Sea Trout on waking flies - Part 3.

Gear selection for fly fishing seatrout on waking flies in small streams

This post will cover the essentials on gear selection when fishing for seatrout with waking flies but first it's appropiate with some backgrund information on sea trout and the fisheries.

Seatrout migrates from the sea and fiords of Denmark back to the same stream or creek they once were “born”. This migration last from late May to in the late fall. Seatrout grow big in Denmark. Several +10 kg fish are caught each year. Most fish are in the 2-4 kg range though.
 

Seatrout are very hard to catch. They are back in the stream/creek for only one reason and that’s not eating. They are here to spawn – that’s it. But if you know a few tricks it’s still possible to provoke them to take a fly. Fly fishing for seatrout has a long tradition in Denmark . In the last few year things have changed. We now mostly fish for freshrun seatrout in the dark hours with big flies. Later in the season seatrout can be caught all day but in summer you’ll have to loose some sleep to get close to the big ones.

In summer seatrout are passive all day but they tend to start to be active in the hour of the “last light” and you can catch them out in the open in the dark hours . The term “dark” is not entirely correct as we are blessed with fantastic light summer nights where you can tie on a fly without the help of a flashlight. On overcast days you will need the flashlight though... 

What we love most about fly fishing for seatrout in the dark is that it’s a very visual game. You’ll often  see the seatrout following your fly for quite a distance before they hit it, miss it or simply just turn around again.

We at skagitanglers.com have a few favorite techniques and set-up that’s in our opinion are perfect for these long summer nights hunting for seatrout. We prefer fishing with either a single hander #7 or even better a #6 or 7 switch rod which can be fished with one hand when needed.  As for our choice of  lines we use three different set-up.

1)       Commando Skagit head from OPST. 4,5-5,5 m fished with a mono leader or a intermediate polyleader.

2)      ECHO Skagit Intermediate with 12’ mono.  Very “dangerous” tool in the right hands.  

3)      ECHO Skagit Switch and 10’ Intermediate polyleader.  Easy to hande - also during the dark hours.

We need to fish those very short lines due to the fact that our streams are small (4-8 m wide) and we want to fish the flies very aggressively. Generally we cast with a 90 degree angel and start stripping the fly when it hits the water and we will keep stripping it all the way in. This can not be done effectively with traditional long (9m or more) lines. So short lines is they best choice by far.  

We want the fly to make as much noise as possible.  We attempt to make fly to move just beneath (sometimes on top of) the surface – creating a wake as it swings across. You need to cover as much likely holding water you can. But don’t be fooled. Seatrout like wide open stretched especially if you fish a stream with not too many anglers. Move fast. Fish hard. Keep casting to hot spots. A short heavy easy loading line is perfect for this kind of fishing technique.

Here's a few hint on our flies (see also Part 1-2). They are big, there are black and there are actually quite ugly. But they work and that’s the important factor to us. You don’t have to be afraid to try new ideas as long as you keep the flies moving fast and always try to get as much movement build into the flies as possible.

If you want to tie your own night flies for seatrout we suggest you take a good look at our shop. We have all the materials you need. You can start with a basis of materials like rabbit strips, opossum skin, dark dubbing, Schlappen feathers, plenty of flash, deer hair (for muddler heads), Soft Cones and rubber legs.

You can tie the flies on plastic tubes or as we have been doing lately as intruders on shanks. The last option allows you to place the hook way back on the fly. That’s a very important detail which reduces the numbers tail biters. We find both tubes or intruders very efficient and it’s a matter of style which you prefer. We are skagitanglers to the bone and hence the intruders have a place close to our hearts.

Feel free to contact us at info@skagitanglers.com if you have questions or need some help finding the right gear for your next trip.

 

Sea Trout on waking flies - Part 2

Sea Trout on waking flies - Part 2

As a follow up to the last post here's our opinion on gear selection specific suited for night fishing for sea trout on smallish streams like we fish here in Denmark.

To understand the reason for our choises of rods and lines we have to start somewhere else. Several years of fishing for sea trout has told us an important lesson about the speed of the fly. You actually can't fish the fly too fast. It took us some time to figure that out. Speed is the key to succes. The fly has to move at a speed more than twice that over the current. If not you will still see a lot of fish comming to your fly but they more often than not just refuse the fly and go back to where they came from. As exciting as that might be it can also be very frustrating when this occurs over and over again - often with the same fish comming up more than once. To change that game in your favour you need to speed up the fly and speed it up fast.



Big and flahsy is the key to succes

Stripping the fly activly during the swing is the key to succes. A 90 degree cast to the opposite bank of the stream - a quick stripping of the line - og then hold on tight. It is "just" a matter of keeping at it and eventually that big trout will come charging at you fly. Keep you cool - and wait until you feel the weight of the fish before you set the hook. Easy said - but not very easy to do!

This post was ment to be about gear selection but guess we will do that in another post. But the main issue to picking the right gear for night fishing is to be abel to fish a big fly very active and keep stripping it during the swing. In small streams like in Denmark and elsewhere you need a short line/shooting head to do that with succes. We use ECHO Skagit Switch line or the brand new Command Skagit Head from OPST. But more on short lines, long leaders and rods later.

Tight Lines
Claus

B&R Single Stage Intruder - lethal sea trout fly

Summer run sea trout (3 kg) on ESL 

Sea Trout on waking flies - Part 1.

Sea Trout on waking flies!

We love to fish for Sea Trout in the dark during the summer months. When the streams and rivers come up after a period of rain you'll put all else aside and head to your favorite spots. That is if you want your share of the fish...

During the daytime Sea Trout stay hidden and almost impossible to catch on the fly. When the light changes so does the mode of the fish. Sea Trout tends to be agressive and subtle to the fly if you know a few tricks. The most important trick is to maximise time your fly is in the water. It's that simple. More time on the water = more fish! Having said that the fly and especially the way you fish it has some importance too.


During several years we have been fishing "big, black and bulky flies" - and it works. With big flies we mean flies up 15 cm long. Most often we fish 8-10 cm long flies often with a lot of flash and tied with materials like marabou, rabbit strips, fox hair, soft cones - and some more flash just to be sure! An important touch is the cone head or muddler head which gives the all important "wake" when the fly swings through the most likely holding spots.

Don't be scared to go heavy on the flash. 25 strands of flash is average on our flies. Most people use to little flash in our opinion. Especially in the night you'll need a lot of flash. You might want to try Glow-In-Dark flash for some added bling-bling effects.

Take a good look at the shop where you'll find all the materials you need to tie your own waking flies for sea trout or you can buy flies from our stock. All flies in the shop are tied by professional fly tiers. Enjoy summer - whereever you are!

www.skagitanglers.com

Welcome to the blog - skagitanglers.com

Hi and welcome to skagitanglers.com

First shoot on the blog from skagitanglers.com is here. In the future we will be sharing hot news from the shop www.skagitanglers.com - your one stop skagit shop! We will also use the blog to update our costumers and followers on what's happening on the scene of skagit fly fishing. A fair amout of fish porn is garanteed to show up now and then simply because we can't help it.

We run a fly-only web shop selling fly fishing gear and related products. Our main focus is flyfishing for salmon, sea trout and steelhead all around the world. We are based in Scandinavia (Denmark) but supply fly fishers around the world with their needs. We are skagitanglers to the bone - we fish with skagit gear - we fish flies mostly inspired by vibes comming from the PNW region in US/CAN.

If you like big flashy intruders, skagit lines, big sticks and big chrome fish, screaming reels and the beauty of Mother Nature's creations you have come the right place. We will get back shortly - this is just a test :-) In the meantime take a look at our shop - we hope you like it. Please fell free to drop us a line if you have questions, ideas to new products or improvements and more.

Tight Lines from www.skagitanglers.com