Earlier this month, I drove south to visit my friend Bill Kulp in North Carolina. Bill and his wife, Karla, retired and moved from Frederick to New Bern three years ago, and each year they extend to me a gracious invitation to fish the salt.
I have found saltwater fly fishing to be addicting. Maybe it is the uniqueness of the coastal environment that is so captivating. It is not uncommon to see dolphins swimming near the boat or the occasional sea turtle rising to the surface for a breather. The number and variety of bird species that feed on fish and other marine life is truly spectacular to observe. There is a level of excitement that is present with every cast of my fly line as it sinks into the depths of the ocean, not knowing what fish may strike my fly next.
We were on a quest for false albacore but, unfortunately, they were uncharacteristically absent for most of our time on the water. Fortunately, the red drum and sea trout were plentiful.
It was truly a successful day on the ocean. The morning began with catching nice-sized red drum near a small rocky reef. When the swells became a bit rough we moved to the Back Sound and caught more.
In the afternoon we motored back out into the ocean and joined a line of a dozen or so boats fishing the Cape Lookout Shoals. Although the boats around us were fishing spin gear, our fly rods really did the job. I could not count how many sea trout we landed, mostly gray sea trout and some spotted sea trout, all good sized.
Most of the fish we caught in 10 feet of water or less. The drum were the biggest fish we landed that day and by far the most powerful. When I hooked a drum, I played the fish off the reel to allow the drag to tire the fish while the trout were stripped in by hand. In addition to the drum and sea trout, we landed a variety of sea dwellers, including flounder, lizard fish, pompano, cow nose ray, skate, mullet, spot and lots of small blues.
Going deep
The next morning began at daybreak with a search for breaking fish. We heard a report of albies sighted near the Oceana Pier at Atlantic Beach the day before. Arriving at first light, we did not discover any breaking fish, so we decided to move farther out from shore to drift around an area with submerged structure while waiting for any albies that might appear.
The depth finder was showing a reading of 50 to 60 feet. I made a cast and played out almost my entire 100 feet of fly line. The line sank deep as I waited for the line to tighten from the movement of the ocean current and the drifting boat. As I began to retrieve the fly with long strips, I was surprised to feel a brief bump and then a solid hook-up. I actually thought I might be hooked on the bottom but Bill assured me that it must be a fish.
I immediately reeled in all of the loose line from the stripping basket and played the fish on the reel. A beautiful gray seatrout, also known as a weakfish, grudgingly made its way to the surface. It was much larger than the grays we landed the day before.
As we continued to fish, I landed several bluefish and a pompano with a curved gash across its abdomen that appeared to be a shark bite. Bill hooked a fish that put a deep bend in his fly rod. Shortly after, the fish must have pulled his line into whatever structure was below. Bill had no choice but to break off the fish and unfortunately the fly line itself broke as opposed to the leader as expected.
Later that morning we were drifting along Shackleford Banks. Bill landed a nice drum, and I kept catching blue fish. Then, Bill spotted albacore that were surfacing near the shore! He positioned the boat to drift through the area.
The albies were bursting here and there, and at one brief time we appeared to be surrounded by albies. Unfortunately, at the moment I needed to be casting to the albies, I was trying to unhook a feisty blue and, in my haste to flip my fly into the frenzy of albies beside the boat, my line wrapped into a tangle around the tip of my rod. I actually had to pull my fly away from the attacking fish to save my rod from being broken.
That was my only shot at the breaking fish as the albies seemed to disappear as quickly as they appeared. Bill did hook an albie that streaked the line from his reel. He had the brute on the line for a minute or so before the hook pulled loose. Luck was not with us that morning. We caught more blues and some small trout on our way back to the take-out. We only fished the morning as I had to drive back to Maryland that day. It was an outstanding time with some really nice fish landed.
Fly gear
For subsurface saltwater fly fishing, I use a 10-weight, 9-foot fast-action fly rod with a 350-grain line with a 30-foot sink tip with a sink rate 8.2 fps. The rod may seem heavy for the size of the fish we were catching but the 10-weight can really load that sinking line with the power that extends my casting distance. I also have an 8-weight rod with a 10-foot sink tip for shallow water use. When the surface action heats-up, I can switch to a floating line that I carry on an extra spool.
My go-to fly is a bright green half and half tied on a size 2 saltwater hook. This well-known streamer pattern combines a long Deceiver-style saddle hackle tail with the dumbbell eyes and bucktail front of a Clouser Minnow. In other words, you get the elongated profile and sultry motion of the Deceiver with the weighted jig-type movement of a Clouser Minnow. I tie this pattern in different sizes and colors, but the bright green usually catches fish, so I rarely need to change up.
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