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Sea Trout - Tackle and Tactics

Our March 2001 contribution from Tony King

Sea trout are, as we have already established, basically Brown trout that have taken advantage of the wonderful feeding opportunities offered in coastal waters. In most cases this means that the average size of these fish is in excess of 1.5 lbs. The most viable method of fly-fishing for sea trout is undercover of darkness. As you will imagine, a combination of large, usually exceptionally well-conditioned fish, in restricted space, and in the dark, requires reasonably strong tackle. Sea trout in the main have no cause to be tackle shy, so leader strength can be more related to the size of fly employed rather than the (real or imagined) sensitivity of the quarry.

When Sea trout arrive from the sea they are usually keen on large silvery flies. I generally use conventional flies like a Teal, blue and silver, or a silver butcher tied short on quite large (4’s, 6’s, and 8’s) low water Wilson salmon hooks (Partridge). These allow a quite reasonable diameter of leader to be used; even smaller standard (10s and 12s) hook sizes used later in the season allow the use of leaders of around 0.18 to 0.20 mm (.007 to .008 inches). In modern copolymers this equates to 6.5 and 8lb breaking strain. The larger hook sizes will allow up to 12/13lb leaders to be employed. With the sort of rod I use (11ft for a 6# weight line) even the lightest of these leaders is all but impossible to break against the flex of the rod and a straight pull is required.

It is ridiculous to fish a finer tippet than is really necessary. You will be doing most of your fishing in the darkness and even with constant checking the occasional wind knot or snarled up dropper is inevitable, even for the most competent of casters. It is less likely to cost you that important fish, when using a strong enough leader to cope with the eventuality.

My usual set up for floating line and intermediate outfits consists of a 9 ft tapered leader tapering to about 8 lbs at the point (usually a 3x) with 4 ft of 8lb copolymer water knotted on to form a short dropper and tippet length. When, as is inevitable, the taper leader is shortened I will extend the length of my ”tippet” to give me a leader with a total length of 12+ ft. Droppers can be formed where you require them employing a short length of leader material placed next to the leader and water knotted on. Always use the downward facing end for the dropper as this pulls through the knot, the upward facing end will pull the knot open which is not a good idea. The reason I go for leaders of around twelve feet is that when using an 11ft rod I seldom have to retrieve the line leader connection into the rod rings when landing a fish. I find that when wading I simply extend my rod arm directly above my head and the fish will come to hand. This saves the bother of having to get the join back through the tip ring to continue fishing. This may sound like a simple thing but many a night time tangle has been caused by a loop extending from between the last ring and the tip, while the line leader joint is stuck in the tip ring. Everything feels as if it is working for a while but each fore and back of the rod will be making evil twists that, when you discover the mistake and try to rectify it, usually result in a new leader being required.

Many pundits recommend the use of a single fly when starting to fish at night. This is understandable and will ensure a less troublesome introduction to the joys of night fishing. It will, however, limit one’s potential in several ways; a dropper will allow two sizes of fly to be tried, and it will present those flies in two very different manners. The tail fly will always act as a sort of sea anchor on the dropper, regardless of dropper length, causing it to cut quite a straight course through the water, while the point fly is livelier in the current. I have found on several occasions that the seemingly deadly pattern employed on either dropper or point, has suddenly lost its charms when fished in the other position.

Widening the casting arc will make it possible to use a dropper with little more likelihood of tangles than in daytime use. A common mistake is to rush the casting at night. The ever-present paranoia about the height of the back cast causing the forward delivery stroke to be rushed. This reduces the loading of the rod, it does not respond, and in trying to generate enough power to straighten the cast results in a great-overpowered jerk. This is just one of many recipes for a tangled leader - night casting has many. Most are caused by speeding up the casting action and seems to be a fault that even the best of daytime casters are often guilty. Get in some daylight practice, particularly of stopping the rod so the line continues on an upward path at the back. This will allow it to load the rod and pushing it forward in a slightly longer than normal motion will create a medium sized (dropper friendly) loop. A single haul in the back cast can be a great help. Once you have developed the feel of it close your eyes and continue to practice every time you have the rod out. Then hopefully you will arrive at the sea trout river fully primed.

Sea trout fishing differs from most other forms of trout fishing in so much as you will seldom come up with a winning fly or retrieve. It is invariably a combination of pattern and presentation style that make for success, and seldom one of a killing fly.

To be consistently successful with sea trout you must continually try different angles of cast and speed of recovery, in the circumstances already alluded to you may think that you have hit a winning formula but more often than not repeating that successful routine will result in nothing more. I will constantly mix it up letting some casts come round without pulling, and then alternately pull slowly or quickly until I hit a fish. Then I will try again using whatever retrieve has proved successful for a couple of cast before resuming the, more engaging, random changes of before.

The truth of this is revealed many times throughout the season some nights everyone catches fish but most nights will see only a few experienced anglers come away with more than the odd fish. The reason is pretty clear; the one method man will hit fish less regularly than the fisher who tries hard to find what each individual fish wants. To paraphrase and old truism mentally, you want to be down at the end of the line with the fly, not just another “ jerk holding a rod waiting for a (fish to) jerk on the other end”.

< Read Tony's introduction to sea trout fishing

A few words from Tony King...

"Since childhood fishing has been the constant in my life. Other hobbies and activities have come and gone but I cannot remember a time when I was not prepared to drop everything to go fishing. Now I do it for a living, the pension scheme is not brilliant, but the pleasure of passing on experience that I have gathered over the last 40 odd years is rewarding in itself.

My passion is for wild fish, fish that are governed by the rules that have applied for ever. Not those conditioned by captivity no matter how it is dressed up. Sea trout, Trout and Salmon, are wild fish, they have never been fed in a stew, or genetically modified to grow larger or to look more palatable. Having said that I enjoy fishing for any fish, my preferance is to fish with the fly as I enjoy the freedom that fly tackle allows. Most fish will take a fly and the fun is to work out how to get them to do it."

For more information visit http://www.flyfishing.fsbusiness.co.uk