must have fishing gear for cruising

[Doryman]

[Robbi]

Warren, You can bucktail with just about any big streamer fly, or a "bucktail" fly, which is a streamer fly tied with bucktail or polar bear hair. I sometimes use flies that have some foam incorporated into the body like a "mog" or a "popper". Most flies used are between 3 and 6 inches in length. The fly just needs to make some kind of V wake, or motion that attracts the fish.
In Les Johnson's book Fly-Fishing for Pacific Salmon he has a chapter dedicated to bucktailing. Not sure if you have the book or not, but the first editions of the book did not include this chapter. Not because bucktailing is a new method of fishing, it has been around in British Columbia for many years, but because Les thought that only techniques that involved casting a fly should be included in the book. He now says that because trolling a bucktail fly in salt water was the precursor to actually casting flies for salmon in both Washington and British Columbia, that it deserves a chapter. "The Fine Sport of Bucktailing and Skipflying".
Generally you troll the fly at speeds that just keep the fly on top of the water, or as fast as 6 or 7 knots. The fly is usually not more than 30 feet behind the boat right in the prop wash. Other things work too, and part of the fun for me is to try different things to see if you can attract fish. I had a king of about 20 pounds come up to the surface in the bright sunlight and take, and very quickly spit out, a pink form popper that was moving at about 5 knots. Maybe he didn't spit it out, maybe I pulled it out of his mouth.


Robbi

[B~C]

those bucktails are pretty durn effective behind a dodger on a downrigger too, bucktails, there not just for flyfishing anymore.

in the vein of minimalist gear, every summer I ask if anybody would be interested in the ultimate macho fishing experience and nobody is ever interested....bunch of wimps.....it seems nobody wants to go noodling for ling cod or halibut




check with your doctor to see if bucktails are right for you

[rogerbum]

[MilesandMiles]