Fishing:

Getting Started in BTBFF - Part III: What's in the Fly Box?

General Fly Concepts

Now we're down to the serious stuff - what to tie to the end of your line. There are literally thousands of salt water patterns around - which ones should you choose for fishing BTB?

The answer is not as complicated as you might think. What you'll discover is that there are only a few basic styles of flies that you need to cover most of the bases. As before, once you're on the water and build confidence, you'll gravitate to styles, dressings, and colors that suit your needs or style of fishing.

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What You Need to Get Started Is...

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Here are some general recommendations, based on species. After the table, you'll find an explaination of each type of fly. And on Page 2 of this article, you'll find a table where we show what some top captains and anglers selected as their top picks, "If I Could Only Have Two Flies..." , and on Page 3, we'll discuss "The Starter Fly Box".

Also notice the symbol to the left...When that symbol appears, it means that while the recommendations shown are the best available info, there's no "silver bullet" for catching that species on fly (i.e. there are no "generally accepted" techniques or patterns that we know of that consistently catch that species in our waters). That DOESN'T mean it's impossible - it just means that no one's completely figured it out yet (or if they have, they're not talking about it!).

Species	Slim Baitfish	Wide Baitfish	Surface Fly (popper)	Squid Imitation	Creature Fly	Other types of flies, or notes
Tunas
Yellowtail
Bonito						Smaller, extremely sparse flies are often very effective
Barracuda
White Seabass
Calico Bass						Sliders around rocky areas; Whistlers or other bulky flies when the water is murky; Calicos often show a preference for pink
Sand Bass						Whistlers or other bulky flies when the water is murky
Dorado (Mahi-mahi)
Halibut						Whistlers or other bulky flies when the water is murky
Rockfish						Whistlers or other bulky flies when the water is murky
Sharks						Large streamers; orange or yellow; lots of saddle hackle, Schlappen, or hair
Striped Marlin						No data on SoCal Striped Marlin yet; suspect standard fare from other areas will work.

"Slim Baitfish" means a basic streamer that simulates a fairly skinny baitfish (anchovy, sardine, saurie, small fry). It should have these characteristics:

• It should be available in lengths from 2" to 6"
• It should be available in various baitfish color schemes (see below)
• It should have fairly large eyes
• It should be tied so it has minimal fouling on the cast
• It should be available in sparsely-tied to heavily-tied versions
• Typical examples: Clouser Minnow, Lefty's Deceiver, Half-and-Half, ALF, Sar-Mul-Mac, Mushmouth, Sea Habit (regular and Deceiver versions), Tuna Kahuna, Surf Candy, Gummy Minnow...

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"Wide Baitfish" means a basic streamer that simulates a baitfish with a bit more of a vertical profile (queenfish or tomcod, perch). It should have these characteristics:

• It should be available in lengths from 3" to 6"
• It should be available in various baitfish color schemes (see below)
• It should have fairly large eyes
• It should be tied so it has minimal fouling on the cast
• It should be available in sparsely-tied to heavily-tied versions
• Typical examples: Whistler, Hollow Fleyes, Hale Queenfish...

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"Surface Fly" means a fly that floats, and is designed to be worked on the surface. Key features include

• Durable construction, large enough gap to provide solid hookups (not too much body below the hook shank)
• These types of flies can have several potential types of action: popping/splashing, a darting side-to-side action (popping or not), a diving action with subtle popping
• It should be available in a basic baitfish color scheme, plus all-white and all-yellow
• Typical examples: Curcione Catamaran Popper, Crease Fly, Bob's Banger, Gurgler

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"Squid Imitation" means a fly that is (obviously) designed to imitate what West Coasters call "candy bait". Key features include:

• Optics towards the rear (fly looks like it is travelling backwards)
• Translucence and/or a body that appears to move or ripple
• White, pink, brown are typical colors
• Typical examples: Sea Arrow Squid, Feather Fleye Squid, Kahuna Squid

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"Creature Fly" style imitates some sort of living creepy-crawly thing, typically a crab or other bottom creature. Key features are:

• Tentacles/skirt
• Heavily weighted to produce a more vertical drop
• "Live action" type tail
• Reds, browns, oranges, black and purples
• Typical examples: Jetty Fly, Sea-Ducer

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Other types of flies that have proven successful:

• Sharks: Typically, sharks are fished with large streamers, either hair, feathers or a combination of both. Capt. Conway Bowman (owner of Bowman Bluewater Guides and Outfitters), favors a large orange fly with an Ichthyosys plastic head with large eyes. Another recent development is the use of yellow in mako shark flies. Capt. Scott Leon, of Paradigm Shift Charters, came upon this during the summer, and the results are startling. See Capt. Leon's post in our discussion forum for more info.

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Some notes:

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• Notice that we use the term "style", not "pattern" when we talk about flies. That's because a "pattern", in its strictest definition, requires exact material and color matches. Most saltwater flies are considered styles because the name implies certain construction characteristics or features, not specific materials and colors.
  
  
• A good general rule-of-thumb is to start with a size that matches, or is a bit shorter, than the prevalent baitfish. Why go shorter? "A shorter fly often gives the illusion that the fly is moving faster than it really is," says Capt.Conway Bowman, of Bowman Bluewater Guides and Outfitters, "and that can often be the key to getting a strike."
  
  
• You might be tempted to think that "bigger is better", but that is not usually the case. Most of the time, our gamefish are focused on chasing down large schools of baitfish, which all tend to be roughly the same size. For some reason, a fly which is significantly larger than the rest gets ignored. That's not to say that there aren't situations where a bigger-than-normal fly will work better - but the majority of the time, it is better to try to match the size, and go smaller if necessary.
  
  
• Exact color matches to forage fish are usually not required. Suggestive is usually better, combined with the use of flashy materials like Krystal Flash, Flashabou, or other similar materials. A general rule of thumb is to use darker colors when it's overcast, lighter colors when it is bright. Some popular combinations for slim baitfish are: black/purple, Mexican Flag (Green, red, white), green/white, chartreuse/white, blue/white, green/yellow, yellow, and red/brown. Wide baitfish are often grey/white, or tan/white, as the baitfish they are supposed to simulate exhibit those predominant colors..
  
  
• Some species show a marked preference for particular unusual colors: Calico bass often prefer pink, while mako sharks seem to go out of their way to attack yellow. On a related note, it pays to have a few radically non-baitfish colors like pink, pink/white, red/white and yellow in the box to try when nothing else seems to work.
  
  
• Do your flies need eyes? If it's a baitfish simulator, the general consensus is that eyeballs can help. However, there are, of course, other opinions (see Ralph Cutter's website). Try both, and draw your own conclusions.
  
  
• A jigging action, like that seen in a Clouser Minnow or a Jiggie, is deadly most of the time. If you tie your own flies, you can create this action in most styles by wrapping lead wire behind the eye of the hook as you start the fly. Keep in mind, however, that there are times when the fish want less jigging action, so keep some unweighted versions of flies like a Lefty's Deceiver in the box.
  
  
• Sparse- versus heavily-tied flies - There are times and places for both. Sparse flies often work better in clear water, heavily dressed ones work well when the water clarity is down. In a similar vein, sparse flies sometimes gives the illusion that they are moving faster than they are.

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So what about some names?

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See Page 2 of this article for some top picks by local captains...