Big Flies or Little Flies?

The following article is my opinion about fly sizes that I have come up with after hundreds of hour on the water. There may be situations that change my tactics, but this is what I have found to be the rule under most situations

BIGGER is Better!    When I go saltwater flyfishing, I try to use the largest fly I can get away with. I use a 10 wt. fly rod almost all the time. I will admit most of my saltwater flyfishing is for Snook, Redfish, Seatrout, Bonita, and other inshore species in Florida.
    When I started flyfishing for saltwater species all I had was a 6 wt fly rod that I used for bass. I listened to as many flyfisherman as I could, to see what they used for flies. They all talked about flies that were in the small range usually size 4 and 2. These flies seemed to be small to me, but I was new to saltwater flyfishing so that is what I started fishing with. My success was less than impressive. One day I was able to watch a nice group of Redfish sit right on top of an oyster bed in clear water. These fish were happy fish and didn't seem to notice me there. I threw these little flies at these fish, and they just didn't seem to notice the fly was even there.
    Frustrated I decided to cast a plug at them and they jumped all over it! I let the fish settle down and got the fly rod out again and proceeded to got no looks on my small fly. Threw the plug at them.....and they ate it.
    If you take a look at Redfish for instance, they spend much of their time grubbing around finding small crabs and shrimp, they must really work hard for what they find. When they see a big piece of food, they seem to throw caution to the wind, and do what ever they can to catch that bait. Just watch a Redfish try to eat a big topwater plug and you will know what I mean. Just take a look inside the stomach of the next keeper Redfish you bring home, it will be full of small creatures, so when a Redfish sees a big meal, it is worth it's time and effort to track it down and catch it. There are times when a tailing redfish is so busy with it's head in the grass, that it just won't see a little fly, you need something to get it's attention, a bigger fly pushes more water and it is easier to see in the grassy jungle.
    Seatrout have always been notorious for eating whatever they can fit in their face. I have seen 7" trout hit 5'' lures. I once caught a 19" Seatrout that had a 10 INCH PINFISH in it's stomach........and still ate MY FLY!
    Snook........... well what can I say about Snook. Just look at the mouth of a Snook and you will see why they can eat a big fly.
    Bonefish is another species of fish that can be caught on a larger fly than the common flyfisherman may use. The problem with using those tiny bonefish flies is you have to put the fly so close to the fish for them to see it that your margin of error is so small. If you use a larger fly, the fish can see it from farther away, which lets you lead the fish more, and have less chance of spooking it with a less than perfect cast. Think of this..... what size shrimp and hook do they use for bonefish when fisherman are using live bait for bonefish? It is usually a nice sized shrimp on a 1/0 hook! So don't think a bonefish can't eat a good sized fly.
    Now comes the problem......... It is not easy to cast a fly that is too big or weighs too much. As a fly tier I took on the challenge of making BIG FLIES. The problem is, the materials that were available at the time I started tying saltwater flies was not very good when used for big flies. I used wool to make big flies to get them noticed, but when they got wet, it was like casting a wet sock. Spun deer hair could make a big fly, but it floated, which was ok for topwater flies. If you wanted them to sink, you would have to use lead to make then sink, this design seemed dumb to me ( create a fly with a floating material, and then have to weight it to make it sink!) . There had to be a better way.
    At last! modern synthetic material began to fill the void. New synthetic hairs and tubing would let me create large flies that would not soak up any water, which made them easier to cast. Another thing I learned is most big flies were made with to big a hook for the job. Just because you have a large fly, doesn't mean you need a big hook too.
    My D.C.Wiggler is a prime example of this, it is a fly that is about 4 inches long, which to a fish is a nice sized meal, but it is only tied on a # 2 hook. Another great Big fly is my Dan's Neerly Live Bait. This fly can be make very large, but is easily cast on a 8 wt. fly rod. If you made a fly the same size as this out of wool or some other natural material you will not be able to cast it a easily or as far as the Dan's Neerly Live Bait. The Savajoe Shrimp is another fly that can be made good sized to match the bigger shrimp all fish that swim love to eat.
    So in closing Bigger is Better to me! I use my 10 wt rod most of the time. I am not into the catching of fish on the teeny 4, 5 and 6 wt fly rods. I guess it is just me, but the strike and fooling the fish into eating my fly, is the exciting part of catching the fish. Sure fighting a big fish is fun, but I have just as much fun if the fish jumps off the hook as landing him. When I tell people I use a 10 wt. they always say " Don't you get tired casting that all day?'' and my answer is no! With my 10 wt vs. a 8 wt, I make less false cast to get the fly out the same distance. The 10 wt also loads faster so I can get my fly to the fish sooner too. If you count the amount of false casting at the end of the day, I will not make as many, so I am not tired using my 10 wt, besides, a 10 wt fly rod is not that much heavier than a 8 wt. The time when the wind does pick up ( here in FL is common ) the 10 wt can get the bigger flies through the wind easier.

There are times when fish are eating little baits, and will not look at anything bigger that their prey, but usuallya saltwater gamefish will not let a big, easy meal get away from them.

Try it yourself, these bigger flies will help you catch more fish......they do for me!

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