sea trout

i managed fluke one in fermanagh a few years ago on the worm when bream fishing, but havnt had one since, i fancy trying for them on the fly in strangford lough, has anyone any suggestions on fly patturns, leader strengths, etc.

Standard swff outfit should be fine. Could probably drop down to an 8wt. They can be spooky so would suggest 8 to 9ft of leader. My pref would be 8lb fluorocarbon leader and an intermediate tip fly line mostly. Also, would suggest you try 2 flies at times if you have no probs casting with them. This is something I havent seen anyone mention on the site recently for seatrout and it can be very important. Flies wise I think Jim H put up a link on another thread but def try a Falkus style tandem sunk lure, rogans gadget, blue/silver style flies, blacksilver flies, streamer/zonker types, flies with jungle cock and palmered style flies on the dropper.

sk

As SK said.

6-7wt would be fine, but for this setup you need to scale down on the flies as well.

a size 2(Freshwater) fly should be the biggest used on floating line.

My favourite sea-trout fly is a Black pennel. size 8-14.

And err,

if you can, get em tied on sw hooks. Partridge are doin a nice hook at the moment just about the right size for sea trout flies too.

sk

for that size fly try these hooks, only hook i use in the smaller sizes for sw.
Uksalt -V Cutting point hooks, link here http://www.uksaltwaterflies.com/fly_tying_hooks.htm

as for flies, ive had most of my sea trout on small surf candies fished on the swing in the surf, although any good sandeel innitation will suffice. have also had a few on small glister shrimp patterns, all size 6-8

Hmmmm.

seem like nice hooks. Any chance you wd have a link for bendback hooks????

sk

As part of developing new aspects of lure and fly-fishing in the sea for SEAi, I have spent nearly three seasons researching aspects of this fishing. I believed some years back that this fish is a prized sporting species and somewhat available in and around Wexford. I worked with Steen Ulnits a fishing guide from Denmark during 2006 and 2007 learning some of the aspects of the Danish approach to seatrout fly fishing in the sea, the Danish would be considered world leaders in this arena. Continuing the research in 2009 I will be working with an established Irish seatrout saltwater fly fisher this spring hopefully to complete the development.

Some of the flies used successfully can be seen on the gallery section of my website – I do recommend the following for the sea – sunken lure, minkie, the gadget, and the Baltic special –the better designed flies often don’t have names! I have found the smaller and finer type fly works far better than any thing else.

I generally fish with a redington CPS #7 and a full intermediate line from Vision called the attack. These are relatively inexpensive and sink at about 1.5ips in fresh water, in saltwater a little slower – I attach a bonefish tapered leader to the fly line and then add a 60cm tippet of fluorocarbon.

I am currently restoring a timber boat, in the middle of training and certification process to enable fully guided one-day saltwater seatrout fishing packages this spring and summer both from more distant locations and from the boat itself. The lure aspect of the fishing has also been completed and the boat will be fitted with the following

2 - Lucky Craft ESG’s – 8’-7” – casting 2- 12 grammes – an advanced lure rod designed specifically for fishing and casting light lures in the sea

2 - Lucky Craft ESG’s – 9’-2” – casting 8- 16 grammes – an advanced lure rod designed specifically for fishing and casting light lures in the sea

The lighter model of these rods are fitted with shimano twin power 2500 spinning reels and the longer models are fitted with the twin power 3000 all are loaded with a specific type of braid with frog hair deep blue fluorocarbon leaders suited to light lure fishing.

All lures have been retro fitted with single barbless hooks to enable good C+R. These fish are very special and need to be treated with some care.
I use a unique range that covers most fishing situations and SOME examples can be seen here

http://sfdiaries.blogspot.com/2008/03/s ... lures.html flies can be seen here http://www.swflies.fotopic.net/c1392778.html

best - Jim

for benad backs you prbably would ahve to get them in from the states, although its easy to make you own wit a long shank stainless such as the Mustad 34011

cheers everyone some decent tips there