What's your favorite gear for flats fishing?
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I’m doing a gear piece and trying to gather up some ideas and get freshed up on the market. Rod, reel, line, jacket, boots, shorts or light pants: any recommendations or things you especially love?
Zach
Proper clothing for sun protection. Plenty of good shirts and pants to choose from, but don’t forget the gloves and hat. My favorite hat has for many years been the Patagonia Vented Broadbill (the old style, somewhat different from the new). For once, I bought multiples back then.
Gloves, I like the simple fingerless ones, at least for smallish flats fish. If going for hard pulling fish, I like the fingerless ones, but with pads built in – – – not for if, but for when, there’s an unexpected run when you have the line trapped under your fingers. “Rope burn” hurts!
And then there’s shades, sunscreen, footwear . . . maybe even some differing thoughts on tackle!
Buzz
Costas, copper lens, green mirror. I like the medium/fast rods with Hatch or Nautilus reels. Clear intermediate, or light blue floating line most of the time.
I’ll start from the bottom and work up.
1. For soft bottoms – Simms Flats Sneakers or equivalent. Good support and protective soles.
For hard bottoms – Keen H2 sport sandals. I would wear them all day everyday if I could get away with it.
2. Quick drying fishing shorts or pants with lots of pockets. I like Columbia Snake River Shorts, but they are impossible to find. I rarely wear long pants or waders.
3. Stripping basket. I use a homemade one from a plastic hospital basin, but Orvis has one. I like the hard sided ones rather than the net type. To me this is essential for line control.
4. Waist pack with a water bottle holder. I have a nylon ripstop one that is light and just the right size. It will hold a small fly box, tippet, hemostat, fishing glove, small platic lip gripper, my fishing liscense, bottle of water and a granola bar. Actually, I started out using a back pack, but then I noticed I had a lot of stuff I never used, so a started removing anything I didn’t use the last three trips. It is amazing how fast stuff gets eliminated. I’m now down to the small waist pack.
5. Victornox Executive Swiss Army Knife. This is my most useful piece of equipment. It is small and has scissors, knife, file, tweezers and toothpick (marlinspike). I keep it attached to a small plastic pill case that keeps it afloat and holds aspririn in case I have a heart attack. I’m considering getting some nitro glycerine tablets, but I might blow myself up.
6. Quick dry fishing shirt, long sleeve and lots of pockets. This protects you from the sun, and the pockets hold extra flies and my waterproof camera.
7. Buff, so you look cool (it helps with the sun too).
8. Broad brimmed fishing hat. I have a Columbia Boony hat for spring winter and fall. In the summer I have a nylon hat with better ventalation.
9. Fishing rod/reel. 8 wt, 9 foot fast action for general use. 6 wt, 9 foot fast action when the wind is down and the fish aren’t overpowering. Large arbor reel with a good drag. I oversize my reels to get extra diameter and backing. Weight forward line most of the time. Hard mono leaders with fluorocarbon tippets.
10. Good sunglasses. I use amber or copper lenses.My number one choice on the flats is a reel with a sealed synthetic drag system. Harfin and Hatch are my choices. Second is a good fanny pack/sling that can hold a couple of fly boxes, tippet, tools, and a bottle of water. Currently the Simms Headwaters chest/hip pack or the minimalist JW Outfitters bonefish pack (which is on its last legs now).
Best Regards,
Beechy
I fish the flats quite a bit in Belize. I think the two most essential pieces of gear are good shades and a good stripping basket. My go to shades for bright days are Haber rose/copper and for dark days are Haber amber. http://www.habervision.com/ If you can’t see the fish you are going to have problems. Next most important piece of gear is the Sea Level bucket shooter. http://www.sealevelflyfish.com/bucket-shooter/ Line control is critical on the flats; so many times you have one shot and if the line is caught ain’t gonna happen. I suppose the third most important gear would be good flats boots. I use Simms flats boots with their goretex socks.
Thanks guys, this has been helpful. I am suddenly slammed with writing, which is always a good thing, but I’m running around with my hair on fire a little bit.
Which is an awesome trick without hair.
Thanks guys, this has been helpful. I am suddenly slammed with writing, which is always a good thing, but I’m running around with my hair on fire a little bit.
Which is an awesome trick without hair.
things you especially love?
Zach
Fly rod, flies, no wives and……………
BeerI’ve just fallen in love with the Simms Paclite Jacket. Great for a little warmth in the morning or spray/rain protection during the day.
The other one I must have on me is a great set of pliers with cutters and a small knife (love my Spyderco Salt).
Adam
The stripping basket suggestions reminded me (particularly because of my eyesight, requiring coke-bottle-thick prescription correction) that the absolute best flats “gear” – – – particularly for seldom-fished waters – – – is a local guide who knows the flats, the tides and the fish movement patterns, and who has osprey-like vision. And if he happens to be masterful at poling a flats boat (think of it as a really big stripping basket) and is a good conversationalist, I’d say the day is beginning to shape up nicely!
Buzz
Oh.
Well that’s easy…makeup in your fanny pack, the latest in stylish sunglasses, a hat they saw in Vogue (that costs as much as a new Abel), a fly rod, some flies, and a husband to carry their purse, release anything they might hook up with, and pick them up when something they perceive as scary (school of needle fish) swims by.
Let me know if you need any more insight Zach, I’m here to help.
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