Fly Fishing Central Florida

Fly Fishing for Tilapia

Article and photos by Walt Palen

Moonscape – Springtime Tilapia in Florida on Fly

So when you walk by the edge of your local lake in the Spring did you notice something unusual? Did you wonder why the bottom looked like it came from the moon?
Did you see huge swirls as you walked close and cast thinking you were going to catch the largest bass ever caught? Well more than likely those large perfect moonscape circles were caused by something you see on your local menu or frozen fish section at the grocery store called Tilapia.

Now Tilapia is the common name and in Central and South Florida the Blue Tilapia is the most common. Tilapia are a large thick looking pan fish and 4 lbs is common so great for a 3 to 6 wt fly rod depending on the terrain. They remind me of a Triple Tail from the salt hanging out by the crab trap buoy.  They are pretty in color, adults generally blue-gray to white on the belly; borders fins with red to pink edges.

Tilapia have been used as biological controls for certain aquatic plant problems as they are vegetarian and a fish gone wild; an invasive species. Please check local laws before targeting as live release may not be allowed in your area. Of course wild caught Tilapia make great table fare and are much higher in Omega 3 than farm raised store bought so if you’re a fish eater release won’t be an issue.

One of the best times to catch them on fly is during the fry hatch. Eggs hatch in the females mouth. Fry are released to feed, but when threatened return to the mother’s mouth. Try small flies like those below from Allen Wyatt at the Andy Thornal Company. Cast them quietly past the bed then strip and drop softly right into the middle of the bed. Angle your cast so your fly line is straight and not snaking through the weeds, then watch for line movement, hook set and the fight is on.
Later in the season you can also try something a little larger like dart type flies used during the shad run, or Wooly Boogers and Myakka minnows. Try a gold head and orange marabou tail sometimes dropped in the bed, sometimes stripped reasonably fast over the bed.
As with any type of fish there is always a trick that will help increase your odds. The trick with Tilapia flies especially later in the season if using larger flies is a short tail no more than ¼ past the hook. For those of you that have had a successful experience fly fishing the shad run you know what I mean. Keep in mind Tilapia usually don’t want your fly for food. Depending on the time of the spawn they are either protecting their young or keeping that nice saucer shaped bed clean. They just pick up the tail to move it off their bed and spit it out. So both timing and having a tail short enough so the hook is in their mouth on pick-up will give you the edge needed for a successful fishing trip.

This is a seasonal adventure as once the spawn cycle is complete they move to deep water and the game is over. Tilapia are all over from ponds to lakes, so watercraft is not essential and fishing from the bank as shown by fly fisherman Josh Slager can be very productive.
Tilapia on fly can be your quick little mid week fishing fix on the way home from work. So tie some flies or buy some flies, cut the tails short and give it a try.

All Rights reserved on article and photos.

This is the second contribution to our blog by Shallowfly Walt

Comments are encouraged and appreciated!

Weed guards, Bravery, and Fly Fishing

Article by Chris O'Byrne and Allen Wyatt, Photos Allen Wyatt

Weed guards are a mental tool to catch more fish.  Personally, a fly with a good weed guard makes me druken brave, casting without regard of snagging weed or limb.  I will cast a weedless fly into the tiniest hole in the knarly brush.  I will cast eight feet underneath a low dock with light.  I will intentionally smack a fly in the middle of the lily pads.  I will cast under the mangroves with a sidearm loop because the biggest snook will always be in there...And because I'm foolishly brave about where I cast, I will catch more fish.  Several practical and ingenious weedguards bring out this confidence.

We are all familiar with the loop style of weedguard.  If you don't like weed guards, you likely fished with this style.  And like all weedguards, there are problems and advantages.  The loop consistently slides to the side, which is good and bad.   It doesn't take much to knock the single strand to the side and expose the hook point to weeds.  However, any strike from the side, will expose the hook, and hook the fish.  It can deflect a strike from underneath.  For fly tyers, use a mono diameter of .020" to .022".   pounds test does not seem to matter, rather stiffness of the material is more important and diameter is a more consitent measure. 

Grasset’s Bend Back and Pope's Irresistible both use the material which forms the body of the fly as a weed guard.  The chartruese and white minnow pattern will ride with the hook point up.  It is intended for fishing shallow weedy and fish filled flats.  The fly is fished near the bottom will have the point aimed up where is is most effeective.  Phil Pope ties the Irresistable on the same theme.  The main difference is the style of hook.  While a little trickier to tie, the hooksets are very reliable.

Whitlock’s Diving Frog shows us a unique weed guard.  Here, one piece of stiff monofilament is tied to the shank of the hook and bent into an angle such that it protects the point of the hook from weeds. Then it is glued into place, so that it is firmly in place.  Enrico Puglisi’s Spawning Shrimp uses two sections of mono in the same arrangement. 

The Boogle Bug, our centerfold fly, uses a horseshoe weedguard.  This is made from a stiff monofilament horseshoe shaped loop, glued into the cork body at 90º to the hook.  The beauty of this weedguard is how it scrambles over an obstruction.  The fly tips the rear up and keeps it square, so the fly proceeds in a natural stratight line.  This is important, and different from the single loop weedguard which causes the fly to tip left or right.   Also, the hook point is fully exposed for the business of catching fish, but fully protected when pulled forward.

Some fly fishers feel that these weed guard designs do not provide enough protection to the hook, they prefer a loop of monofilament tied onto the hook in two places thus surrounding the point.   But as can be seen here, no weed guard is perfect.  Also note the dead slimy vegitation, This fishing spot will stink for bass or bluegill.  Dead vegitation depletes the oxygen in the water; Most fish don't like this situation.

The Gully Worm, a fly fishing version of plastic worm, shows us another loop weed guard.  In extra tough situations like lily pads, wire is used instead of the monofilament.  The Georgia Bullfrawg can be hopped from pad to pad and the weed guard will not compress, until a fish bites.

When using a fly with a weed guard the watch word is gentle.  Remember that the weed guard is designed to give way under the pressure of the hook set.  An angler can still get hung up if pulling across vegetation too quickly.  Cast your fly where the fish are then strip it across with  ease and patience.

Most of all, cast a fly where you believe there is a fish.  And be brave (knowing that the weedguard will make your fishing easier.).

Comments are encouraged and appreciated!

The Naming of Fly Fishing Flies

Fly Fishing has a long history of colorful names for colorful fishing flies.  There are some fundamentals to the naming but scietific nomenclature does not apply.  In fact, the beloved Latin names of our favorite fish species are quite simply, a different language.

The Royall Wulff is a fly commonly attributed to the great angler and adventure aviator, Lee Wulff.  Using a split hair wing defines the basic style, and there are many variations of the Wulff such as the flies originally tied in the thirties.  This dry fly style is popular today, as the fish have no idea how old the pattern it is.  The Royall refers to the gaudy red silk stripe, and is prevalent in the Royall Coachman and others.  Ironically, Lee Wulff did not create these patterns, but popularized them!

Many times, a fly is named from the materials from which it is made.  For example, a Hare's Ear Nymph is tied from the dubbing material commonly found in a rabbit ear hair.  It reasonably imitates thousands of actual bug larvae, reasonably well.  The Bead Head Pheasant Tail is a popular pattern with many of my Carolina and Virginia fly fishing bretheren.  And no suprise-it is tied using a brass bead (representing the head), and barbs of the pheasant tail feather.

Bass fly fishing adds another dimension.  Many of the flies are named by the action that the fly imparts.  For example: A popper pops the water as it is retrieved.  A slider is related, but instead, slides gracefully through the water. 

The Dahlberg Diver was originally tied by Larry Dahlberg, and the fly dives as it is retrieved.  Reminiscent of a great Bugs Bunny cartoon, Stewart's Dancing Frog, perhaps overstates the action of this brillant pattern, but it is still one of my favorites flies.

And sometimes the name just sticks.  Enrico Puglissi created a revolution in fly tying using new synthetic material to create very realistic streamer flies.  Pehaps the most famous of the flies is this purple and black Peanut Butter. 

Apparently tied to impressionistically imitate the peanut bunker baitfish; it readily catches predator fish in places 1000 miles from natural peanut bunkers.  This caused Puglissi to say that 'fish eat it like kids eat peanut butter.'  The name has stuck in the roof of the mouth of salt water fly fisherman ever since.

And there is the sense of humor that most fly anglers have.  Razmataz  plays on the name of the tier-Raz Reid for this excellent and 'flashy' Redfish Fly. 

Lefty Kreh created a fly that is even featured on a postage stamp, Lefty's Deceiver.  Great name for a fly, but Lefty is right handed-I know, I have seen him cast in person.    My friend, Keiland Smith created the Artic Snook and is an ironic play on the materials from which it is tied (Artic Fox Fur) and the fact that the Snook is killed by cold water temperature.  But the grandaddy of them all is Del Brown's Merkin. 

This is a revolutionary fly that caught the first Permit (on fly) in the Florida Keys.  This fish was saltwater fly fishing's Holy Grail-the most difficult and wary gamefish on the flats.  Del Brown concluded that no flies had the same action as a natural keys crab (about the size of a nickel.)  So, he created this wonderful fly which has been morphed into many other succeful flies, and Permit are now a legitimate fly fishing target because of it.  But what is a Merkin?  According to Wikipedia, it is a pubic wig, and the pun applying to the pubic lice commonly known as the crabs.

And there is the controversial Gummy Minnow.  This fly created a controversy among fly fishing purists who insist that this fly is a "lure."  But I beg to differ.  I have watched the original tyer craft one with my own eyes, and the last step is tying the silicone skin to the eye of the hook with thread.  And the name refers to the delightful candies: Gummy Bears and Gummy Worms.

Regardless of the pragmatism or humor of a fly name, fly anglers put a lot of stock in the name of a fly.  And as fun and addictive as the sport of fly fishing, naming flies is just as much fun. 

Comments are encouraged and appreciated!

Weedless Fly Fishing for Bass

Boogle Bugs my be the best thing to happen to Bass Fly Fishing since sliced bread.  The flies are better looking than anything in your budies fly box, and the fish love them!  What more do you want?  I want a weed guard.

Last month as I ordered another gaggle of Bass Bugs from Boogle, I hear, "Oh yea, you are the shop that orders all of the weed guards."  We order most of our topwater flies as weedless.  Our best lakes and ponds demand weedless bass flies.  If you want want to get your fly to the best fish, cast into the very snaggy places.

Bass love snaggy places, and I like loosing a fly about the same as paying taxes.  Overhangs, cat tails and buggy whips, and lilly pads are the places I intentionally fish.  Every good place is a difficult cast for even the most experienced angler.  Weed guards on your Bass Fly will prevent snagging on most of the problem places.  Perhaps the most important aspect of a weedguard is they create artificial confidence in the accurcy of your cast.  Not having to worry about every snag makes it easier to concentrate on accuray and putting the fly inthe best location.

Boogle Bug employs a unique weedguard.  They call it the 'Allen' weedguard.  C. Boyd Pfeiffer calls it a horse shoe weedguard in his book Bug Making.  This style lets the fly drift over stucture facing straight ahead.  Single weedguards, while effective on weeds, cause the fly to flop to the side as they retrieve. 

Take a look at the Boogle Bug weedguard flies.  They are great looking.  They catch lots of fish.  And with the weedless Boogle Bugs, you can cast without fear of snags.

Comments are encouraged and appreciated!