TIE ‘N FLY BOX • THE TAILING LOOP • MERISUOLA #10WT REVIEW • VISION FLY BOX REVIEW
GOOD VIBES
& SALTWATER TIDES KRISTINA ROYTER
MALDIVES
NEED A PERMIT?
KATKA ŠVAGROVÁ
DR JULIAN PEPPERELL, PHD.
HINCHINBROOK
A FLATS FISHING PARADISE CHERIE FORBES
IN THE SALT
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THE NAME GAME
FLIES THAT HUNT
DEB’S PINK GT FLY CAPT. GAVIN PLATZ
ISSUE#3
PHOTO KATKA ŠVAGROVÁ
THE DREAM COMES TRUE
JULY-SEPT ‘17
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Under water gold! Photo: Peter Morse
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ISSUE #3
CONTENTS PAGE 16
PAGE 70
HINCHINBROOK
GOOD VIBES & SALTWATER TIDES
PAGE 36
PAGE 90
A FLATS FISHING PARADISE
SHE LOVES IT OUTDOORS!
MALDIVES
SPECIES SPOTLIGHT
PAGE 56
PAGE 103
THE DREAM COMES TRUE
FLIES THAT HUNT DEB’S PINK GT FLY
NEED A PERMIT - THE AGE OLD DEBATE
STUFF YOU NEED
GEAR AND PARAPHERNALIA
PAGE 62
PAGE 112
HOW TO TIE CPT. GAV’S FAVORITE FLIES
IN A MOMENT
THE TIE ‘N FLY BOX
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TAILING LOOP
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Getting dunked! On the flats your gear really gets a work out! Photo: Katka Švagrová
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ISSUE #3
IN THE SALT
FLY FISHING MAGAZINE THE ED JUSTIN WEBBER THE ADS JUSTIN WEBBER THE EYE DAN CALLISON JUSTIN WEBBER
CONTRIBUTORS CHERIE FORBES KATKA ŠVAGROVÁ KRISTINA ROYTER DR JULIAN PEPPERELL GAVIN PLATZ STEPHEN KIMBER GAVIN DAVIS BRETT CLARKE
THE WORDS DAN CALLISON THE LOOK JUSTIN WEBBER
SUBMISSIONS IN THE SALT WELCOMES ALL SUBMISSIONS, CONTENT OR PHOTOS. WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO PUBLISH THE ARTICLE OR CONTENT.
PHOTOGRAPHY PETER MORSE JAMES LAVERTY KRISTINA ROYTER CHERIE FORBES KATKA ŠVAGROVÁ JOSH HUTCHINS VINNIE VERSVELD ADAM ROYTER CHRIS RIPPON ADAM MCLOFLIN GRAEME COX PETER BEHRENS
CONTACT US
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THE OPINIONS EXPREESSED IN THIS MAGAZINE ARE NOT ALWAYS OF THE MAGAZINE OR ITS OWNERS. IT IS ILLEGAL TO COPY OR REPRODUCE THIS MAGAZINE.
PHOTO CREDIT - JAMES LAVERTY, NEW CALEDONIA
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Bones in New Caledonia are as big as they come! Photo: James Laverty
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IN THE SALT
Australian Saltwater Fly Fishing & Travel for everyone!
Issue 3 – The Ladies Issue is here and we are so proud to have even more great stories than ever before. You will be taken on a journey from Tropical North Queensland and then jetted across the globe to the pristine flats of the Maldives, and then taken back home again. We are so stoked to bring you this issue and from all accounts this is the best yet! Our magazine has grown in leaps and bounds over the past 3 months and we would like to officially welcome Dan Callison aboard as our copywriting guru and all round extra set of eyes! With the support of our readers, excellent contributions from fly fishers around the globe and of course our advertisers, this magazine will only go from strength to strength. You’ll see this first hand by the quality of the stories we have in this issue. We have some top guides around the country so if you’re in the mood to catch some epic fish this upcoming summer season be sure to check out local guides at your next destination. If you’re thinking of travelling overseas I’d be casting my eyes to the guys in the Caribbean, Florida Keys, Bahama’s and Cuba they could use any help after the devastating hurricanes they have recently endured and from what I hear the fishing is pretty good already! Welcome to IN THE SALT a fly fishing magazine dedicated to saltwater fly fishing and travel.
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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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Looking down the barrel! Photo: Adam Royter
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Hinchinbrook A FLATS FISHING PARADISE
Words by Cherie Forbes Photos: Cherie Forbes & Brett Clarke www.inthesaltflymag.com.au
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The night before a big session on the water I can’t sleep. I toss and turn until finally the alarm goes off and it’s time to get up and prepare myself for the day ahead. I don’t think its nerves but the anticipation and excitement of what I will be faced with on the boat. Being on the water is more than just the fishing for me. It’s the excitement I get from seeing the vast array of wildlife the ocean has to offer. From sea turtles to dolphins I have mastered the universal finger point and have the excitement of a three year old every single time something appears in front of the boat. It’s an excitement I pray will never change. This year we travelled to Hinchinbrook to fish with fly guide and all round top bloke, Clinton Isaac, from the Australian Fly Fishing Lodge. We decided on doing a road trip rather than flying. This allowed us to keep tying fly orders as they came in and also, I love a good road trip. The Australian Fly Fishing Lodge is situated in the port of Hinchinbrook. The lodge can hold up to six guests quite comfortably and it’s the perfect place to chill out after a day on the water. Like most people I prepare my fly gear the night before. There’s nothing worse than running around the house at six AM looking for bits and pieces. With my fly gear I like to keep things pretty simple. Some people tend to make things seem too complicated, tapered leaders, special knots and 1 8 In TheSaltwater
many more elements would make my head spin. It has taken some time, and I’m certainly no expert, but I have enough knowledge now to figure out what I need for different situations. For Hinchinbrook Barramundi and Mangrove Jack, I use an #8WT rod with a tropical floating line rigged with a 40 pound fluorocarbon straight through leader. I also take an #8WT weight intermediate line for dredging and general creek use and a 20 pound leader is adequate in these situations. The reel I use has a spare spool which allows for the spool to be swapped over quickly when changing target species. For the flats fishing I use a #10WT rod with a full intermediate line. A suitable leader is chosen depending on the target species. I can also use this outfit chasing pelagics, or again, a quick change to a tropical #10WT floating line will have me popping up some monster Queenfish. Most importantly I make sure I’m covered from the sun. A good buff, hat, Polaroid sunnies, sun gloves and long sleeve shirt are essential.
“I HAVE THE EXCITEMENT OF A THREE YEAR OLD EVERY SINGLE TIME!” As far as what fish we will be targeting each day, we really leave it up to Clint to make a plan. When booking a trip, it’s vital to discuss what species you want to target so that your guide can put you onto the right tides for your stay. www.inthesaltflymag.com.au
Well used poppers! Photo: Cherie Forbes
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A good sized Jack pulled from a fallen snag. Photo: Brett Clarke
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Morning breaks and it’s time to get up and prepare for the day. With the tide high we head to the banks covered in fallen timber to fish for Barramundi. The boat pulls up to the location and before Clint can even stand up on his polling platform, I’m up on the rear casting deck and firing flies into the first snags. It can get a bit tricky casting from the rear of the boat. As I pull my fly out of the water to cast I manage to flick a spray of water across Brett’s sunnies as he casts from the front of the boat. This has me in fits of laughter but for Brett not so much. It’s like he needs little windscreen wipers on his sunnies to be able to see. At least the water causes no damage. Later on as my arm became tired I managed to put out a very sloppy cast and lodge my fly into his back. I quietly walked to the front of the boat, pulled the hook that had gone through his shirt and into his skin out and then quietly walked back to my position and began casting like nothing had happened. I figured if I didn’t make a big deal out of it then no one would stress and I was right. As much as it hurt him he just continued on. And that’s what makes a great fishing partner. It is someone that can take you at your worst and still continue to encourage and support you no matter what the situation. Another issue I have other than tired arms is the ability to concentrate. When your fly is in the water you have to give it 110% . No fluffing around, no looking to the next snag, no pulling out your phone for a quick selfie (you know who you are) just fishing what is in front of you. It’s that moment when your concentration wanders that the fish is lost. I had a moment fishing for Barra’s where I had put cast after cast into an area that looked so good with no rewards, and the moment I stopped stripping and went to scratch the side of my 2 2 In TheSaltwater
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Monster Triple Tail on surface popper! Photo: Cherie Forbes
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face from the annoying midges, a Barra slowly rolled over a snag, engulfed and spat out my fly and it was over. I had lost that concentration for a split second and the fish that I had been trying to catch for the past hour was gone. I’ve watched it happen to myself and to Brett so many times. It takes a certain type of angler to be able to hold that concentration, cast after cast. To be in that moment every second of every retrieve is exhausting. It’s funny, sometimes you can be right in the strike zone, putting a cast into a dark water log junction and you know there will be a fish in there, but somehow when that fish launches itself out of the snag you still Trout strike in some weird crossed up fashion and react in shock that a fish just attacked your fly. And in some strange way that’s what keeps me wanting to chase these fish on the fly even more. The challenge, the concentration involved, the adrenalin of the chase, and the way you need to make that fly come to life, it all keeps me wanting more.
Beautiful colours of a Mangrove Jack Photo: Brett Clarke
Brett had decided that he wanted to target Barra on poppers this time just to make things more challenging. We knew how rewarding it would feel to be trying a different technique, and we were excited at the opportunity to see a Barra smash a popper off the surface. Well it did pay off but it wasn’t a Barra that couldn’t resist the popper, it was a Triple Tail and wow what a battle. The boat erupted as the fish crunched the popper off the surface and Clint called it for a Triple Tail. The pressure on Brett was immense as I kept calling it for a monster and Clint became the 2 4 In TheSaltwater
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Mornings on the water well spent! Photo: Cherie Forbes
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Smaller Barramundi are great fun on fly Photo: Cherie Forbes
most excited I’ve ever seen him on the boat. After a few photos and a big pat on the back the fish was released to swim another day and we all knew we had just witnessed something amazing.
The fly I’m most partial to when fishing for both these species is a gold bomber. The movement it has and the flicker and flash it shows off as it dances through the water is magic.
After such a high we started concentrating on casting for Barra again. I always find it tricky fishing for Barra. The way they can inhale the fly and spit it out without me even feeling it can become very frustrating. If only they would just attack like a Mangrove Jack.
The afternoon arrives and we roll up the driveway and back into the lodge. With a few cold beers and plenty of laughs reliving the shenanigans from the day on the water I start to wonder about what lies ahead for us tomorrow.
It seems I have a knack for catching Jacks. Whether it’s the length of the strips or the speed of the bumps I seem to catch more Jacks than Barra. I’m certainly not complaining, these fish hit like a train and drag you back into the snag so fast if you blink you’ll miss it. 2 6 In TheSaltwater
We had an amazing time on this trip. Plenty of Barramundi and Mangrove Jacks were brought to the boat. We spent time chasing meter Queenies on the flats and even tried to tease up some Marlin around the islands but that’s a whole other story.
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Couple of birds just haning out. Photo: James Laverty
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Getting bent! Photo: Peter Morse
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Salty Barra on top water are a prized catch on fly! Photo: Vinnie Versveld
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Blue Bastard! Photo: Peter Morse
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Getting prepped for GEETS Photo: Katka Švagrová
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Maldives
THE DREAM COMES TRUE By Katka Švagrová
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MALDIVES
The Dream Comes True As a freshwater fly fishing girl who grew up in the middle of Europe I haven’t had that many experiences with saltwater fly fishing. I was lucky enough to have a great guide teach me some basic saltwater fly fishing skills (very important ones) on a recent trip to Western Australia. I spent a few weeks with a very skilled fly fishing guide and especially good person with the right attitude and fly fishing heart – Jono Shales. He introduced me to the saltwater fly fishing world three years ago and helped navigate me on my way to believe and never give up on my dreams. I was always dreaming about catching amazingly colourful Bluefin Trevally on the flats with palm trees and crystal clear water. It was one of my biggest fly fishing dreams, although my biggest dream was for my dad to catch a GT on fly, that was the biggest fly fishing dream ever. So, I decided to organize a trip to Keyhodhoo Island in the Maldives with a small group of fly fishers. We got to fish with some great local Maldivian guides from the Jupiter Sunrise Lodge and on top of that produce a short film about fly fishing the incredible Maldives’ flats!
LET OUR TRAVELS BEGIN! Everything started the day I gave the tickets to my father and said “Dad, this is your ticket to the Maldives - you are going with me”. His first reaction wasn’t that positive, like I expected. It was his first trip far away from home, and the first flight in his life, but after a few weeks he said yes and our journey could begin. Before our trip, I was studying the book GT by Peter McLeod, I also got some personal advice from him…. I felt well prepared! It was a long flight from Prague over Dubai to Male city. After first stepping out from the plane on the Maldivian ground I felt this would be a trip full of memories! We immediately loaded our gear onto the speed boat ferry from the main city and went with the local guides to the small island of Keyhodhoo, which is located just two hours from Male Airport. The local people were very friendly to us upon our arrival. There were coconuts growing on palm trees and fruit bats were flying just over our heads…Paradise!
“HE JUST KEPT SCREAMING AT ME
BIG BIG GT !!!
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We spent the rest of the day preparing our gear for the next few days of fishing. Our first day we quickly went 30 minutes by boat to a small desert island, arriving early in the morning. Tides were just perfect - low tide with rising water. We were wading on beautiful sandbanks, and water visibility was more than 50 metres. Early morning was really slow, we didn’t see that many fish, but after the tide started to fill the flats, fish started to show up. We saw lots of Bluefin’s from 3lb to 12lb, but no GT’s. After another hour, I finally saw them! Three nice BIG GT’s around 30lb were just swimming straight toward me! What the hell, what do I do? Our guide didn’t speak English that well and he just kept screaming to me BIG BIG GT!!! my heart was beating fast, it felt like it was about to jump right out of my chest. I flipped a cast with a perfect distance, and I expected the fish to just smash the fly, but…. they just swam around without any interest. They weren’t spooked, they just ignored my fly and it continued like that all day.
The gangster of the flats! Photo: Katka Švagrová
I didn’t know if my fly choice was the issue or something else I was unaware of so I did some research when we got back to the lodge. I found out that GT’s and Bluefin Trevally spawn in the middle of the summer every month during the full moon – and yes, we were there at this period! I was quite disappointed, but I also found out that after the full moon spawning period they are really hungry! LIKE I EXPECTED FOURTH DAY AFTER FULL MOON SHOULD BE BETTER! That day we hit the water early, we decided to fish in the channel, just 20 4 0 In TheSaltwater
A huge Bluefin Trevally Photo: Katka Švagrová
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“IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST STRESSFUL MOMENTS OF MY FISHING LIFE!” minutes from our island, where the run of the tide was coming from the ocean and bringing in food. When we saw our first group of bait fish (needle fish) the guide just mentioned to stay there and watch the water. He was right! After a few minutes a big GT came straight toward us! I was standing at a bad angle somewhere in the main stream, and even with my polaroid glasses I didn’t see anything. The guides tried to direct my cast from the bank and I managed to make a proper cast near the fish! That’s when I really got the thrill of hunting GT’s! 4 2 In TheSaltwater
Water was splashing all around and a big male was chasing down my popper. Suddenly I saw a fast-moving blue shine flashing around. A nice big Bluefin joined the GT and started to compete for my popper. It was like a lottery, which one of these two lovely beasts would get my popper first? Fish on! Lucky me, it was a trophy Bluefin Trevally on #10WT- what a fight! I was screaming with joy; the fish took me straight into my backing. I felt like too much backing was peeling through my fingers but after a few minutes of hard fighting I tailed my first Bluefin Trevally www.inthesaltflymag.com.au
The dream comes true for father and daughter! Photo: Katka Švagrová
on fly and what ‘s more – it turned out to be an amazing trophy fish! Not long after, we heard screaming from the other side of the flat – it was our friend Peter and his first fish! Before we managed to get to him he had tailed his beautiful sized GT, shaking the hands of his guide with a few tears of joy in his eyes. That day we caught a few more nice sized Bluefin’s, but my dad was still without a fish from the flats. On the way back to the lodge he got a few good casts into a few schools of Bonito so at least he had some good practise before it was his turn! www.inthesaltflymag.com.au
DREAMS COME TRUE FOR MY DAD As a freshwater fly fisherman my dad was struggling during the trip big time. He’d only managed to land a few small Bonito and Cod so far. The last day I decided to spend all day with him mostly by helping him to fulfill his dream. We had a slow morning’s fishing but after lunch on the boat I asked our guide to take us back to the same place where I caught a big Bluefin. During our trip I found that these fish reacted better to our splashing poppers than normal subsurface flies. I prepared all the gear over our lunch break and so began our last afternoon! In TheSaltwater 43
In their world.... Photo: Katka Švagrová
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My dads best GT on fly. Photo: Katka Švagrová
My dad was wading the main channel with our guide trying to find fish. It was quite difficult to spot the fish because the tide was high and the bottom was full of brownish coral. After a few hours of wading I had only managed to land two mid-sized Bluefin so I went back to the main area we had been focusing on, where my dad and our guide were waiting for these fish to arrive. When I arrived, he was up on the higher coral with a totally tangled fly line, that’s when the guide started to scream! GGGGTTTTTTT! It was one of the most stressful moments in my fishing life. I saw the big fish a few meters from us, my dad’s tangled fly line lay strewn on the coral as he tried to untangle it and all I could 4 6 In TheSaltwater
think of was the fish! For sure, like every passionate fly fisher I wanted to cast at that fish, but I decided to do the best thing ever. I gave my fly rod to my dad and said “cast”! He tried to say the same to me, but I was totally against it! “Dad, shit, keep on casting!” He made just one cast, it was by no means perfect… As the popper hit the surface, the GT smashed the fly right away just two meters from our feet! Dad was just screaming, the fly line was stuck on my pliers, we were both running across the flat to try to follow the fish and I was trying to release the fly line. It felt like eternity, I was shaking even more than during my www.inthesaltflymag.com.au
Getting ready for battle Photo: Katka Švagrová
fight with my big Bluefin Trevally. My dad didn’t expect how strong, powerful and speedy these fish are, but after few minutes he finally brought the GT closer and I managed to grab its tail. I handed him the biggest saltwater fish of his life. I think it was the best way I could ever repay him for all his care and all the years on the rivers we spent together during my childhood! THE GEAR RUN DOWN I was using Eianrsson 10+ reels, Alfa Infinity 12 reel and my old but reliable Reddington Behemoth 9/10 loaded with RIO GT floating fly lines and I also tried their new fly line Directcore Flats Pro, which worked amazingly well! Our leaders were 80lb and 100lb Fluoroflex from RIO. As you know the Maldives are located close to the equator so it’s very important to have good sun protection clothing. I used Patagonia gear with 50+ UPF sun protection. You need good www.inthesaltflymag.com.au
quality polarised sunglasses (I can recommend green mirror lenses during the sunny days or the new sunrise silver mirror from Costa sunglasses during cloudy days). I came to test out the new ZENSE saltwater rods from ArcticSilver innovation. These rods come from the Arctic region of Norway which made me sceptical as to how well they would work in saltwater conditions…… I was very surprised! I have never experienced a rod with the such a powerful blank. Even though I only used their #10WT rods to fight GT’s and Bluefin Trevally they handled them very well. The biggest advantage of these free flex rods is that when you need to pull with more power, you can just grab the blank higher up and you don’t have to worry about breaking the rod! Another advantage is they are really easy to cast and a great rod to fight big fish with!
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Getting your gear ready for the day ahead is almost as exciting as the day itself Photo: Kristina Royter
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Beautiful Cobia from the blue water Photo: Vinnie Versveld
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Early morning Diamond Photo: Graeme Cox
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Archerfish on surface popper Photo: Adam Royter
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FliesThat
Hunt D E B O R A H ’ S P I N K G T F LY By Gavin Platz
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Landed... Deb’s PB GT Photo: Gavin Platz
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Deborah's pink GT fly By Gavin Platz
Deborah and I met in Kiritimati about two years ago. I was there with a group and she had travelled all the way from London by herself at the invitation of a friend of mine, Felix, from Owen River Lodge. Because I had a group of anglers there at the time, we didn’t even get to fish together and since we now live together we thought it would be fun to go again, but this time fish together. Cool really. So, about a month before we were to go I asked Deborah “what would you like to catch this time?” expecting her to say her usual “I love Triggers.” She surprised me and said “I want a trophy GT!!!” After watching her cast her expensive #11WT GT outfit and her expensive GT fly in the park. I said “A GT?? Are you sure??” She replied, “I want a trophy GT” what do you say, she looked so keen. All I could think of to say was “you may need to cast a little further and without so many back casts!!” So, here’s what we did, to give Deborah the best possible chance if a GT did happen to give her that opportunity. We worked on finetuning the physics of her casting first. The best way I have found to achieve this is to do it with a lighter rod before progressing to a heavier rod weight. Deborah practised every day to fine tune the stop on her back cast. This is one of the most important things in casting a big heavy rod. Once this was right Deborah changed up to her Hardy #11WT Proaxis rod and after trying several different fly lines we fitted a Rio GT 475 g floater to load the rod. Girls are not as strong as men so bending and stopping a heavy rod on the back cast can be very difficult. We then made a fly about the same size as one a GT would eat and tied it on a 100lb leader. Deborah and I mucked around with leader length by shortening it six inches at a time, till a www.inthesaltflymag.com.au
length was found that made casting that size fly comfortable. Now it was time to look at the fly. A small fly is easier to cast than a bigger one. We first considered the visibility of a smaller fly in clear water. Very bright Pink (Fluoro Cerise actually) was the obvious choice & Deborah’s favourite colour. So now we had the colour, just need to make it. After guiding saltwater fly anglers now for over 23 years and doing a fair bit of it myself, I believe 100% “IT’S BETTER TO HAVE THE WRONG FLY IN THE RIGHT POSITION …… THAN THE SO CALLED RIGHT FLY IN THE WRONG POSITION.” So, whatever the fly is, it MUST be able to be cast to reach the Target or it’s the Wrong Fly. Being that the fly was going to be smaller we needed to pick a pattern that had the largest size with minimum bulk. It also needed a subtle action with neutral buoyancy (in shallow water it’s best to have the fly hang in the middle of the water column so the GT gets a good look at it). When a GT is on the flats, it’s either cruising from one flat to another and crossing your path or it’s up there to kill something. Either way if he doesn’t see it he won’t eat it. We decided on a tying style that Bob Popovics has made us all aware of with his Buck Tail Deceiver and his beast style of tying. Now because the leader is 100lb and Deborah is going to lay into that GT with all her strength we need the fly to be tied on a hook that won’t bend. We chose the Owner Aki #2/0. A very small hook for a GT, but strong enough to tow a truck with cutting points that are absolutely lethal. Hey presto Deborah’s Pink GT Fly. Now we had a balanced setup that allowed Deborah to load her Hardy #11WT easily & cast to a target at 70ft. Now comes the most important part……to PRACTISE with your setup. Picture it…GT coming….only seconds to get ready, practise is the key.
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So, Deborah practised her craft every day. Calculating exactly how much fly line needed to be out of the tip of the rod to load the rod. This distance was made easy by the colour change on the Rio GT line because you know exactly how much you have out every time. Once the fly/leader/line is cast out straight, strip five more quick handfuls of fly line off the reel, lean forward to lengthen your power stroke and now make a smoothly accelerated back cast, stopping with the rod in the correct position ready for a smooth forward cast & shoot the extra line to the GT. This sounds simple….but under the pressure of a GT coming ….quite difficult. We headed for Kiritimati ready and roaring to get a GT. Deborah’s chance came when we were on our way home after fly fishing the backcountry late one afternoon. We were finished fishing for the day and on the way home in the truck and actually on our second beer when the guides spotted a group of a dozen GT’s feeding close to the edge of one of the ponds we were skirting around to get home. The guides yelled GT …. GT …. GT as they do when they appear. The truck hit the skids and three anglers jumped off the truck as the guides got their GT rods out of the rack. Deborah’s rod came out second but as she had practised for a month before going to Kiritimati she stripped to the colour change & made a short cast, stripped another five strips of line out …. Removed all slack…. made a back cast she already knew she could make, shot the extra line out and started the strip while the others were struggling with the large #12WT rods and large flies and long leaders normally used. As Deborah had practised, the cast must be done fast or you miss out. The GT ate her fly and the rest is history. Deborah now has her trophy GT. Practise and fine tuning her gear was the key, not some secret special GT Fly. Deborah’s trophy GT was possible because of preparation & practise.
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Ultimate joy! Photo: Gavin Platz
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THE
FLY BOX FLIES BY
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Deb’s Pink GT Fly . Gavin Platz
MATERIALS Hook Thread Wing Flash Eyes Finish
Owner Aki #2/0 Flatwaxed Nylon Fl Pink Bucktail Cerise Bucktail Veniards Pink UV Flash 3D Stick on UV Solarez
Step 1 - Tie a good solid Thread base.
Step 2 - Tie in 30 strands of Pink UV Step 3 - Tie in a sma Flash, extending about 2.5 hook lengths so it is nearly as long behind hook bend. sure Bucktail is com flash.
Step 6 - While holding the Bucktail build a wedge of thread in front of the folded back Bucktail, sufficient to hold the fibres facing to the rear of the fly, but still splayed out to create volume with no bulk.
Step 7 - Tie in 12 strands down each Step 8 - Repeat step side of the fly & tie in a third stack of Bucktail also facing forward & extending about 2 hook lengths in front of the hook eye. Make sure the Bucktail is evenly distributed around the hook, repeat step 5.
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Remember Bucktail has air inside each hair, so if you use to much Bucktail the fly will float when it first hits the water and you really want the fly break through the meniscus as it hits the water but not sink too quickly. Making a couple flys and experimenting with different amounts of Bucktail will produce a fly you’ll be happy with. This same fly we use for Trevally can be used for a lot of different fish in both salt and tropical freshwater anywhere where you need a slightly bigger fly to imitate a bigger bait.
GT’s if they are seen on a flat they are either traveling from one flat to another or they are up there to kill something, the leader needs to be just long enough to reach past the GT’s tail so the flyline is not damaged due to the sharp edges at the wrist of the tail. The short leader will make it a lot easier to make a very quick fast long cast with a minimum of Backcasts. Tight lines, TNF Team
all bunch of Bucktail Step 4 - Tie in a second bunch of g as the flash. Make Bucktail only this time face the tips of mpletely around the the Bucktail forward & extending about 2 hook lengths in front of the hook eye. Make sure the Bucktail is evenly distributed around the hook.
p 6.
Step 9 - Place 3D Eyes, coat the head with UV Solarez & cure with light.
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Step 5 - Using a Pen Outer Case that fits over the eye of the hook, push the Bucktail to the rear of the hook, remove the pen & while holding the Bucktail in place with your fingers advance the thread forward.
Step 10 - Go Fishing!!
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Beautiful Christmas Island Bonefish for Deb! Photo: Gavin Platz
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Good sized flats Queenfish fallen to a crab pattern! Photo: Adam Mcloflin
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G
Salt
S
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Good Vibes &
twater Tides
SHE LOVES IT OUTDOORS! Words by Kristina Royter Photo’s by Kristina & Adam Royter
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W
hat is it about saltwater fly fishing that’s got a bad-to-the-bone Trout fisher like me looking towards coastal horizons with excitement and hunger to get more of that SWFF action?! I mean, it’s not like I haven’t got enough on my plate as it is! Not just my plate, but my fly boxes, my hip-pack and my fly rod holders!
Victorian streams and then moved further afield to the breath taking Victorian and NSW high country plains and Rocky Valley rivers. Fulfilled well and truly, because it’s never just been about catching a trophy Trout, getting my grip and grin pic and then moving on to the next new ‘thing’. I am definitely of the newer generation of fly fishers, wearing my fair share of plaid in lieu of tweed; it’s just that there has been so much to learn!
I’ve been fulfilled fly fishing-wise for Trout fishing comes with its own share the last seven years. I started out of challenges and tricky ones at that! Trout fishing the uniquely Eastern What bugs are they eating, spooky
Only outdoor men & women know the feeling! Photo: Kristina Royter
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critters seemingly always in ‘flight’ mode…so stay low! Oh, that one didn’t want that size 18 fly, let’s try this 20…or 22…or smaller?! But slowly, mission by mission, month by month and now year by year, I’m able to catch a few more on each trip with a higher understanding of what it is that Trout might want. So, what was it that happened to my fly fishing sub-conscience that first year I visited Weipa with (then boyfriend…now husband) Adam, and made my first (very inexperienced) cast with a #8WT fly rod towards the salty, pristine reefy waters laiden with a plethora of saltwater fish species?
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I’d never seen anything like it!! But back to that in a moment. We’d decided we needed a break coming out of a mild Melbourne spring, off the back of an even colder winter. Weipa, it sounded so exotic! So far away and such an unknown! My brain couldn’t tick over fast enough, imagining the different species of fish I might encounter. Not just the fishing though, imagine fly fishing off a sport fishing boat for most of the day, casting towards coral reefs and sandy white shores under that hot Australian sun. It was more than I could fathom!
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Flats for days, hunting down the prey! Photo: Kristina Royter
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First though, casting practice! Yep! Here’s your rod, much bigger than any of your fly rods. Here’s your reel, MUCH bigger than any of your Trout fishing reels, and this is your fly line, over 100’ for your fishing pleasure; but why so long? Hopefully you’ll see! Stiffer nylonleaders and tippets I couldn’t bite through with my teeth! What is all this? Once I got my head around the gear and understanding a longer rod required a longer casting stroke, Adam had me in the local park, casting on the windiest days as well. I was being pushed to newer limits and there was lactic acid building in arm muscles I hadn’t experienced with fly casting before. This was going to be AWESOME!
they had to offer. Then the Long Toms (Alligator Gar), and multple Trevally… it didn’t seem to have an end! I could never have anticipated the SWFF itch becoming a craving I wouldn’t be able to ignore. Fast forward to 2016/17, Adam is now my husband, we live in NZ’s South Island, yet the SWFF craving is stronger than ever! The best remedy I’ve found? Going saltwater fly fishing as much as possible! And I know all you In The Salt fly mag readers are nodding; because I know you get it.
The time in between salt water missions I fill with casting in the park and getting to know my gear better. I’m also learning And awesome it was! Well, for the about the knots and trying to better my half day I managed to fly fish anyway! casting distances and accuracy. It proved a little harder than I thought, and I didn’t end up landing any of those My progression is most definitely a saltwater fish I saw the others catch. direct result of the amount of Trout But I will never forget that sight for sore fishing I do, and it all just started to come eyes (or arms!) The boat, floating in a together quite naturally. But it’s good to small bay, surrounded by crystal-aqua know that even when that tricky Trout blue waters, dotted with slivers of evades me, I’m getting some other value silver joined with shadows of blue/ from the experience. grey, darting about the boat frantically! Moving from the sandy shore to the boat, The first time I visited Hinchinbrook, I disappearing underneath the hull only was lucky enough to get two casts to to reappear some 50ft away in the blink a school of Permit. The first time I ever of an eye, the speed of these fish in the saw them, there was a small school of water when on the move left me in a these greyish looking shadows in the permanent state of “wow”. water, swiftly swimming towards the skiff front deck I was standing on and in true Watching Adam and his mate Josh Trout fisher form, I quickly ducked down challengingly casting to Blue Bastards so as not to ‘skyline’ the fish…so little refusing well-presented fly after did I know about these shy fish, that my well-presented fly, and then for some left knee bumped the deck of the boat reason SMASHING one of them. Or the as I got down causing just enough of a Queenfish feeding on smaller prey and thud to spook them. “Where’d they go?” being fooled by the baitfish patterns I asked the guide standing up in the www.inthesaltflymag.com.au
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“THE SWFF NAIL WAS NOW IN
THE SALTY PISCATORIAL COFFIN!”
An epic capture for any red blooded fly fisho! Photo: Kristina Royter
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Sighting Salmon Photo: Kristina Royter
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poling platform, as I looked around completely clueless and hoping they’d reappear… “They’re spooked. The bump of your knee spooked them.” Shattered. But a familiar feeling this was. I’d had it before on numerous Trout I’d lost. Funny that hey? Emotions so well known to me, fly fishing in a completely different environment and so far away from any freshwater cold enough to harbour any Trout! That’s fishing they say. What now seems like the blink of an eye, but which was probably a couple of hours, the school of Permit reappeared - seemingly worked up by the Hammerhead Shark feeding nearby. “12 o’clock 45 feet and closing in!” I was a mess; my orientation shook up and my natural distance ‘radar’ shot. I placed a cast with the HEAVIEST shrimp fly I’d ever cast in the general direction of the fish which were now in my eyesight. Too many false casts, and I mistimed the first shot. “Pick it up! PICK IT UP! and put it at 11 o’clock, just there, there!” The guide calmly, yet with heightened alarm instructed. This was it. I picked the fly up out of the water, consciously put a positive stop in my back cast and delivered the fly just ahead of the small school of Permit. “Good, leave it, wait…bump… BUMP it!” …as the school slowly veered to the right, one lone fish glimpsed my fly bump…” Yep, Strike!” and with the calmest action I tugged my line tight in my line hand and pulled the rod towards me. To this day, I’ve NO idea how my Trout instincts didn’t take over; no Trout-strike this time for me! WOOH! Permit ON! And so unfolded my story with the Holy Grail of fly fishing. www.inthesaltflymag.com.au
The SWFF nail was now in the salty piscatorial coffin. It’s as simple as driving West for two and a half hours from our home in Cromwell here in NZ’s south, bound for Haast and Jackson Bay. I can’t tell you how many blue-water Trout rivers we cross to reach our salty destination. Admittedly, we stop on nearly every bridge to look over in hope of spotting the bridge troll. But we reach the coast, park our truck up on the sandy beaches surrounded by exhibitions of driftwood, and rig our saltwater fly rods as we aim for the seriously underrated sport fish of my time; the humble Kahawai or Aussie Salmon. We’re currently without boat - and hopefully the new boat eventuates soon - but for now, walking the seashore with fly rod in hand, hip pack now filled with saltwater fly boxes and scissors to cut my tippets (no biting anymore, thanks to my dentist’s advice), the waves lapping at my feet and sand between my toes; I’m a happy woman. These short missions from home prepare me for more tropical destinations and of course, they’re on the list. But I’m easily satisfied, and watching the sunset with Adam and our dog Abel (yep, like the fly reel) by my side, doing what we love most brings some seriously good vibes with those saltwater tides.
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Surf casting can produce some epic catches! Photo: Kristina Royter
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The beautiful colours of a bastard of a fish! Photo: Kristina Royter
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Flats box check......got everything covered. Photo: Krstina Royter
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Join Aussie Fly Fisher, Joshua Hutchins, for an unforgettable adventure chasing trophy trout and kingfish on the North & South Islands of New Zealand. From the rugged back-country to the wide-open saltwater flats, these trips encompass the best of New Zealand’s fly fishing.
2018 NZ HOSTED TRIPS
SOUTH ISLAND
TRIP 1 & 2: February 2018 NORTH ISLAND
TRIP 3: March 2018
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13/4/17 8:54 pm
Release the beast! Photo: Joshua Hutchins
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Diamonds are a girls best friend! Photo: Kristina Royter
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Albert with a good size Trigger. Photo: Gavin Platz
Ghost of the flats! Photo: James Laverty
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Ariel acrobats like Queenfish are suckers for flies! Photo: Peter Morse
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Species
SPOTLIGHT
Need a
Permit? 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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Need a Permit? Even a casual observer of the Australian saltwater fly fishing scene would be aware of the respect and reverence afforded one particular tropical species. Its Latin or scientific name is well known – Trachinotus Blochii, but its common name has long been the subject of some healthy discussion. In case you hadn’t worked it out, we are talking about the Snub Nosed Dart, Oyster Cracker, Oyster Eater, Pumpkinhead, Snub Nose Pompano, Snub Nosed Swallowtail, Buck Nosed Trevally or perhaps, just perhaps, the Indo-Pacific Permit. The question is, are we, err, permitted to call this fish a ‘Permit’, or not? And while we’re on the subject, let’s have a look at whether or not there are any other large Dart/Permit swimming the waters of Northern Australia.
Trachinotus To begin with, let’s consider where the fish we generally know as the Snub Nosed Dart fits into the classification of fishes. The members of the group to which it belongs are generally called the ‘Pompanos’ or sometimes ‘Pampanos’. All are closely related, belonging to the genus Trachinotus, and are placed in the large family Carangidae which also contains all the Trevallies, Jacks, Scads, Amberjacks, Queenfishes etc. At the moment, it is generally agreed by fish taxonomists that there are 20 distinct species in the genus Trachinotus. Of those, 14 are ‘officially’ called ‘Pompanos’, three are known as ‘Darts’, one is called the ‘Derbio’, one, the ‘Palometa’ and just one, and only one is called a ‘permit’, its scientific name being Trachinotus falcatus. It is only found in the western Atlantic, most notably, along the Florida coast although a closely related species, the Florida Pompano, Trachinotus Carolinus, is also found in the same region and indeed causes some confusion as to what is a permit and what is a pompano over there. The Florida Pompano rarely grows to a size much more than 3kg (much smaller than the permit) but separating the two species when small has always been tricky. Keen-eyed anglers could count the soft rays of the anal
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fin, which number 20 or less in the permit, compared to about 22 in the Florida Pompano, or they could run their finger over the tongue of the fish. The true Permit has small teeth on the surface, while the Florida Pompano has a smooth tongue. Nevertheless, given their obvious similarity, why should one be called a Permit and the other, a Pompano?
Dart or Permit Back to Australia and we find that in our waters, four species of fish in the genus Trachinotus have long been recognised. But don’t go away – there may be more. We have the Swallowtail Dart (Trachinotus Coppingeri) of Southern Queensland, the Northern Swallowtail Dart (Trachinotus Bailloni), the large Spotted Dart (Trachinotus Botla), possibly only found in WA and, of course, the largest member of this group, the Snub Nosed Dart, Trachinotus Blochii. It is no secret that a number of writers and anglers have begun referring to the last species as the ‘Indo-pacific Permit’ rather than the Snub Nosed Dart. But there has been resistance to using the name ‘Permit’ and this has been mainly due to fact that the name has traditionally only ever applied to the Atlantic species mentioned above, the true, iconic Permit. But one might well say, ‘so what?’ Common names are just that, so since the Permit/Snub-Nosed Dart is of such special interest in this country, I see no reason why frequent use of the name ‘Indo-Pacific Permit’ shouldn’t come into general acceptance among the fly ‘fishianados’ and eventually be adopted as the ‘official’ common name. And now to the question regarding the likelihood of another large Pompano or Permit occurring in Northern Australian waters. This has always been quite possible, but if so, it was unlikely to be a species unknown to science. The issue was really settled in the late 2000’s, partly by well known fly fisher Peter Morse noticing that a photo of a 48 cm so-called Snub Nosed Dart in ‘Grant’s Guide to Fishes’ was almost certainly a different species and that it was quite well known, especially from the western Gulf country. Subsequently, a juvenile fish which Peter suspected of being the second species was www.inthesaltflymag.com.au
forwarded to the Queensland Museum and positively identifed as a fifth species of Trachinotus, now called either the ‘Oyster Pompano’ or Giant Oystercracker’, Trachinotus Anak. This species is identifiable at all sizes by its distinct ‘nose’ which protrudes past the tip of the lower jaw, whereas the profile of the Snub-Nose is quite smooth. As well, it is clear that the dorsal and anal fins of the Snub-Nose are considerably longer than those of the Anak. Editor Justin Webber tells me that Trachinotus Anak are quite common around the Central Coast area of Queensland (his largest to date being 17 lb), which certainly extends its range well beyond the Gulf of Carpentaria, but that fly fishers in Western Australia are of the opinion that it does not occur on their side of the continent. With the issue of whether or not there are two species of large Trachinotus in Australian waters happily solved, what to call them? It seems to me that ‘Indo-Pacific Permit’ has already been claimed for the previously named Snub Nosed Dart, so I guess if there is an urge to call the second species a Permit of some kind as well, the fishing fraternity out there will have to come up with something other than Oyster Pompano or Giant Oystercracker. At least they won’t have to apply for a permit to do so (pun definitely intended).
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Permit! Photo: Peter Morse
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A prized Weipa Permit Photo: Adz McLoflin
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A tasty snack prepared by Chris R. Photo: Chris Rippon
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Longtoms are real acrobats once hooked but stay away from those teeth! Photo: Kristina Royter
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The BIG GUNS! Photo: Kristina Royter
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STUFF WE THINK YOU NEED A COLLECTION OF FLY RELATED PARAPHERNALIA
LOWRANCE ELITE 7 TI The new Lowrance range of sounders are great bits of gear. They are easy to use and with the new upgrades make finding fish in the deeper stuff so much easier. The Total Scan transducer makes for great imagery and lets nothing go past unnoticed! So if you’re in the market for a new sounder take a look at the new Lowrance range.
RIO Cranky Kit RIO’s new cranky kit winder is a pretty cool little gadget for transfering fly lines quickly and neatly. This guy delivers quick line replacement when you need it most. The only down side is it’s designed for RIO spools so you’ll need a couple of them if you’re doing more than one line. This cranky winder gets a 5/5 from us!
GARMIN quatix® 5 Yes it makes you coffee too! This is an awesome bit of tech stuff every waterman can enjoy. It has way to many functions to try and list here but a few of the features I have found very useful are: Heart Rate... its awesome to see what happens to your body when you hook up to a fish! Tide Chart...it uses GPS to determine where you are and gives you the most accurate tidal data for that exact location, you do however need to be connected to your phone. Track Me... If you want to find your mates secret spot, flick this function on next time you tag along with them. Boating...Gives you the same in GPS tracking but also gives you speed, direction, average speed & max speed. Fusion-Link...Links to your Fusion sounds system so you never have to listen to the same song over and over again If you have a GARMIN sounder this watch can also link to it and give you things like auto-pilot, boat info and much more!
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PEELING BACK THE LAYERS. #10WT VISION MERISUOLA REVIEW By Gavin Davis
With the big move from the bright city lights of Sydney, north to the blissful sandy flats of Hervey Bay, I thought it was probably time to get a little more serious about my saltwater fly fishing. Not having bought a new rod for some time, the hunt was on for the latest and greatest, whats hot and what’s not. It didn’t take long to be overwhelmed by all the marketing hype and general bs..... How many ASTRONAUTS died in the development of that rod??? How many baby GOATS were sacrificed??? Seriously, just give me the damn thing and let me cast it!!! Amongst an array of other brands some how I ended up with a #10WT Vision Merisuola in my hands just before a trip to Exmouth earlier this year. I say I don’t care much for what label is on a rod, but I must admit I was a little hesitant. I mean let’s face it...... here in Australia we do live under a rock, heavily influenced by the American market and not so eager to change. Ok, this will be interesting.....a European designed salt water stick.....Hmmmm, I hope it’s not another #10WT Trout rod! Straight up you’re confronted with a bright sky blue aluminum rod tube and retro orange “Merisuola” logo boldly printed down the side. Off comes the end cap to unexpectedly reveal a very elegant cork embossed logo on the under side, featuring a lion shield proudly representing the company’s Finnish heritage. The orange theme continues with a bright, well made, 4 pocket, protective rod sock. Setting eyes on the rod for the first time, there’s no doubt it grabs your attention.... A bold permit logo featured on the fighting butt and again on the blank, distinguishes the rod model and instantly you feel the Merisuola’s serious www.inthesaltflymag.com.au
saltwater intentions! The aluminum reel seat is a platinum grey finish, with double up-locking nuts, ready and willing to support any saltwater reel. A comfortably shaped, premium quality, full wells cork handle is standard as expected with any high end rod. The blank itself has a raw carbon, unsanded military look, with black bindings, blue accents and bullet proof REC nickel titanium alloy snakes and titanium stripping guides. The Merisuola is obviouly ready for any saltwater battle! Now, I think this is the part of the review where I’m supposed to TELL you how much more advanced this rod is, and really make you QUESTION how has it actually been possible to catch fish on any other rod until this point in time??? Well sorry to disappoint, but I’ve been around the block long enough to know that such a mythical rod doesn’t really exist! So why do I like this rod? Simple really..... I can’t fault it! I have fished this rod for some time now, in a variety of different conditions and situations. From casting heavy crabs to wind resistant poppers and from lifting Tuna from the depths to pulling Barra out of snags, the Merisuola simply takes it all in it’s stride. The crisp, fast action is an absolute joy to cast. Whether it’s popping a sexy tight loop off the tip with a surf candy, or rolling out a nice big lazy loop with a clouser, the taper of this rod is so forgiving, superbly controllable and so easy to fish - It’s a rod I simply don’t want to put down at the end of the day!
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I take my hat off to Vision and all involved in the development of the Merisuola range, it’s great to finally see a company try NOT to re-invent the wheel, but rather really REFINE what we already know works. Well, I’m very proud to say the Vision Merisuola has definitely earned a spot on my boat, so does this mean you should go out and buy one just because I like it?
Hell No! Should you get a Merisuola in your hands, compare it to any other premium rod out there and make up your own mind? Hell Yes! www.merisuola.com
RRP $1,119.00 AUD Spare sections $90.00 AUD
Distribution AUS&NZ: Kickelly P/L Email: Antti.vappula@visiongroup.fi Phone: +61 4020 1759
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PASS ME THE SALT VISION FLY BOX REVIEW By Brett Clarke & Cherie Forbes Vision Flyfishing’s ever popular fly box range has just been expanded for the 2017/18 season with a funky new release into the Aqua range. The Pass Me The Salt fly box has landed in Oz and is here to stay. Every fly angler wants to own a cool fly box to house their precious army of fluffy soldiers, often lined up and somewhat organised in preparation for their next piscatorial encounter.
contained within. The foam is dense and will hold a great range of hook sizes. There is more than enough space to line up your fly selection for the next adventure. A single oversized nylon latch on the front keeps the box secure; your flies are stored nice and dry whilst a piano styled hinge is featured across the rear of the box for ease of opening and closing. A hole is located on each side of the latch, allowing you to ‘lock’ up your flies.
Don’t let the name fool you, the PMTS box sizing will cover you for most situations. My fly fishing predominately takes me from estuary flats with a day pack or kayaking in the sweet water for our natives through to light pelagic work in the salt. The sizing is ideal for a multitude of applications, they are easy to handle, they fit perfectly into my day pack, take up virtually no space in my yak and I can easily store a couple in the boat for a full day on the water.
The box is manufactured from a durable polypropylene copolymer, to date I have found the finish to be excellent with scratch resistant qualities. The colour of the box is easy on the eye, tropical blue if you like, that puts you right in the mood to strip set your next trophy.
So far, I am running four of these boxes, one is for crabs / estuary poppers, one for shrimps, one is loaded with candy/baitfish profiles and the last is for my go to Bass patterns. At any time, my flies are ready to grab and go. I would rather be spending more time on the water than mucking around picking out flies for the next session.
At sub $50 AUD, the Pass Me The Salt box represents great value for your hard-earned coin.
THE SPECS
What I really like about the Pass Me The Salt box is the simplicity in design, yet so effective in function.
Take a serious look at the Pass Me The Salt fly box, you won’t be disappointed. The Aqua range of fly boxes is available through your local Vision Flyfishing stockist or shop online at www.bwcflies.com.au
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Brilliant effort by David landing this cracking Red Bass on Anaa Atoll Photo: James Laverty
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In a Moment, or Two By Stephen Kimber
In the interests of privacy, no names are given and relations have been changed here. And where is here? Call it X creek, sub-tropical, saline; home allegedly to stonker jack. What the four people who have pedalled tandem hobies upstream are looking for is not necessarily Jack - though they wouldn’t say no - they’re chasing flathead. The tide is falling rapidly, the last of the run out. Mangroves flicker with small honeyeaters, the sun flashes too bright sometimes off water and there is the sea swish of soldier crabs scuttling away: sensory echoes of childhood for three of them. Two of our group wave fly rods, the third and fourth, female, are using spin rods. They’ve beached both tandem kayaks on a long emerging sand bar and walk to plumb the channels that the waters ebb through. They’ve split up. No dialogue or not much except the youngest calling, after a claggy walk through mud, “I’m on… No, I’m not… it got off.” She flicks her plastic back out into a back channel, intent on getting the next one. One of the men, her uncle, has looked up; she sees the thumbs up but does she hear his, ‘You’ll get the next one”? She’s intent. Her uncle smiles, deep-down smiling: she’s in the moment and that is a wonderful thing,
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considering. And he goes back to what he’s been doing, laying out casts on a floating six weight fly line, nine foot leader, letting the clouser sink, and then the slow strip pause retrieve; 15 foot of line in and form the D and a roll cast (thank god there’s not much wind as he’s not so good at roll casting but a roll cast is the easiest way to get the pink and white fly back out and working the drop off, slightly up but cross current, with the water running out hard, now it’s nearly at the low, through the channel…) The other man, whose wife has died seven months earlier and whose daughter is the young girl of “I got him, no I didn’t” record, does not hear his daughter. He’s just then in a moment; he feels the snag, no it’s not, the tug, then nothing. Not on. Pause, a short strip, pause, a tap, pause, the shortest of strips, no more than four inches, and then the sudden sharp arrest of line and yes, he’s on. The second female, woman, spinner of hard bodied lures, sees her brother in law grinning and fighting a fish on fly gear her husband gave him. She works towards him and he works it up on the bank. “Nice Flattie,” she says. She loves that he’s smiling. She feels like smiling too and that’s a first for a while. www.inthesaltflymag.com.au
Tailing Loop
“First one on fly,” he says, “take a photo, please.” Done. She takes another and focuses on the fly in the mouth; her husband likes her to do this. “Is that one of - she names her husband’s - flies?” “Yep, it’s some sort of fuzzly thing, he tells me, apparently for bream. And now, obviously, for flatties.” She moves 10 metres up channel and they fish close, but without the need for talk until she hooks one on her lure and he comes across to admire her bigger Flathead. He unhooks it for her, she poses for photo, holding the fish under its belly, then she lets it go, crouching down and watching it swim off. “We should keep some fish for dinner,’ he says. “Yes. I think - she names her husband - has a good keeper already.” Earlier the youngest girl has finally hooked and landed a small Flounder. She dances on the sandbar; her uncle comes over and admires the fish; he unhooks it and they form a loose pairing, almost a mirror image of his wife and her father. The husband and the young girl walk the sandbar in a different direction, away from the others. She, the youngest girl, the daughter, stops to fish a bend and he, the husband, crosses a shallowing channel and fishes the main channel, near the rocky bar. The water runs that deep-green that clean salt water has; there have to be fish here, he thinks. and he lays out a cast and lets the clouser sink. www.inthesaltflymag.com.au
It is here, a hundred metres around from his wife, that he gets the first keeper. 60 centimetres of Flathead. His wife sees him, he grins, and then he lays the fish in a pool locked into the huge sandbar, isolated water; a making tide will let it re-join the river and yes, the tide will make soon. They all catch more fish and slowly converge on the main channel where the water has gone slack and then begun to make. They clean 4 good Flatties, enough for tea, and splash back across the deepening water between them and the kayaks. They stow the flatties in a bag in a hatch, look at each other and the waning day, and the sun not so hard off water now… and they are all grinning. “That was great,” says her brother-in-law. “Yes, I could do with a lot more of that,’ says the wife. “You’re always in the moment when you’re fishing,” says her husband. “And they were some moments today.” They let him, this time, have the final word.
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Bluefin Trevally are not only beautiful but are amazing fish to catch! Photo: Katka Švagrová
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A true brute of the Trevally family Photo: Vinnie Versveld
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Final Offering
From the editor
Wow Issue #3, we made it and it’s only getting stronger thanks to the support of our readers, fantastic contributors and advertisers. The weather has been favourable of late but due to other commitments my time on the water hasn’t been much at all. The trip we had planned to St Brandon unfortunately never eventuated due to unforeseen circumstances but I still hope to get there one day to witness first-hand how things used to be! My journey with this magazine has been incredible so far and shows no signs of things changing. We have some great stories already coming together for Issue #4 which is set to come out at the end of the year. Thank you again to our fantastic readers, contributors and advertisers without you guys and girls this wouldn’t be possible.
“The finest gift you can give to any fisherman is to put a good fish back, and who knows if the fish that you caught isn’t someone else’s gift to you?” ~ Lee Wulff Never a truer word said! I’m not against keeping fish to eat myself, that is one of the great joys of fishing, but a well-managed fishery will be there for our children’s children to enjoy. On a recent trip overseas I heard, “we used to catch lots of Marlin…. now only 1 a month maybe” hours later a healthy 520lb female Blue Marlin hung from the gantry for photos. Very sad really. Meat destined for foreign hotel guests to enjoy. This just makes me think how important it is for us to protect what we have and hopefully through our publication we can bring awareness to all anglers around the world how important it is to protect your fishery. 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, tight lines! Justin Webber Editor & Publisher
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