Sight casting drum and redfish on fly

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Prof. Salt
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Sight casting drum and redfish on fly

Post by Prof. Salt »

I've been hitting the water every chance I get lately while recovering from surgery. I'm not in shape to head offshore yet so I'm spending time playing with the fish in the shallows, and it has been paying off. A few weeks ago I noticed the black drum were thick in super shallow water. When I sat still there were well over a hundred backs sticking above the surface as the fish slowly meandered, hoping for a snack to show up. I spent time casting a weedless bendback in chartreuse and white (redfish love that one), but the drum would mostly pass. When I thought about it, drum spend a lot of time rooting around and making clear water muddy so I tied on a crab fly and the change made all the difference. The next week after work I also tied a little Schminnow, a pattern often used for white bass, but instead of the usual white color I tied it using a black and green cactus chenille and black tail fibers. I could cast that one out beside a waving tail, let it sink to the bottom beside the fish, and as soon as I would give it a couple of short twitches, the drum would eat it.
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A week later I returned with a black bendback to find some drum in the grass. The striped friends were no-shows, but I did find redfish cruising with backs exposed. Every red that I casted the fly to slammed it. Sight casting fish and watching them eat is one of the most enjoyable moments in fishing, and I've enjoyed my share lately. It has been kayaking and fly fishing Zen!
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TexasJim
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Re: Sight casting drum and redfish on fly

Post by TexasJim »

Glenn: I've been reading your flyfishing posts and have been wondering if you flyfish while sitting in your Viking? I have a Profish 400, which really isn't amenable to standing. I can use my Viking to get to fishy water, but there isn't always a hard bottom to stand or wade in. The foredeck of my 14 foot skiff is OK for casting, but I'd like to be able to use my kayak more this Fall, in the marshes.

Always enjoy all your posts. Get healed up! TexasJim
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Prof. Salt
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Re: Sight casting drum and redfish on fly

Post by Prof. Salt »

Thank you, I am healing up faster than I thought possible. That first week after surgery was pretty tough, but at about day 8 my body found a new gear and it's been quickly improving.

Jim during the white bass run I use the kayak to get to specific spawning or staging spots and then stand in the river to fish, but I do almost all my other fly fishing while seated in the kayak. It makes really long casts difficult, but the stealthy nature of the kayak makes short casts the norm and I get more enjoyment out of sneaking in close to exposed fish anyway. Even the 6' 2wt casts pretty well while seated, and the smaller flies land softly so fish are less likely to spook. I found that for me walking in the grass or even mud tends to alert the fish which makes long casts almost mandatory. Maybe I was just a clumsy walker but it resulted in experiences that were sometimes successful but that I enjoyed less, so I transitioned back to what gave me the most joy. Easing the kayak in to within 10 or 20 feet of a big patrolling fish and softly delivering the fly for an explosive eat, where the action is close enough to observe the details is one of the most enjoyable fishing experiences in my opinion. As I'm sure you know, it's addictive. I can often glide up inside of ten feet from the fish, but at that distance just swinging the rod will spook the them, lol. Fifteen to 20 seems to be my sweet spot, and that cast is easy even when I have to cast backwards over my shoulder to a fish I didn't see until I had passed by. :lol:

I always take the video camera on the fly trips, but it seems that every time I decide not to video. It just feels like selfish time when I can kind of get into a Zen mode and enjoy what I'm doing without having to worry about the camera. With my son coming home from the Marine Corps soon, I anticipate shooting video more often as new techniques are shared and I get to document his development as a fisherman. Can't wait for that phase to begin!
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Ron Mc
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Re: Sight casting drum and redfish on fly

Post by Ron Mc »

Glenn, nice report and photos, and glad to hear you're healing up and paddling tracks again.

Jim, 9' graphite rods are tough to get started unless you're standing with a working lead to load the rod.
You look like the proverbial one-armed paper hanger trying to get that working lead out when you're seated.

A mid-length glass rod will get going right now.
I set up a 7-1/2' CGR 7/8 to finish a 70' cast on the 3rd forward stroke, beginning with 3' of fly line out the tip.
The line that loaded it just right was Cortland Salt Guide 7-wt., mono furled leader + fluoro tippet.

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This is a Sit-Down rig.
Noteworthy, the Cortland Guide line is sucky on my long wading rods (RPLX and Izch para) - Rio Redfish taper shines on those rods, and conversely,
the Rio line is sucky on the CGR for everything except in close.
Last edited by Ron Mc on Thu Sep 16, 2021 6:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Sight casting drum and redfish on fly

Post by Kayak Kid »

Having been struck twice by sting rays, I seldom left my kayak to wade. I could not stand in my 25 inch wide kayak, so, all my casts were sit downs. I used a damp beach towel across my lap to hold and retrieve my line. I pulled off an adequate amount of line as a working lead, placed it on the towel, and roll cast it towards my projected cast prior to making my cast. I don't recall having any problem rapidly casting twenty to thirty ft, which was more than adequate to hook my share of red fish. I generally used a graphite 8wt sage rod, bone fish leaders, with as small a fly as possible.
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TexasJim
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Re: Sight casting drum and redfish on fly

Post by TexasJim »

Thanks to all for your responses and insightful comments. Maybe someday I can post a pic of my first fish on a flyrod in my kayak. Or even my first fish on a flyrod in over 60 years by any means! TexasJim
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Re: Sight casting drum and redfish on fly

Post by TrumpkinTheDwarf »

That looks like loads of fun, but I can't handle casting a fly rod sitting down. I much prefer to stand in the boat to target fish. Might just be my trout fishing roots. I took a clunky old canoe down to the coast last winter and caught my first Redfish on a fly that way.
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kickingback
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Re: Sight casting drum and redfish on fly

Post by kickingback »

Great post Glenn. Thanks for sharing. :clap:
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