Delaware beaches

[hunter1]

I'm heading down to the DE seashore next week 9/29-10/5. I'm pretty familure with the area for regular surf fishing. But this time i would like touse my salt water fly gear . doe's any one know were to go for fly fishing in this area. Thanks

 

[sandfly]

same places as you would normally fish.

 

[marcq]

one quote form one of the greats in the salt. "saltwater fly fishing is not any harder than spin fishing its just different." lou tabory. or something like that.
Im not sure what is like down there but fall has not really started in NJ. yea there are some localized blitz of small bass on mullet and small bait. there are blues coming in but nothing like what its going to be in about a month.
I would say fish pre dawn and dusk and at night. inlets always hold fish and are g good place to start. sinking line are good for this.

rule of thumb when there is no bait of no fish seen fish structure.

 

[hunter1]

Thanks G-side, That was my next question. When to use a floating line and when to use the sinking, i have both.

 

[marcq]

Depends on the situation really. In inlets the water can be really deep in the middle so is go with a full sink. But fishing along the walls where a lot of fish stage a int sink or floating is ok. If all you have is floating that's fine. You just have to give if a few seconds to get down. Off the beach I use a int sink. But at time I use a fast sinking line to get on the bottom where the fish are. If you have a calm day poppers can work to but it's like trout fishing where the majority of the fish are feeding under the surface. Poppers cause a reaction strike where it's more out of aggression then looking for food. So be loud with them.

 

[hunter1]

Thank's all.

 

[sandfly]

for indian river inlet 350 grains or more to get down. fish back behind the coast guard station in the back channels, weaks, blues love it in there. jiggy flies, clousers, shrimp flies work for weaks. blues hit any thing.

up lewes the best bet is go out towards the point in the park. fish both bay and ocean side for blues , flounder and weaks. flounder love a 2/0 chart./white/silver clouser.

 

[hunter1]

Thanks again. I guese for blues i would need a wire tippet. How long should the leader and tippet be for sinking and floating line.

 

[geebee]

try tyger wire for blues.

for saltwater, presentation is not an issue. for an intermediate i use 3ft of 30lb mono knotted to the fly line then 6ft of 20lb.

for sinking i use about 7/8 ft of 20lb.

if fish are finnicky, ie other people are hooking up, i drop to 15lb.

anywhere near rocks or jetties, stick with the 20lb.

good luck.

 

[sandfly]

never use wire any more as long as you have some heavy tippet, 6" of 40-80lb will work on blues, they can get wire shy at times. I use any thing from 2' to 5' of 20-60 for sinking depending on the water flow (tide) and how deep I fish.

 

[hunter1]

I'm having a ball, Yesterday was a wash, windy at the cape. Today was a differant story. I went to the cape henlopen beach next to the fishing pier. I didn't catch fish but i got a lot of practice casting 9wt. The sinking line works a lot differant than a floating.with no wind I was able to get about 25" to 35" cast. I can cast my trout rods double that. I'm heading to IR in am, then I'll hit the cape in the evening , maybe i'll see some other fly fishers.But all in all it's fun. It's not like i have to catch fish to make it count, but just doing it. WOW. the fish will come.

 

[geebee]

Good to hear. The casting will come its just practice.

Retrieve until just the 20ft head is out, then At the end of the retrieve try a roll cast to get the line on the surface, then water haul once let it go back, pause and forward haul n shoot.

That's all you should need. Don't fight the weight of the line by false casting 2-3 times each cast. Use it and shoot it, it's a lot less tiring on a windy day too.

Once you get used to it you can shoot some line on the backcast too and then haul hard to cast the whole line.

Best o luck.

 

[hunter1]

geebee, thats exactly what i was doing, Figthing the line. I did the roll cast, but then would do 3-4 roll cast while letting out line.I just got done watching a video on casting sinking line and they said the same thing don't fight the line. Tomorrow is another day.

 

[marcq]

Not saying that distance is crucial but if you start to fish the surf you need to be able to get at least half your line out. On an open beach practice a double haul. I'm no expert caster but I usually can usually get almost all my line out. With a light wind to my back I could probably clear into my backing. A jersey guide told me if you can get more then 50 feet if line out any saltwater fly fishing is gonna be rough.
Water haul is another good approach to. In situations where there is no bait or active feeding fish I feel it puts them off. They use this cast in mass. The slap sound of the line sounds like other fish are eating bait of the top.

Practice that double haul. Tight lines marc

 

[marcq]

Not saying that distance is crucial but if you start to fish the surf you need to be able to get at least half your line out. On an open beach practice a double haul. I'm no expert caster but I usually can usually get almost all my line out. With a light wind to my back I could probably clear into my backing. A jersey guide told me if you can get more then 50 feet if line out any saltwater fly fishing is gonna be rough.
Water haul is another good approach to. In situations where there is no bait or active feeding fish I feel it puts them off. They use this cast in mass. The slap sound of the line sounds like other fish are eating bait of the top.

Practice that double haul. Tight lines marc

 

[sandfly]

hunter1,
where in ne mad. I spent a lot of summers around north east and turkey point.

 

[geebee]

marcq wrote:

Water haul is another good approach to. In situations where there is no bait or active feeding fish I feel it puts them off. They use this cast in mass. The slap sound of the line sounds like other fish are eating bait of the top.

Practice that double haul. Tight lines marc

I only use it for the 'lift off' once Marc, and only in either rolling surf or fast deep water - both scenarios where you need the fast sinker or density compensated lines.

on a flat calm beach or creek i use a clear intermediate and a traditional double haul.

its a good thing to learn, i can even almost cast a full line of DT5 with it on my trout rod when i need to now.