There is a rageing argument still going on after all these years, rod weight for specific fish? This is a personal choice different govening bodies views apart. Through 80% of my saltwater fly fishing i opt ofr a 9wt rod. Why? due to coastal condtions, wind rain and temperature, all combines add to weight of flies used and power needed to deliver them correctly to point of impact. Though i have also used rod in the 6,7,8,9,10,12 wt ranges on occassions. The following is my personal view and not endorsing the use of or otherwise implying this is correct. 7wt rods are ideal for mullet and mackeral if feeding close in or from a kayak.
8wt ideal general purpose bass and pollock rods
9wt for when the weather is bad or you have to target bigger species like, pike, zander, big bass. Or are fishing abroad for larger species tarpon big bone fish ect.
10wt for deep fishing if fishing from a boat, or kayak in deep water where you could encounted big cod, pollock, ling, bass ect

12wt now we are getting into bigger guns here, recently the guys from www.sportfish.co.uk managed to bag a blue shark on a sage Xi3 rod that is a cracking achievment in itself and i am indeed loong to do this in 2012 when time allows a little more.
14 and 16wt rods are available for big game shark, bill fish, sailfish, ect the list goes on though these are tropical water fish. If i could only fish a single rod for seffing it would be a 9wt due to power ti handle conditions that often fcae us and also the lightness of the tippets that can be used for mullet fishing if chose. I have hked mullet that couln't be handled by the 7wt rods, thus resulting in lost fish. This said i still feel that if i was using the sage Xi3 or orvis helios a professional salt rod then i may have stood a chance. The reason i say this is that the rods are designed with a different task in mind. Remember that all trout rods are designed to give and bend a lot more salty rds on the other hand are desiged with a much steeper power curve right through to the butt section.
The following are situations that are real world by this i mean i have used or indeed witness them being used.
7wt greys g-tec, mullet fishing on the plym enough power to present the fly at medium distance, but trong enught to handle fish into the 7lb marker.
8wt bass fishing off a secret mark in the dead of night with only a headlight, and hooking into a 9lb bass and fighting it hard landing on the reef in waders up to my waits in water.
9wt blowing a gale and fishing at wembury off the rocks no matter the wind i could side cast under the worst of it and still reach fish.
10wt carp fishing on the fly surfcae fishing for them hooked and landed a 27lb mirrir carp faster than i could on carp tackle.
12wt pike fishing in exeter canal a few years ago i was using a fly that was 9 inches long though the rod still managed to cast this with relative ease.

Now in the end rod weights and choice are all personal preference, if fishing in the salt then rods designed for this tast are lways preferable. though n need to spen a fortune. Though this said if you do then you get what you pay for. Sage, Orvis, Scott, Thomas and Thomas the list goes on they are all proiving at least 25 year garantees, i have broken many rods though when this happens i drop it back to them and get a replacment in a couple of days.
if you should have any queries or questions then feel free to contact me through the site. After all it is free to join and just there to assist other anglers in the pusuit of happiness well fish anyway...

tight ines all...

Well i managed to get a hold of a full set of rio outbound shooting heads late last year. These are the ingegrated shooting heads means a spliced conection from the factory to the running line. Much the same a a long belly fly line though the major difference with this line is it still retains the rio shoting heads weights and methods. They have thus far produced the following lines in this range. Floating
Intermediate
Hover
Type 3
Type 6
Type 8
T7
T14

All of the lines have a slick shooter running line pre welded with welded loops on the lines already again. I was using these lines on 9wt snowbee rods and also a brand new sage xi3 that i have the pleasure to borrow for a short period. The standard versions have a 37ft shooting head, though there is also a short 30ft shooting heads version avaialble. Cost wise they are in the region of $75 each. This is a little more than the average fly line on the initial outlay. Though with durability being a great concern when it comes to swffing. They have stood up to anything that i card to throw at them. Casts of 100ft are possable with relative ease once loaing is adjusted to each rod and then you give a fast double haul. Though i did find that the head loaded faster and better for long distance casts, when you extend the head and extra 2-3 ft from the tip eye.
Through using these heads i tried them on bass, macks, pollock, mullet. all of the species gave a good account, though i have to say that these lines truely came into there own when i was fishing a high point, above an estuary mark casting 130ft to reach the mullet i wanted on a floating line. This not only reached them but also didnt cause any spooking. the bite detection with a 8lb flurocarbon tippet was exceptional. To follow this i was bass fishing during the night on a favorite mark and i had 5 fish through the night up to 7lb in weight. Most f the fish took me right down to the backing, though no matter what they tried they couldnt break the leader knots or backing knots. The general feel of this line when casting is exceptional, though warning here guys, if your double hauling then be very carefull if the heads shifts in the wind, and hits you in the head it will draw blood. i found htis to my own intense pain and frustration. No matter the size of flies that i tried on these lines they are worked very well indeed i varied through size 16 currys shrimps and all through to a size 3/0 flatwing deciever that was 8 inches long.
In conclusin if you want a set of lines that will stand up to anything, then these are the guys. if storage and spools are an issue then rio max 2 heads are ideal with a single slick shooter running line. They are expensive, but last a life time.
tight lines all..

No matter now many flish we have caught over the years or how many places we have fished as the light breaks through at dawn. No other man is stirring, the dawn chorus s just about to creak. We always do it we sit there going through our fly boxes at the beginning of each season and say to ourselves. "i will only carry the flies i use this season"
O.k so i have said it every year for longer than i care to rememebr these days. But whta flies would i use if i should acttually manage to go through the endless cases and go from there?
Well i have this opportunity forced upon me here in canada. All rods have been broken, lost, sold, flies are floating around toronot somewhere. My fault should have grabbed them when i left the hotel that morning.
so i though that i would give you a good little starter list and how they are fished.  Starting with the fly that i feel has tae more saltwater and indeed freshwater species than any other single fly. The clouser: This fly as i have written before was designed and concieved by the great Bob Clouser. It is fishied in mid water and depending on the strip that is implemented sinks or creeps up through the water. This is caused by the lead eyes tied to the undside of this fly giving the unique characteristic f fishing upside down. with the hook point facing upwards instead. I have tied litterally thousands of these for people all over the country, in varying colours i currently tie them in over 370 variations. This may seem md but everyone has there own colours that work on there local marks.
Crazy chalie: This was oroginaly classed as a bonefish fly fshing in the saltwater flats in cuba or other tropical climes. again like the clouser this fly has the ability of fishing upside down ad idea low water bottom feeding fly. I took a set of these trout fishing last years and had a couple of cracking 12lb brown trout on this very fly. Also the colous i chose was orange and also bright dayglo pink.
Deciever: This is one of the original, saltwter flies originaly designed and concieced by :lefty kreh" quite simply a fly fishing god. This fly is designed to imiate a bait fish in any ammount of water to the point that last year i was tieing mega decievers that were 10 inches long for an american whom was going shark fishing in south africa. That was also fishied in the channel for blue sharks where they have caught fish up to 140lb in weight on fly rods.
Hollow fleye: this is possable the best fly i have seen or fished for bulk and castability for the sheer size. Designed and created by :Bob Popovic". This is a fly that is sparsely tied but in such a way that the hair is reverse tied building up bulk though not adding too much weight to the fly in the first instance. Below i have added a pictire of the hollow fly that has been tied in the flat wing style. No matter the distance that is required this fly will nail it. All of the colour variants that i have worked through recently are amazing. going from white and greens through pink, black and back again.

This design was created for a laugh in the first instance but then they have been sent through to ireland for bass fishing over there and bang 2 recoed class irish bass taken on the same fly.
If i could only carry a few flies then these would definately be on the list i feel.
tight lines all.

Thinking back just a matter of 5 months at end of the saltwater fly fishing season. The bass are returning to deeper water for feeding and procreation, people’s thoughts change to pike and over wintered trout. The cold weather is starting to turn the winter mornings are creeping in on us. Then i sit there in Plymouth airport waiting for a plan to arrive, the next thing i know the snow starts falling again and i have an hours drive to newquay airport to connect at Gatwick. Finally I’m in the air saying goodbye to the coldwater of southern England for the last time for 6 months. Creeping through the clouds, my thoughts start to turn to what lays ahead. Landing at Gatwick airport a connection to Heathrow. That’s it the bright lights of London beckon again too many for a Devonian born and bred like me.  The next morning I’m sat in Heathrow it’s -5c and I’m thinking bloody hell this is cold. Once aboard the plan no turning back now I'm headed to north eastern Canada for 6 months, Labrador to be precise.

We sit there on the run way for 3 hours waiting to get the plan de iced, finally we are airborne so out pop the fly fishing magazines that i have brought from home for the journey. Watching all of the in flight films they have available. Boredom has set in. Suddenly i see the light shinning from Toronto my next whistle stop tour. Once through there customs and having bags located I’m ready to stay over night well 3 hours before my next flight into Halifax. Off we go again this time it’s only a short 2 hour hop across the country and the straits. Off of that one and then onto the net plane almost immediately, bound for my final destination Happy valley Goose bay. Arriving at just after lunch local time with major jet lag and no sleep, tired and hungry we are collected my partner’s mother. Settling in through the afternoon, and getting use to being surrounded by stuffed animals, yard spaces you could fit an apartment complex into and traffic jams or so they think that consists of three cars passing them before they can turn out of a junction.

The first evening, i meet her younger Brother; first thing i get is “ever been on a skidoo?” To which i reply “what the hell is that when it’s at home?”

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In this article, Mike shares his tips and tactics on how to increase your catch rate when Salt Water Fly Fishing the most wily of creatures, the Mullet.

Packed with information and guidance on preferable SWFF gear, times, locations and techniques, its a great post for those starting out in the world of SWFFing and for experiences SWFFers alike.

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During this season, I was fortunate to get a set of Rio Max 2 shooting heads sent over from the states. They retail at $35 each. I also got the Rio Slick shooting running lines in both floating and intermediate versions. All in all, I managed to bag it all for £130 (including postage) - what a bargain.

The heads themselves are available in a selection of head weights. I ordered a full set in 10wt. This means that I could fish either the 8wt deep blue or the bloke xl 9wt rods with the same lines dependant on conditions. Densities available are as follows:- Float intermediate type 3 type 6 type 8

Now that we have the heads, I set them up on a floating and intermediate shooting lines as well as an Amnesia 20lb mono (for testing only.) Each head is 30ft long which is much the same as my previous cortland precision shooting heads. These are infact the same heads used in the Rio Outbound Intergrated Shooting Head series. At first glance, they look look similar to cortlands heads though they do have welded loops on both the front and back of the heads. This is a bone of contention for anglers, some of whom choose to cut these off and replace with braided loops. Though, after 4 months of abuse, the lines appear the same as when Ibought them.

I started off with a small bit of casting practice in the local field a double haul and off they go with brilliant accuracy. Flight time is exceptional. With the welded loops you have next to no problem with hanging on the cast or drag issues. Then off to work on the sight fishing aspect, this has been an issue with home made shooting heads in the past, dumping on the end of the cast, though after a bit of practice any experienced fly caster should be able to thumb the line to slow down the fall and present as direclt as a DT (double taper 4wt line).

So off to find some shallow water mullet. Radford it will be, so, with waders on and stalking through the water, I spot a pair of fish in the 6lb bracket lazing under some trees. This is where fly casting holds it's own ground - I side cast with a floating line and head the flies slowly drift down onto the water 4ft infront of then and I start the figure of eight retrieve. No reaction, but thankfully they weren't spooked. Recast but closer bloody hell if I didn't almost land on the fished nose and it didnt budge. Suddenly, all hell breaks lose it grabs a small pheasant tail nymph, on the point fly and take off. Stripping just under 90 metres of lines in 19 seconds, I remember counting thinking it wasnt going to stop. Finally, fish under control and landed after 10 minutes being pulled here and there. Fish released then distance casting, and ending up giving an inpromptu demonstration to a fellow fly angler on the casting of shooting heads. I pack up.

Ok, so out of Radford it is then, off to the other side where I remembered casting to showing fish with basshound recently. They were having nothing of it - 'cast 60 yards and dead drift it, bang fish on again then I have a bloody long walk round to get down to the fish landed and returned again. Right, the heads are brilliant, now to test the sinking heads. Night fall is required for this one. Over the gates it is again under the pier light, Bass all around, pollock are every where. Type 6 head on the 8wt and type 8 on the 9wt. Wang it out there and wait 10 second drop then a fast retieve. I hadn't retieved more than 3 metres of line when everything locked up and a fish went mental on me. A Pollock had grabbed it on the way by and wasnt giving up easily. Landed deep hooked so dispatch was required that went in the pan the following night.

So, I continued testing in the rain, wind, sleet, hail, you name it...I even left the heads outside all night walked on them and the re strung and cast again. These lines are truely unbelivable, they cast like a dream on an shooting line. With the amnesia on, they shoot for the stars though shooting this stuff is like cheese wire on your hands. Ok, off to the trout fishery it is for a final test. Get up to tavistock, I grab a coffee and my mate turns up there. Down under the trees, back casting is nigh on immpossible due to trees and obstruction. On goes the type 3 head double haul, bloody hell, I have cleared the lake and stuck in a tree!! Never managed that on normal lines before. Snap. New leader and fly. Bagged my limit of 6 fish within 3 hours on a hard fishing day. Not much else came out, they were hiding under the shrubbery the far side of the lake. Distance was imperative here.

All in all, I have to take my hat off to Rio here, they have done a fantastic job with these max 2 heads. Infact, they are only lines I will take with me to Canada for a thorough testing through my time there. In short, If you want shooting heads, buy rio max 2 with slick shooting shooting line, it's fantstic.

I managed to get out again last night to have a fish with Mike and Mike at North Corner, Devonport. We all pitched up about 6pm to a rather busy pontoon (probably about 4 other anglers already there) to fish the first part of the ebb and fished through till dark, so around 9:00 pm.

From what I could gather from the lads already down there, the fishing had been pretty slow all afternoon (at that point no-one had managed to catch anything) so I began with a scratch around tight to the pontoon in an attempt to find a few Pollack or wrasse or whatever. Baitwise, the options were limited since I only brought down a handful of ragworm left over from my previous session at Season Point the day before accompanied by a couple of mackerel I had knocking about in the freezer.

Starting off with a ball weight rig and a short flowing trace, I baited up with tiny sections of ragworm on a size 6 hook. Almost immediately, I started getting loads of tiny knocks from what felt like small bait robbing minispecies, so I scaled the hook size down a touch more in an attempt to try and pick up whatever it was that was rattling the rod tip. At least there was something down there, I thought.

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With things slowly getting back to normal here, yesterday I managed to get in the first session in over a fortnight. By god it was good to get back out again – 2 weeks without fishing is 2 weeks too long!

After seeing Curt’s post in the fishing buddies section of the forum, myself and Adam (who’d just joined the site that very same day) jumped on board and partook in the session down at Seasons Point (a nice little mark on the western side of the entrance to the Yealm estuary.)

By the time Curt and I arrived at the mark, Adam was down there and had already managed to winkle out a Bass on frozen sand eel. A promising start, I thought!

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