Saltwater

Landing saltwater fish in the surf comes down to what you do in the first few seconds after the eat, not the hookset. Clear loose line to the reel under light finger tension while watching the line at your feet, fight from a low rod angle using the butt section rather than the tip, and set your drag at a quarter to a third of your leader's breaking...

The best night surf fly fishing gear is the gear that lets you keep the light off: a red-first headlamp rated IPX7 or higher, a stripping basket you can run by feel, and pre-rigged leaders you can swap in the dark. During the fall striped bass run, when bass feed shallow after dark, those three pieces matter far more than headline lumens, because your own...

Screenshot from Super Easy Albie Fly! - Surf Candy The best epoxy fly for false albacore is a slim, translucent Surf Candy — a resin-coated synthetic baitfish, one to three inches long, tied on a strong saltwater hook and fished on an intermediate line. The resin locks the materials into a durable body that survives hard-mouthed fish and the bluefish that...

Screenshot from Easy Saltwater Fly Tying Tutorial: How to Tie an Effective Albie Anchovy Fly with Calf Tail To catch fish in a fall blitz, knowing how to identify baitfish before you cast is essential. It can be done a few ways: net a sample from the wash, watch how the baitball behaves, and read the birds for size class. Striped bass, false albacore, and...

In September, the striper fall run is a New England event, not a coast-wide one. The best beach fly fishing runs from Maine through southern New England — Long Island's peak comes in mid-to-late October, and New Jersey's in November. For a first September trip, start in a protected back bay or inlet with a 9-foot 9-weight, one intermediate line, and a...

From "The Best Way To Set The Hook In Saltwater " To strip-set in saltwater, keep the rod tip low and pointed at the fly, then pull the line straight back with your line hand in a long, firm motion — never lift the rod the way you would for a trout. The lifted "trout set" fails on saltwater fish because their large hooks and hard, bony mouths need direct...

Find the right reel to hold up to the rigors of saltwater | Photo by Mark Sides The best saltwater fly reels for summer pair a sealed or well-maintained drag with a corrosion-resistant body — but the reel you buy matters less than how you treat it between trips, because salt seizes a reel during the wet dwell time after fishing, not during the fight. A...

Find the right tippet for fly fishing for bluefish Going heavier won't stop a bluefish from cutting you off, and fluorocarbon is usually the wrong upgrade. Blues shear leaders with conical teeth instead of fraying them, and a big one slices through hard 60-pound nylon as easily as 30. The fix is a short bite tippet — two to four inches of single-strand...

Fill your saltwater box with eight essential flies | Adobe Stock A beginner saltwater fly box for summer needs only eight patterns: a Clouser Deep Minnow, a Lefty's Deceiver, a half-and-half, a gurgler, plus a sand eel, a small baitfish, a crab, and a shrimp. Carried in a few colors and two weights, those eight cover striped bass, bluefish, and near-shore...

In this video I camped on a remote Florida Island. We fly fished for big redfish and snook, sight casting these fish in inches of water. We then set up camp and enjoyed a beautiful sunset in this remote Florida ecosystem.