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Skagit fishing for Stripers

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HL

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Hi all,

I'm looking forward to fishing estuaries for Bass using Skgit lines and style.

I'm concerned, however, with line splash and short Fluro leaders used.

These are short HEAVY lines - they do have thinner 10-12' tips, however.

 

This ecnique is used mostly in rivers where the line is allowd to swing down stream - splash is not a consideration.

Just wondering how cast-and-retrieve will work???Herb

 

Anyone here have experience with this

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Herb you do see in y tube some pretty heavy splash down. But it does not have to be that way. The Rio Gamechangers have a very nice taper and hold a loop well . A T tip is going to crash but how deep do you want to go. The Rio Launch line casts nicely. I have cast one on my 7 wt Switch rod. Don’t forget some of the heavy splash can be down to a big fat brass tube fly not the tip. How many grains you thinking of casting excluding the tip.

 

Mike

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I really wouldn’t worry about a splash since surf lures probably make a bigger splash. Cast and retrieve would would just as if you were swinging a river.  If you aren’t tying too big of a fly you can use a rage head which is like a hybrid scandi skagit 

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No Herb. Too many lines out there to fish them all. The short heads are the ones which will have the loudest touch down. Some Skagit heads are getting silly short now.  They are good for lifting out heavy tips and heavy flies and are easy to cast and can be cast on shorter spey rods but quite presentation not so good. Unless your head is super short then no reason why with that set up you can’t get a good presentation.

If the wind is blowing up stream/ up current in your inlet then if you are fishing a floating head and tips then a Snap T is a nice cast and especially if the wind is quartering into you as well as upstream.

If you want to lift heavy tips and heavy flies then a Circle C cast is better unless there is a quartering wind when it can be dangerous. Not bad practice at first to roll cast to the surface before making a Snap or C cast until you gain experience. These two casts are quite easy to learn. If you are on the left bank then it is right hand up the rod. On the right bank it is left hand up. Always good to learn left hand up. It is not that hard with these water borne casts.

If the wind is down stream then you need to use a double spey. Right bank right hand up. Left bank left hand up.

The nice thing about all these casts is that if you place the anchor in the wrong place you can abort roll cast out of trouble and go again. 
If I was mainly casting floating tips then I would prefer to cast a spey shooting head. Heads are longer and presentation better.

Simon Gawesworth has some good videos on Y tube of these water borne casts. Spey casting is a lovely way to get our flies to the fish and very safely in inlets. Out Front don’t start me off. LOL 

 

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HL, I have been fishing skagit stye in estuaries ever since I was introduced to the technique many years go in the Pacific NW for steelhead fishing. I started using  it mostly to keep my skills up for steelhead season.  It translates very nicely to striper fishing in current and I found I could catch fish with regularity when there are fish to catch.  The estuaries I fish are tidal and usually have a good current pull, both downstream and up, with little room for back-casts except a low tides..  I use the same rigs for stripers as I do for steelhead, just with different flies.  I use a swing when the current allows, but I find a  down-current strip works well at times. Line handling for cast-and-strip took a while to figure out.  Everybody has their own style, but I use a stiffer rod than most, as most of my catching comes from deeper presentations with  a floating skagit tip and a length of T14 for depth.  I will ditch the T14 when fishing surface stuff.  I don't see myself as a great caster, but manage to get the fly in the zone and catch fish if they are around.

 

I am sure casting purists will differ with my techniques and rigs, but it they work for me.

 

When the fishing is easy, everyone's an expert. Especially me!
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Surffly....., Dance....Mike,

Thank you.

I fish a floater on my S/H rods 99% of the time.  But I did notice that the Floating tip AND short leader keeps the fly closer to the surface than my S/H lines and long leader.

 

I read that one should just attach a 3' length of Fluro to tip.

I would like to use a normal 9' leader for Stripers.  I assume the longer leader would, somehow change the casting dynamics....Comments please.

 

Currently I have some old MOWS tips - but use the stuff I got from OPST -90gr 12' floater, 55gr 7.5' floater, 140gr 10' Sink. 

I like the 12' floater vs the 7.5' floater for casting.

Herb

 

 

Edited by HL
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Great way to fish when there is not room for overhead style of casting, which is often the case in estuaries or deep bank areas where wading can't be done safely, areas with rocks, topography, vegetation behind you.  I use mostly the Scientific Anglers or Airflo heads with Mow or iMow tips.  400, 420, 425 grain heads are perfect for the 10ft Mows/iMows using a 7/8 or 8wt switch (or shorter surf/TH rod).  An 11 - 12'5" rod is my choice.  Has to balance with the tip of the rod in the water and the rod under the armpit.  Above an 8wt two hand rod, I use 450g Airflo Rage plus a float or int. polyleader (12-15ft typically), or a long tapered mono leader.  These are not "out front" beach rods which require even more grains.

 

There used to be a heavy Airflo 5ft tarpon poly leader in intermediate.  This was a great way to transition from a floating Skagit head to either a short saltwater mono leader, or short length of 20lb fluoro for subsurface presentations.  The 5ft Tarpon poly is no longer produced.  The other reason to use it was to extend the head to around 28ft from the typical 23ft Skagit head length.  Splashdown can be a problem but for stripers, IMO, splash can be an attraction. 

 

A 3ft piece of fluoro attached to a typical short skagit head is not going to work, IMO.  Try those 10ft MOWs, especially the float/int ones.  The 12ft floaters are great.

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I know zero about skagit.

 

Large shadow and Splash down is more of a cconcern in my mind  for trout and fish that may spook by  pedators from above.  Small bass may fit this category .

 

Splash can be used as a device to draw bass to us.  I am sure there are instances in shallow water flats, splash down may spook bass, but I woudnt be surprised if they circled back to investigate.

 

Striped bass are largely curious.  I once snorkeled with a school of bass for a hundred yards.  It all started when I was unearthing a large surf clam, and as I placed it back into the sand I looked up and a striped bass was cruising/circling me within 4 feet.  as I continued to snorkel, it followed me and three other striped bass joined us. At one point I was in the middle of this mini school. It was pretty funny. We swam for a while and it was only when I touched on leg down on the sand, that they spooked and we parted ways. 

 

A common plugging technque with a danny is to pause the plug on splashdown. The splash down draws the attention.  The pause allows things to settle, and often a single twitch or when we start our retrieve the bass will strike.

 

The only difference is that the location of our fly is not at the exact location of the splash down.  I guess a couple strips and a pause could slove that.

 

All that said, I doubt there are any hard rules on the topic.  like everything else there are always conditions where these types of details may matter.

 

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If you are concerned about splash down, and are fishing the surface (or bit below it), the (floating) Airflo Rage head is the ticket, IMO.  It is more of a cross between a skagit and scandi head, and it's longer too.  More aerodynamic than a typical skagit and less splash on the delivery.  OK for flies that are smaller, or bigger but sparsely tied flies.  The Rage in 420 for a 7/8wt TH rod can be a perfect match.  No need to use heavy tips on a Rage, but can use polyleaders.  I haven't experimented enough with my Rages (420, 450, 480) yet...need to figure out how long and heavy a tip I can get away with, probably not more than 60-85gr. The Rage casts well with a lot of underhand power.  Can also overhead the Rage with only a leader or light poly.  Very versatile.

 

I believe Steve Culton here is also a fan of the Rage head.  At least his recent post shows it's part of his kit for swinging bigger flies, and tandem rigs.

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Herb

 

The biggest problem with a floating tip is keeping it anchored. Faster sink tips stay anchored well. When I am casting a Skagit line the head when in the D is not actually touching the water at all. Ok let me try and put this better the end of the head where it joins my tip is not in the water but a few inches out of it. Then the cast flies. Because a floating tip will not have the same grip you will need to experiment with your cast. Sure you may blow a few anchors but then you can re calibrate. It’s a fun thing to do.

 

I apologise for not getting your Switch rod back to you.  How long are you staying in your vacation address as I now have the time to get a shipment to you organised. My casting exam just took every second away from me. My conscience has been wrecked and I feel a great deal of guilt. We have a Bank Holiday this Monday but shipment Tuesday is possible and delivery around 3 days.

 

Mike

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Mike,

I will be here until Mid October.

 

Killy,

My 8wt Switch is a S/H rating - so about 5/6 DH.

My OPST hed is 425gr and seems to work well.  CTS seems to underrate heir DH blanks.

 

What length tippet should be used on a tip?

Herb

Edited by HL
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