We've gotten a lot of requests for a tying video for this pattern, so here ya go! The "Crouser" is a half crab, half clouser. It was developed to target striped bass here in Maine on the flats, but we are seeing customers and clients using it for bonefish and permit (as a crab fly) and smallmouth bass (as a crayfish) with success.
Check out the video below!
Deciding on your next fly line can be a complicated and daunting process. Lines can be labeled as WF5F, 200gr, coldwater, tropical, aggressive, presentation tapered, floating, sinking, overweighted, freshwater, or saltwater, and that's just a few. It's confusing. In my opinion, it is actually the most confusing aspect of gear-related fly fishing information. Additionally, just because you have, say, a 5wt rod, that doesn't mean any WF5F fly line will match up well with your rod or fishing situation(s). Unfortunately, there is not one fly line that will do everything perfectly. So, how do we make good decisions on fly lines without buying 10 of them and personally testing them all out on the water before we purchase?
This is #1 in a multiple part series. In this article I will cover the main ideas behind fly line design and its intended application.
Matching up a fly line to a fly rod is a combination of a few factors. The big questions you should be asking yourself are:
There are certainly a lot of factors to consider, but once you have established these above variables and situations, you have now essentially narrowed down your search considerably. You will find that there is absolutely a noticeable difference in how various lines behave, so additionally you will find that there is likely a good match for you and your fishing needs.
The single most significant factor that dictates most differences in fly lines and their application is their taper and grain weight. These, when applied in various ways, can change a dry fly line to a streamer line, or a nymphing/indicator line to a stillwater line. The questions/variables that are mentioned about can, for the most part, be answered with taper and weight. Here are some examples:
Click HERE for more info on Rio Gold
Rio Gold has been an "industry" standard fly line for quite sometime. For anglers looking for a fly line that matches up well with most freshwater fly rods, Rio Gold has a taper that helps it be a great "all-arounder" option. It has a longer head (47") which is fairly linear and shares an extended rear taper. This design allows Rio Gold to hold its shape and help you control the line more confidently during longer casts. The front taper is a good balance between a presentation minded line and one that will load quickly at short range. It's one of those lines that doesn't do anything perfectly, but does a lot of things well.
Click HERE for more info on the SA Amplitude Smooth Creek Trout
The Scientific Anglers Amplitude Smooth Creek Trout is solely designed to throw dry flies in small rivers/creeks. You can see how the front taper is an extension of the belly which are both slowly progressing to a thinner diameter. This gives a great ability to "present" flies on the water without much disruption (spooking fish). Plus you will see that the overall head of this line is shorter than the Rio Gold. This allows the angler to load the line/rod at very short distances (how most casts are in small creeks). The downside is that the Creek Trout does not do well at casting longer distances accurately or handling heavier flies like weighted streamers or indicator rigs.
Click HERE for more info on the Rio InTouch Big Nasty
Totally opposite to the SA Creek Trout, the Rio InTouch Big Nasty is designed to cast the largest and heaviest of streamers. You can clearly see that quite a bit of weight is pushed to the very front of the line. The front taper looks dramatically different than any dry fly or presentation specific line. The longer head length allows for control of longer casts, and the exaggerated front taper helps to carry and turnover those heavy articulated or bulky flies. The downside to the Big Nasty is that it would not be a great dry fly line. The reason for this is the aggressive front tape which would make it hard to delicately present a fly on the surface.
All of the above lines are weighted differently. At WF5F, the full head weight of Rio Gold WF5F is 208gr (not just the first 30'), Rio Big Nasty is 202gr, and the SA Creek Trout is 160gr. If you take this weight and shift/move it around in various ways along the head, you will see how application of weight in a fly line makes a big difference. You could have almost the same weight line (like the Rio Gold and Big Nasty) but when you apply the weight in different ways, it dramatically changes how the line behaves and casts! Additionally, this means that you could take one WF5F line and it would not cast well with your rod at all, but then another WF5F line would match up really well. So keep in mind those above "questions" before deciding on a line.
These characteristics explained above are applicable for both freshwater and saltwater fly lines. For instance, the taper of some freshwater and saltwater lines can be very similar as their intended techniques can require an almost identical approach.
Click HERE for more info on the Airflo Bonefish
You can see that the taper/head for the Airflo Bonefish is almost identical to that of the Rio Gold. Being an all-around trout line, Rio Gold can be a good line for presenting dry flies. In very much a similar way, the Airflo Bonefish fly line is made to help you present flies to bonefish. The techniques to presenting a dry fly to a wary trout is essentially the same to that of leading a (school of) bonefish with your shrimp pattern. You want to be able to softly and accurately land that fly in the most natural way possible. A fly line which has its weight evenly distributed along the head allows for a softer/more natural presentation. This is not necessarily the case with a line like the Rio Big Nasty which is designed to throw streamers.
Click HERE for more info on the Rio Coastal Quickshooter
On the other hand, a line like the Rio Coastal Quickshooter which is another saltwater line, is created with a very different idea in mind. Not only is the Coastal Quickshooter overweighted (more on that in the next article) but the head is shorter (than the Airflo Bonefish). This condenses the weight of the line/head to a smaller area which loads rods quicker and helps to carry large streamers into the wind. You can also see that the front taper is shorter. This design of the Coastal Quickshooter would not be recommenced as a sight-fishing/presentation line as it would not allow the angler to accurately and subtly get that fly to the fish. When accuracy and presentation is not needed, (such as blind casting off of beaches, ledges, or a boat) but you are tossing big flies into the wind, trying to eliminate false casting, and getting as much line out as possible with minimal effort, this is where a line like the Rio Coastal Quickshooter is advantageous.
Now that we have covered the basics of how lines are designed for various applications, we can start to figure out how these apply to our fishing. In the next article, I will detail how to take these variables and make them fit for you. As mentioned previously, not every WF5F line is going to match up well with your 5wt rod or you as an angler/caster. So with the next article I will also talk about how us as individual casters can make a difference in what line works well for you and your fly rod.
I recently returned from a trip to Acklins Island, Bahamas for a week of DIY fly fishing. This was an area that I had heard a lot about. Miles of sand flats, seeing very little angling pressure, presents an allure for anyone searching for prime opportunities at bonefish. As one of the outer islands in the Bahamas chain, Acklins Island and its adjacent Crooked Island, are situated just east of Cuba and north of the Inaguas. The way in which Acklins and Crooked are situated, they create what is called the "Bight of Acklins." This is a large lagoon of clear/turquoise water running the entire Caribbean coastline. The Bight creates miles of shallow flats. Most flats on the Acklins side being only accessible via boat only adds to the remote aspect of the island. As of two years ago, a paved road running north/south along Acklins was created. This has given cars much easier travel. Prior to this, a very rough dirt road was the only access locals and visitors had to cover the island. However, this road does not give much access to the flats as it runs along the interior flanked by dense vegetation. So if you are going purely to explore via foot, bushwhacking is likely.
Myself and two other anglers stayed along the southern end of Acklins at Salina Point Bonefish Lodge. From here, we were able to arrange for a local fisherman to be our boat/captain and bring us out to various flats and creeks. We then negotiated the area on our own with some daily assistance from Google Earth and suggestions from our captain. There are countless creeks and flats to cover, much more than one could fish in a week. For two of the days, we did drive into two locations one of which required some hiking.
According to one of our Fitbits, we walked on average about 8 miles a day with some days approaching 10-11 miles and with a total estimate of 48.6 miles. Because most of our walking was slow/shuffling/stalking, I think that's a little high but not far off. Only a few of the locations within the mangrove creeks were soft mud. All of the outer flats were a majority hard sand with some rocks/fossil coral building up along the shores. For this reason I felt that my Simms Zipit Bootie II's that I brought worked well. Out of curiosity/always being overprepared, I also brought along my Simms VaporTread Salts incase wading was tough. These certainly proved a better option on the day we decided to hike into our location and did provide better overall stability while wading. But, the noticeable heavier weight of the Vapor Salts made me chose to mostly wear the Zipit Booties. The other two anglers who joined me wore the Simms Intruder Saltwater boots and both really loved those. In my opinion, those would be the best option of these three. All of us agree that the addition of wading socks with any of these boots however is crucial. The amount of sand and small rocks/shells that can get into wading boots, even with neoprene gravel guards, is too much. Plus, wet wading socks really help from a comfort factor and limit blisters.
Acklins is a very remote island, especially in the southern end where we were staying and fishing. There are roughly 500 year round inhabitants. There is a small settlement, Salina Point Settlement, which lies on the southeastern side of the island. In between Salina Point and Lovely Bay, there is very little. This is what makes Acklins difficult to fish without the use of a boat. The main road, as mentioned earlier, was recently paved. It certainly helps with transportation, but it is directly in the middle of the island and runs only north/south. Some serious time and machete work to access the water would be necessary.
The first day we fished, we were brought to one of the only locations accessible via car. When we arrived it was at the last hour of the outgoing tide and we immediately saw bonefish pushing water and tailing along the edges of the mangroves. This was unfortunately short-lived as the fished seemed to quickly move out with the tide. Further, this was unfortunately the start of the wind. At around 9:30am, the wind quickly came in and stayed with sustained 25-30mph winds the entire week. With Acklins Island running essentially North/South and winds coming mostly out of the Northeast, it made it hard to find locations where visibility was enough to spot fish. White caps on flats while sight-fishing is interesting. And it never let up. We would have brief moments of reprieve for 10-15mins, but that was it. So we had to really make efforts to find leeward flats and areas which were sheltered, but this proved difficult. The wind would simply breeze right over the mangroves as very little elevation allowed for sheltered spots. Because of the wind we used our 9wts almost exclusively. I was fishing the Thomas & Thomas Exocett 9wt with the Airflo Tropical Punch for about 90% of the trip with the Rio Saltwater Leader 10ft/16lb. I changed to the 16lb leader after a large bonefish took my fly about 20 feet in front of me, did a 180, and screamed off down the flat. The 12lb leader popped. The heavier leader also helped a little to turnover in the wind.
The next few days we took advantage of a boat and captain to bring us out to various locations. After some adjusting to the conditions, we were able to find some spots which produced bursts of bonefish activity. To be fair, Acklins' flats and mangroves are some of the fishiest spots I've seen, but our fishing didn't seem to matchup. Aside from the difficult wind that made spotting fish extremely difficult, I believe we also timed our trip coincidentally during their (full moon) spawning period. While on our trip I was in communication with Steven Lombardo who is a fisheries ecologist and works with the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust. He and a crew had also been down at Acklins a week prior to our visit. Acklins is a known bonefish nursery, but their spawning behavior is relatively unknown. Steven also saw few bonefish along the flats we were fishing, but saw congregations of them on the distant outer flats which we simply could not access efficiently in our 12' Boston Whaler. So we likely had bad luck with the timing and weather. Otherwise, it is widely known that Acklins produces some of the best flats fishing in the world for big bonefish.
*An interesting side note: we ran into a group of anglers who visited neighboring Crooked Island the same week. They were fully guided and also saw little bonefish activity.*
The fish we did find were extremely healthy and very willing to take a well placed fly. With the little angling pressure these fish see, as long as you didn't spook them, they would essentially take any shrimp offering we supplied. But what was additionally interesting is that flies which were brighter colored, especially with orange, seemed to attract their attention even more...beyond just the basic orange patch of a spawning shrimp pattern. The triggerfish were also viable on almost every location we visited. Some where along the outer flats and others inside lagoons and mangroves. True to their nature, it was hard to get them to take the fly or get a good hook set on them, but I was lucky enough to land one. Slow strips bumping the fly along the bottom and allowing them to try and pin it down into the sand is the tactic. A very powerful fish that gives you a tired arm after the fight.
As the week progressed we were able to pick up some fish here and there. Some incredible shots and takes by barracuda and sharks also kept things interesting. One of the anglers who came was set on trying to land one of these, but found that not all wire tippet is the same. He was trying a new wire coated braided tippet (not fully wire) and unfortunately lost some nice fish with almost immediate break offs. After switching to full wire tippet, as luck would have it, no other eats took place.
We also had an interesting experience watching barracuda and sharks chasing a small school of bonefish. We later dubbed this area "shark alley." No matter how many times we crossed it, we always ran into something "interesting." One afternoon while crossing this creek which ran in between two separate ocean flats, we found ourselves in almost ankle deep water literally in the middle of multiple barracuda and sharks who were trying to chase down bonefish. It was all very visual because of the depth of the water. This was at the last drop of the tide, so the remaining fish that had been up the creek to feed, were now on their way out. At one point one of black tips apparently thought my wading booties were a bonefish. The shark turned and from about 40ft away charged directly at me. It took a quick kick and stab of my fly rod to turn him away. Nothing like a little mid-day adrenaline boost!
Acklins Island certainly has some of the best bonefish habitat in the world. Endless sand flats that stretch for miles which are fed by healthy mangrove lagoons and creeks create some world class fishing. Doing this type of trip DIY can certainly present some challenges, especially if done in the southern area of Acklins. For this area does not present a lot of access unless you have a boat. Our timing certainly was not spot on, but we had a blast exploring this unique area! I am excited to return and learn more about this special and healthy area. I will also find that big bonefish that snapped my tippet! I WILL find you!
Written by: Josh Thelin
Photos by: Josh Thelin (other than were noted)
If you have any questions about fishing this area, please contact me! -- josh@allpointsflyfishing.com
I recently got my hands on a couple of the new fly rods that Echo will be releasing mid November. One of them is their newest premier saltwater rod, and the other is their top end trout rod. Both of them will be at the highest end (price-wise) of Echo's offerings in the $350-$525 zone. This is smack in the center of the "mid-priced" rod category that has seen a lot of attention and growth in the fly fishing industry over the past few years. There is good reason for this as well. For some people, a high end rod is either unaffordable or irrational. Most high end rods are a combination of meticulous construction and peak performance. What makes the mid-price range so alluring in most cases however, is that you get all (or most of) the performance, but the rod might lack higher quality finishes and/or materials like reel seat inserts and hardware. However, this is not to say that every rod under $700 is ugly and falls apart after a season by any means. But, for a company like Echo who tends to make their rods with function as their top priority, it tends to attract anglers who are likeminded in their fishing endeavors...
The first rod I cast was the Echo Prime. A saltwater rod available in either 4pc or 2pc configuration, the Prime comes in 8-12wt options (8, 10, 11wt for 2pc) and is 8'10" across the board. According to Echo: "when targeting flats fish, things happen quickly and usually in the 40-60 foot "kill zone." Everything about the Echo Prime rod has been optimized to help you succeed in the zone." This is interesting because one of the first things I thought about while working out line was "man this would be a good bonefish rod." The slightly shorter length and not incredibly stiff action helped me dial in accuracy quickly and confidently. There was not much wind that afternoon, so the Prime was not tested much in this department. But I could create good line speed and felt it would do well if breezy. (Better in the wind, I believe, than the Echo Bad Ass Glass Quickshot I reviewed recently)
Fly line used: Airflo Ridge Striper WF8F (290gr)
Fly rod tested: Echo Prime Fly Rod 8'10" 8wt (4pc) - $469.99
The Echo Prime boasts a "Dual Zone" (cork) handle, which I'm still not 100% what that means...but I will say the larger half wells front lip and overall size of the cork felt good in my larger hands. This can be an afterthought for most consumers, but I do find it makes a difference. For instance there are some rods, like the TFO Mangrove, which is a great rod, but the cork handle is small and sometimes uncomfortable casting for long periods of time.
Overall I was very impressed with the Prime. With a moderately aggressive floating line it cast incredibly well within 70ft with good reserved power. I am not sure how it would do with heavier aggressive heads or sinking lines. But, as this road is advertised with flats fishing in mind, it seems incredibly capable within that capacity. I am going to try very hard to bring this on my next bonefish trip.
The Echo Trout is tuned in a very similar manner as the Prime. Specifically, it has a certain distance or "zone" which Echo feels is the proper area in which the fly rod should excel. For the Trout, it is the 30-50 foot "sweet spot." Additionally, each model/wt of the Trout series has a "unique action suited to that rod's typical application." For instance, the 6wt has been refined even further in the tip section to help negotiate sinking tips and heavier flies.
Fly line used: Airflo Super-DRI Elite WF5F
Fly rod tested: Echo Trout 9' 5wt - $349.99
In the lighter weight options, the Trout has been made to help protect lighter tippets and softer presentations with a softer tip section. So, seeing as this rod is only available in 4-6wts, if the 6wt has a stiffer tip and the 4wt has a softer tip, I would think it's safe to say the 5wt is right down the middle of the road. I would tend to agree with this thinking after casting it as well. I did not get the impression that the rod was only dialed in for dry flies, nor did I get the feeling it was hungry to only throw sinking lines and meat. I think the Echo Trout 5wt is going to be a great rod for those looking to buy one trout rod that can handle dry flies to nymph rigs.
One added perk I thought was interesting, was the included fighting butt (similar to the Echo Shadow X) that will be available in the other models as well from the 4-6wts. This would allow anglers to adjust the rod to specific styles/techniques such as nymphing.
Overall the Echo Trout was a pleasure to cast. Similar to the testing of the Prime, these were just preliminary reactions while casting in my parking lot, but for what I got out of the tests I was certainly impressed. I will be curious to cast the Trout and the Boost 6wts side-by-side to see which would be better for streamers...
