Correction on quiz / Fly fishing for Kingfish

11.) You are making a 50' cast directly into a strong wind. How does this cast differ from a 50' cst to the same target when there is no wind ?

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Gary Davison requested some advice on fly fishing for kingfish and snappers. This was my reply :-

Kingfish, in the Florida Keys are usually caught in water from 4 to 8 fathoms deep. Sometimes they are near the surface and at other times very deep. We have one area off Key West called, "No Man's Land" (between Half Moon Shoal and the Tail End Buoy) where, during the winter, kings can be caught on the surface. In summer, they are usually deeper. We've caught them in winter on the Gulf side near Smith Shoal Light, too ..... One of the best areas is over the Ten Fathom Bar just South of the Sand Key Light, 210 degrees, about 7 miles from the Key West Harbor.

Off Palm Beach we've caught lots of kings using deep running flies at the, "Kingfish Hole" not far from the inlet.

I've never fished the rigs off the Texas coast, though I've heard that some nice king can be taken at various depths there.

In general, I prefer full sink density compensated class VI lines. For me, they work better than sinking heads or sink tip lines .... especially if the fish are deep, because on the retrieve, the fly stays in the strike zone much longer.

Lefty' Deceivers in blue & white work well in most areas. My father had a kingfish fly which out fished others ....... so simple you wouldn't think it worth considering. Basically, a long shank 2/0 hook with 3 1/2'' long strands of # 17 Krystal-Flash as a simple streamer.

If you are marking large schools of kings and they just won't hit, take off the wire. You'll get many cut-offs, but eventually you are likely to get lucky and land one which gets hooked so the teeth don't connect with the leader tippet..... it's a long shot. For that caper, you'll need a bucket of flies !

I make a short cast, then let the skiff drift in the breeze as I let out the entire fly line by making a series of roll casts. I let it settle way down. Sometimes the king will take as it drops. Once way down there, I make a series of long medium speed strips. To get it down fast, I make a short single haul with each roll. I like a big, wide loop to get lots of line out ..... but I'm not looking for distance, rather best sink rate. If you don't do it that way, sometimes that full sink line will snag onto the tip section of your rod.

For snappers, I prefer weighted Clouser type flies. They work best retrieved over structure. Often, you need to get that fly way down right to the structure or bottom. Rapid, jerky retrieve best.

They can be chummed up the water column, too. When fishing that way, I use a fly about the size of a chum chunk tied on a 1/0 hook ... simple yarn works fine. Trick is to plop it down in a batch of chum and allow it to sink with the stuff. No retrieve.