Species

Fly fishing CQ – my default fly outfit

We are very lucky in Central Queensland in that for most salt water locations there is a range of species you can target.

So what is the best fly rod and set up for our coastal and estuary fly fishing options.

On any given day fishing our local coastal and estuary waters you will have access to a wide range of species to target.

For me it’s mainly “scroungers” that I target. That includes species such as bream, flathead, whiting, mangrove jack, fingermark, barred and silver grunter, various members of the snapper family and of course a range of cod. There are also a few pelagic species that we encounter in these waters such as various trevally, queenfish, blue salmon and occasionally King salmon. Then of course there is always a possibility of a barramundi taking your relatively small scrounger or pelagic fly.

With such a wide range of possibilities in mind and so many varied choices of fly rods, reels etc even with my trout and grayling competitions fly-fishing experiences preparing for and fishing in the World, Commonwealth and Oceania Fly Fishing Championships it took some time to come up with just one gear and set up preference.

If your targeting Bream or Flathead on your #6 to #8 weight gear, don't assume that you wont get a Barra or a Jack, as I have been surprised by big fish taking flies just 50mm long. After many outings fly fishing around Central Queensland coastal and estuary waters I came up with the follow fly gear and set up that works for me.

Overall, I found that a #10 weight rod and a range of target-based leaders works best for me and at this stage I have caught in excess of 38 different Central Queensland species on fly using this set up.

I have settled on Redington Predator series #8 weight 8’3” in length fly rods as my rods of choice for Central Queensland fly-fishing. Whilst Redington is one of the Sage brands these rods are relatively inexpensive to buy. These fly rods have a powerful butt section and a tip that has enough give to load easily with a range of leaders. The reason for leaning toward a shorter rod is that firstly they are easier to handle in a boat and being short they make it easier to fish into structure such as overhanging trees and finally because it’s easier to keep your line below the wind with a short rod.

I like the flexibility of modular reels and a long time ago settled on the Hardy Ultralite 10,000DS modular reel with interchangeable modular spools as my salt water reel of choice. I have #10 weight intermediate, floating and fast sink lines loaded on interchangeable modular spools but more often than not, I only take the modular spool that is loaded with my intermediate line. That covers most coastal and estuary fly fishing requirements. Most fly lines have manufactured loops built in and as the loop at the business end of the fly line is critical to how I use these reels I replace any damaged loops with my own monofilament loops if the loops become damaged.

My leader set ups are much shorter than those I use when fishing for fresh water trout and grayling and my default leader is 30lb Maxima Ultra green monofilament that is connected to the fly line with a loop to loop connection and at the business end I have a size #3 Mustard Fastach clip to make fly changes quick and easy.

The rod, reel and leader described above covers most of my CQ fly fishing requirements but I do carry 3 spare target based leaders on a foam pad. They all have loop connections for easy interchangeable connection to the fly line.

  • Spare 30lb Maxima Ultra green monofilament leader with size #3 Fastach clip at the business end.
  • For bigger scroungers such as fingermark and grunter I carry a leader that has a 1 meter 30lb Maxima Ultra green monofilament butt section connected with a surgeons knot to a 2 meter tippet of 20lb fluorocarbon with a size #3 Mustard Fastach clip at the business end.
  • For bream I carry a leader that has a 1 meter 20lb fluorocarbon butt section connected with a surgeons knot to a 2 meter tippet of 7lb fluorocarbon. I don't use fastach clips on this lighter leader and prefer to tie flies on with a Lefty's loop knot.

Christmas Island Special – pearl pink

There are a lot of colour combinations of Christmas Island Special (CXI) flies that my mates and I have seen on our various trips to Christmas Island and Aitutaki. Some work sometimes and not others and some work more often than not.

The prawn pink coloured and my version of the ring burner he CXI special are my two go to colours and each of those take up twice as much spac as any other colour version in my CXI fly box.

Below is my list of CXI flies that more often than not consistently work. From these I look for local knowledge from my guides as to which fly they will think will work at any given time.

The biggest mistake that guides apparently see is that flies are often overdressed and the proportions below are not followed.

cxi-o-h

These are the other colours that I find work consistently:

  • Pearl prawn - pink (as tied below)
  • Orange (Ring burner is a similar fly)
  • Pearl prawn - orange
  • Pink
  • Mauve pearl (Electric camel is a similar fly)
  • Yellow pearl
  • Pearl prawn - chartreuse pear

Materials for CXI Special - pearl

I have tied this fly below on a size #6 Spirit River SW07 and Fin Racoon over-wing.

Hook Threads Bead Tail and under-wing Body Over-wing
Gamakatsu SL11-3H or Spirit River SW07 in size #4 to #8 Hends body thread - orange VP-28 5/32"(medium) chrome finish brass dumbbell eyes Tiewell krystal flash in pearl Tiewell krystal flash in pearl Tan Finn Raccoon, craft fur, or rabbit fur

Process

 

A
  1. Wind the thread in touching turns from the 95% position to the bend of the hook and then back to 2/3 of the of the way to the eye of the hook.
  2. Put drop of super glue on top of the hook shank at that position.

cxi-o-a

 

B
  1. Position the eyes on top of the drop of super glue and tie them in on top of the hook shank using tight figure 8 wraps. To make sure that the eyes don’t rotate on the hook shank include a couple of tight wraps the thread around the base of the eyes on top of the hook shank and between every couple of figure of eight wraps take a firm wrap of thread around the hook shank.
  2. Take the thread back down to the bend of the hook.

cxi-o-b

 

C
  1. For this size #6 fly select eight strands of krystal flash.
  2. For this size #6 CXI Special I have selected 8 strands of krystal flash to form the tail, body and under-wing. For a size #4 CXI Special I like 10 strands of krystal flash for the tail, body and the under-wing and for size #8 CXI Special I like 6 strands of krystal flash for the tail, body and the under-wing.
  3. I don't like the tail cut off square so tease the ends out so that the tips are close but random lengths.

cxi-o-c

 

D
  1. Position the krystal flash so that the tail when tied in will be about 1.5 times the gape of the hook.
  2. Lock the tail in position on top of the hook shank with a couple of firm wraps of thread.
  3. Take the thread forward to directly in front of the dumbbell eyes.

cxi-o-d

Pace yourself with the next two steps steps because you want to finish them with enough krystal flash left over for use as the under-wing.

E
  1. Flatten out the krystal flash and wind it forward to directly behind the dumbbell eyes.
  2. Do a single figure of eight wrap of the krystal flash around the dumbbell eyes.
  3. Now take the krystal flash backward doing a single figure of eight wrap of the krystal flash around the dumbbell eyes on the opposite diagonal.
  4. Wind the krystal flash back down to the bend of the hook.

cxi-o-e

 

F
  1. Wind the krystal flash forward again to directly behind the dumbbell eyes and again do a single figure of eight wrap of the krystal flash around the dumbbell eyes.
  2. Now take the krystal flash backward doing a single figure of eight wrap of the krystal flash around the dumbbell eyes on the opposite diagonal.
  3. Finally take the krystal flash forward to in front of the dumbbell eyes and tie it off on top of the hook shank and tie it along the top of the remain part of the hook shank to just behind the eye of the hook.
  4. Take the thread back to just in front of the dumbbell eyes.
  5. Apply a thin coat of head cement to the body of the fly and the tie in of the dumbbell eyes.

cxi-o-f

 

G
  1. Turn the hook over in the vice.
  2. Separate the krystal flash that you have left for the under-wing, pull it up to the underside of the hook shank with the loose ends projecting backward so that the tips are directly above the tips of the tail.
  3. Trim away any excess krystal flash so that the wing will extends beyond the back of the hook the same distance as the tail.

cxi-o-g

 

H
  1. Select a small bunch of your over-wing material.
pink-h

 

I
  1. Hold the bunch firm between your thumb and forefinger and with you other thumb and forefinger pinch off any wispy ends.
pink-i

 

J
  1. Position the over-wing so that it sits neatly over the krystal flash under-
    wing.
  2. Tie the over-wing material in with several form wraps of thread.
  3. Trim away any excess over-wing material and build up a neat thread head and whip finish the thread.
  4. Trim away the excess thread and apply a coat of head cement to the head.

cxi-o-h

Mackerel

In summer months when baitfish are prevalent Mackerel wont be far away. That is certainly the case in Central Queensland with the prevalent Mackerel being Spanish, Grey, School and Spotted Mackerel.

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Alpha Gar – Guns and Roses

A very popular lure colour is the Guns and Roses colour combination of green, yellow and red. This post is how I make my Alpha Gar in Guns & Roses colours as well as when to use them.

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New personal best Awoonga Barra 21/9/23

Managed a couple of nice Barr at Lake Awoonga on 21st Sep with this 109cm beast being the best for the night and a new Awoonga personal best for me. And the added bonus was that it was caught on a soft plastic I crafted myself.

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Salt water barramundi – life cycle

Barramundi are an interesting species of fish and live comfortably in fresh, brackish and salt water.

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Jackall Chubby

This hard body lure has been around a long time and remains one of my favourite bream lures.

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Shrek – Chatto’s viva

It seems that these days the term 'VIVA' has been given to the very popular and successful colour combination of light green or chartreuse and black.

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Mangrove Jack

Mangrove Jack (L.argentimaculatus) are very solid fish that have powerful teeth, hence Mangrove Jack are often referred to as dogs or dog fish. They have big powerful tails and are very much the close combat specialists.

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Grunter

Barred and silver grunter are often by-catches when fly, bait, lure and soft plastic fishers, are targeting barramundi and mangrove jack in Central Queensland waters. They are apparently a great eating fish but my preference remains to treat them as a sport fish and catch them and release them to fight another day.

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