Total newbie to salt with a pile of questions

[92Esquire]

Next week I'm headed to Pensacola for an extended weekend with the in-laws. They've supposedly rented a condo right on the beach.

I'm borrowing a saltwater rig from a friend who builds rods, I'm furling up some 4lb mono leaders, and will be buying a handful of Clousers.

My thought was to fish from the beach. This has kind of come up too quick for me to really think about a guide (and with my schedule down there as yet unknown, I probably shouldn't try to hire one).

What else should I bring? Pliers? Wire tippet? Handgun? To folks fishing from shore typically wear waders, or wet wade? Is a stripping basket necessary? How deep should I wade? Are sharks an issue if you're dragging in fish?

Another question is whether handling fish is different for salt vs. fresh water. I've only fly fished for trout. I know that some salt species have fins to stay away from - any other tips?

Finally, if anyone knew of any web sites or primers on salt I'd certainly appreciate it.

[Jed]

You have alot of questions but here is my quick answers.
First I would use 10~12 lb test as a general size. Not knowing what you are targeting this is a good sized leader.

Wet wading can be cold so if you have waders bring them as an option.

A stripping basket is very helpful, but not having one should not stop you from having fun.

I would judge wading depths as a combination of the surf and your ability to swim and comfort in the water. The issue of sharks I have no answer for.

Go and talk with the local fishing shop and ask them for some local advice after buying a fly or two. Most are helpful. In general fly fishing is fly fishing. Salt has different challenges but the only way to start is by trying it and seeing how it works. Consider this your first class. Bring back y our next round of questions and I'm sure you'll get some help with those too.

jed

[dunfly]

I'll try to answer a some of your questions.

Leaders should be 10# to 12#, with a 20# bite tippet. I like tapered leaders, but this time of year you could get away with a 25# level leader with a 10# to 12# tippet section. For saltwater I prefer fluorocarbon. If you have a sink tip line, it would work better.

Fishing of the beach in the winter is usually not very productive. If you can find wadeable flats you would be better off.

I only fish catch and release, but if you are going to drag a fish around, be ready to play tug of war with a shark. Use a long stringer so the fish won't be close to you. You wouldn't want the shark to miss the fish and take a bite out of you. Also make sure you have a quick release on the stringer.

You will need waders in Pensacola. I fish wet sometimes in the winter, but I'm further south in Tampa.

I strongly recommend a stripping basket, but you don't need to by one. Any small basket rigged with a wading belt will work. The one I've been using for about 5 years is a small plastic hospital basin with two loops attached for the wading belt.

As far as landing fish, for safeties sake, I wouldn't recommend you lip any fish with your hand. Some you can, but you don't have enough time to learn which ones. For the most part, you can grap them across the back, just behind the gills and roll them over on their side as you lift them out of the water. This will calm most fish.

[peregrines]

92Esquire,

You've gotten good advice from Jed. Plan on going up to 12lb test tippet. Stop in a local shop, tell them your plans and buy a few flies. Be aware that you'll probably need a Fla fishing license to fish in saltwater if you're going without a guide or not fishing from a fishing pier or resort that covers patrons fishing from their premises. The local shop may also have advice on places to try as well as specific flies, tides, and best times to fish, and what's running etc.

All around flies would inclide clousers, say some all chartreuse and some tan over white. I'd also add some blue/white deceivers say in size 1/0 especially for throwing into deep water from shore like canals or to breaking fish like jacks, spanish mackeral etc that you may run into, and maybe a few bendbacks in size 1 for weedy areas. You can't go wrong with those three basic, generic patterns.

I would definetly bring a pair of needle nose pliers for removing hooks and snipping line with the cutting portion. A pair of polarized sunglasses and hat with brim is essential for spotting fish.

A stripping basket is a big help. You can make a simple one out of a Rubbermaid dish pan and cut slits in one of the long sides to run a belt through. It will help keep line from getting wrapped around coral. grass etc if you cast from shore, and will cut down of the amount of water drag when you're wading for longer casts.

You can buy packages of pre rigged wire tippet with easy connect things for flies. It might be a good idea to have a couple, but I wouldn't use them until I ran into a problem with cutoffs first if i was blind casting and not specifically targeting cuda, sharks etc.

Waders would be good if temps are under say 70 or so, checkwater temps before you leave, but at minimum plan on bringing a pair of old tennis shoes to wear to protect your feet against coral, glass, sea urchins etc.

Assume fish will have teeth and sharp gill plates (ie snook) unless you know otherwise, and use your pliers to remove hooks. Pinching down barbs is probably a good idea.

Look carefully at the water surface for slicks (which may be caused by oils from baitfish), pushes (compression waves from moving fish) as well as tails, splashes and diving or circling birds. Look into the water for puffs or "smoke" from bonefish mudding on flats, and for moving shadows (you'll generally see shadows rather than the actual fish). Generally the deeper you wade the more you cut down your sight angle into the water so I wouldn't go too deep--- mid thigh max, unless I needed to charge out deeper for breaking fish, but even then I wouldn't push it further than waist deep. I would plan on doing most fishing from knee deep water while wading.
Stare at the water for awhile before you go wading in. It takes awhile for your eyes to adjust to see into the water, and you don't want to sppok fish that might be close. If you don't see fish, pick out "spots" to cast to, cast to dark spots, white spots, drop offs, current seams etc. and plan on moving a few feet after every cast to cover water to increase your chances of intercepting a cruising fish.


I wouldn't worry too much about sharks, except for bulls and hammerheads, and I would look for those guys before I got into the water, and be among the first to leave the water if any showed up. If you're wading and decide to cast to a smaller shark, like a lemon or something and manage to hook up, I would not attempt to land it while in the water, but back onto shore and try to slide it onto the beach. I also wouldn't feel comfortable wading at night down there, though I would fish from shore.

Add some 15 or higher spf sunscreen. Also, be sure to wash down your gear with a good fresh water spritz, reels, rod guides, etc after each outing, and be careful to keep sand out of your reel (don't lay it down on the beach !).

Hope this helps... Hopefully some locals will chime in with more specific advice on the area. Good luck and have fun!

peregrines

[dudley]

Over at the features section here at FAOL there is some fine saltwater 101
Click on Saltwater and scroll down to the bottom where it says:
Previous Fly Fishing The Salt Articles

The first dozen articles or so have a lot of the information you're looking for

[MuddlerMinnow]

To add to the excellent advice you've gotten already,

Most here have advised a stripping basket. If you're borrowing gear, you don't necessarily have to worry about one. With a floating line you don't need one so long as you're wading. However, on the beach your line will get covered in sand without one, and sinking lines will become impossible to cast far because you need to pull the line out of the water each time. I use one most of the time, but on a recent trip I opted to not drag it along and found I didn't miss it.

If you're not used to casting heavier rods and big flies, might be worth practicing a bit before worrying too much about catching fish.