Getting Closer To Fish (3 of 12)
Video Transcript:
Even when you know fish are in the area, sometimes you need to narrow the odds even more, because the fish might be roving wide areas and you can only effectively cover a circle of about 70 ft around a boat with a fly rod. One way to get close to fish is to run and gun, chasing schools of fish breaking the surface. But you got to be careful to stay outside the school of feeding fish, because if you run a boat right over a school of feeding fish, they will go deep and then feed somewhere else. Or, you have to bring the fish closer to the boat. You can chum with live or dead bait fish, crabs, or shrimp. Either whole fish or cutoff fish are thrown off the stern of the boat to attract fish that might not normally get into casting range.
What we are doing here is chumming for these fish. We got some Tuna over here, some skipjacks, maybe some Yellow Fins. We're chumming off the stern of the boat and I have a big white fly and I am just letting it dead drift in the chum. Hopefully a Tuna will come by and grab it. I am just gradually letting line out. Jason Franklin and Greg Vincent have done a lot of this Tuna fishing here by Grand Bahama Island and they have found that this is the best way to do it, with a floating line and just a dead drifted fly in the chum. Not stripped unless the fish actually come up and start busting.
Typically the fly is allowed to sink naturally without any added motion. Sometimes fishing a chum slick, fish can be caught on poppers which is a lot more fun. Some people don’t like fishing in chum slicks, but it’s hard to argue with the results.
Another method, which is as exciting for the helper as the angler, is to tease the fish closer to the boat by casting a hookless plug. When the plug gets close to the boat, the helper yanks the plug from the water and the fly caster casts in the same spot. It looks easy, but it requires precise timing and pinpoint casting.
What we are doing here is chumming for these fish. We got some Tuna over here, some skipjacks, maybe some Yellow Fins. We're chumming off the stern of the boat and I have a big white fly and I am just letting it dead drift in the chum. Hopefully a Tuna will come by and grab it. I am just gradually letting line out. Jason Franklin and Greg Vincent have done a lot of this Tuna fishing here by Grand Bahama Island and they have found that this is the best way to do it, with a floating line and just a dead drifted fly in the chum. Not stripped unless the fish actually come up and start busting.
Typically the fly is allowed to sink naturally without any added motion. Sometimes fishing a chum slick, fish can be caught on poppers which is a lot more fun. Some people don’t like fishing in chum slicks, but it’s hard to argue with the results.
Another method, which is as exciting for the helper as the angler, is to tease the fish closer to the boat by casting a hookless plug. When the plug gets close to the boat, the helper yanks the plug from the water and the fly caster casts in the same spot. It looks easy, but it requires precise timing and pinpoint casting.
Equipment For This Chapter