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6 weight for salt

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Chipnice

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I’ve been thinking about putting together a 6wt setup for open beach fluke this summer July and August .  Maybe fiberglass. I was wondering what you fine fly fishers might recommend. Retro or modern.  Rod reel favorite lines.  I figure I may encounter some keeper fluke school bass sea robins scup spike weaks and snappers.  Thanks.

With any luck we are just a moon away from some action around here and I need a project

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Mike, what they are fishing for requires about a 30 foot cast at best.  Even I can do that.  Actually, I was thinking recently of using my little freshwater 6 wt for the back bay this year and even for fluke on the beach.  Light rod, short casts.  Who cares if I might only catch leetle feesh. 

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I got and built Blue Halo 7wt fiberglass rod just for the fun of it.  I was catching stripers last year in a big blitz with it and a guy in a boat next to me asked if I was caught on the bottom as the rod was doubled over. You cold really go old school and get a Plueger to boot.

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I've got a slightly arthritic shoulder, so I use my 6 wgt most of the time.  It's a 9' rod I built on a slow/moderate action Loomis blank.  Reel is an Orvis Battenkill IV Mid-arbor.  I have two spare spools for it.  One with a fast sink tip line.  The other with an intermediate line.  I think they're Orvis lines.  When I fish the salt I use either the sinking line or the intermediate line.  I find them easier to punch through the wind.  I fish places like Corson's inlet, and this year I should be fishing the Brigantine Jetty.  I've caught schoolie stripers up to 26 inches on it and bluefish up to 20 inches, a whole lot of snapper blues, a couple of sea bass and sea robins, no flounder yet.  I just give it a good wash down when I get home.

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2 hours ago, Philly said:

I've got a slightly arthritic shoulder, so I use my 6 wgt most of the time.  It's a 9' rod I built on a slow/moderate action Loomis blank.  Reel is an Orvis Battenkill IV Mid-arbor.  I have two spare spools for it.  One with a fast sink tip line.  The other with an intermediate line.  I think they're Orvis lines.  When I fish the salt I use either the sinking line or the intermediate line.  I find them easier to punch through the wind.  I fish places like Corson's inlet, and this year I should be fishing the Brigantine Jetty.  I've caught schoolie stripers up to 26 inches on it and bluefish up to 20 inches, a whole lot of snapper blues, a couple of sea bass and sea robins, no flounder yet.  I just give it a good wash down when I get home.

For real fun with snapper blues, last year (short trip back East) I used an 8'6" 3 weight (Ross Essence FC) and the smallest fly reel I have, up-lined to a 4 weight line - to throw small epoxy minnows.  Worked great.  Short casts around rocks and jetties.  The rod is a freshwater version, so had to make sure to rinse it down really well afterwards.

 

 

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3 hours ago, Skip S said:

Been fishing 6wt rods in the salt for years.Mostly with a Scott Heliply & Ross Canyon 3 reel but I also use a Sage RPL.I used to fish an intermediate line but I really like the ghost tip lines now.Google up an article by Ed Mitchell called The Salty Six.Good info.

Great articles 

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I have a GLX 6wt that has had more saltwater use over the years than fresh by far. We used to get a really good weakfish bite in central NJ back water/ salty rivers. The 6wt was my main rod for that and would get schoolie stripers and tailor bluefish. It is just more fun when your gear is appropriate for the target. 

 

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West Coast guy here. I use a 6w switch on open beaches all the time, it's my main stick. Also use a 7w single hand Sage in the surf. And I have even used my 5w trout rod in the surf, when it's small in the summer, for surf perch in the shore break. I like it better than trout fishing. I love seeing the flash of a little guy grabbing the fly in a backlit wave that is just rearing up to break on the shore. 

 

 

Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught. 

 

 

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I built a 6 wt quite some years ago with an old Loomis IM6 blank and saltwater hardware. I've caught small bluefish, schoolie stripers, sea robins and scup on it, and have also caught largemouth, trout and other freshwater species with it. 

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