Lings on a Fly?

those last two whistlers are money for lings... even better than clousers.  material choice can make a huge difference with the castability of large flies.  try to use materials that create the illusion of bulk and you will be amazed how much better they cast than the old bunny strips that were more common for lings 15 years ago.

lings are pretty aggressive.  once you get casting heavy shooting heads you can dredge pretty good with a fly.  i can hang bottom in 60-70 ft without much trouble with 30' of t-17 with amnesia running line.

those last two whistlers are money for lings... even better than clousers.  material choice can make a huge difference with the castability of large flies.  try to use materials that create the illusion of bulk and you will be amazed how much better they cast than the old bunny strips that were more common for lings 15 years ago.

lings are pretty aggressive.  once you get casting heavy shooting heads you can dredge pretty good with a fly.  i can hang bottom in 60-70 ft without much trouble with 30' of t-17 with amnesia running line.

i used bunny strips & will use the rest of the supply before changing. what material would you recommend?

i used bunny strips & will use the rest of the supply before changing. what material would you recommend?

bunny strips work great and are cheap.  the downside is how heavy they become when wet.  synthetic materials such as kinky fiber or natural materials such as yak hair shed water when casting and have some built in bulk.  you can also tie in collars to try to get the materials to flare... or use epoxy, softex, silicone, etc. to mold the head and create a wider profile.

here's some examples of flies.  they are mostly east coast patterns but you will get some ideas of materials and techniques to create larger profiles with less materials.

http://www.danblanton.com/blog/kinky-muddler-by-jonny-king/

http://www.flyfishsaltwaters.com/flyblueback.html

http://www.flyfishsaltwaters.com/flybluechew.html

http://www.flyfishsaltwaters.com/sbsbuffy.html

i used bunny strips & will use the rest of the supply before changing. what material would you recommend?

bunny strips work great and are cheap.  the downside is how heavy they become when wet.  synthetic materials such as kinky fiber or natural materials such as yak hair shed water when casting and have some built in bulk.  you can also tie in collars to try to get the materials to flare... or use epoxy, softex, silicone, etc. to mold the head and create a wider profile.

here's some examples of flies.  they are mostly east coast patterns but you will get some ideas of materials and techniques to create larger profiles with less materials.

http://www.danblanton.com/blog/kinky-muddler-by-jonny-king/
http://www.flyfishsaltwaters.com/flyblueback.html
http://www.flyfishsaltwaters.com/flybluechew.html
http://www.flyfishsaltwaters.com/sbsbuffy.html

cool, thanx. want to try the flys i tied today & tomorrow. appreciate that wifey wants to come along, but dislike having to wait around for her to get "ready". bulked up some of the earlier flies & tied some more, 11 in all.

Going to meet up with a bunch of the NWKA clan this Monday and do our best to hoist in some crabs. I'm still newer than I care to admit to kayaking, and even ocean fishing, so I wasn't certain about how to fish for anything in the salt. Having Fly fished for twenty plus years though, as soon as I saw this thread, I was already thinking Clousers and Double Bunnies as I still have a bunch tied up from a trip above the San Juan from fifteen years ago. I haven't looked at my heavier rods for some time and believe I may still have a 7/8 weight (?). If so, maybe I'll take it and see if I can catch anything of interest on a fly and while the crab pots are soaking. Thanks for the motivation to knock the dust off an old bug wand and to drown a few flies.

Hello, first time posting.

Here's some lings I got on the fly last August. Over the course of a couple days landed about ten or so all on the fly.

Was using a 10wt Scott S4s with an Airflo 400 grain Depth Finder. Kept the leader pretty short, only about 2.5' and then a big fly, a darkly colored deceiver pattern about 6-8 inches long on a Daiichi 2546 1/0 hook w/ a large conehead.

I tied up some more lingcod flies tonight but did them clouser style instead:
Hook: Daiichi 2546 1/0
Eyes: 5/16" Spirit River i-Balz Dumbbell Eyes
Herring Back Saltwater Yak Hair over Light Olive Yak Hair with Gold Flashabou in the middle.

A lot of the lings I have caught have spit up small flatfish (about 3-6 inches long). But I gotta imagine that would be hard to imitate. A big baitfish pattern (looking like a greenlingo or rockfish - dark colors) works just fine though.

Blake

Hello, first time posting.

Here's some lings I got on the fly last August. Over the course of a couple days landed about ten or so all on the fly.

Was using a 10wt Scott S4s with an Airflo 400 grain Depth Finder. Kept the leader pretty short, only about 2.5' and then a big fly, a darkly colored deceiver pattern about 6-8 inches long on a Daiichi 2546 1/0 hook w/ a large conehead.

I tied up some more lingcod flies tonight but did them clouser style instead:
Hook: Daiichi 2546 1/0
Eyes: 5/16" Spirit River i-Balz Dumbbell Eyes
Herring Back Saltwater Yak Hair over Light Olive Yak Hair with Gold Flashabou in the middle.

A lot of the lings I have caught have spit up small flatfish (about 3-6 inches long). But I gotta imagine that would be hard to imitate. A big baitfish pattern (looking like a greenlingo or rockfish - dark colors) works just fine though.

Blake

nice fish! Where'd ya get them? (general area). got some pics of those flies? just tied some more w/ trailers. maybe try them out of Sunset this weekend, conditions permitting (no go).

 I'll bring some flies to this year's ORC for trade &/
or swag, & maybe a keg of this: http://www.ninkasibrewing.com/beers/total_domination

Ninkasi IPA! That's one of my favorite beers!!

Those flies look good, they'll have a lot of movement in the water. The dark colors will create a good silhouette when they see them above. Remember though that reds and pinks won't really show up when you're down 30 feet or more.

I was up in Tofino, BC last Summer when I got those Lings but I'm going to try from a Kayak in Puget Sound once the season opens May 1. I haven't heard of anyone in Puget Sound getting a Ling on the fly from a Kayak so that will be pretty cool if I can do it!

I revised my Lingcod flies for my Tofino trip this year and am tying them on circle hooks. The circle hook, because of the turned in hook point, won't snag on rocks and kelp as easily as a standard hook so less flies lost. I'll get some pictures of my flies and get them posted up on here soon!

Ninkasi IPA! That's one of my favorite beers!!

Those flies look good, they'll have a lot of movement in the water. The dark colors will create a good silhouette when they see them above. Remember though that reds and pinks won't really show up when you're down 30 feet or more.

I was up in Tofino, BC last Summer when I got those Lings but I'm going to try from a Kayak in Puget Sound once the season opens May 1. I haven't heard of anyone in Puget Sound getting a Ling on the fly from a Kayak so that will be pretty cool if I can do it!

I revised my Lingcod flies for my Tofino trip this year and am tying them on circle hooks. The circle hook, because of the turned in hook point, won't snag on rocks and kelp as easily as a standard hook so less flies lost. I'll get some pictures of my flies and get them posted up on here soon!

luv to see some pics! wish there were some long shank circle hooks for this. think i'll use some circles for trailer hooks. what's the best color for deeper water do you think?

Topwater, what weight rod are you using to cast 30' of t-17?  I have a 30' coil of t-14 and some red amnesia that i want to splice into a sinking shooting head.  Only 20' of that is already 280 grams. I am not sure what length would be right for a med/fast 9' 8 wt (TFO signature). Someone else told me to try to cast all 30', and hack it off 2' at a time. Not only do I not want to waste the extra length by doing that (can use it for shorter heads on other rods), but that is 420 grams to start with, and seems like way too much for an 8 wt rod to handle. I am not able to buy a heavier rod at this time.  I was thinking of a head of 20' or 22' so that I can still cast the thing.  Or should I just use all 30' and just shake it out and let it sink? Thanks!

those last two whistlers are money for lings... even better than clousers.  material choice can make a huge difference with the castability of large flies.  try to use materials that create the illusion of bulk and you will be amazed how much better they cast than the old bunny strips that were more common for lings 15 years ago.

lings are pretty aggressive.  once you get casting heavy shooting heads you can dredge pretty good with a fly.  i can hang bottom in 60-70 ft without much trouble with 30' of t-17 with amnesia running line.

Blake,
check this site; http://www.feltseoul.com/

Paul has several posts on there about Puget Sound Lings on a 9 or 10 wt.

Topwater, what weight rod are you using to cast 30' of t-17?  I have a 30' coil of t-14 and some red amnesia that i want to splice into a sinking shooting head.  Only 20' of that is already 280 grams. I am not sure what length would be right for a med/fast 9' 8 wt (TFO signature). Someone else told me to try to cast all 30', and hack it off 2' at a time. Not only do I not want to waste the extra length by doing that (can use it for shorter heads on other rods), but that is 420 grams to start with, and seems like way too much for an 8 wt rod to handle. I am not able to buy a heavier rod at this time.  I was thinking of a head of 20' or 22' so that I can still cast the thing.  Or should I just use all 30' and just shake it out and let it sink? Thanks!

i fish 25' of t-14 on an 8wt.  i fished for years when guiding out of neah bay with the rio 350 grain striper line with an 8 wt.  i use water loading (letting the line lay quickly on the water on your backcast) to cast the 350 grains and it works perfectly.  i would go straight for the 27-25 ft length with t-14.  any shorter and the casting becomes a bit wonky.  you can go shorter and just feed line but if you work on the water loading (where you can... tough on jetties for instance).  if you have a pond / lake / marina nearby where you can stand and have clear water behind you on your backcast you should be able to practice the water load / lob cast.

for the t-17 i'm using a 10 wt.  it's not the easiest or prettiest thing to cast but for dredging you rarely need long casts as i tend to feed lots of amnesia out to gain depth.

Thanks for the great reply, topwater. So now I might cut mine at 24 or 25 feet. That's either 336 or 350 grains. I had been thinking of doing 22', which is 308 grains and still on the heavy end for my rod, but other anglers with sinking shooting-head experience have also made similar comments about "too short a head being wonky to cast."

What to do with the remaining 5 or 6 feet of t-14? I have a heavy, but short 7.5' sinktip that I don't ever use, and I was going to splice 'em together for a 12.5' or 13.5' sink tip. 

Thanks again. That's good advice.

raining like crazy, so tying some more. here's a few more pics: