Do any members here enjoy fishing from the surf (either salt or Great Lakes). There is something about it that I have been drawn to my whole life - starting in the conventional world. I don’t know if it is the sound of the waves, reading the water, etc. Nowadays, I like to fly fish in the surf and normally tie Clousers, Deceivers, or Half 'n Halfs for the job. I have yet to tie any Surf Candys, but have been inspired by Popovics for some time now. Interested to learn about some of your favorite patterns to fish in this environment.
I have had no luck trying to surf fish with a fly rod in Lake Michigan. I have been told that it is much easier in the morning before the waves come up, but I have worked nights for many years and don’t do mornings. I usually end up switching to the back-up spinning rod and casting countdown rapalas. That lets me stand in shallower water without being battered by incoming waves while casting a reasonable distance out…
Sounds like you are mostly targeting bigger fish and what you are using would do fine for our stripers, halibut, and other such surf stuff. Up here in northern Ca we do a lot of surfperch. They seem to need to be very opportunistic. One good bug seems to be a rootbeer or motor oil based crystal flash wool bugger for a worm immi. Almost an steelhead bug with orange or red in it works fine to immi the eggs under the mole crab, another fav of the perch. We also like a #10 surfcandy. Of course you can be pleasantly surprised by a striper or such at any time.
…lee s.
I fly fish in saltwater, but usually not in surf conditions. Most of the time it’s in sheltered areas where there is very little if any wave action. I like to use Deceivers for this. I fish ocean beaches with both conventional and spinning tackle. There are times when I think I could have done well with a fly rod, but most times that would be a mistake.
I used to fish for stripers, blue fish and bonitos in the Atlantic Ocean off of Rhode Island, but those days are long gone. I no longer fish saltwater or tie saltwater flies
I appreciate the input. I have yet to try it in the big lakes. In the near future, I’d like to pick up “Fly Fishing the Inland Oceans” by Jerry Darkes. My understanding is that this text gets into picking apart that open water and has useful info for the shore angler.
A great surf fishing book is The Corbina Diaries by Al Quattrocchi. “A fly fisherman’s obsession - sight fishing Southern California’s shallow surf for the elusive corbina.”
That’s a great idea! A buddy of mine in Rockport, TX ties a sand flea that uses fake fingernails (like the glue on ones) as a shell casing that look really cool, too.
