saltwater fly fishing

[boatbouy]

Looking for tips on inshore fly fishing along the NC coast. Type or certain flys that work well, type of line, length of leader and any other information. I am thinking I would like to try to catch some sea trout.

[deathb4disco]

sneakypete is the resident expert, so maybe he'll weigh in. I dabble in saltwater FF, but I'll tell you what I know. An 8 or 9wt will handle a lot of situations. As for flies, it's hard to go wrong with a Clouser minnow, a Lefty's Deceiver, and a crab pattern.

Lefty Kreh has an excellent book on saltwater FF (and so does sneakypete!)

[deathb4disco]

I just reread your post and saw that you mentioned sea trout (missed that the first time). A good shrimp pattern will also be useful.

[fish_4_all]

I have fly fished here but my species of fish are a lot different than yours. Around here I use clousers and crappie candy type flies for pretty much everything we have. Sea bass, perch, ling, kel cod, grren ling and whatever else will hit them. Smaller for perch and kelpies and larger for bass and ling. White is a good color as well as shrimp orange and pink both with some flash in them. I also use a bucktail streamer fly that I have tied for striper fisher's, I catch a lot of sea bass and they caught the stripers. I don't have stripers here or I would fish for them.

I have read a lot about it and more often than not clouser patterns in fish and shrimp colors are the go to. I have also read a lot about using Crazy Charlie's in salt water for a lot of species, again, tied in different colors to match the species you are fishing for. One salt water FF, I forget his name, uses clousers for everything he fishes for on fly rod in salt water.

[sneakypete]

Looking for tips on inshore fly fishing along the NC coast. Type or certain flys that work well, type of line, length of leader and any other information. I am thinking I would like to try to catch some sea trout.

Sea trout, huh? Well, BB, the only kind of trout fishing in North Carolina that I know anything about takes place over by Franklin. However, "specks" (Of the SW variety) are about the same all over.
Except where they get really big!

Anyway, lines. I'd go armed with two - a full-floating "Redfish" line and a clear-tip F/S line. And 9-weight gear is recommended over lighter stuff because the best flies are bulky.

Leaders. All-mono around 8 feet long with 16-pound class and 20-pound shockers for poppers on the floating line. 6-foot fluorocarbon 16-pound class and 30-pound shockers for sinking flies on the sink-tip. If the water is really clear, lose the shockers but then check frequently for fraying near the fly.

Flies. Size 1 poppers about 3.5 inches long in chartreuse over white or green over white. Same size and color Clouser-types with two additions, one being solid purple. In areas where killifish are abundant, purple rules! The other is a lightly-weighted size 4 clouser-type about 2.5 inches long in olive "super hair" (TM) or some other clear flashy material. That is for fishing at night under lights, should you ever be so fortunate.

If you know how to catch specks conventionally, you should have no trouble catching them on flies. If you apply the above data and are not catching fish, remember Pete's First Rule of Speck Fishing (Some kind of fly fishing, anyway!) - "No strikes, no fish. Change spots, not flies".

Bon chance, cher.

Oh, thanks for the plug DB4D! Hope all is going well with you and that you are "staying alive" (Forgive me, but I am simply compelled to include that! :D)

Pete

[deathb4disco]

Pete. I'm "staying alive" in Naples, FL right now. Caught some jacks, mackerel, ladyfish, and snapper this morning. :D. Hopefully, I'll get some snook tomorrow!

[sneakypete]

Pete. I'm "staying alive" in Naples, FL right now. Caught some jacks, mackerel, ladyfish, and snapper this morning. :D. Hopefully, I'll get some snook tomorrow!

Oh you dog!
"You should be dancing, yeah"!
Forgive me again cher - can't seem to help myself when I respond to you. I'll strive to do better - IF you don't tell me about catching all those lovely critters anymore!
I've gotta placate myself with reds and flounder most of the time! I need to boogie!!!
Get down!!
Accckkk!
Shame on you!!!
etep - you see, you screwed my head up!!!

[boatbouy]

Thank you all for your input, I will let you know how I do when I go to the coast this fall.
Boatbouy