February cast of the month comes from Connel Gresham who is carving out a reputation for himself as a highly competent Sea Trout angler. Connel is relatively new to fly fishing but has a great ability to catch sea trout. Here he shares two his of favourite patterns and offers some very useful and practical advice on how he approaches his angling.
'Being a relative newbie in the fly fishing game I have learnt a lot quite quickly simply by reading anything and everything I could get my hands on. However, local knowledge and a lot of time spent watching certain areas have proved more effective. I've found there are three things I do every trip to help insure the most out of it.
1- Sit and watch for 10 minutes. Have a cup of coffee and watch to see how the tides running is particular spots, anywhere where there’s a bit of current I've found usually hold fish, pick out slightly deeper lies. Quite often I've turned up at a spot and watched with no fish rising or jumping but once you get your eye in I've seen fins and small shoals of fish feeding.
2- Stealth. I've seen guys rushing into the water at a rate of knots trying to cast as far as they can. This also includes wading along the shore and in the water. Seatrout often lie close in near racks of seaweed rather than being out in open water exposed to seals.
3- I’m not the best at casting and quite often I find my flies ending up where they weren't meant to. But I've learnt that no matter where your flies end up (as long as there in the water) seatrout lie in the most unexpected places. I've seen big fish leaping in 10 inches of water. If you think it's a bad cast don't just strip it in to cast back out. Retrieve as you would and you may be surprised.
All of the above is I would guess pretty common knowledge but I've found sticking by these 3 things does help catch more fish'.
'Being a relative newbie in the fly fishing game I have learnt a lot quite quickly simply by reading anything and everything I could get my hands on. However, local knowledge and a lot of time spent watching certain areas have proved more effective. I've found there are three things I do every trip to help insure the most out of it.
1- Sit and watch for 10 minutes. Have a cup of coffee and watch to see how the tides running is particular spots, anywhere where there’s a bit of current I've found usually hold fish, pick out slightly deeper lies. Quite often I've turned up at a spot and watched with no fish rising or jumping but once you get your eye in I've seen fins and small shoals of fish feeding.
2- Stealth. I've seen guys rushing into the water at a rate of knots trying to cast as far as they can. This also includes wading along the shore and in the water. Seatrout often lie close in near racks of seaweed rather than being out in open water exposed to seals.
3- I’m not the best at casting and quite often I find my flies ending up where they weren't meant to. But I've learnt that no matter where your flies end up (as long as there in the water) seatrout lie in the most unexpected places. I've seen big fish leaping in 10 inches of water. If you think it's a bad cast don't just strip it in to cast back out. Retrieve as you would and you may be surprised.
All of the above is I would guess pretty common knowledge but I've found sticking by these 3 things does help catch more fish'.
Soldier palmer-
Hook- size 10 longshank
Body and tail -Red wool
Hackle -Light Hen
Silver wire
Nylon thread
"Ive found a longer lighter hen hackle seems so simulate a small sea slater and has caught be alot of fish. Sometimes a smaller version works just as well"
Hook- size 10 longshank
Body and tail -Red wool
Hackle -Light Hen
Silver wire
Nylon thread
"Ive found a longer lighter hen hackle seems so simulate a small sea slater and has caught be alot of fish. Sometimes a smaller version works just as well"
Sandeel-
Hook size 8
Tail and body -Olive Marabou over white Marabou over pearl angel hair with a with a strip of silver holographic tinsel at each side
Body - Diamond hard UV resin
Funky fly tying 3mm eyes
"Ive found the key to this fly is the lateral line. The tinsel is firm and keeps it shape and gives a nice sparkle to it. Keeping as natural looking as I can with this fly but they also work well in white. Early season this fly seems to be best with seatrout looking for a good meal after the winter"
Hook size 8
Tail and body -Olive Marabou over white Marabou over pearl angel hair with a with a strip of silver holographic tinsel at each side
Body - Diamond hard UV resin
Funky fly tying 3mm eyes
"Ive found the key to this fly is the lateral line. The tinsel is firm and keeps it shape and gives a nice sparkle to it. Keeping as natural looking as I can with this fly but they also work well in white. Early season this fly seems to be best with seatrout looking for a good meal after the winter"
