When the Going Gets Tough:
Going to Plan B
Sometimes fly-fishing is not an effective way to catch fish. What should you do when things aren't working, and you need to go to "Plan B"?
| Introduction |  |
Too Far | |
Too Deep | |
Too Fast & Too Big | |
More Alternatives... |
While Beyond The Breakwater fly-fishing is a lot of fun, sooner or later you’ll encounter situations that require you to put away the long rod if you want to continue to catch fish. How does a BTB fly-fisherman recognize when it’s time to try something different? And what would “something different” be? That’s the focus of this article.
The starting point is to recall some of the limitations we talked about in our story “Why Isn’t Saltwater Fly-fishing More Popular in Southern California?” I like to call them “The Terrible Toos” (if you’re a parent with a two-year old toddler, you know what I mean…). The “Terrible Toos” are:
Too Far
How far can you cast? No matter how good you are, it’s unlikely that you can cast a 3 - 6” fly as far as you can cast a 3 - 6” jig or plug on properly rigged spinning or conventional gear (note: the reverse is probably true when you’re talking about 1 – 3” flies versus the same size lures, since lures in that size are not very heavy). Sometimes the fish insist on staying just out of fly range. See our sidebar video clip for a comparison of medium conventional gear and a fly rod.
Too Deep
Fly lines sink (at best) somewhere around 10-13 inches per second. When the fish insist on staying 60 or more feet down, will you be willing (or able) to wait 30 – 50 seconds for the fly to get close to the fish? If you think so, just give it an honest try with a watch, and see how you fare. Also, if deep fish are on the move, will they stick around for the fly to sink down to them? Many times, the answer is “No”.
Too Fast
How fast can you strip in line? I would challenge anyone to consistently strip in more than 6 feet of fly line per second. Contrast this with high-speed spinning or conventional gear, where you can easily crank in more than 20’ of line per second. Click HERE to see a video comparison.
Too Big
“Even elephants eat peanuts” is something salt water fly-fishermen say a lot. But the truth is, elephants generally prefer to eat whole trees and bushes rather than peanuts. We’re just fortunate that they like salt, if you catch my drift. Of course, there are times when small lures like flies are more effective than larger baits (such as when the fish are keyed in on small baitfish), but in general, that’s not the case.
A Matter of Personal Choice
In the end, dealing with the Terrible Toos boils down to a matter of personal choice. There are no absolutes that will determine when you should change tactics or equipment. It depends on how much patience and tolerance you have for hard work (or being frustrated) versus the desire to catch a fish on fly.
What's Next?"
When we first started putting this article together, we were determined to wrap all of the info up at once, and post it in one big article. However, it's proven to be a little too much to put together at once, so we're going to spread out the content over time.
In the coming weeks, we will talk about each of the above situations in terms of how to deal with them using “Plan A” (fly tackle), and “Plan B” (other gear). As the content becomes available, it will be added to this article in the following sections:
Page 1 of 5 pages for this article : 1 2 3 > Last ›
