Small unweighted SPs on fly tackle?

[adamski]

Hiya folks,

I finally got a fly reel spooled up and ready to rumble with an old fly rod given to me for blackfishing by a raider last year (cheers Ryder!) I tried it out last weekend and, though I didn't land a fish, I managed to get a couple of whiting at least chasing the fly.

Anyway, I was casting away and a thought struck me: once upon a time I found a tiny grub-profile SP on a wharf in Sydney Harbour. I'm not sure of the exact size, but it was well under the 2" Z-manz I've used in the past. Do you reckon you could cast those on a fly rod with an ultra-light jig head, or even a worm hook as opposed to a jig head? I'm guessing a plastic of that size wouldn't weigh much more than a fly and I imagine using the fly rod is going to give a much more subtle presentation, so you'd be less likely to spook a fish. Plus stripping with a fly reel would allow greater control over the retrieve, making the lure move in a more natural manner than the standard double hop... I dunno, am I barking up the wrong tree? I tried googling and youtubing to see if it's been done before, but I can't find anything (to me that suggests there's a reason why it hasn't).

Cheers, Adam

[Gunsmoke]

I tried using a 2inch grub on an unweighted jighead on my 8wt a few years ago at Forster one afternoon. I hoped to get Bream, but instead landed a couple of flatties, which I was stoked about anyway. The only problem I found was that during my false casting, the tail would pin itself on the hook and I wouldn't notice that while it was whizzing back and forwards past me at a zillion miles an hour. I had no idea how many presentations were wasted because of that. A worm hook would be better, and I have a few already set up and supaglued in place to try out, but keep getting distracted by the other conventional flies that work ok for me, especially Clousers, bread and weed flies.

Good luck. It really is a fun way to fish- even though my wife refers to it as; the fishing I do when I don't want to catch fish. But that is just me. Other guys catch heaps of saltwater fish on fly (Hi Royce :-)

[big Neil]

As Gunsmoke says. Try casting with a small s/p on a worm hook and if you can manage that part, it should work in the water. Let us know how it goes.

[luderick -angler]

Mate get yourself some surf candies and cloisters bream busters etc they will last longer cast better and surf candies are unreal. Also small eye smelt patterns are unreal. The Sp idea I have tried and yes takes fish but get destroyed pretty quick if your chasing toothy critters!

[Green Hornet]

I've thrown light plastics on a #8 rod before and it was very effective on flathead and bream on the flats.

I stayed away from the curly tails because of the wind resistance (the tail flaps in the air) and they tend to spin a lot.

A slim, minnow profile and a half to one gram jig head worked for me.

[adamski]

Thanks for the advice gents. I didn't try the SPs today, but got a free casting lesson off a guy I met down the Cooks (if you're out there, Eddy, you're a legend). Gonna hit some eastern suburbs flats one day this week to see if I can finally get an Aussie fish on the fly.