lighten

Lighten up!

For many people interested insaltwater flyfishing, the choice for the correct rod weight touse can become quite a problem and is complicated even furtherwhen you also need to consider where you are fishing and what youare fishing for. As an example, an outfit used for mainly chasingbarramundi in the estuaries would be different to one used mainlyfor chasing billfish out wide.

In most cases, the general opinionis to start off with a rod in the #8/9 weight range. While thiscan be a good starting weight, these rods tend to be too heavyfor most general situations and do not always specifically fitthe type of fishing you intend to do. I would say that 80% ofpeople first starting out are fishing too heavy.

Lets' say, for example that youare targeting a species like flathead on the fly, as these are acommon species to begin with. In my experience, most flatheadaround these days are very easily caught on a rod in the#8/9weight range which is usually somewhat of an overkill. Thisis the case with most easily accessible saltwater species (bream,whiting, etc), which is why you may be better off considering alighter weight rod.

Don't be put off by the myths thata lighter weight will not be sufficient for many species as thisis definitely not so, especially with today's technology. Themain key is to make sure that you are fishing correct lineclasses or tippets, and if this is so, then the rod is under noextra stress. In fact, fishing a lighter weight rod can reallyboost your fishing ability and make things a lot more exciting.

Choosing lighter weight rods hasmany advantages over heavier weights like the popular #8/9weightswhich are frequently recommended by many television shows andfishing personalities. Some of these advantages include;

• Lighter weights give you alot more sensitivity while casting, and

fighting fish.

It allows you to place a fly with a lot more stealth (while this is not always the way to fish in the salt, it does have it's advantages especially on the flats).
It allows you to fine-tune your technique when fighting fish.

You can also cast for longerperiods of time without tiring as easily, and distance is notsacrificed.

The only downfall to fishing alighter weight may be that you are somewhat restricted to thesize of fly you are casting. Lighter weights (5/6/7weight) areusually restricted to hook sizes up to #1-1/0, however, I havefished 3/0 baitfish patterns on #6weights while chasing largequeenfish.

The developments in fly rodmanufacturing and the quality of most of the rods available todayhave made it possible to use quality light weight rods. In thepast, lighter weights such as 5/6weight rods were used almostexclusively for fresh water, chasing species like trout.

Although there are somesimilarities, the saltwater fly-fisher usually requires a rodthat is a little firmer and is able to cast longer distances andhandle larger, faster fish.

Thanks to developments over thepast few years with salt water specific fly rods, we can nowchoose to use lighter rods that are suited to the conditions ofour environment.

When looking at choosing a lighterrod for the salt, there are a few deciding factors.

The guides must be large enough toaccommodate for the line class you are using and are usually asize or two larger than the fresh water rods to allow for lessline drag which in turn, allows for longer, faster presentations.

The blanks are also a littlefirmer and crisper which also helps with faster presentations.

One way to pick this is to take arod (without the reel) and quickly flex it. It should recoververy quickly and not feel like a sloppy, spongy "spaghettistick". If you are going to try this, make sure the areaaround you is clear as its not going to do you any good buying abroken rod due to irresponsibility. Chances are that the tackleshop owner will not look too kindly at you either whenever youreturn to "test" another rod.

More often than not, many peopleare put off using lightweight rods because they fall into themisconception that the rod will not handle the fish they areafter. It is sad to see that these people are disadvantagingthemselves by not giving it a try. In reality, it is not therod in most instances, but the line capacity and correct dragpressure that actually governs whether the fish will be landed ornot.

On the other hand you will findpeople who are of the opinion that fighting fish on lightweightoutfits will tire and stress the fish, which will cause more harmthan anything else. This is not so. If you fight the fishproperly and use correct line classes, you will not cause anyadditional stress.

There will be instances whenfishing a lighter weight is not appropriate such as windy dayswhen more power is needed in the rod to get the fly out there.Also, when fishing up hard against the snags where you arerequired to apply a lot more initial pressure to turn the fish.

There are also instances whenchoosing a lighter weight will give you the added advantage, likewhen chasing/polaroiding spooky fish on the flats where delicatepresentations are called for. Also, when chasing smaller speciessuch as school trevally, bream, flathead, whiting, tarpon, andeven barramundi and queenfish choosing a lighter weight will bemore beneficial, and help to improve your angling skills.

Don't ignore the lighter rods inthe selection of your next/first flyrod as you will be pleasantlysurprised at just how versatile and adequate they are in themajority of saltwater applications.

Broaden your horizons-lighten up!

Want to learn more about saltwater flyfishing? Check out the web site www.swflyfish.com