Getting Jiggy

Behind Bob Clouser’s original masterpiece, it’s safe to say that the most tied and tried flies on the Australian saltwater scene would be shrimp patterns. From bream to barramundi, you’d be hard pressed to find a predatory fish in our oceans and estuaries that would turn its nose up at these little crustaceans.

There are many ways to skin a cat when it comes to tying up shrimp flies. Patterns range from no-frills, suggestive silhouettes of their muse, to patterns so bedazzled with eyes, legs, antenna and other paraphernalia you’d be forgiven for wanting to throw them on the barbie yourself. Whatever their superficial make up may be, most shrimp patterns are built upon the same foundational componentry, that being a pair of dumbbell eyes and traditional J-style hook.

There is no denying the effectiveness of this fly-tying foundation and it has certainly stood the test of time since it was first used in the mid-eighties. However, newer materials, techniques and components in the industry today present us with the opportunity to experiment with our patterns, challenge the more traditional fly-tying fundamentals, and potentially uncover productivity gains in the process.

A PROBLEM PRESENTS ITSELF

On my home waters of NSW’s Mid-North Coast, I spend a considerable amount of time in the cooler months targeting bream along rock walls lower down in the river systems. Down near the mouth, these medium-to-large estuaries have deep water hard against the shoreline and considerable tidal movement. The fish typically sit hard against the rock walls, low in the water column and tight to the structure. A presentation at depth is needed here, however, I constantly struggled to get my flies into the strike zone even with patterns packing hefty lead dumbbell eyes. My fly would hit the water and instantly be whisked away by the ever-present and strong tidal flow.

Two obvious solutions presented themselves and both ultimately proved fruitless. Tying larger dumbbells on my size 6 to 2 shrimp patterns seemed good in theory but ultimately turned my subtle, realistic offerings into ungainly Frankenstein-esque abominations. Sinking lines were next up but ultimately did more harm than good. They got caught in the complex currents swirling along the rock walls, exacerbating the current’s control over my fly, and took much longer to retrieve and re-cast once I’d fished the sweet spots in close to the structure.

A SOLUTION IS FOUND

Just as I had exhausted what I thought were the only options to solve my winter fishing woes, I stumbled upon an online article covering the meteoric rise of the Martin’s Minnow, a jig streamer created by angler Martin Smith, in the UK. I was of course familiar with the style of fly for trout fishing but had no idea the concept had bled into other fisheries in recent years. Digging further, I was surprised to find companies had even started making specific jig fly componentry in sizes and finishes more applicable to non-salmonid species and perfectly suited to our saltwater fisheries here in Australia.

Curious as hell, I purchased some of this XOS jig fly componentry in a handful of sizes and weights and started experimenting. The shrimp recipes themselves largely remained the same, however, they were now built on a jig style hook and weighted with a slotted tungsten bead. With a density 1.7 times that of lead, the use of tungsten allowed substantial weight to be added without compromising the profile or proportions. The resulting prototypes retained their suggestive silhouettes but packed some serious heft and outperformed my more classically tied flies better than I could have ever imagined.

JIG FLY EVANGELISM

It’s been over 24 months since those prototypes first rolled off my vice and although they’re long gone (trees, bad casting, toothy critters — you name it) their memory lives on through the armada of jig-style shrimp flies that reside in my salty fly boxes. Such was the increase in both quantity and quality of fish when I first started using these flies, that I now fish them to the exclusion of almost anything else.

Why do I think these flies are so successful? The same reason European nymphing is so successful on the trout scene: depth. A comparatively heavy fly, long fine leaders, and a focus on getting the fly through current and near the bottom are fundamentals to Euro nymphing and are the same principles that make saltwater jig flies so successful.

When blind fishing in an estuary or coastal setting, getting your presentation into the strike zone of ambushing predators is paramount. While doing so too quick can look unnatural, not being quick enough allows external factors such as currents or wind to detrimentally affect your presentation. When we fish with dumbbell weighted flies, we run the risk of fishing too light, allowing the tide to exert influence over our fly and carry it well away from the strike zone before it even arrived. If we try to counter this with larger lead dumbbells and wraps of lead wire, our subtle, imitative patterns become cumbersome and unsightly to the fish. Jig style saltwater patterns allow us the necessary weight to get our fly in front of our quarry, while keeping the integrity, elegance, and suggestive qualities of our offering intact.

Fishing jig style flies on a floating line and long leader, between 12 and 15 feet, is also key to success. A longer than usual leader lets the fly get to depth as quickly as possible, and the floating line affords the angler great efficiency in casting and covering ground. The floating line also ensures that it is just the fly, not the expensive fly line, that ends up near any gnarly structure. Something sinking lines can be not so great at.

THE HOOKS

As mentioned earlier, fly fishing companies are now introducing saltwater specific jig fly componentry to their product line. This includes more robust hooks in saltwater finishes and sizes, and XOS tungsten beads. Lucky for us, quite a bit of it is filtering into Australia.

A jig style hook has its eye on an upright, in-line position in relation to the hook shank, with angles varying from 60 to 90 degrees. Given the popularity of jig flies in trout circles, many manufacturers have a jig hook or two in their line-up, but they are usually designed for trout and as such are either too small or too weak for saltwater use. However, there are some exceptions.

I’ve found two of the trout models from the Ahrex wheelhouse to be suitable for the salt. The FW550 in sizes 4 and 2 is robust enough and large enough for light game saltwater use. The second is the PR374, especially if you want to tie baitfish patterns, but they are a much finer gauge and bend far more easily than the FW550.

The new kid on the block, and my personal favourite, is the Ahrex SA254 Salt Jig Hook. These hooks are serious bits of kit, and testament to the surge in popularity on the saltwater jig scene. I prefer a size 6 to 4 in the SA254 for general purpose estuary work, and sizes 2–1/0 for bigger fare. While I find these larger sizes ideal for trevally and jewfish down south, Kettafly’s Al Simson is currently using them up in tropical north Queensland on all manner of warmwater fare, from barramundi to coral trout.

THE BEADS

Tungsten beads need to be of the slotted variety, otherwise they will not slide over the bend at the hook eye. Like the hooks, a lot of what is available in Australia is tailored to trout, but the larger sized 3.0–4.0mm beads are large enough and heavy enough for some saltwater applications. A 4.0mm tungsten bead will have a weight somewhere in between a small-to-medium Hareline Heavy Lead Eye.

American company Spawn Fly Fish are relatively new to Australia and have a great range of larger beads suited to their largemouth bass and saltwater species. Two products are currently available in Australia: the football series and the super series. The football series are uniquely elongated, which helps keep a fly upright when settled on the bottom. The super series are 6.3mm (yes, you read that correctly) tungsten slotted beads with a weight of around 2 grams — that’s 1.25 times the weight of an extra-large Hareline Heavy Lead Eye.

When the tidal flow in the Clarence River is absolutely pumping and the big winter bream are schooled up on 4-to-5-metre-deep coffee rock reefs, I use the 6.3mm beads in conjunction with a 5 IPS sinking line and swing my flies down and across to great effect. I have also used these XOS beads on Murray cod and snapper streamers to great effect, but that’s a story for another time.

For 95% of my estuary work, I use Spawn’s football series. They are a slim and subtle bead, which helps with the profile of the smaller size 6–4 flies I regularly use. They come in a range of shrimpy colours including olive, peach and crawfish brown and sizes from 5.5 to 7.5mm. The 6mm and 7mm sizes are my personal favourites (equivalent to large Hareline Heavy Lead Eyes).

At the time of writing, Australian anglers can buy Spawn products through BWC Flies, and Brett and Cherie always have a healthy stock available. Other brands of slotted beads can be found in most fly fishing retailers around the country. The same goes for most of the Ahrex jig hooks I’ve mentioned, though at the time of writing, Beast Brushes and BWC Flies were the only ones to supply the newly released Ahrex SA254.

Happy tying!