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Presentations & Retrieves- Summary Activity

1K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  JonC 
#1 ·
At the risk of being viewed as a "pain in the fin"...If folks agree.....there are 2 other opportunities to add the the "Best Advice Received" Members' Contribution/Activity.

So far we have quite a collection of members' advice/advice received, observations, hypotheses and acquired knowledge based on experience.

Speaking for myself and given the feedback posted....we have an opportunity to have a good document for members review and share, as well as newbies.

If the timing is not right and or folks are sick of this (I will not take it personally) ...I totally understand.

If interested (now or after the season)....I have 2 possible additions to what we have so far:
1. Beach and or Surf Fishing (please refer to that thread)

and

2. This thread- Presentations and Retrieves
Suggest that we leave this wide open to obtain maximum contributions from members. I can sort it all out later when summarizing the contributions. Re "summarizing" I will not use " " in the future if it Ok with everyone...as I am not mentioning the name of the person and it is hard to remember to do it. If you want it kept, I will. There are a few contributions on the other thread that I will move to this sub-topic as they will now fit better in this section.
Some possibles include, but not limited to:
- special situations (like Jon C's recent post on "fast moving fish and ripping the retrieve"
- various retrieves and why/ what you have found helpful and when
- what works for you/when
- fishing crabs/shrimp patterns etc
- presentations etc for current/rips/bars...whatever
- -fishing flies like flatwings or other flies requiring a particular retrieve/presentation etc
- placement of fly on sighted fish (flats)
-whatever comes to mind on this topic that you feel will be helpful to others

In addition to Jon C's above special situation, I will start it off with one:
- special situation....when a fish has passed you for whatever reason and it's back is to you....cast at least 10ft ahead of the fish and about 4 ft to either side (ie striper cone vision) and rip fly once....can result in a 'reaction strike".
This has worked only 2 times in 9 yrs...but better than no times :)
Ron
 
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#2 ·
Presentation& Retrieves

Some time ago, 1/10/07, I posted a thread titled "How do you fish a -----------?" followed by a list of different fly's.
I just reread that thread and will try to list the variety of answers:
Be Observant --- water, bait, tide, wind, successful fishermen, what fly looks like in water, structure. Know your environment.
Fish with more experienced fishermen
Vary retrieve - fast - slow - stop & go - deep - shallow - wounded - no retrieve.
Line management
Know where your fly is - location in water table - current
Understand your quarry
Bait - see it - what is it - what are its actions -
Can you see your quarry - coming at you/going away - swimming straight - zig zag - attacking - bottom feeding
Approach all water carefully - wade slowly - always look behind you
Fish the situation.
Be willing to experiment
Many of these comments have been made in recent thread but wanted to put these out for reconsideration

Pete Readel
PopnesetBay
 
#3 ·
Retrieves

When you can see a fish preparing to take ypur fly, try to make long steady strips rather than short jerky ones, this gives the fish a better opportunity to close down on the fly and lessen the probability of pulling the fly out of his mouth. This was a hard learned lesson when I pulled the fly out of the mouth of a fish that was probably in the 4' category last spring on N Monomoy. On reflection, Lefty advocates a long steady strip for bonefish, he doesn't elaborate on why, but I think he's trying to avoid the pull out.
Jon
 
#4 ·
So far we have a lot covered in 2 posts and I will move some of the presentation contributions from the other summary to this future summary.
Not sure if this is it for posts...eitherthis topic has been fully covered, or folks are fishing (I will do that tomorrrow) or I just didn't explain the thread good enough. Would welcome any improvement on this suggested topic.
I will add 2:
1. is a follow-up comment on Pete's post re "no retireve"...I have used this in times when multiple single fish follow and follow and don't take it and are plain old finicky...I let them follow for a bit, then just let the fly sit there and I do nothing to move the fly...it has at times produced a take. Maybe they are being lazy or not really in a high mood to feed....who knows?
2. From an email I received.....for the same as situation above....if fishing a clouser type fly, break the seal on the barbell eyes and turn the hook side-ways....can produce a take if the fish is following low from the back...rationale: if so...the fish may be seeing the upright hook. This has worked for the person who shared it with me.
Opps...three more.....
3.on those rare 100% blue bird days WITH LITTLE TO NO WIND (a rare occassion on the flats).....on these days I have experienced fish getting spooked by the fly itself. Not its hitting the water...spooked when the fly is in the air and between the sun and the fish (shadow)....so....in those situations...be aware of angle of presentation and adjust body position/direction of cast.
4. be aware that stripers have very little frontal sight 3 to 4 ft in front of them (cone vision blind spot)...thus...try to quarter the fly ( cast ahead and to the side) your side...never cast across (and in front)of the fish as it results in line spook...plus....bait seldom decide to say..".hey, there is something that can eat me...I think I will swim in it's path" :wink: ........a very unnatural presentation and will make the fish wary; I like to lead the fish at least 5 to 6 ft, more if they are moving fast and not move the fly till they are about 3 ft away....
5. re flats.....if fish are actively feeding on the bottom on sand eels (tailing or swimming low)...cast farther ahead than you would normally do so as to allow the fly to be sitting on the bottom which is where the fish are eating....obviosuly, sand eels swimming in mid level along drop offs are a diffent storyy and require a more steady and or faster stop and go retrieve.
Do any of these things work all the time..NOT. But they tend to give me my best chance.

I will be addiing to my presentations, Jon's comment re "long slower retrieve" Have never thought of that.
These posts a jolting my memory...thanks.
Hope presentations are presented by someone on the surf/beach thread...ie. when fish in suds/first wave etc.
Ron
 
#5 ·
One point that cannot be overemphasized for flats fishing is that the fly must sink to level of the fish. In order to make this happen the fly should be designed to sink quickly, streamlined dressing and adequate weight, the tippet needs to be relatively long, I like 2.5- 3ft and should be tied to the fly with loop knot. I use a 12' leader out of flouro, simply for better sink rate and a clear tip line so I have about 22' of clear stuff in front of the fly, this setup will sink as much as I need in shallow water fishing and will also pickup easily for repositioning.
Jon
 
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