First of all, I confess I know almost nothing about fly fishing.  One thing I do know though is that the saying, “Match the Hatch” is something that fly fishermen say.  It refers to the idea that when you hit that river or lake, your flies need to match the insects resident to that area, for that particular time of the year.  In other words, you want to show the fish something that looks familiar, in order to have success getting them to bite.

The saying is something that’s been adopted by salties.  A) it rolls off the tongue nicely, and B) it describes a good strategy that is often a path to successfully catching fish.

“Where are you going with this Salty?”

JA gagnion - shrimp 1

JA gagnion - shrimp 2

John from the Daily Double said “match the hatch” in describing the shrimp gagnions he made for me.  Shrimp 1 has a softer bucktail material in red/orange/yellow and a bit of flash.  Shrimp 2 is a stiffer plastic material in red/yellow/white.  I have a 3rd gagnion from John with just plain hooks (for live bait – likely sardines, hopefully ‘chovies or squid).  Each gagnion is rigged with 4 hooks (legal in Mexico).  John said that they look like the kind of shrimp that these rockfish eat in their daily diet.

Salty can’t leave well enough alone…

"Gulf Sunrise" by Donald Monday

Salt Fly by Brad Hawkes

Surfing eBay, I came across some saltwater flies.  “Gulf Sunrise” looks similar to John’s Shrimp 1.  They have more yellow with some flash tied onto a red 1/4 oz. lead head.  They’re tied by a guy named Donald Monday, who hails from Humble, Texas (gotta love that name!).  Salt Fly in white bucktail with a greenish flash is tied by a guy named Brad Hawkes from Georgetown, Delaware.  I’ll slip these onto dropper loops at some point to see how they work on my trip this weekend.  I’ll report back here what worked the best.  May be that they work for different fish.  We’ll find out.  Stay tuned.

 

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