Salt Water Flies

[BlueRaiderFan]

Anyone know the dimensions on saltwater streamers/flies? I tied a few for a friend when I first got started, but he said the fish were grabbing the tail and not getting all the way to the hook (he was surf fishing). I think I may have had the tail too long, but I copied the dimensions I had seen by observing the Puglesi flies I had seen in the Orvis catalog. Any thoughts?

[Kytroutbum]

A couple of suggestions. 1) Buy a fly and use it as a pattern for your proportions. That's what I do. I've got a sheet of replacement ripple foam full of samples in my tying room.
2) If you have the proportions correct ,then it may be the fisherman, not the fly. Bob Clouser made the comment at Troutfest that a lot of "short strikes" or "almost strikes" were due to the fly becoming motionless or slowing down. That is almost unnatural when a preditor is chasing it. I've found that speeding up will bring on strikes rather than slowing down. Also, Bait fish are almost always stuck at the head. This has been the basis for discussions for placing eyes (or even larger ones) on streamers, etc. I've seen a pattern of streamer tying over the years tend away from a long shanked hook up to 6x or more to a shorter shanked hook with a wider gap or circle hooks. (That where I'm going for next winter's Florida flies.) I have done alot of inshore streamer fishing in salt, flounder, seatrout, reds, etc. I've never felt a need to use a "stinger hook" on the tail for short strikers. Hope this helps.

Randall Sale
the Kytroutbum

[BlueRaiderFan]

Randall,

thanks for the help. that saved me a ton of learning the hard way.

Dwayne