Offshore flies!

[jayL]

I may be heading offshore this year. Probably out of barnegat.

My uncle does not fly fish, but he said it is effective around lobster pots for mahi. He said I should bring my fly rod on a trip this summer. He also said there would be an off chance of throwing poppers to tuna, but said that some pretty serious gear would be required. Not sure of my 9wt can handle that, but mahi are definitely possible.

I am thinking regular bass poppers and clousers for the mahi. Anything specific I should tie?

 

[Hooligan]

I don't fish the salt, but I would think you could add Lefty's Deceivers to the list.

John

 

[Fishidiot]

Your 9WT is perfect for dolphin ("mahis") as well as the albies, stripers or bluefish you might run into.

Forget about tuna unless you're a sadist for destroyed gear.

For flies, some basic baitfish patterns in the 1-5 inch size range tied on sharp, saltwater hooks will suffice. Mahis aren't selective. Since you'll be fishing near the surface over deep water there's no need for clouser eyes to make the flies ride hook up. Green over white is always good. You might want a couple weedless flies in the event you're throwing to clumps of Sargassum weed. Have some wire leaders in case you run into blues or kings.

Good luck with your trip Jay - post a report!

 

[sandfly]

10-18 weights for off shore, 2/0-5/0 flies, I snapped two 9 weights on a boat, not good for lifting power compared to the big guns. have to be able to put it to them even dolphin, a 10lb. will run and jump like no other. I use a 12 wt. off of jersey for tuna in the smaller class 100lb. or less and they can tear it up. shooting heads are needed for the bait and switch of off shore.

 

[jayL]

sandfly wrote:
10-18 weights for off shore, 2/0-5/0 flies, I snapped two 9 weights on a boat, not good for lifting power compared to the big guns. have to be able to put it to them even dolphin, a 10lb. will run and jump like no other. I use a 12 wt. off of jersey for tuna in the smaller class 100lb. or less and they can tear it up. shooting heads are needed for the bait and switch of off shore.

I won't be tossing anything to tuna. I'm looking to fish for stuff that the 9 wt can handle. We're talking about tossing flies to chicken mahi on lobster pots, not the Zane Grey stuff. I would target bonito, skippies, blues, albies, etc too.

If I end up with 100lb tuna crashing the surface, I'll happily switch to conventional gear.

 

[gfen]

jayL wrote:
If I end up with 100lb tuna crashing the surface, I'll happily [d]switch to conventional gear[/d] fish.

Sentimental rod? No warranty? No? That's how stories are made.

 

[jayL]

$100 rod that I got for $60. It is a St Croix, so I would assume they would replace it.

But I don't want to destroy my reel. It's a $100 loomis venture, and it still has a few salmon seasons left in it. Not after a tuna.

 

[gfen]

Smoked reel makes a hell of a paper weight, but fair enough.

 

[jayL]

I know. I have three of them around here somewhere.

 

[gfen]

Err, fourth one's the charm?

Stop foiling me.

 

[tomgamber]

Clousers, deceivers and pencil poppers or crease flies...if those "tuna" are false albies you can use the 9wt...

 

[osprey]

When you mention off shore bait switch , that is where you get them to follow a teaser and then get your fly out there? I saw this on sailfish on TV , those 12 wt rods look to heavy for me to pick up lol i gotta admit that i think it would be fun. I used to bs with a guy at the lot at the Lake end of the allenberry stretch on YB , he was from here and moved to Florida and fished offshore alot , he used to say a good off shore day was $1000.00 his own set up. And that was a good 10 years ago how do you afford it?

 

[gfen]

osprey wrote:
I saw this on sailfish on TV , those 12 wt rods look to heavy for me to pick up lol i gotta admit that i think it would be fun.

Lee Wulff, and the first sail fish on a fly, was on a $12 rod that he picked out at a store because it was his favourite colour and a clicker reel that cost about twice as much.

You don't need a 12wt, but it must help.

 

[jayL]

osprey wrote:
how do you afford it?

It's free.

 

[sandfly]

I paid around a hundred for my fenwick custom made 12 wt. and my medalist anti reverse and have fish over 100lbs on. The venture I don't think will handle a smokin albie, or skipjack, burn up for shore. the big problem is most nines don't have the lifting power to bring a fish up if and when they sound, that's when you hear a loud POP as it explodes..

 

[ryguyfi]

I am no expert on salt as I've only fished it kind of once... but I do believe Allen is bringing out a new line of Salt Water reels soon. Just an FYI.

 

[MattBoyer]

osprey wrote:
I used to bs with a guy at the lot at the Lake end of the allenberry stretch on YB , he was from here and moved to Florida and fished offshore alot , he used to say a good off shore day was $1000.00 his own set up. And that was a good 10 years ago how do you afford it?

You can book a trip for 4 fiddy or less if you shop around in Florida.

Boyer

 

[jayL]

It's way cheaper to make the run in florida. The gas is what's killer. 3-4 hour trip to the fishing grounds off jersey sometimes.