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SurfaceFlies r,.YJ3.y,"ffi"* EAST-NORTHEAST HADBEENBLOWING 25KNOTS HEWIND for aweek.But todaywasdifferent:the waterwaspancakeflat, an anomalyin New England.According to the computerized wind at 10knots, voiceon the \vVXchannel,we had a west-southwest but therehad beenno movementin the treeswhen Ileft home at 4:00 a.m.and nary aripple on the waterwhen I launchedthe boat at 4:30. It's not often that the seasareso calm, and I enteredBostonHarbor at a trot. BetweenGallopsIslandand Nix's Mate,crowdsof gulls, terns, and cormorantswere feastingon small herring, silversides,and squid. EverywhereI looked,I sawbreakingfish. As I killed the outboard, part of me thought about working a big pattern down deep for bigger fish, but I quickly scuttled those thoughts in favor of somesurfacework. One outfit in the boat was riggedwith a floating line and a slider,and I fired the topwater fly into
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the fray.Everytime I strippedline,the cone-shaped headmadethe fly movelike a ]ohnny Most description of a BostonCelticsgame:it fiddled and diddled, dodgedand weaved,zigged and zagged.A small basssmashedthe slider and missed,hit it and missedagain and then again,until I let the fly sit for a moment and watchedit disappearin a splash.For the next hour, I caught one schoolie striper after another, all on the surface.On this morning, the down-deepoutfit stayedin the rod holder.
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TIP:When T0PWATER you'refishinga popper, keepyourrodtip low to the water, as shown above.This eliminates slackin yourlineasyou retrievethefly.
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Muyb. a fast-sinking line and a big streamer is the best combination for trophy fish, but topwater fishing is hard to beatfor sheerfun and excitement. Becausesurfaceflies resembleinjured baitfish, they provoke some of the most violent strikes from striped bassand bluefish. The fish don't connect on every strike, and that's part of the fun. It's pure magic when a fish gets frustrated by missing an easymeal, and then comesback and smokesyour fly.
Types of Surface Flies
makea racketand Withtheirbig,deeplycuppedfaces,highpoppers displacea lot ol water.They'regoodllies for choppywater.
Because theyride low in the water,Bangershookfish verywell. Anglerswho tie their own flies can makeBangerswith interchangeable headssoyoucanswitchsizeswhile fishing.
Slidersdon'tmakemuchnoise,buttheydartlromsideto sideand upanddown.Fishthemwith an erraticretrieve.
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Most anglersthink only of poppersfor surfacework, but surfaceflies come in many different styles.The key to selectinga fly is to match its designwith the bait it imitates and the type of water you're fishing. Any fly will work during a surfaceblitz, but it's often fsnto makethe fish want to eat your fly evenwherethere'sno obvioustopwater feed.Let'slook at someoptions. H I G H P 0 P P ER S. Thesehavebig profiles and deeplycupped faces, and they move a lot of water. One type is made from a densefoam called Live Body and is coveredwith Witchcraft Mylar tape. Other sryles,such asEdgewater'spopper heads,aremade from softer foam. No matter what they're made of, high poppers displacewater and make a big commotion on the surface.Good patterns vary from a blue or greenback over a pearl underbelly to bright colors such as orange or yellow. While many high poppers are made to imitate medium-size baitfish, they also work well as attractor patterns when the bite is on. Theseflies are alsogood searchingpatterns,and will attract fish over rocks or in deep water.Sincethey make a lot of noise,they're good flieswhen there'sa chop on the surface.Short, hard strips followed by brief pauseswill get a predator's attention and give it time to make a move. Sometimes,though, you'll get more strikes by simply chugging a popper with a steady,consistent movement. L 0 W P 0 P P ERS. Long and thin, low popperssit low in the water and look like slenderbaitfish.They'remade of a number of materials:foam coveredwith Mylar tubing, foam colored with permanent markers, and even balsa painted to look like a minnow. Becausethey have shallower, flatter faces,they move lesswater than high poppers do. Low poppers are also lesswind-resistant and therefore easierto cast. When winds are lighter and the fish are sipping smaller baitfish such assand eelsor silversides,thesethin poppers work particularly well. Fish them with longer strips and a steadyretrieve.As searchingflies,low poppers work well in mid-depth water or on calm dayswhen a bigger, noisier popper might spook fish rather than attract them. B A N G ERS. The Banger,createdby Bob Popovics,hasa short, cylindrical foam headthat makesthe fly chug water. Sincethe hook shankruns through the centerofthe foam head,and sincethe foam occupiesonly part of the hook, a Bangerswimswith the hook bend and point well down in the water. Like many other Popovics designs,the Banger seemssimple, untilyou remember that none of the rest of us thought of it. And, also like other of Bob's flies, the Bangeris a rugged, practical design. Bangerscome in many sizesand colors.Ifyou don't glue the foam head to the hook, but simply friction-fit it on a baseof rod-wrapping thread, you can remove the foam and replaceit with a Iarger or smaller head, or one of a different color. Bangerswork well on aggressivefish and are best fished with short, erratic strips on calm to moderately windy days. S L I D ERS. The long, cone-shapedheadsof sliderscanbe madeof hard or soft materials.Slidershavevery low profiles and move horizontally as well as vertically. Their up-and-down and side-to-sidemotion works
particularly well in very shallow water and on selectivefish. They don't make a lot of noise, but sliderscan often teasefish into striking. An erratic retrievethat mixes short and long strips is a greattechnique with a slider.Stripedbassinhale the fly along with a lot of water. Don't strike too quickly; let the fish take the fly and purge the water from its mouth beforeyou setthe hook. Stripedbassthat take sliderstend to be hooked inside the mouth rather than in the lips asthey arewith poppers. G U R Gt ERS. The Gurgler,designedby Iack Gartside,is a sparse,thin, easy-to-casttopwater fly. At first glance,it seemsan unlikely saltwaterfly: a narrow clump of bucktail for the tail, a body of Estazor foam with a palmered hackle,and a strip of foam pulled over the back like a shell.The secretis the foam lip at the front of the fly, which makesa Gurgler chug water and dart around on the retrieve.Gurglersaretied in a variety ofcolA Gurglergets its actionlrom the foamlip at the lront of the lly. ors, of which white, yellow, and black seemthe most popular. appealto a huge Amongthe easiesttopwaterfliesto cast,Gurglers Thanksto its shapeand materials,a Gurgler is very easyto cast,doesn't theyimitatemanytypesof bait. varietyof saltwaterfish because hit the water with a big splash,and floats low in the water. They work particularlywell in shallowwater for spookyfish. Vary your retrieves,but focus more on slow, short strips. F L 0 A T I N G S A N D E E L S A N D S I L V E R S I D E S .T h e s e b e l o n g to the group of fliestied to match specificbaitfish.Most aremade with a foam corecoveredwith prismatictapeor, more commonly, a braidedmaterial such as Corsair or EasyBody Braid. Designedto imitate small baitfish suchassilversides,sandeels,or anchovies,thesetopwater flies are tied in a variety of lengths and colors. The purposeof floatingsandeelsand floating silversidesisn't to make a racket(theydon't displacemuch water),but to closelyimitate crippled baitfish. They work best dead-drifted in some current, near a hole or along structure. An occasionaltwitch givesthe fly some movement and motivatesnearby fish to strike. FLATWINGS. KenneyAbramesties his long, slendersaltwater streamersflatwing style-that is, with the vane of each feather horizonMadewith Corsairor a similartubing overa loamcore,floatingsand tal ratherthan vertical.The hackles'orientationcreatessomethingof aparaeelsandsilversides accurately represent long,skinnybaitfish. They chute effect,and a Flatwing streamerfloats just below the surface.Since work bestdead-drilted in thecurrent,with an occasional twitch. they're tied with especiallylong, thin-stemmed, and flexible feathers, Flatwingsmove and undulatein the slightestcurrent. Kenney'sstreamers,particularly big patternssuch asthe RazzleDazzleor any of the R.L.S. series,don't require much (if any) stripping; their color and natural movement arewhat provoke strikes.Let them drift with the current, and they'll pull big bassup from rocks and ledges,from shallow-waterboulder fields,and from troughs along beaches.Becausethey don't havemuch frontal area,Flatwingsare easyto cast even with lighter-than-average tackle.In November of lastyear,PaulApuzzo, a Connecticut shoreguide, caughta 49-pound striper in the surf on a variation of aRazzleDazzle. (You can learn about tying Flatwingsfrom an article by this author in the Summer2001FIyTyer. Order the issueat flyfishingmagazines.com,-ed.) CREA S E Ft I ES . Thesearethe invention of Capt. JoeBladosof Long Island,who hit on the idea of folding, or creasing,a pieceof sheetfoam overthe hook to make the body of a topwater fly, and securingthe creased foamwith superglue.The tails of CreaseFliesare made of bucktail or saddle hackles.Permanentmarkerssupply the color, and a pair of stick-on flies areeasyto eastandveryeffectiveonmanyspecies.They Witchcraft eyescompletesthe fly. Grease work well with a varietyof retrieves, andevenwhendead-drifted. You can make CreaseFlieswith tapered,elongatedheadsif you want them to actlike sliders,or with flat nosesthat function more like poppers. Sincetheyhaverelativelylittle frontal area,CreaseFliesareeasyto cast.Fish themslowly,with an occasionalpop, or dead-driftone alonga current seam.
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D E f R - H A I R S T R E A M E R S . E r i c L e i s e r ' sA n g u s ,L o u T a b o r y ' s SnakeFly, and many of Bill Catherwood's Giant Killer serieshave spun deer-hair heads.Theseflies sit just below the water's surface,and when retrieved they push a lot of water. Fished on a floating line, a deer-hair streamer can even make a wake on the surface.Tied in a variety of sizes and colors, deer-hair streamersimitate both big and small baitfish, and they catch fish under many conditions.
Fishing the Surface
pusha lot of waterandappealto mostsaltwater Deer-hair streamers gamelish species.Youcanfish themon floatingor sinkinglines, andin nearlyanykindof watel. withfastor slow retrieves,
with A Flatwingstreamer hangsiustbelowthesurfaceandundulates Thepatternsareprovenbig-fishflies. theslightest cunrent.
represent slenderbaitfish.They'rerelativelyeasyto cast Lowpopperc andgoodchoices on calmdaysor in shallowwater.
Topwater fishing conditions and fish behaviorvary quite a bit. It's common to find a big pod of stripedbassor bluefishblitzing bait. Heads,backs, and tails are everywhere;gulls, terns, and cormorants are either on the water or dive-bombing the school;and your fly selectiondependsmerely on the effect of the wind on the water. Rougher water requires a fly that makes a statement,whereasflatter water indicates a lower-profile, quieter fly. If you encounter a school ofbig bluefish crushing butterfish, attractor patterns may work better becausethey stand out from the bait. Many times, you'll find breaking fish in deep water. Theseschoolsof predators often use the sloping sides of channels to corral bait. They might also setup an efficient feedingsystem,with bigger fish pushing the bait toward the surface and the smaller to mid-size fish circling the remaining food in the upper part of the water column. 'vVhenyou spot fish feeding on or near the surfacein deeperwater, pick your fly according to the amount of surfacechop, and rememberthat bright, quickly moving flies will attract smaller fish. If you're looking for that one big bass, resistthe urge to castand strip wildly. Throw a big fly and work it slowly. Blitzing fish in clear,calm, shallowwater call for a different approach. Most times,anglerswho work alongthe edgesofthe action find their hookup ratio much higher becausetheir flies stand out from the denselycorralled school of bait. Giving the fly a minimum of movement, typically just a twitch or two, makesit suggesta wounded baitfish that hasbecome easyprey. Floating silversidesand Gurglers usually get the job done. Night fishing the dropping tide of a salt pond or estuaryis a greattime to work the surface,particularlywhen the water teemswith slurping bass. Sliders,floating minnows, deer-hair streamers,and Flatwings aie effective flies in these instances.Throw a few mends into your line, follow it downcurrent and acrosswith your rod tip, and then start a slow, erratic retrieve combining short and long strips. Pausefor a moment after you feel a fish's tap and strip-strike to set the hook. Longer rods, those from 9r/zto I0 feet, are ideal for this type of fishing. When you fish around rock gardens,ledges,and inshorebarrier islands, particularly those in big-basswater, you owe it to yourself to cast a big Flatwing. Pitch the fly in closeto the rocks and barely move it along; the fly's construction will do most of the work. Big basswill peel offthe bottom or sneakout from under a ledge and simply come up and inhale the fly. You'Il want to use a fluorocarbon shock tippet to prevent breakoffs. Use a combination of fixed and loop knots for your surfacework, and think about the effectyou're trying to achieve.Becauseof the Gurgler'ssubtlety, I mostly usea fixed knot to keep my line tight to the fly so that I can move it with just a twitch when I want to. With slidersand Flatwings,I mostly use a loop knot, which contributes to the fly's motion. Experiment with different knots, retrieves,and flies;they're all part of the fun. --_S"_ manager A lifelongsaltwateranglerand a regionalbusiness for Orvis,TomKeer livesin Boston.
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