So, recently my family somehow landed ourselves on a light house in the middle of Narragansett bay! (Rhode Island) We will be there for a few weeks taking care of the place. We will have kayaks and a small boat, I’m 110% bringing my salt gear (I only have flats experience) so I have come to seek the wisdom of FAOL BB to find out what weight leaders (X), and a decent fly selection.
I already found about the legalities and limits (if I catch anything I will most likely release it though.)
Hi Mr VT.Tb
The Bay is pretty hot right now , particularly up towards Providence, but those fish will probably drop back to cooler water soon.
There’s plenty of bunker (pogies, menhaden) around this year. Some folks tie some pretty fancy flies for them, but a 3/0, 7", deceiver in yellow is as good as any.
There’s two sizes of silversides around. The tiny juveniles are dropping out of the rivers while the 5" adults are moving in to spawn
Of course, that’s what’s happening now. Things change quickly
Later in the season, if it’s anything like last year, count on bluefish, bluefish, bluefish.
So bring some wire or fluoro/mono of 50# for shock tippet.
Besides the sliversides, they’ll be on juvenile herring to 4" 'till mid July and after mid August they’ll be on peanut bunker (juvenile menhaden)
Bluefish will chew up flies made of natural materials pretty quick so plan on using full bodied flies made of synthetics. Nothing fancy needed.
Blue fish like “fast food” and poppers stripped at full speed is as fun as it gets
If you want to catch stripers in the summer, plan on either fishing at night, or deep near structure during the day
Use something big, dark, and wiggly :lol:
I like three section leaders for the salt. With a 9wt floating line try 4’ of 40#, 3’ of 30#, and 2’ of tippet in the 15-20# range. Some people like fluorocarbon but hard mono is good enough for me. Sinking lines call for shorter leaders. When fishing poppers, use a straight piece of mono no longer than 6’.
The type of flies you use is really just a personal choice
I went a full season one year using only deceiver variations…different lengths and profiles. All in yellow over white
Dudley is not wrong. That leader will turn over a big fly like butter. That said there are plenty of blokes using straight 20 and do just fine. Either a hand tied tapered leader or a long straight one will do you right. Your choice.
I personnally like to tie blood knots so I like the tapered leaders. However I often get lazy and snip of a long section of 20 - quick mono loop and off.