salt water fly fishing

[Fishaholic]

So I  love fly fishing almost better then using a bait caster. I fish jettys when I fish salt water and I love catching black bass. I have a spot were black bass are at all times. I have caught blackbass using smelt jigss before and was wonding if anyone has ever fly fished for black bass and what kind of fly did you use? I was thinking I maybe could just buy smelt jigs and cut the rig apart to get the single jigs off and just tie the jigs on the tippet and try that.




any ideas?

Thanks
Dj

[wafisherman]

Plenty of options really.  Those fish aren't picky.  You could start with black woolly bugger type patterns.  Try some with weight on front if needed for better swimming action.  Just watch out as the hooks will corride unless you have your saltwater hooks.  Or you can wash them will after each trip (I rinse my gear, including rod and real, after all salt water trips).

There are also some bass patterns that may be useful.  Dahlberg divers are kinda like a plug that dives deeper as you strip it in and has some good wiggle.  Maybe worth a try if the wooly bugger patterns aren't working.  The tried and true clouser minnows patterns are a no brainer for salt water fishing as well.  MANY variations and color and material options to choose from.  Great action in the water. 

For these flies, I would start with a floating line and 12 foot tapered leader downt about 8lb Max UG tippet.  Cast out, let sink as you count down, and when you think you are as deep as you need to be, begin stripping it in.  You can try the following retreives and see which gets the most strikes - sometimes the retreive is more important than the fly...

* Fast strip with no pauses - bait fish high tailing it out of there
* Incredibly slow boring retrieve - fish are being shy and not aggressive.  Maybe seeing it slowly approach and go by will bring them out.
* Alternate the 2 above - go about 2-4 feet super fast, then slow for 2-4 feet
* Erratic - few quick strips, short or long pause, strip a time or two, pause, etc (I probably do variations of this the most)

Nice thing about the clouser minnow patterns, is that they are super easy to tie, and super cheap.  Hook, dumbell or bead chain eyes, and some bucktail, bunny fur, marabou, etc of various shades.  A little flash is good.  You can whip these out super fast and have a box full of colors and varieties that will catch cutties, salmon, bottom fish, bass, etc all day long...

Look up some youtube videos on tying them.  Remeber, it is kinda like cooking, the recipe is helpful, but feel free to get creative and change things up once you understand and master the basics.

[jeepster]

Tie up a mess of heavy clousers

I got a whole box of em, every color scheme imaginable, natural and crazy colors, from the standard, to crackhead rave hippy, super long and eel like, and short and stubby.

Red and yellow work good on bottom fish, so does solid white, I have them in sizes from tiny all the way up to 6/0. I usually use a chunk of 15 lbs test or 20lbs test for heavier flies. I like to raft my boat up in the kelp beds or huck flies off of big rock outcrops. My dream is to get a lingcod on a fly. I get greenling, surf perch, occasionally a rockfish/bass.