I visit the Tampa Bay - Sarasota Bay region every Nov-Dec for a few weeks of inshore flats fishing targeting mostly speckled trout, ladyfish and Spanish mackerel, but also occasionally hookup with snook, redfish, pompano, grouper, sharks, bluefish and flounder. Deep grass, potholes, channels and mangrove shorelines provide endless opportunity for a kayak angler that knows where and how to take advantage of the region’s moderate tides and vast shallow flats. I’ve tied 100s if not 1000s of saltwater patterns over the years and have too many boxes of flies to prove it. However, this year’s foray will focus on ten patterns that have delivered in the past and all be tied on Firehole barbless predator series hooks. (Mostly the 802P series). I’ll tie up at least a couple 100 flies with these patterns before the summer ends. I’ve used FH barbless before in the salt, and they’ve stood well if rinsed well at the end of the day. As far as hooking goes, they work just as well as regular saltwater looks and are much easier to dislodge from deeply hooked or feisty fish.
There are lots of “Best of:” lists out there and one can always debate the efficacy of what’s on them, but here’s mine. All patterns are unweighted with exception of the Clouser and redfish slider. I tie them in a variety of color combinations. They are fished with either one of two setups. I carry two TFO Axiom IIX 7 weight rods. One is lined with SA Sonar 200 grain 30 Warm and 4-5’ of 0X Flouro, the other with an SA Intermediate clear tip and standard 9’ 0X saltwater leaders. All the patterns are connected with a non-slip loop knot. I do carry pre-tied 0X tippets with 40# bite tippets just in case I encounter large schools of mackerel or bluefish. If you are getting bit off on the strike, it’s most likely one of those toothy critters.
Gartside Soft-hackle streamer: This is my goto pattern. Lightweight easy to cast, with extreme movement in the water. Deadly on trout.
Myakka Minnow: A dense pattern that performs extremely well in deep channels and potholes.
Bucktail Deceiver: A classic pattern that works extremely well in the potholes.
Half and half Clouser/Deceiver (unweighted plastic eyes): Very much like the bucktail deceiver but the hackle tail allows you to create flies with a much longer profile without additional weight.
Diamond Hair baitfish: Standard minnow hair baitfish type pattern that can be tied in an almost infinite arrays of color combinations. Diamond Hair sheds water extremely well.
Shrimp Gurgler or standard Gurgler: Tied with internal rattles. Early morning in low light conditions the gurglers draw explosive strikes from trout and ladyfish over deep grass.
Flash Minnow: This is a simple pattern that is very useful when there is a lot of small bait, fish, glass minnows, etc. in the water.
Clouser Minnow: I generally only fish weighted Clousers over extensive sandy bottoms where I might typically encounter flounder.
Bend Back: Bend back patterns are essential when the tide has risen and push the water deep into the mangroves where the snook, grouper and redfish hang out around ambush points. They can be cast into overhanging mangroves and rarely get snagged.
Redfish Crack/Slider: Got to carry something like this in case you encounter tailing redfish.
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