And staying here http://www.beachgate.com/site.php what flies do i need to tie to have a good time fishing in the surf.

Dam you! I was going to go but money is tight and I will have to wait for the next weekend.

Its kind of a spur of the moment deal got lucky finding a room at the last min.

I just got back from the South Jetty at port A - the tarpon (from 1 to 6') are rolling around out there so if you have tackle that will handle it, tie up big crease flies, big sliders, puglisi type baitfish, seaducers, whatever tickles your fancy. These same flies will give you a chance at kings and jacks as well as the poons. So, big game aside, we move to normal stuff, which includes Spanish mackerel (smacks), speckled trout, reds, ladyfish, bluntnose jacks and snook if you fish around the jetty in the evening. If you're interested, I suggest you go over to the North Jetty across the channel and check it out - gots to pay for a ferry ride (on foot) over there though. The birds were going Nuts over there today the full length of the jetty - the bait must be stacked up over there.

Anyhew back on topic -

Surf candy tied on extra long shank sz6 saltwater hook caught lots of smacks for me yesterday - the water right now is very clear so think subtle flash like wingnflash rather than tinsel, but don't be afraid to use plenty. In the wade gut early and late, and even mid-morning yesterday there were huge blitzes of ladyfish reported to me by scout300. These guys are really fun and provide non-stop action... but they tear the heck out of your flies and tippet.
For this reason I would suggest more than anything you bring lots and lots of clousers in your favorite colors and various sizes and weights. In an average trip to the jetty I will shred 3 clousers, not counting the times I impact rocks or railing and change flies. So say an average of 5 flies per trip of 3ish hours - you can see how you'll need a good roster to call from. You can generally catch 3 ladyfish per clouser, and 4 smacks. Trout and reds are not nearly so hard on your tackle. For smacks I also recommend a short length of 50lb fluro for bite tippet, but all of my smacks yesterday came on my general purpose 30lb tippet and I didn't get bit off once - I attribute this to my using extra long hooks and tying back on the shank.

Short answer - clousers (lead eye or bead chain, I haven't found much difference in the surf) in fishy color schemes (olive, blue, grey, red and charteuse paired with white and an appropriate amount of flash) are what you need to focus on. But don't discount the early and late topwater bite - so much fun!

Hopefully my rambling there at least kinda made sense.

^^^^Damn Good Info!^^^^

Damn, I hate you salty guys! :P

Well Cole it's tough but I just keep truckin' along as best I'm able...

Well keep it up man, I love the reports!

Have fun Derik!

Great info bro. 1.By thirty pound tippet you mean just straight mono right and not a tapered leader. 2.What do you think aboud some decivers tied in the above manner?3. Whats the surf fishing like.4. Floating line and and intermiate sink or just floating. Thanks bro keep it comin if you got it.

Oh, I got some more layin' around here somewhere... let's see....

2. Nothing wrong with decievers, I've never actually use them very much out there because they provide a really big profile for the wind to catch and don't sink fast enough for my fancy... but obviously they work, so if you wanna bring 'em, do. You WILL be casting with a lot of wind unless the planets align briefly for you. The water JUST now cleared up so your trip comes at a good time for us fly flingers.

1.Yeah I just use straight 30lb Big Game, handles nicks and cuts and still keeps enough strength to turn a decent fish should it come down to him or my fly line. When the water gets uber clear and I'm goin after specks specifically then I will go down to 12lb tippet on 30lb leader, but you will probably nick up and change leaders often if you're on the jetty (freakin barnacles...). If not on the jetty then just treat it like a "normal" situation and use whatever tapered saltwater leader or whatnot you prefer. Oh oh and definitely bring a stripping basket if you plan on hitting the jetty or knee deep surf. Too much past that in the surf the basket is pretty much useless.

3. Surf fishing is terribly hard on your reel, its going to get dunked and sanded and salted. Bring sufficient cleaning supplies and be willing to use them after each day of fishing. Flyfishing in the surf is punishing - when you're an idiot like I am, you take a whole lot of waves to the chest and face whilst trying to double haul into the teeth of the wind. HOWever, fishing the surf is my go-to when the jetty fails me. I have a lot of confidence that if I can stand in there and take it I will be able to pick up fish. On days that the surf is flat and calm you won't have to worry about the punishment... but those have been rare this year.

4. I have used both - if you are going to fish the surf I recommend using floating line because you will be able to pick it up off the top of the water and that's a lot (a LOT) easier than trying to pick up drowned intermediate that's stretched way back behind you due to wave action. However using intermediate on the jetty allows you to delve into the water column and there have been days that I have outfished the live shrimp throwers by letting a heavy shrimp pattern sink way down on intermediate line - couldnt have done that on floating line. Today I was wishing for a sink tip or semi-fast intermediate as I watched the tarpon roll - I think a deeper presentation was called for.

If your feeling brave or lucky bring a 5 wt and some small Clousers, all the skipjack I was catching were pretty small with the exception of a couple but they could of been handled on a 5 wt. As Wader-Noob was saying I got into a few big schools of Skipjack on feeding frenzy, unfortunately I was with my g/f's father and for him it was park and fish and hopefully you catch fish. The best thing to do is drive up and and down the beach really slow looking for fish feeding. If you see a school drive a head 100 yds or so rig up and the fish should be up caught up to where you are about now and start casting to them. Move a long with the fish until you can't keep up, run back to your vechile and do it all over again. Once you find one school you can run with that same school.

Wader-Noob I meant to tell you after the beach encounter with the skipjack, I was standing on the first sandbar casting into the first gut when I turned around to see what Sydney and her dad were doing and when I turned around about 10 ft from me was a 2'-3' Blacktip shark cruising right towards me. I took a couple cast to it as he swam right by me, perhaps 2 ft to my right, and was never to be seen again. Needless to say I was pretty excited!

There are topics other than tarpon? WTF???

I would love me some tarpon action, yup yup.

i am a newb to fly fishing the salt, and went for the 1st time last weekend. Caught multiple snapper ont he fly as well as a speck, skip, and a 14inch smack. I have a 5wt am i crazy and just asking for trouble? I upped my line to a 6 a few weeks ago for throwing some larger bass bugs and poppers and have been very happy with the results

If you're blind fishing for dinks with small flies you'll probably be just fine, if you get serious about fishing there you'll change your equipment up for whatever you become passionate about.

Bring that 5wt on! I'd like to see how well it casts into 25mph headwinds


Seriously though, a 5wt will handle most bay fish (as you found out) but a decent fish will really test that gear and find it wanting. You can use it, just be aware of its limitations and be willing to move to bigger guns as LHD mentioned. A 14" smack is just barely a keeper so you can see where you'll run into much larger fish if you keep at this game... which of course is the whole dang point!

yeah, i've only been fly fishing 8 months now, and went w/ a 5wt since its "middle of the road" Maybe i can talk the wife into a new setup for xmas..

An 8wt is a good "middle of the road" salty weight, IMO. Plus you can use it for bigger freshwater stuff too. Stripers or salmon, anyone?

Heading to Port A tomorrow night (actually Portland). I've had awesome luck fishing the yacht basin channel in Port A, non-stop specs on shrimp. I'm taking my 6wt just in case the conditions are right, but I'll probably just drift live shrimp.