Saltwater Flies of the Southeast and Gulf Coast

Saltwater Flies of the Southeast and Gulf Coast(Amato Publishing 2011)is the sequel to the highly acclaimed and popular Saltwater Flies of the Northeast. This latest project by author, Angelo Peluso covers the geography from the Carolinas to the Texas Gulf Coast. The focus of the book is fly patterns and their development throughout that entire region. The book will present approximately 360 of the best saltwater fly patterns, representing more than 100 fly tiers, captains, guides, club members, shops and outfitters. The list of contributors includes some of the most well known contemporary tiers as well as a number of exceptional amateur artisans. The work is being designed as a functional, comprehensive "bench" resource book of significant saltwater fly patterns developed and used in the Southeast and Gulf Coast for all primary game fish, flats, inshore and offshore. Images of the specific fly patterns have been achieved through high-end professional digital photography. Every effort has been made to portray the flies in a manner that will offer significant differentiation from those images that appear in other fly tying publications. A unique studio set was created to achieve these desired results. The book will also include the unique artwork of a very prominent and talented Florida fish artist. This unique art form has never before been paired with fly patterns. SWFSE&GC will also include a collectoin of informative vignettes and essays. No matter where you fish the flies in this book will help increase your angling effectiveness and efficiency. If you love to fly fish and are intrigued by flies, this volume is destined to be an essential part of your arsenal. Saltwater Flies of the Southeast and Gulf Coast is scheduled for publication mid to late 2011. To a reserve a first edition copy and to receive updates simply send an email to apdotcominfo@aol.com with SWFSE&GC in the subject line. Thank you. AP

Mid Summer Report

Well…this week’s fishing scene finally forced me to tie on a bite tippet. There are just too many bluefish around and not enough time to tie replacement flies for all the ones they destroy. The beaches of the Sound, the beaches of the south shore and all offshore locations on both sides of the island are packed with our favorite yellow-eyed devils. North-side bass seem to have temporarily abandoned the shallows in favor of deeper haunts but early morning and nighttime excursions have yielded some nice fish for fly and light tackle fans. Before the last blast of tropical heat many of the backwater areas off the Sound had reached temperatures of about 80 degrees. And it is only going to get hotter. That level of water warmth is more conducive to bonefish, snook and redfish, so the stripers as well as the bait sought cooler water. The south shore bass bite continued at a solid pace with massive hordes of bunker spread out from west of Fire Island Inlet out to Shinnecock Inlets. This past week big bluefish in the 12 to 14-pound range found the bunker and most often beat the bass to the bait. Light tackle angers have been enjoying that action. While bluefish and fluke continue to dominate the daytime programming inshore, bass have settled into their mid-summer feeding patterns. It’s been flies and plugs at first and last light and under the blanket of darkness. Mostly school-sized bass in close with a few teen-sized fish. Bait dominates right now on offshore structure. About this time in the season my thoughts begin to turn to the arrival of Atlantic bonito to the shore of Long Island. The bait and water temperatures are conducive to attracting these pelagics once again so keep your eyes peeled for these hydrodynamic rocket ships. They are one of the finest fly and light tackle game fish that visit our area. Stay tuned.

Montauk Tackle Company Fishing "T"

Two pieces of fishing apparel that I consider essential for rounding out my fishing arsenal are a lucky hat (aren’t all fisherman superstitious?) and a great long sleeve tee-shirt; a technical “T” as those anglers in the know refer to them. I have a clothing dresser full of those shirts. That all started with my days fishing in Alaska where my wife would comment that all the fish in the photos looked the same and I always had that same dumb (she meant lucky) hat on. All of my Long Island-based exploits were always met with the same reaction, so I needed to differentiate from among the fish in the photos. My solution to the dilemma: different fishing T-shirts. But now I have acquired a shirt by the folks from Montauk Tackle that is so good all I want to do is wear it on all my trips. You can well image the confusion that will once again create with my fish photos. I can hear it now, “How do I know that isn’t the same fish in all those photos. You are always wearing that same green tee-shirt.” Yes, I am guilty! Truth be told I’ve worn the Montauk Tackle “T”on fifteen consecutive fly-fishing trips this spring. That shirt, my lucky hat and some terrific sand eel flies did a number on early season stripers, and I simply refused break up the outfit. I was afraid not to wear the shirt for fear of also breaking the good spell that I was under. Actually, I was wearing the tee so much my wife had to remind me to… “take it off and wash it before it stands up on its own." She was right but so was I since the shirt even in its unwashed state was the most comfortable, durable and functional fishing tee I’ve worn. The Montauk Tackle “T” shirt wears well, does an excellent job of wicking away perspiration and washes nicely (I eventually gave in) with virtually no shrinkage or color fade. I will be inclined to wear it throughout the entire spring months, cool summer mornings and in the fall. All in all it is a very fine product, competitively priced, starting at $24.00. For further information you can check out the tee shirts and the entire line of outstanding Montauk Tackle products at MontaukTackle.com

Oh, one final thing, my solution to the inevitable, “That’s the same shirt in all the photos, so how do I know it isn’t the same fish?” is to buy one “T” in all the colors they offer. That should do it!

Productive Spring Stripers

This spring’s productive fly and light tackle fishing continues at a strong pace. Solid reports filtered in throughout the entire week with no signs of the action letting up. If anything, the way the bait is shaping up should signal even better fishing days ahead.
This week alone bass were found sipping sand eels, chasing spearing, chewing on bunker and herding massive schools of porgies to the surface. The porgie-fest occurred in the Sound and anglers lucky enough to be there when it came off were treated to hours of aggressive bass to twenty pounds smashing top water plugs. Now if that action doesn’t set the stage for some fast paced fly and light tackle fishing nothing will. Most of my time on the water this past week was around evening and early morning tides with some decent results with bass and blues. The highlight of those outings was during the weekend while I was roaming around a north shore beach during an early afternoon tide. With fly rod in hand I was picking away at bass on a sand eel pattern. On the way back to my truck I stopped at one last spot and tied on my hybrid ‘Creature Fly. My fly must have landed at precisely the right spot and at the right time since four fish ate it on four consecutive casts. Two of the bass were over 35-inches. On the Boga, one was 18 pounds, the other 16 1/2 pounds! The last of the four hit like a freight train and after more than fifteen minutes of tug-of-war, I got to see it. It was a bit more than the size one hook cold handle. The fish rolled on the leader and it was bye-bye. Best bass of the day! But at least I got the best of it. Sometimes it just pays to try one more spot! And I am definitely tying up a few more of that pattern! Stay tuned.

Long Island Striper Fishing Gets Hot

It didn’t take any magic, crystal balls or alchemy to predict that last week would yield a solid bounty of fish all around the Island for many fly and light tackle anglers. The presence of bunker, sand eels, spearing, grass shrimp and crabs, combined with the building new moon phase, cloud cover and low barometric pressure all worked to pop the lid on the local fly and light tackle scene. One of the seasonal guideposts I use to gauge saturation of fish in local waters is when good numbers of bass and bluefish reach central Sound areas…and that they did this past week in solid numbers and size. The low pressure phase of the week yielded the best results as evidenced by this week’s array of reports. Based upon my own personal sampling of the opportunities there are tons of small bass around in the 20 to 27-inch range and a solid core of keeper-sized fish that have been falling to flies and other artificial baits. Slim Deceivers, elongated Clousers and any variety of sand eel patterns have been getting it done. Keep the retrieves on the slow side and try a change-up or off speed retrieve every once in a while. You’d also be amazed at the number of bass taking flies that are being inched along right off the bottom. On the light tackle side of the equation, the hot bait of the week had to be light bucktails tipped with small soft plastic trailers and freshened with scent. Fish are both in backwater areas as well as inlets, harbors and off open beaches.

Captain Vinny Catalano of JoeyCCharters.blogspot.com logged in to let us know that it is happening big time for his charters. He advises that, “For the past week or so I’ve been waiting for the bite to bust wide open with the amount of sand eels and bunker around. It was only a matter of time this week coming up to the new moon; finally, the bass bite has been epic! According to Captain Vinny, many of his trips saw 20 to 30 fish days, “…with lots of big fish in the mix in the mid to upper teen range.” All fish were taken on both fly and light tackle spinning. Vinny has also been spotting some of the first signs of fish on the flats but that fishing has not yet materialized due to conditions made tough with wind and thunderstorms. Captain Vinny expects this coming week to bring more rolling bass in the mornings and increasing sight fishing opportunities on the flats for the rest of May and June.

I also heard from fellow flyrodder, Larry Winston who recently returned from fishing down in Bonito Springs, Florida. While Larry reported a severe winter snook kill in that part of Florida his welcome back to Long Island included a few very productive trips for spring stripers. Larry has been fishing some East End flats and been doing very well on bass. According to Larry, “I've managed two sight fishing trips on local flats since I returned and was only held back by poor sighting conditions and the two day ‘hurricane’ that just ended. The fish I have been seeing are big and hungry and also all covered with sea lice.” Larry’s two best fly rod fish so far have been a 37-inch, 19 ½ - pound bass he I got on a streamer fly of his own design, and a 32-inch, 11-pounder. He added that he has only caught three fish under 28-inches since he’s been fishing the flats.

Joe Cravata from J&H Fishing Outlet also touched base to let us know there were reports of bass and blues at Jones Inlet by the Coast Guard Station. According to Joe, those fish were taking Lefty’s Deceivers and sand eel patterns, olive over white. Joe added that there were also bass at Moriches Inlet and along the east jetty…“The east side flat have has also been producing. These fish were taking large bunker flies on sinking lines the flats by Sayville have also been producing.” Over on the North Shore Joe reports bass and blues in Northport Harbor, Sunken Meadow, the mouth of the Nissy, the Brickyard, and along the open beaches from short Beach and Long Beach to Porpoise Channel and Stony Brook Harbor. A variety of Deceiver and sand eel patterns are seeing the most action. Andrew from J&H reports that AJ Forzano has brought in a nice selection of saltwater flies to the shop and that they have also received a solid array of freshwater flies. Andrew would like readers to know that the shop’s fly rod selection is growing: St. Croix fly rods have been delivered, as well as a full selection of Cortland rods and reels; any G Loomis rod is available to be ordered. Call 631 244 0600 for further information and shop hours.

Captain Danny Reich of NYCFlyFishing,.com tells us that J-Bay was hot again this week. According to Captain Danny, “I'm happy to say I was right about the fishing getting better with the weather. This week has seen a new push of bass, crystal clear water, and great fishing.” Danny added that the best part of the fishing was that for the entire week he didn’t lip a fish under 24 or 25-inches. “Most of the fish caught were in the 26-inch range, with some in the low and mid 30s, and up to about 40-inches. All fish were eating the fly really well, and many times we could see 2 or 3 fish competing for the fly.” As far as bait goes Danny advises that there are immature spearing around as well as, adult bunker. He expects a solid push of sand eels in the next week or so.

Captain Paul Peluso of Momma Mia Charters emailed to let us know that he has been taking light tackle bass in the Moriches area on bucktails. Tuesday morning saw 6 bass come to the boat with 3 keepers. On Wednesday, he netted a couple more linesiders with one keeper. Captain Paul indicated that Wednesday’s outing also found him in the midst of a major league bluefish blitz.

Fishing should only get better from here!

Legacy of Respect

by Angelo Peluso

The opening scene in the movie adaptation of James Fennimore Cooper’s, “The Last of the Mohicans” is a revealing simile for those of us that share a love of the outdoors, especially fishing and hunting. The setting is the mid-1700s somewhere in the Hudson River Valley, a river that today gives life to many of the striped bass that northeast anglers are fortunate to catch. Back then majestic elk roamed the woods and were a valued source of food and clothing. As this scene unfolds Nathaniel Poe, better known as Hawkeye, sets his musket sights on an elk running through the thick woods. He fires the long rifle and Hawkeye remains true to his nickname - the elk crumbles. Poe and his two Native American companions rush to the side of their harvest. Upon seeing this great animal in death a somber reverence envelops the three hunters. Chingachgok pays homage, “We are sorry to kill you brother. We do honor to your courage and speed, your strength.”

Our Native American cultures all shared a belief that none of us can ever really own the land or that which cohabitates the land with us - “We just borrow it briefly from our children.” Interestingly, there is no term in Native American language to describe owning anything within the natural world, including the earth’s natural resources and its fish. Having spent a considerable amount of time fly-fishing the waters of Alaska I have been influenced by those traditional values and relationships between the first inhabitants of North America and the fish and game they pursued for survival. With respect to fish, they continue to demonstrate a deep and abiding reverence for the salmon they harvest. Simply put, they honor the fish they catch and take only what is needed to survive. Theirs was a quest was for survival, while today we participate in fishing and hunting mainly for recreation and sport. But our actions as sportsmen should always embrace respect toward the quarry we pursue.

I’ve had cause to reflect upon those values recently while perusing the pages of several fishing magazines and various on-line fishing websites. In one instance I was deeply moved to witness what I can only describe as the ultimate “hero conquest” photographs of images depicting a disturbing and unfortunate trend. There before me on those pages were images of numerous, large striped bass. These were not mere twenty-pound specimens; the bass were exceptional examples of their species, collectively ranging in weight from forty to sixty pounds and all taken on the same fishing trip. While their proportions were impressive, the most remarkable thing about this photograph was the fact that all the fish were dead! In some images the fish were arranged and photographed in a manner that depicted pure carnage and slaughter. In the course of one week I counted more than one hundred such chest-pounding conquest images. Most seasoned anglers reading this know the type of bass they were; big breeders, the ones brought to the point of extreme depletion in the 1970s. The ones whose demise lead in part to the precipitous decline in striped bass stocks throughout the entire northeast. The ones whose magnificent genes will no longer flow among the critical biomass.

Those photographs and other similar images don’t convey the kind of reverence we should show a great sport fish, particularly one that gives so many much enjoyment. Beyond the simple images, the words used to describe these modern day conquests are equally as unappealing. While our Native American brothers used words like honor and respect and courage to express their sentiments toward the fish and game they harvested, captions that accompany these dead striped bass photograph typically include words like, hammered and slaughtered, drilled, bailed, pounded, slammed and massacred. I often wonder if you don’t respect the fish you catch how can you ever expect to protect and preserve them?

While I choose to practice catch and release I am not at all opposed to keeping one’s necessary limit of fish. But to kill large bass simply because the limit affords the opportunity seems a bit archaic. And above all else just how much fish can one eat! Unless some of these anglers are provisioning third world nations, my guess is that a lot of those big fish fillets eventually wind up in dumpsters! The neighbors or the pets simply can’t eat that much fish either!

Most, if not all, of the fishermen I know release the vast majority of their big bass. They enjoy the tastier meat of smaller fish, and there is less fat tissue in those fish to capture harmful pollutants and contaminants. I will admit, there was a time in my distant past when a measure of a successful fishing trip was a stringer of dead trout or largemouth bass, or a limit of bluefish. I suspect that if you are over the age of forty-five or so, the same can be said of your fishing experiences. As I look back on those days and the photographs in my albums, they are stark reminders of a time when we simply didn’t know any better. It is not that anyone tried willingly to do any harm to fish populations. That simply was simply the way it was.

Enlightened organizations like Trout Unlimited and BASS began to change that mindset by aggressively promoting catch and release fishing. The practice was quickly embraced by their membership and spread throughout the ranks of freshwater fishermen everywhere. It became an accepted approach to fishing. There was a realization that a live bass or trout was a much more viable and economically profitable commodity than a dead one. It even became the basis for what are now internationally recognized tournaments. Early on, saltwater organizations like Save Our Stripers also worked to spread the gospel of sound conservation. Unfortunately, the results of those efforts were overshadowed by the striper’s demise. With the changing times, we now have entities like Stripers Forever, the Coastal Conservation Association and the Fisherman’s Conservation Association that work to herald the need for forward thinking resource management practices. Yet, there still remains a lag between those developments and the willingness of some recreations angers to embrace sustained catch and release practices in saltwater for trophy fish.

I can vividly recall the garbage-can loads of bluefish during the height of their population numbers in the 1970’s and 80s at just about any major launch ramp along the northeast coast. Given the astronomical numbers of bluefish around at the time, most folks believed it a limitless resource. It didn’t take long for us to realize that was far from the case. While bluefish saved the day for inshore anglers during the bass drought, they themselves were in the same danger of having their numbers drastically depleted. Many had even wondered if their populations had reached the point of no return. Some have even suggested that those populations may once again be approaching the danger zone. And let us never forget that devastating decline of striped bass could happen again. We need awareness, sound conservation measures, better science and a more sporting perspective toward our game fish. We need more saltwater recreational anglers thinking like their freshwater counterparts…limit the kill for there is no need to always kill your limit.

While there are substantial numbers of striped bass in our coastal waters today, my synthesis of many of the current striped bass population statistics leads to an observation that the last three years has seen a more than 26% reduction in the biomass of spawning female bass with a corresponding approximate 17% reduction in the numbers of migrating coastal stripers. While no one has quantified the effects on the bass population of the harvesting truly large trophy bass over the forty to fifty-pound mark, I think those referenced photographs speak volumes.

Today we are a lucky lot to enjoy some of the most prolific stocks of sport fish ever to which we can cast our flies and lures. But with that privilege comes an enormous responsibility to ensure that future generations will continue to share in the bounty. Perhaps we should all think about that the next time a magnificent striped bass or other great game fish honors us by eating one of our baits. Experience the immense satisfaction of seeing that remarkable creature swim away for others to enjoy.

Fundamentals of Fly-Fishing the Surf

If you are interested in exploring the exciting world of saltwater fly fishing you may want to consider joining Angelo Peluso for a unique fly-fishing class. Instruction will take place at selected beach locations where the fundamentals of fly-fishing will be taught in an informal and conversational setting. The basic program is geared toward the new or intermediate fly angler with customized sessions available for more experienced anglers. With almost forty years of fly-fishing experience under his wading belt, Angelo has a wealth of information to share with students attending his classes. Topics covered include: Rod and Reel Selection; Casting; Retrieves; Line Selection; Leaders/Knots; Fly Selection; Essential Gear; Reading Water; Tactical Wading; Elements of Structure; Tactics for local game fish and Beach Safety. Individual and group sessions (up to four participants) are available, and can be structured to meet any specific needs or interests. The full program runs three hours. Specialized hourly classes can also be arranged to meet specific needs, interests or time constraints. Individual instructions as well as small group (4) sessions are available. If you want to cut down the learning curve and quick start your fly-fishing game this may be just the ticket you need to get into ‘fish on the fly’ this season. Angelo’s popular and comprehensive guidebook, Fly Fishing Long Island, is also included as part of the class material. For further information and rates please contact Angelo directly at SaltyFlyLIF@aol.com or visit his website at http://www.angelopeluso.com/.