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Many people ask me why I bother fly-fishing at all. It is not my major way of fishing and I certainly use all the fishing methods at my disposal to catch fish of all types and rock lobsters.
My main reason for starting was pure interest. I also have a mate who likes fresh water fishing and I have long wanted to catch a decent trout on fly gear (having now done so I can tell you that it is more over rated than lousy beer). So I started. My first outfit was a snow bee diamond fly 5-6 weight and an inexpensive reel and fly line. I have now progressed to two out fits (a G-Looms 6 weight rod and a Sage RPL-XI 12 weight rod), which are balanced by two good reels. In the case of the six weight the reel I use is a Shimano ULTEGRA FLY, which is the best lightweight fly reel I have found. In the case of the 12 weight I have a Tibor Gulf Stream, again an excellent item for the task at hand. The above gear is expensive. But you don't need to spend a load of money to get in to this side of the sport.
Being rude, there is probably more bullshit told about fly fishing than any other form of fishing I have encountered. I must also remark that some tackle shops are only to willing to strip you of a few grand and send you on your fishless way. I buy the vast majority of my tackle from The Tackle Shop at Waverley (02 93694133). I'm not paid to say nice things about the owner or his shop but I will say that I very rarely shop anywhere else and I'm always happy with the service and products.
My advice on gear is buy the best you can afford. What follows is basic no frills equipment to meet the needs of catching fish as described in the following paragraphs.
Rod: Whatever six-weight rod is on special. Make sure it has stainless steel guides.
Reel: Again, the less expensive you can find. You will need to wash and oil the el cheep 0 variety every time you use it.
Fly line: Courtland 333 six weight, weight forward floating line with braid loops attached. The tackle shop will do this for you.
Backing: 100 meters of old 6kg - 10 kg line tied to the reel in the normal way and terminating in a I meter loop so you can attach it in a loop to loop connection to the loop on the end of the fly line. Use either a bimini twist, spider hitch or five turn loop knot for the loop. They all work.
Strike indicators: Bean bag beans made from Styrofoam the size of a pea or a similar very small bobby cork will suffice but no bigger than a pea.
Leader: Any 3 KG line.
Flies: Buy one bread fly on a size eight hook. Buy a box of stainless steel 540S hooks in the number 10 size. Copy the purchased fly with cotton wool. I put some five minute araldite on say five hooks (one at a time) and wind cotton wool around the hook shank and glue. The cotton wool should be a bit thicker than a matchstick. Wind from the bend of the hook up to the eye and then back down the shank. Do the five one after each other and you will find the glue is starting to go off when you do the last one. I use my fingers as a fly vice so no need to spend money. Once they are dry wind white cotton up and down the body of the fly in wide wraps. Half hitch three times to finish and add a tiny dab of glue to hold the knots. The finished fly should be white and fluffy just like a small bit of bread. It takes me five minutes to make five flies.
You will also need a burly bag to hang over your shoulder and rock plates. We all wear wet suites when we fish but that is up to you.
Rig
Once you're backing and fly line are on the reel. It pays to mark the fly line at 30 feet with a waterproof permanent marker. This is so you know where the most efficient place to lift the line and recast from is. Saves all the guesswork and will load the rod properly when casting on the second cast. Casting is easy but it will pay you to rent a video on flycasting so that you know what types of cast there are. Again, there is a lot of bullshit in this. The aim in my book is to catch dinner so lets go on.
Attach two meters of leader to the loop on the end of the fly line with a smallioop-to-ioop connection. Use either a bimini twist, spider hitch or five turn loop knot for the loop. They all work. Put the strike indicator on the line and slide it up to the loop on the end of the fly line and fix in place with a stopper. Tie the bread fly on the other end of the leader with your preferred knot to attach hooks and your done. You should have a rig that resembles a luderick rig with no swivel or lead on the line.
Method
You will need a bucket or two of bread for burly. I get mine from the local hot bread shop for $2 per bag. That's about 100 rolls. I put this through a garden muIcher that chops it fine. This compresses the bread and makes it easy to wet and sink. When I arrive at the rock I wet down a bucket full of bread so that it is soaked. I put 10 handfuls of the wet bread in my burly bag and put it over my shoulder. You simply throw small handfuls of bread into the water (say once every two minutes) and cast the bread fly just over where the burly was thrown. The fly is allowed to sink and float for a minute or two and then recast as the next small hand full of burly is cast in. Those who fish for luderick will find the transition easy.
Location
Fly-Fishing works best is semi calm water, which is not to deep. Where I live at South Coo gee, Lurline Bay is the best. You will have to choose your location but make it one where you know there are Luderick, Rock Black Fish, Bream or Trevally.
The Fish
So far I have caught Bream, Luderick, Rock Blackfish, Trevally, Spine foot, Mullet and Tarwhine using this approach. The most I have caught in one session is eight luderick but I did stop on this day as I had enough.
The Sport
Catching these sort of fish on fly tackle is fun. Some of the big Trevally run a long way and are hard to stop. I would think if you just fished fly you would be sure to catch other types of fish. I fish ANSA class tippets and when you are using I KG tippet I can assure you that the challenges are much greater but we still seem to always come home with a feed after a few hours. Fooling fish is also part of the attraction.
Other benefits
The biggest benefit about the above method is that you will catch fish! God knows how much stuffing around you sometimes have to do to catch a trout on fly. This way, the cast does not matter much, the leader does not matter much and all the finery that is trout on fly is set aside for action. The gear is lightweight and once you are set it does last you if treated well. You can also go in the Sydney Metropolitan Division Fly Fishing section in all their competitions and perhaps win a fine beer mug. Notably, filling the beer mug at the end of the day is also a benefit along with telling a few yams. If you want to know more give me a call on 02 9665 3714.