Haven't posted here in quite some time, so I've been catching up with the forum. This thread caught my attention, as I've been replacing some lines this winter. As background, one of the lines I needed to replace for my 9wt was an intermediate line. Looking at several options, I kept running across clear lines by a few manufacturers. Now, I'm using the 9wt mostly in saltwater environs for stripers, bluefish, and, hopefully, false albacore. Fishing mostly in Massachusetts (South Shore, Cape Cod) and Tidal Potomac, Chesapeake Bay area in this area. I didn't really pay any attention to clear fly lines, as I know stripers, unless on the flats and/or in skinny waters, are predators that are not usually line shy. So I decided on an SA Sonar line called Camo Intermediate. It gives me the grain weight I want, has a longer belly than the abrupt Titan tapers, is designed for cold and medium temps, and is fully integrated (see taper schematic below). I had no idea what "Camo" meant until I loaded the line on my spool. Some of you may already know, but Camo for this line means clear through the belly to the rear taper. I'll re-post as I get some experience with this line, but I find clear fly lines somewhat fascinating, as I'm not sure how much a difference they make for the heavier weights. Maybe for bonefish, but I continue to believe that while lines are termed clear, they may not be so much to the fish. Time will tell . . .
On Wednesday, January 13, 2021 at 10:54:23 AM UTC-5 Gregg DiSalvo wrote:
Awesome, thank you. Yeah, I'd love to be able to sit adjacent to a grass or weed line, cast 30' and strip it back along the edge without spooking every fish between me and where my fly lands. Basically, do what braided line does. Some fish don't spook, but i find most do. My big nasty is getting old, so may try to switch things up.
The fugly frog pattern I tie is pretty damn near 100% weedless. I can throw it deep in the spatterdock or weeds and it doesn't snag. The only problem is the fly line is heavy and will spook some fish as it bends the spatterdock as I strip it back through. I throw some dahlberg divers with a mono weed guard too, but those don't really work terribly well.
I tie it on gallups belly bumper hooks which also work great as weedless streamer hooks. I bought a pack of the new Ahrex hook with the deeper, more traditional texas hook profile to try as well. The deeper bend will keel the fly better, but may mess with hookup rates on topwater. Don't know.
Anyway, if we ever get through covid and get back to beer ties, I'll bring you a fugly frog to try out.
On Wednesday, January 13, 2021 at 10:32:56 AM UTC-5 Dalton Terrell wrote:
Hi Gregg,
I've actually only landed two snakeheads to date and both were using the Monic line. Neither of these fish were sight casted, and I did spook every snakehead that was sight casted—so it's not exactly a ringing endorsement of the line's stealth factor.
For casting deer hair bugs, the Monic line works fine but won't match the big nasty or other bass lines. My second and larger snakehead came on a large deer hair bug, kind of seen in the picture below—you also see remnants of the clear line. The first snakehead I caught was on a heavy lead-eyed purple and black streamer, you might notice the fish wasn't actually hooked, he just didn't let go of the fly until after landed. When I set him down on the SUP to grab my pliers, he just opened his mouth and flipped off.
The bigger challenge for snakehead fishing on the fly is to find a way to replicate the super weedless frogs that conventional guys can throw deep into lily pads without regard, which is also facilitated by the small diameter of braided line. I don't know that any fly or fly line can do this task as effectively as spin gear.
Dalton
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