| 13 August 2008
Where and When they are doing it, excerpted with permission, Saltwater Prey
Many of today's saltwater fly tyers have become incredibly adept at creating flies that closely mimic the many species of prey eaten by coastal gamefish.
In fact, there are some very good books of saltwater fly patterns, and these books provide an abundance of fly selections for saltwater anglers. But when it comes to selecting flies to put in the fly box for a day of fishing, or for a fishing trip away from our home waters, we tend to rely on our hunches, or on selecting flies that look fishy. This tends to happen when creating and modifying fly patterns, too.
What our selection process lacks is the connection between our flies and what gamefish are actually eating, and where and when they are doing it.
Juvenile blue crabs, for example, are high on the prey menu of many coastal gamefish, but they tend to be most abundant in the correct size range for only parts of the year and in only a few habitats.
The purpose of the book, "Fly Fisherman's Guide to Saltwater Prey," is to shed some light on gamefish prey, so that this information can be incorporated into our fly tying and selection process, and making these processes easier.
Regardless of whether I catch the fish or not, I take a step back, put all the surrounding factors into consideration, and make a guess as to why I did or didn't catch the fish.
Despite my constant study of gamefish and their worlds, I remain astounded at the variety of prey types they have to choose from, and the daily, seasonal, and yearly changes these prey undergo.
An example of changes in prey preference can be found in common snook (Centropomus undecimalis), whose diet differs depending on the season and the habitat they are occupying.
When snook are feeding in mangrove creeks they tend to eat small, 1-3 inch, earth-colored Killifishes, aka mudminnows (Family Cyprinodontidae)
For example, in Florida, although juvenile pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides) approximately 1" long are super-abundant during early spring, snook rarely eat them. But in late spring, when the pinfish have grown to 3", they jump up to number one on the snook menu.
When snook are feeding in mangrove creeks, besides mudminnows, they eat silvery mojarras (Family Gerreidae), whereas in more open habitats shrimp (Family Paenaeidae), silversides (Family Engraulidae), and anchovies (Family Atherinidae) top the list of prey. In these examples you have the essence of the book (Saltwater Prey) - this knowledge allows fly anglers to create, tie, and select flies based on the habitat, location, and season they are fishing.
The dynamics of saltwater prey is easily as complex as the cycle of insect species that appear on a spring creek throughout the course of a year, but this has not yet been truly acknowledged in general fly fishing world. Perhaps this is why saltwater fly anglers generally do not have the same level of insight into what saltwater gamefish are eating, and why, as do trout anglers. Saltwater Prey provides some of that insight for coastal gamefish by showing you the dominant prey and where they can most often be found, and by presenting flies that have been successful at mimicking these prey at the right time and place.
A mudminnow fly might be worked in a different fashion under a mangrove cover versus over seagrass.
There is no need to go out and examine gamefish stomach contents, or to do the habitat studies to determine which prey are available - that's all been done. Use the book, Saltwater Prey, to discover, and better understand, a system for determining what flies to tie and when to use them...do less selecting of flies from an angler's perspective, and a better job of fly selection from the gamefish's perspective.
This doesn't mean that saltwater anglers have to be able to identify prey to the exact species, but they are certainly better off knowing what prey are present, and which are most often eaten by gamefish.
Fly Presentation
Fly selection is not the only important factor. How the fly is presented is at least as important. A small white deceiver, for example, might be perfect for imitating prey along the beach as well as mangroves, but the fly used while fishing along mangroves should have a weedguard, and should perhaps even be tied bendback style.
The fly presentation component involves how the fly is fished. Along mangroves, which provide a rather narrow area of ambush habitat for gamefish, I think it's best to work the fly slowly, with short, erratic strips, maybe even just twitches. In contrast, when fishing this fly over seagrass, I like to keep the fly moving just over the top of the seagrass blades. These presentations not only give gamefish the maximum opportunity to attack the fly, they also mimic the typical behavior of small prey fish in these habitats.
