Garbage fly for trash fish?

[Arlon]

What would be some "garbage" flies for specific trash fish or at least less noble fish. I'm thinking about something to interest triggers, spades, etc. at the rigs when the more noble species are less cooperative. Possibly trying a "bait" flyrod this year too. I had such great success with sabiki rigs I figured a double fly would be perfect for catching bait. It certainly would be fun and may be easier to lay a fly up under the rig for catching bait than casting a sinker at the end of 6ft of line. I just want to have more fun fishing this year so I'm lightening up and want focus on some of the less targeted species. Maybe a 2wgt with a tiny clouser for hand sized triple tail..

Has anyone specifically targeted spade fish with a fly? I've had them chase tiny rattle traps on an ultrlight but they never ate it. Maybe something even smaller? Tiny spoon fly?

[James Herman]

A good shrimp will catch anything.


What would be some "garbage" flies for specific trash fish or at least less noble fish. I'm thinking about something to interest triggers, spades, etc. at the rigs when the more noble species are less cooperative. Possibly trying a "bait" flyrod this year too. I had such great success with sabiki rigs I figured a double fly would be perfect for catching bait. It certainly would be fun and may be easier to lay a fly up under the rig for catching bait than casting a sinker at the end of 6ft of line. I just want to have more fun fishing this year so I'm lightening up and want focus on some of the less targeted species. Maybe a 2wgt with a tiny clouser for hand sized triple tail..

Has anyone specifically targeted spade fish with a fly? I've had them chase tiny rattle traps on an ultrlight but they never ate it. Maybe something even smaller? Tiny spoon fly?

[Bird]

Spades and triggers will hit darn near anything. The guy at Creative Feathers in La Marque has the state record for a spade on fly. They are good eating by the way...

I have a 3 wt I use for rainbow trout and although its a really good rod, it can't throw anything bigger than a #6 and that is pushing it. For small tripletail I like my 6wt. I can throw a #6 or #4 crazy charlie or gotcha with no problem even in some wind and if a bigger Ttail shows up...bring it on.

[Pescadorable]

I've caught spadefish on the fly. We were using small (8-10) sabiki-like flies in a chum slick. We did have a lot of fish look and reject the fly, but if you can get them excited with some chum, they will go for it. The fly we were using is just a folded bit of shiny mylar with or without a bit of body material/tail. Those spades put a good fight on a 7 weight!