# Marsh Food



## Fishsurfer (Dec 14, 2014)

The marsh and the channels have been on fire with hungry aggressive red fish. I tied up some crab patterns and of course mud minnow Clousers. What are your offerings? PLEASE post it here, it will be like seasonal flies that we can reference. So what is working for you now!


----------



## karstopo (Jun 29, 2009)

I use these 2 a lot with some color and material variations. Vowed use something different this fall. If anything looks promising in the results department I'll put it out there. 

Orange , tan and white tails w,ith gold, root beer, and silver collars are my favorites on the non baitfish looking fly.


----------



## Fishsurfer (Dec 14, 2014)

Fishsurfer said:


> The marsh and the channels have been on fire with hungry aggressive red fish. I tied up some crab patterns and of course mud minnow Clousers. What are your offerings? PLEASE post it here, it will be like seasonal flies that we can reference. So what is working for you now!


For some reason these didn't show up so here they are again. Mud minnows, crabs and crack.


----------



## RUFcaptain (Aug 12, 2011)

All those flies will work just fine, Redfish have very poor eyesight, these are not Permit in gin clear water. Redfish are opportunistic feeders, this time of year the flats are loaded with bait, reds and trout are going to aggressively attack any fly that remotely resembles baitfish. Proper presentation of the fly is key, drop the fly in front and move it away with short strips should draw an attack, if not make noise and draw their attention. Last week I had two fish turn around to grab a spoon fly that was gurgling at the surface as it was stripped. I also saw multiple fish trying to steal the fly away from another hooked fish, the fish are exhibiting real aggressive behavior right now. So I guess I'm saying don't get too hung up on fly patterns, presentation is more important.


----------



## Permit Rat (May 13, 2014)

Here's hat I hope will work in the back lakes and marsh grass. It's just a version of my _Mutton Rat_ and this one is one I forgot I had. It was tied before I discovered bunny fur and I'll be substituting that for the feather tail in the future. It sorta looks like a mud minnow.....but as RUF said, I don't think these reds are "too perticilar"


----------



## flynut (Jun 30, 2009)

*flies*

Match the Hatch! If you take one home for table fair, cut open the stomach and you will see what they want. Odds are there stomachs are full of shrimp. So any shrimp pattern should work.


----------



## karstopo (Jun 29, 2009)

flynut said:


> Match the Hatch! If you take one home for table fair, cut open the stomach and you will see what they want. Odds are there stomachs are full of shrimp. So any shrimp pattern should work.


This is always an interesting exercise. A week ago it was small shrimp. More times than not, there are blue crab parts. Higher water, it's fiddler crabs. Then there are times it is mullet, mud minnows, and other fin fish.


----------



## flynut (Jun 30, 2009)

*flies*



karstopo said:


> This is always an interesting exercise. A week ago it was small shrimp. More times than not, there are blue crab parts. Higher water, it's fiddler crabs. Then there are times it is mullet, mud minnows, and other fin fish.


 So true. One day I threw the clouser, spoon, crack fly and no eats. I finally put on a crab pattern and the first 2 fish fought over it. I kept one. When I cleaned it , it had crabs in its stomach.


----------



## karstopo (Jun 29, 2009)

Sometimes you just want to mix it up and try different things. I tied these as a version of the famous Avalon fly developed in Cuba to take Permit. 

I get tired of using the same things even if the flies work and produce fish. No permit here, but I want to see how they swim and see what might like them locally.


----------



## Ripin' Lips (Jul 3, 2012)

karstopo said:


> Sometimes you just want to mix it up and try different things. I tied these as a version of the famous Avalon fly developed in Cuba to take Permit.
> 
> I get tired of using the same things even if the flies work and produce fish. No permit here, but I want to see how they swim and see what might like them locally.


Fish are going to go nuts for this fly. Especially with the rattle beads. I tie a few flies with the glass rattles and they work great. I fished last weekend and I had a shot at a fish that was at 5 to 6 oclock behind the boat and swimming away from us. My back cast wasn't long enough and the fly landed about 3ft short and behind the target. Two strips and the fish turned and smashed the sheet out of the fly.I didn't realize it at the time but the fish had already turned away from me before my cast so the fish never saw the fly. He heard the fly.


----------



## karstopo (Jun 29, 2009)

Ripin' Lips said:


> Fish are going to go nuts for this fly. Especially with the rattle beads. I tie a few flies with the glass rattles and they work great. I fished last weekend and I had a shot at a fish that was at 5 to 6 oclock behind the boat and swimming away from us. My back cast wasn't long enough and the fly landed about 3ft short and behind the target. Two strips and the fish turned and smashed the sheet out of the fly.I didn't realize it at the time but the fish had already turned away from me before my cast so the fish never saw the fly. He heard the fly.


I tie flies with the little 3mm Pyrex rattles and they have been good in our often murky water.

I did a zonker baitfish with a glass rattle keel but never really fished it. I believe the Avalon calls for silver or stainless beads, but I did these with a mix of glass and brass beads to lighten them up some. It's good to know that the local fish are attracted to this type of rattle. The glass and brass ones I tied sound a bit louder when I shake them than the straight glass ones. All things being equal, I rather throw straight glass than any with the metal mix. I'm moving towards making a newly acquired 5-6 weight as my primary redfish stalking rod and lighter is definitely better in the fly pattern department casting this rod.


----------



## Moondog94 (Oct 24, 2016)

Here is a crab fly I began tying for reds, its really simple and effective.


----------



## karstopo (Jun 29, 2009)

Moondog94 said:


> Here is a crab fly I began tying for reds, its really simple and effective.


That does look good. Hackle tips for claws, flash, eyes. is that wrapped dark marabou and then a lighter color wrapped marabou? is there any weight added?


----------



## southpaw (Feb 25, 2009)

karstopo said:


> I tie flies with the little 3mm Pyrex rattles and they have been good in our often murky water.
> 
> I did a zonker baitfish with a glass rattle keel but never really fished it. I believe the Avalon calls for silver or stainless beads, but I did these with a mix of glass and brass beads to lighten them up some. It's good to know that the local fish are attracted to this type of rattle. The glass and brass ones I tied sound a bit louder when I shake them than the straight glass ones. All things being equal, I rather throw straight glass than any with the metal mix. I'm moving towards making a newly acquired 5-6 weight as my primary redfish stalking rod and lighter is definitely better in the fly pattern department casting this rod.


Those Avalon flies look great Karstopo. I tie that style mono keel weight on my crab flies sometimes to make sure they land right side up. If you're worried about the weight of the brass beads, you can replace the dumb bell eyes you have on there with bead chain eyes or no eyes at all. In my opinion the dumb bell/ bead chain eyes don't add much to the fly and losing them gives you more room to work with on the hook shank.

Another thing to consider is that once that rabbit strip gets water logged, it's going to get heavy as well which isn't going to make it too fun to cast with a 5-6 weight.


----------



## karstopo (Jun 29, 2009)

southpaw said:


> Those Avalon flies look great Karstopo. I tie that style mono keel weight on my crab flies sometimes to make sure they land right side up. If you're worried about the weight of the brass beads, you can replace the dumb bell eyes you have on there with bead chain eyes or no eyes at all. In my opinion the dumb bell/ bead chain eyes don't add much to the fly and losing them gives you more room to work with on the hook shank.
> 
> Another thing to consider is that once that rabbit strip gets water logged, it's going to get heavy as well which isn't going to make it too fun to cast with a 5-6 weight.


Good point on the rabbit. I haven't used it much at all. I did some Zonker Baitfish (can't remember what they were called) and was shocked when the fly floated when I initially made a cast. The fly had a keel with several glass beads and some dubbing. The rabbit strip made it float until it got enough water on it to sink. By that time, the fish might have moved out of range so I sort of soured on rabbit as a good material to tie with.

If the fly proves too heavy to handle with the 5-6wt., I'll modify it like you suggested or just reserve it for my heavier rods.


----------



## karstopo (Jun 29, 2009)

The brass bead/glass bead mix was really too much weight to be good for the 5-6 wt. Tried it on the yard with the 5-6 and the 7-8wt. 7-8wt. yes, no problem. Even wet, I think it will be good. The all glass bead ones with the metal dumbbell eyes are better. But I want to make some with bead chain or glass dumbbells for eyes. The 5-6 wt. is just for sighted fish. The 7-8 wt can be more for structure and deeper fish needing heavier flies.


----------



## Moondog94 (Oct 24, 2016)

karstopo said:


> That does look good. Hackle tips for claws, flash, eyes. is that wrapped dark marabou and then a lighter color wrapped marabou? is there any weight added?


The claws are ginger saddle hackle, dark part of body is wide grizzly hackle, the rest of the body is wide ginger saddle hackle. Eyes are 40 lb mono melted eyes, gold flash and lead free wire wrapped around the hook. The frame this tasty treat is built on is a Gamakatsu #4 bonefish hook. Very easy to tie and fun to make.

-Moondog


----------



## southpaw (Feb 25, 2009)

karstopo said:


> The brass bead/glass bead mix was really too much weight to be good for the 5-6 wt. Tried it on the yard with the 5-6 and the 7-8wt. 7-8wt. yes, no problem. Even wet, I think it will be good. The all glass bead ones with the metal dumbbell eyes are better. But I want to make some with bead chain or glass dumbbells for eyes. The 5-6 wt. is just for sighted fish. The 7-8 wt can be more for structure and deeper fish needing heavier flies.


I mean the avalon fly is a permit fly so I imagine most people are throwing it with a 10wt so it doesn't surprise me if it's hard to cast with a 6wt.

If it were me and I was trying to modify it to throw on a 6wt, I would lose the eyes all together, use only glass beads and split the rabbit strip down the middle so I'm left with two thin strips to use for the claws. That'll remove some of the bulk and make it a little more aerodynamic for casting in the wind. Just my 2 cents though.



Moondog94 said:


> The claws are ginger saddle hackle, dark part of body is wide grizzly hackle, the rest of the body is wide ginger saddle hackle. Eyes are 40 lb mono melted eyes, gold flash and lead free wire wrapped around the hook. The frame this tasty treat is built on is a Gamakatsu #4 bonefish hook. Very easy to tie and fun to make.
> 
> -Moondog


That's a cool looking tie moondog.


----------



## Moondog94 (Oct 24, 2016)

If anyone is interested in that fly I could do a step by step of it when I get a break in my school work. I tie most of my saltwater flies and my redfish/spec box can be a pain to choose a fly, you will see what I mean in the pic below :help:

-Moondog


----------



## Popperdave (Jul 9, 2016)

*Redfish Flies*

I like to keep it simple. I have four fly patterns that I use most of the time. I tie them in two different sizes(sm,lg) and three colors (dark, mid, lite
).

They are : Redfish Charlie(with legs)








Crackfly








Benback








Gurgler








They meet most of my fishing needs. I would add a small white clouser for nights under lights.


----------



## karstopo (Jun 29, 2009)

Nice looking flies there, Popperdave. I'm with you in a way on using tried and true. Hard to walk away from a proven selection. I'm infected with a bit of wanderlust. What's over the next hill? What's in the next cove?


----------



## Ish (Oct 30, 2008)

good looking stuff.

you girls should do a fly swap.


----------

