic tube, soft plastic tube Thread – Flat waxed Nylon Tube Tool – A Piece of wire coat hanger does the job, if you don’t have a Tube Tool Tubes – I use acupuncture tubes but hydraulic tubing is also good Hook Sleeve – Soft plastic tube to fit hard tube

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above NS hook used Tail – Saddle hackles Shoulders – Marabou Flash – Mixture of Lateral Scale & Flashabou , colours to suit Eyes – 3D Moulded Eyes Epoxy – UV Epoxy.

Head – “T” Sigler Popper Head

Both single rigged to show size

The single hook version

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Big, Bad Barracuda Photo: Rasmus Ovesen

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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

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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 ‘

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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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Sunshine Coast & Harvey Bay Christmas Island Bonefish and GT trips Purpose Built 6.7 tri-hull in-shore boat 4.5m impoundment dory

Shop 1A 8 Point Cartwright Dr Buddina Beach QLD 4575

P. 07 5444 0611 E. flyshop@tienfly.com

W. www.tienfly.com

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Head down...12 o’clock...20ft...strip...strip...strip...

Photo: Al Simson

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The sight that means only one thing, “Get your game face on!�

Photo: Rasmus Ovesen

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The business end of a Bahamas Bone Photo: Rasmus Ovesen

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A F LY F I S H I N G M A G A Z I N E ©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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Species

SPOTLIGHT

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Spangled

Emperor

LETHRINUS NEBULOSUS Other names: Spangley, Iodine Bream, Tricky Snapper, North-West Snapper, Yellow Sweetlip, Sand Bream, Sixteen Pounder.

BY DR JULIAN PEPPERELL, PhD. Photos Graeme Cox 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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There are around 30 species of Emperors in Australian waters, the Spangled Emperor being one of the more prolific members of the Lethrinid family. On a global scale, the Spangled Emperor is very widespread, ranging from the Red Sea and East African coast to southern Japan and the islands of the Western Pacific. The species has long been recognized in Western Australia, and while a genetic study published in 1993 suggested that the Western Spangley is actually a separate species – Lethrinus choerorynchus, this has not been adopted by Western Australian Fisheries.

The Australian distribution of the Spangled Emperor in Australia is tropical to sub-tropical, ranging from as far south as Perth in the west right around Northern Australia to central NSW - a distribution that helps to explain why this single species has been dubbed with so many different common names depending on where it is caught.

There is another common Emperor in both Eastern and Western Australia that may often be confused with the Spangled, the Blue-lined Emperor, Lethrinus laticaudis, also known as the Grass Emperor, or simply, ‘Sweetlip’. Both species have blue markings on their face, and while the overall colouring is also similar, Spangleds tend to have brighter yellow fins and pale blue spots or ‘flecks’ covering most of their flanks while Blue-lineds are more uniform coloured with darker fins. Spangled Emperors

can change colour quite rapidly though, often developing brown blotchy stripes over the body when stressed.

Like other unrelated reef fishes, Spangled Emperors appear to change sex from female to male during their lives. A study at Ningaloo Reef, WA showed that all small fish less than about 25 cm in length are female. By a mean length of 28 cm (two to three years old), many of these change sex to males, although some remain as females but do not mature until about 39 cm long aged from three to five years old.

The minimum legal size for Spangled Emperor in WA is 41cm, and in QLD is 45cm, which allows protection of all males and at least half of the females in the population until after maturity.

Larval Spangled Emperor swim around in the water column, moving from the reef to inshore areas, eventually settling in seagrass beds for their early lives, using their acute sense of smell to find these nursery grounds.

Spangled Emperors grow to quite hefty sizes. The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) lists the current world record for the species at 9.45 kg (and an overall length of 82 cm) for a specimen caught off southern Japan in 2002. Weights of ‘over 10 kg’ are cited by some Australian fishing writers, but fish of that size do not appear in official

record lists. The Spangled Emperor is quite a long lived fish, with several studies agreeing with maximum ages of over 20 and up to 30 years old.

Because of their recreational fishing importance, a study of movements of Spangled Emperor was recently carried out in the Ningaloo Reef Marine Park, Western Australia, primarily to investigate the adequacy of the size of sanctuary zones within the park for that species. Researchers tagged 84 individual fish with acoustic tags and tracked their movements over the next two years or more via underwater ‘listening’ posts. They found that the average home range was 8.5 square km, but found no relationship between the size of tagged fish and degree of fidelity to home sites. Fish that were tagged within sanctuary zones spent around 80% of their time within those zones. Home ranges changed through time, however, such that 60% of tagged fish had moved outside of sanctuary zones within a year.

In a smaller study in New Caledonia, only six fish were tagged with acoustic tags in an area where boats moored, with larger fish showing strong site fidelity over 6.5 months, moving away to feed at night but returning during the day. In an interesting result, it was noted that these fish tended to stay near the mooring area much more on weekends and school holidays, which was when feeding of fish by humans was most active. While this

ABOVE: A juvenile Spangled Emperor caught on hook and line (prawn bait) under a float at Ettalong, NSW, March 2010. (Image: Robyn Ashton)

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The Spangled Emperor seems to be a fish that divides opinion over its edible qualities. On one hand, anglers I have met, mainly in northern Queensland, insist that Spangleys have a somewhat metallic or

iodine taste, hence the moniker ‘iodine bream’ in those locales.

However, this reputation may be based more on rumour than reality.

I have personally eaten them and not experienced any such taint and they are certainly happily eaten with gusto elsewhere. One person whose opinion I would value in this regard is Ern Grant, author of the legendary book ‘Grant’s Guide to Fishes’. He has undoubtedly dined

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on many a Spangley and rates them a top grade food fish holding its own with other popular reef fish.

Added to that, other fishing writers in Western Australia also praise the Spangled (and Blue-lined) Emperors as being ‘among the best eating fish in the sea’, especially for fish and chips.

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The smiling face of the king!

Photo: Rasmus Ovesen

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STUFF WE THINK YOU NEED

A COLLECTION OF FLY RELATED PARAPHERNALIA

IN THE SALT TRUCKER CAP RRP AU$29.95 Available in Navy/White and Grey/White these won’t last long, get yours now!

To Buy head to www.inthesaltflymag.com.au

YETI RAMBLER ONE GALLON JUG RRP AU$199.95

FISHPOND THUNDERHEAD ROLL TOP DUFFEL RRP APPROX. US$199.95

VISION BIG DADDY 2.0 RRP APPROX. AU$495.99

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COSTA DEL MAR - PESCADOR RRP US$269.00

SEASUCKER - HORIZONTAL ROD HOLDERS RRP AU$199.50

PODCASTS WE’RE LISTENING TO

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Mutton Snapper falling to a well presented shrimp pattern.

Photo: Al Simson

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A glistening ghost Photo: Rasmus Ovesen

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LUKE SPEAR

A Guides Life Words Luke Spear Photos Luke Spear / Dave Bradley

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IT WAS THE 2017 TARPON SEASON WHEN A GOOD FRIEND FROM DOWN UNDER, DAVE BRADLEY (DINGO AS WE KNOW HIM), CAME TO VISIT FOR HIS ANNUAL TARPON FIX. That season, he dragged along a couple of friends, one of them was Alan Philishkirk, who also guides in Queensland. We all stayed in the same condo for a week or so, where fishing banter and daily stories flowed as much as the beer. During this time Alan and Dave hashed out a plan for me to visit them on a tour of Queensland’s finest fishing destinations during the summer of 2018.

con for the first time jet-lagged and all, the temperature change was a real shock.

A short intro; my name is Luke Spear and I grew up in the Florida Keys with my family and fishing guide dad, Harry Spear. Dad guided in the Keys for 30 plus years before moving to the panhandle of Florida to retire from guiding and start a skiff company. I now guide for Tarpon during the summer out of the same area. I met Dave through my dad and Gjuro Bruer some years ago, and since then a lot of Dave’s Aussie clients have been over to fish with Gjuro and myself through the Tarpon seasons.

Tailing Goldens really are something, like any tailing fish I guess, but these boys can really dig in when they are serious about feeding. Afternoons were filled with beer and kangaroos which were everywhere in the spare blocks near our rental house, pretty cool for a Floridian to see up close.

With a huge amount of anticipation, the long haul Down Under finally ended after landing in Brisbane. A good friend and client, Marty Sprott, picked me up and we started the drive north to Central Queensland where Dingo was fishing for a short summer season. It sure felt like summer after coming from a Northern winter and zero-degree Celsius mornings back home. We stopped at a little town for lunch as I got out of the air-

The following day, equipped with Dingo’s Maverick HPX skiff and his beloved pair of Scotts in #9WT and #10WT, we fished Central Queensland for a couple of days with Marty and although windy, I caught my first Golden Trevally and my first GT.

The second day in Central Queensland was even windier but we landed a couple more Goldens in tough conditions then packed up, said our goodbyes to Marty, and headed north.

Mountains were the next thing along the drive, Dingo laughed at me snapping pics early in the drive saying, “wait till we hit Hinchinbrook.” We stopped to fish a couple places Dave had in mind and caught the life out of more tailing Golden Trevally. Insane numbers of these things showed up, just as Dingo had described, they were more frequent in summer time!! We got shots

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at Permit and Queenfish as well, though we caught one smaller Permit, the Queenfish just shied away from our flies. Seems they are cagey characters in shallow water situations.

The weather then pushed us further north back to Dave’s home base at Hinchinbrook. What an amazing place. No doubt about it, he was right about the spectacular scenery, and the fishing was super cool. We fished for Barramundi in the early mornings, which is somewhat similar to our Snook in Florida, only these local boys were lazy in the heat of the Aussie summer. Once we had good sun for visibility, we hit the flats and found the bigger Permit. They generally gave us the slip but the Goldens and Diamond Trevally were back on track. Diamonds were very interesting, I was feeding them with a crab or shrimp fly and fishing them just like the guys fish Permit back home in Florida The big Queenfish in the skinny water still proved a serious challenge, continuing to elude me on another couple of excellent opportunities. Dave suggested we head around the nearshore islands and we soon found ourselves in schools of Longtail Tuna. We then targeted a couple of favourite pressure points where we scored two good sized GT’s and finally - my first Queenfish!

We took some days off from fishing to see the sites around northern Oz then jumped aboard one more plane ride to catch up with Alan Philishkirk in Weipa for a couple of days.

We fished pretty serious on day one in Weipa, sight fishing a few Barramundi (love those fish!), then moving onto the sand flats to get shots at Permit, Queenfish, and Trevally.

After landing a few nice Queenfish the tides were less than ideal so we headed back to the mangroves and I landed a really nice Barramundi about 80cm. Day two we toured around the area by boat and I couldn’t help but wonder at the different country I had encountered from one end to the other in Queensland.

I was fortunate to whack a few nicer Queenfish - I love fighting those things - they jump and pull and some of them eat flies!! We spent our final day in Cairns before I headed home to Florida.

I’ll always recall the time I spent Down Under and the hospitality of these amazing folks. So many species to target and some super beautiful water. It won’t be the last time I visit from across the pond.

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The sickle we all search for!

Photo: Rasmus Ovesen

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TAILING LOOP

Kahawai Madness

By MARTIN DVOŘÁK

The Kahawai (Arripis trutta) is one of the most common saltwater species in New Zealand. They can be found all around the coasts of both islands and are often sighted close to shore, frequently schooling in large groups. Kahawai make lengthy migrations along the coasts, usually associated with spawning and changes in food supply. They are often very underrated by local sport fishermen but trust me, these fish are great fun to catch. If you’re a trout fisherman, you don’t need any special gear for targeting them. Just grab your streamer rod in the range of #79WT and pair it with a weight forward floating or intermediate line and you’re basically ready to go.

Ensure at least 100m of backing and a minimum of 15lb leader to complete your reel set up. For fly patterns I realized that baitfish pat-

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terns with a bit of flash work best.

Clouser minnows in white or white/ chartreuse are also good choices.

My all-time favourite selection for Kahawai is the Surf Candy in natural colours, tied with Bob Popovics Fleye Foils. Great places to spend your hunting hours are around river estuaries on an incoming tide, but you can find these fish practically anywhere. I landed many Kahawai during my stay here on the North Island. A bad day on the water always beats a good day in the office, but there are always some days you’ll remember forever.

One day my friend Pepa called me and asked if I wanted to join him for some fishing on his boat.

What a stupid question. Of course, the answer was YES! We met in Tauranga Harbour very early on

a Saturday morning. Pepa, his colleague Sam, and I assembled at daybreak at the start of May. Our main target was Snapper.

They feed hard before the winter comes to put on weight for the cold months. First stop was Pepa’s favourite place. The fish finder showed a depth of 25m - pretty deep for fly fishing but I had to try. I was fishing a 350 grain extra fast sinking line and pulling a big Clouser minnow with heavy lead eyes. This was one of those cases where using a fly set up really isn’t the most ideal tactic for effectiveness but hey, I love it. I tried for about an hour, using all kinds of different flies but got skunked.

Meanwhile the guys were busy catching Snapper, Trevally and Kahawai bashing the bottom with bait. Deep water and a strong

I N T H E S A LT current made fly fishing not an option, so I gave up and joined the guys with sinkers and hooks to get some fish for dinner. It was something new for me. I’ve never fished on the ocean with this technique, but we had fun. There is something about the combination of nice weather, cold beers, biting fish, and good company. What more you could ask for? Some action with the fly rod, of course! We changed spots but still found nothing suitable for fly fishing. While we were moving to another spot, I saw some action on the surface. Fish were actively crashing baitfish but when we moved in close for a cast the fish just instantly disappeared.

It happened one more time and then we arrived at our final destination. – a small island which was a good spot for my kind of fishing.

Pepa took his spear and went for

a dive. Sam and I just opened another cold one and were relaxing.

Pepa returned and he hadn’t seen a single fish. It was weird as this place is one of the best in the Harbour. We had lunch and decided to move somewhere else. Suddenly the water around our boat started boiling. A huge school of Kahawai had surfaced very close to us hunting the bait. I was on the deck of the boat in a second with my fly rod in hand and managed to land a hurried cast smack in the middle of the hunting fish. Some frantic fast stripping and a fish was on! I had never had a big Kahawai like this on my rod and the fight was good even on a #9WT. I fought the one on my line as hard as I could because fish were still crashing the surface around our boat and I wanted another one. For a while it was absolute madness. An-

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other five casts produced three more fish – what a luxury to have three good fights. Then bang, the fish all disappeared leaving just some scales and broken bait on the water. All the fish we caught were in great shape. They averaged 60 cm long and I estimated their weights between five and six pounds. Unbelievable how strong these fish are.

Big thank you Pepa for taking me out!!

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Mangrove Permit.

Photo: Rasmus Ovesen

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Final Offering

ISSUE EIGHT. Happy new year to all our readers! Let’s make 2019 the best and fishest year ever!

It’s been two years since we started our magazine and it’s been such a lot of fun. From the people we’ve met to the places we’ve been. We are constantly taken on journey’s through the stories and images we have throughout our pages.

It is our sincere hope that you all enjoy reading this as much as we enjoy putting it all together.

Another year lies ahead and who knows what amazing things we will have to show you over the next 12 months.

Good luck and may you all have the very best 2019 you can ever imagine for yourselves!

From the editor

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!

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

As always, thank you for reading our publication 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 continuing this journey together.

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