Ultralight in the salt - anybody interested?

[William Ewels]

Want more species pics? Anyone? I seem to have used up my last flimsy excuse to post random pics

[firephish]

Nice thread. Here is a pollock i took on a 3 weight & small salty bugger off the beach near Killiney, Ireland, some time back fishing with allsorts ... he got about 5 on a 2 weight i think. Small but good fun

[William Ewels]

^ Pretty fish the pollock
So many species, so little time. The salty ultralight world is huge.

[Rendier]

Some nice fish there Mr Ewels! Wish we had half of them over here. Perth and surrounds seem to be void of fish

[beefybovril]

It's a gold bead head on a #10 hook - cream dubbing, and olive french rafia back.

And here are some other angles on that milkfish:

That 2nd pic looks much more familiar....that tail is just built for speed!!!

[William Ewels]

Perth and surrounds seem to be void of fish

Rendier, Sydney inshore is very quiet at this time of year too - had to fly to Christmas Island (Kiritimati) to get my jollies. Next winter I'll do a week or two at Exmouth, your side.

As for Perth, if you get an opportunity to take your flyrod out to Rottnest Island, things can be quite interesting over there.

[beefybovril]

Hey Nico, nice to come across an angler from another part of the world who has seen the 'light' Great to see your UL milkfish and all the other wonderful species. I'm going to Christmas Island in a couple of weeks and while everyone is talking non-stop about the bonefish I've been asking about the "small milkfish" This ultralight flyfishing thing opens up a whole new world of interest, species and locations to fish.

10' UL flyrods: The 10' rods I've come across and read about tend to have slower action in the butt section - which is not what I like for quick casting and shooting to long distance for salty and estuary work.

I personally prefer to fish very light but FAST taper rods that still have lots of grunt down low when it's needed. My current favourite rod for this is the Dan Craft FT 9' 2wt. That "2wt" label is a bit misleading because it really works better with a 3wt line, or even heavier. But I can and do fish it at long distance with 2wt and 2/3wt lines - brilliant for stealth on skinny flats. Unfortunately these blanks are now hard to get - but I know the CPX 9' 3wt you have and there is not a great deal of difference between them in capability.

I think once one gets down below 2/3wt outfits the casting range is severely limited in any wind and in any case in low weights the shorter blanks offer more feel and crisper actions. I have an 8' CTS 1wt (Affinity MX taper) which is just lovely to fish with from the boat when the wind permits and a 7'10" TXL 00wt which is a joy to use when wading flats and sight-fishing to smaller stuff. (I've also started using a shooting head system on the 00wt )

Salty UL reels: Lamson Velocity, Orvis LA, Hayden Zephyr, Sage Click, Xplorer Eclipse, a bunch of plastic/graphite body reels, and also a couple of Chinese ebay models (which I have to admit are somewhat better than I expected). I tend to use the lightest large arbor reels I can find in a size that would probably look more in place on a 4/5wt outfit - because unlike ultralight fishing for trout I actually need to use the reel to manage lots of line and regularly need the reel's drag to do a job

Regarding Australia : the beauty of bringing your UL fly gear over here (as a supplement to say a good 9wt outfit for serious fishing) is that you'll be able to fish almost anywhere anytime and find fish worth targeting (and in some places crocodiles worth avoiding ) Let me know what time of year and what areas you intend to visit - and I'll do my best to give you more specific info.

Hi William

I have decided to start UL Saltwater fishing here in Dubai as there are no big fish left. I was looking at the Scott 3 wts, and possibly the Lamson, but can't seem to find a light enough saltwater fly line. Have you got any advice on which line to use - freshwater / saltwatert, make etc. Also, do you think the Scott 3 wt is too much and that I should possibly go lighter than this?

Really excited indeed!!!

Cheers

Matt