flies for sea trout

[boisker]

hey all... for the first time I think I'll prob start doing some targeted sea trout fishing next season; as my family seem to start buying Xmas presents earlier and earlier each year I thought I'd get in early and provide them with a list of some fly tying materials so I end up with something useful.
So what would be popular more traditional sea trout fly patterns for Devon?
I was thinking of perhaps getting materials for- Alexandra, teal blue and silver, silver stoat.... based on no other reason than I like the look of them!
Any flies you'd suggest as particularly useful?
cheers

[terry]

Any fly created by David Pilkington, especially the "Pilks Bumble" a great day or night sea trout fly.

Terry

[boisker]

Cheers Terry, just watched a YouTube vid of David P tying his Pilks bumble, looks nice and straight forward to tie and a great looking fly.... I'll have a look at some of his others
Cheers

[Deleted]

Size 6 long shank Alex is a must have for night time sea trout. It is my number one go to fly. Tie it on a carp hook as they are very long and quite heavy. For day time then obviously a small silver stoat takes 5 minutes to tie and a wee double hook will attain some depth for those bits of fast water at dusk. Black and peacock spiders are great for day time peal. I have never caught a fish on a teal, blue and silver but some folk swear by them. If you want to try something different then some of the welsh patterns like a Haslam, Harry Tom, or a Dai Ben are useful during the day. For simplicity's sake though the silver stoat and the Alex are my defaults. Pilkington swears by a coachman on a daytime cast.

[Deleted]

If you would like some company I would be happy to oblige. I am determined to do more next season.

[robmason]

Aug 26, 2015 8:57:30 GMT boisker said:

hey all... for the first time I think I'll prob start doing some targeted sea trout fishing next season; as my family seem to start buying Xmas presents earlier and earlier each year I thought I'd get in early and provide them with a list of some fly tying materials so I end up with something useful.
So what would be popular more traditional sea trout fly patterns for Devon?
I was thinking of perhaps getting materials for- Alexandra, teal blue and silver, silver stoat.... based on no other reason than I like the look of them!
Any flies you'd suggest as particularly useful?
cheers

Anything that is both black and silver. Tubes in May/June, single hooks down to #14 later on. I am rather partial to muddlers as surface lures too.

[boisker]

Thanks for all the pointers guys, I particularly like the idea of straight forward and 'cheap' flies to tie.... A friend has got an old Jungle cock that he is going to pass on to me, left to a friend of his from grandparents who was the gillie at Balmoral... So need to find a couple of patterns for that as well.

I'd definitely be up for meeting up next season Mark... And help on sea trout would be appreciated, I've really just fished for Browns on rivers the last 5 years, pretty much exclusively upstream, so I need to learn some new skills for sea trout.

[kevzim]

Have yet to prove it, so take this with a pinch of salt, but given how good they are as surface lures for other species I'm convinced black Gurglers are the quick and easy surface lure of the future!
Anyone had any success with them for peal?

[billyfish]

Chernobyl Ant for simplicity . I know of two over 9lb caught on them.
Colin.

[robmason]

Sept 3, 2015 11:03:41 GMT kevzim said:

Have yet to prove it, so take this with a pinch of salt, but given how good they are as surface lures for other species I'm convinced black Gurglers are the quick and easy surface lure of the future!
Anyone had any success with them for peal?

Not tried one. They don't look very aerodynamic. They do look buoyant mind!

[Deleted]

Sept 1, 2015 19:20:55 GMT boisker said:

I'd definitely be up for meeting up next season Mark... And help on sea trout would be appreciated, I've really just fished for Browns on rivers the last 5 years, pretty much exclusively upstream, so I need to learn some new skills for sea trout.

Great - then we'll do it.

[JB]

My two cents would be:

1. Get hold of a midge-tip line, floaters with poly-leaders are okay but a true sink-tip really makes a difference in my opinion (you'll probably want a floater too if you plan to play with surface lures).
2. Keep your fly patterns simple and few in number! The most important thing, in my opinion, when it comes to catching sea trout is to have your fly in the water. The more patterns you are carrying, the more the nagging doubt that one of the ones in the box might be better than the one on the leader creeps in. Which leads to changing flies during the ten minute spell when the blighters come on the take.

For patterns I would go with something teal, blue and silver-y (I like to tie a collar hackle of blue cock followed by a collar of teal to the traditional style) on a size 8 low water salmon hook. Then I would have something big and black, I have done well with a tandem sunk lure type fly but swapping the blue feathers for black. Werewolf is good too. It just wants to have a long profile. Surface lure is personal choice really. I've done some experiments with either foam gurgler styles and deer hair muddler styles. I lost a lot of fish on the gurglers and have pretty much stopped using them - I like the way the deer hair patterns sit in the surface rather than on it.

You should probably grab a copy of Falkus if you haven't already, the later revised versions aren't too expensive and also the most relevant. I would also suggest a copy of Sea Trout: How to catch them by Charles Bingham as that's very Devon specific.

Which rivers will you fish do you think?

[boisker]

Hi JB
Very useful info cheers, I haven't used anything other than a floating line as I have only ever fished rivers so midge tip is new to me.
I'll definitely be fishing the Axe and possibly the Otter (depending on membership),..... And wherever else opportunity allows!
Cheers
An additional thought... I currently use pretty much 4 w in different lengths depending on the river (4 w seemed a fair choice when I started, so I stuck with it.... Just a tight wad and it saves multiple reels)... I was thinking it would be sensible to go up ATM weights, and was thinking along the lines of a 6w?

[JB]

Sept 8, 2015 19:58:53 GMT boisker said:

Hi JB
Very useful info cheers, I haven't used anything other than a floating line as I have only ever fished rivers so midge tip is new to me.
I'll definitely be fishing the Axe and possibly the Otter (depending on membership),..... And wherever else opportunity allows!
Cheers
An additional thought... I currently use pretty much 4 w in different lengths depending on the river (4 w seemed a fair choice when I started, so I stuck with it.... Just a tight wad and it saves multiple reels)... I was thinking it would be sensible to go up ATM weights, and was thinking along the lines of a 6w?

The Axe and the Otter I know nothing about unfortunately. I do find that different patterns are more effective on different rivers, what I go to on the Fowey being different from what I go to on the Dart for instance. I think it can be simply broken down something like this: something small (not too small) for early in the night/low water/late season. I wouldn't go below a 12 or above an 8 (salmon sizes). Something big - a tandem, a werewolf, a tube - for late, dark nights/bigger water/early season. There is also colour to consider - not that sea trout can see colour in the dark anymore than we can, but they do see twice as well in low light owing to the construction of their eye. On a bright night some anglers (inc. me) like a fly with blue in it because blue light penetrates water further. On dark nights they should see colour the same way as us - different shades of grey - hence the popularity of teal feathers for the contrast.

As I said, I know nothing of the Axe/Otter and I'm sure others can offer better advice, but from a starting position I would probably tie some TBS in size 10 for early on bright nights, some Pilk's Bumbles in size 8 for early on darker nights and some 1 1/4 inch tubes either Alexandra or Silver Stoat or both. Plus your surface lure. That's 4/5 to choose from, which is plenty.

My go to sea trout rod for Devon is 9'6" #7 but a #6 will be absolutely fine and you might consider over lining it with a #7 line for more feel if you want it. I used to think that a lighter line was better when the river is very low, and would switch to a 5/6, but I don't do that anymore - I fish a longer tapered leader instead (usually with a smaller fly, probably lightly dressed TBS on a size 8). If you've already got a #6 I'd use that, if you're going to get a rod I'd ask whether you think you might fish other rivers for sea trout at some point, such as Wales or Scotland, and if so I'd go for a #7 instead for increased versatility. A #7 could also, at a push, be a light salmon rod, whereas a #6 is probably pushing it a bit too much. Get a saltw*ter model and you can chuck for bass too. I like a #7.

You don't need a sink-tip line to catch sea trout but they are better than polyleaders because they're properly density compensated. On a polyleader the coating is what makes them sink and there is more coating on the butt section than the tip so they tend to sink butt first. Also the given sink rate is for the butt, so most of the time you're not fishing as deep as you want to be. What you could do is put them on the wrong way round and attach your tippet+fly to the butt - not much fun to cast during the day, worse at night.

[Deleted]

9'6" #7 for me too.