Many coastal fly anglers consider surf fishing to be the ultimate challenge. Fortunately, most of us live within a coffee-mug drive from some of the best surf fly fishing opportunities in the world. Down South, the snook is king, while Up North the striped bass wears the crown. There’s a supporting cast of bluefish, mackerel, trout, and jacks.

Bob Popovics is one of the best at the game of surf fly fishing. He’s been at it for more than 50 years and lives only minutes from New Jersey’s Island Beach State Park, a favorite for striped bass hunters. His surf experience also includes time at surf fly fishing haunts like Martha’s Vineyard, Montauk, and the Outer Banks.

Just back from Vietnam in 1970, the young Marine was eager to get on with his life and get back to fishing with his dad and working at his family’s Shady Rest restaurant in Bayville, New Jersey.  A lunch get-together with high school buddies Jimmy Magee and Butch Colvin (whose dad owned the iconic Cap Colvin’s Tackle in Seaside Park), was the first step in a lifelong fly fishing journey that has made Bob one of the most influential fly tiers of the second generation of saltwater fly fishing pioneers.

The three buddies arranged a trip off Harvey Cedars to jig weakfish, but when bluefish crashed the party, Butch grabbed a fly rod and began casting. “I thought that was pretty cool, and wanted to learn more about fly fishing, so the next day Butch took me to Cap Colvin’s to buy my first fly rod, reel and line,” Popovics says. “I was hooked. It was like therapy, and the process of learning to cast and catch fish was soothing, and great fun. I fished with the fly rod as often as I could.”

Later that winter, Butch gave Bob a cardboard beer flat filled with a fly tying vise, bobbin, thread, and some feathers and bucktail, and said, “You’re going to learn how to tie flies.” Back then, there wasn’t much information about saltwater fly tying, but like the promise of a full moon at high tide, a new organization called the Salt Water Fly Rodders of America (SWFROA) brought a fresh level of excitement to coastal fly fishers with an exchange of information, techniques, tackle, and fly tying. Bob was an eager student.

Annual get-togethers were sponsored by SWFROA and its chapters at places like Tilghman Island, Maryland; Key West, Florida; Newport, Rhode Island; and Sag Harbor, New York. Bob attended one on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, where he met Lefty Kreh, who became a good friend and mentor. SWFROA had many well known fly anglers on its board of directors, but Fred Schrier of Toms River, New Jersey, was the dynamo, “the juice,” that drove the new organization.

“I owe a lot to Fred,” Popovic says, “because he was a great motivator, always encouraging me to try new things, and he helped introduce me to so many people like Mark Sosin, Poul Jorgensen, Bub Church, and many others who generously gave me advice and support. Fred’s really the guy who gave me the biggest boost.”

“Surf fly fishing is a very visual experience, and to be good at it you have to be an observer, be aware of your surroundings, the type of beach, the breeze, the currents, and beach structure. Watch everything that happens all around you. Before you make the first cast, walk up to the beach, wait a few moments and observe. Watch the wave sets, get the feel of the rhythm of things before you start fishing. Before I make the first cast I check out the water for signs of bait, cloudy and clear water edges, the formation of bars and points, the location of white water and calm water, and the types of birds in the area. You need patience to be an observer, but it makes you a better fly fisherman.”

Bob likes to keep things simple. He may have plenty of fly gear and equipment in his beach buggy, but keeps only the bare essentials in a shirt or jacket pocket when he’s standing at the water’s edge fishing. “I always have my stripping basket, and like to use a Velcro belt, which is so much easier to get on and off than a buckle-type belt. My pliers are on my wading belt. I pare down what I need to just a few flies and essentials. Instead of taking 20 of each type of pattern, such as crab flies, or bucktail Deceivers, or Jiggies, I take maybe three of each so I have enough on hand to replace a broken-off or fish-chewed fly. I like soft fleece wallets that fit into my shirt pockets to keep a supply of favorite flies close at hand.”

He also keeps a spool of 16-pound tippet handy, and another of 12-pound for very clear water. He usually doesn’t use a heavy mono bite tippet. If blues show up, he has a screw-top tube container in his pocket (like the kind that hold cigars), with 8-inch wire leaders tied with a haywire loop at one end to attach to the tippet. The open end is then haywired to the fly.

“Most of the time I know what to expect when I hit the beach, so if the mullet are running, I take mullet patterns and don’t bother loading myself down with a bunch of flies that probably are not appropriate,” Popovics says. “I do like to have a color selection on hand in case I need to change from a bright fly to dark one, and same goes for short and long patterns.”

Bob favors a 9- or 10-foot, single-hand rod, and says, “Although I’ve tried, I haven’t gotten into the two-hand casting style, and prefer to use single-hand rods most of the time. I like a rod that is not an ultra-fast design. In my consulting work with fly rod manufacturers and in teaching fly casting, I’ve come to like fly rods that have a tad more bend in the butt section as compared to stiff, ultra-fast taper fly rods. Some of my favorites include designs by St. Croix that give the surf fly caster better control of the fly presentation when mending the line or when lifting the line to make a quick cast to reposition the fly. This is an essential feature for any good surf fly rod.”

“When fly fishing the surf, it’s common to retrieve the fly all the way to the rod tip. To quickly and efficiently make the next cast, I like a short, blunt-head line that will load the rod with less line outside the tip. You’re looking to make as few false casts as possible, so a short compact head will load the rod quicker and more efficiently. Use the resistance of the water to help load the rod as you lift to make the backcast, shoot some line on the backcast, then shoot the works on the forward cast. Depending on wind you may need another false cast to reach out to the fish, but always strive for the fewest number of false casts. The goal is to lift for the backcast, shoot, and shoot again on the forward cast.”

“A floating line is my first choice when selecting a fly line. Most fly anglers can dependably cast 50 to 70 feet, and at that distance most beaches will be about 5 to 7 feet deep. A striped bass can easily see the fly at that depth and if you need to go deeper, a weighted fly like a Jiggy or a Clouser Minnow will get deep enough,” Popovics says.

A floater with a short intermediate head is his second choice. “You want to be able to pick up line and recast if necessary, and this is still possible with an intermediate sink tip fly line. You need to do this if the fish moves away from you after you’ve made a cast, or if the fish veers off at an angle from its original swimming direction.”

“A floating line only behaves badly and makes a poor presentation in the surf when you allow the line to be carried away by a breaking wave. You can overcome this by working the line in between the waves, letting it ride and fall with the waves as they roll to the beach. Watch the sets. After six or seven waves, there’s usually a calm area before the next set starts and you can make a nice presentation into this calm water.”

Bob recommends that every surf fly angler learn the skill of mending line. This quick, circular flip motion of the rod tip adjusts the line’s position in a current or wave to keep the fly tracking nicely. If the wave action makes it impossible to control the fly, he uses a roll cast, then lifts for a backcast, and shoots a forward cast to reposition the fly in calm water. “Rod handling becomes second nature, and after awhile you don’t even think about it. The line mending and lifting just become automatic responses to the motions and actions of the waves.”

We all dream of catching a fish so big we won’t have to fib about it, but typical surf-caught striped bass run from schoolies to teen-size and maybe into the 20-pound range. A 30-pounder is an astonishing catch. Even the biggest striped bass will not take too much line, so Bob prefers lightweight large-arbor reels that can hold about 150 yards of backing. “You don’t need a huge reel. The weight of a big reel gets tiring and feels like you have an anchor under the rod. More important is a large spool diameter that retrieves line quickly. Keep in mind that most fish I can play by simply bringing the line in by hand and dropping it into the stripping basket.

“Most reels today are saltwater worthy,” he says, “and it’s probably more important to consider which hand you use to crank the line in. Right or left, the dominant hand is your best choice. A right hander will reel faster, longer, and more smoothly with the right hand; the opposite is true for a southpaw.”

It’s natural to want to walk into the surf up to your knees, but Popovics prefers being higher on the sand because many times the bass will be right in the wash. When fly fishing a beach, the currents and structure are important. The basic current is from the incoming and receding waves, but there are also beach currents generated by wind that often run along the beach. These areas can be worked by letting the fly swing in the current, mending the line as needed to keep in touch with the fly and not let the waves pull line and cause an erratic retrieve and slack.

Bob suggests surgically casting along the beach structure just like a trout fishermen in a small stream. The bass aren’t everywhere; they hold and travel along definite structure such as a slough between the beach and a sand bar, a cut in a sand bar, a point of the beach with white water along its sides, the edges of clear and cloudy water, and also the calm water. “Work all of it,” he says. “Use wind and currents to your advantage when walking the beach. Keep the wind off your non-casting side when possible, or walk with the current a few steps in between casts.”

Bob’s good friend Lou Tabory told him, “There’s no substitute for time on the water,” and Bob echoes that with more good advice, “Even a fishless morning can still be a great day because of the experience earned and knowledge gained. Count the hours, not the fish. Be an observer, look for things, think about what’s going on around you, work the structure, and remember that time on the water builds casting and fishing skills.”

As the premier fall surf fly fishing builds, Bob uses specific fly patterns based on what bait is prevalent as the season matures from September through November. For the early fall, he’s usually throwing Siliclones and Bob’s Bangers to imitate mullet, and Jiggies and Surf Candies to imitate rain fish. When bigger baits are in the surf, his go-to patterns include bucktail Deceivers, The Beast, and Spread Fleyes. Later in the fall, when the sand eel invasion has hordes of the slender baits invading the beach, he’ll switch to longer but skinny Jiggy Fleyes.

One last tip, one of Bob’s favorite fall times to fly fish is the start of a fresh northeaster before the water gets all roiled up and murky, when it’s still clear. “The bass go on binge feed,” he says, “and if the water is real rough, I’ll use a 300 to 400-grain sink tip line to cut through the turbulence.”

Surf fly fishing is popular for many reasons, including its simplicity and nearness to home—and equipment doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. It’s exhilarating when a full-blown bluefish blitz erupts, yet serene and calm as the sun ignites the dawn and striped bass begin to swirl at bait in the trough. Fly fishing the surf is a lifelong adventure that has captured fly fishing pioneers dating back to Rhode Island’s Harold Gibbs, New Jersey’s Cap Colvin, and Maryland’s Lefty Kreh—and it now inspires today’s new generation of fly fishers.

Read more great articles like this one and get expert tips from the legends of saltwater fly fishing in the pages of Tail Fly Fishing Magazine. If you love saltwater fly fishing and wish to improve your game, support conservation causes and become part of a small but incredible community, then subscribe to Tail Fly Fishing Magazine today.

You might also like:

Stripers in the Suds – John G. Sherman

Striper Redux – Jack Gagnon

Worm Hatch – Northeast – Striped Bass

California Corbina: Sight Fishing the Surf

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The post Fly Fishing the Surf with Bob Popovics first appeared on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

The post Fly Fishing the Surf with Bob Popovics appeared first on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

Ten years ago I began an annual tradition to fly fish with an old friend each October to catch schoolie striped bass. My friend enjoys a slower pace of life, has an easygoing personality, and fishing with him is a welcome change from the fast-paced world of modern fly fishing. We enjoy ourselves casting in the backwaters of Barnegat Bay, reminiscing of the “good ol’ days” 45 years ago when my buddy was a brand-new Fenwick FF107. The rod is a pleasure to cast, and if I listen carefully I can almost hear the Eagles harmonizing, “I get a peaceful, easy feeling….”

Last year a Garcia Conolon 2536 fiberglass fly rod joined the party. Built in 1970 and rated for a 6-weight line, it was my favorite rod for spring stripers in Croton Bay on the Hudson River, and for 2-pound summer bluefish around the Norwalk Islands. Forty-nine years later, it’s now catching Florida snook and sea trout and occasionally shaking hands with largemouth bass in local ponds. This little beauty rekindled my interest in fiberglass fly rods.

Joe Brooks casting an early 1950s-era fiberglass rod. Note the bend deep into the grip. Today’s glass rods still load deeply, but they have improved tapers for better casting and improved fish-fighting qualities.

The resurgent interest in glass fly rods has grown considerably in the last several years, chronicled and supported by online blogs like The Fiberglass Flyrodders (fiberglassflyrodders.com) and The Fiberglass Manifesto (thefiberglassmanifesto.blogspot.com). Fiberglass fly rods that were relegated to the junk closet are now valuable collectibles. Old-timers in this sport will no doubt recall Berkley’s Parametric series of fly rods and other delights from Browning, Fenwick, Garcia Conolon, Heddon, Orvis, Phillipson, Wright & McGill, Shakespeare, and South Bend. 

Why the renewed enthusiasm in glass? Some of it is probably based on Baby Boomers with more time to fish and a keen desire to relive cherished memories. Just for grins they pull old friends out of retirement and after a few casts fall in love again. They appreciate the action, the way a glass rod bends and loads more fully, and the extra sensitivity during the cast. Fiberglass aficionados talk of the “feel” of the rod, its smoothness, and the way the casting motion is more relaxed and enjoyable. Tim Rajeff of Echo Fly Rods explains it this way: “Casting a modern fast-action graphite rod is like driving a very cool sports car, but you have to pay extreme attention or your casting will suffer. Fiberglass rods are like driving an old Chevy; a bit more comfortable and relaxing.”

Part of the enthusiasm comes from technological improvements, improved resin formulas and advanced weaving patterns of the glass fibers that give rod designers the materials to develop fly rods with superior casting and fish-fighting performance. Advances in fiberglass composition, coupled with refreshing new thinking on rod tapers, gives today’s rods superior actions compared with glass rods of 50 years ago.

The fiberglass fly rod story began in 1944 when Dr. Arthur Howald used an Owens-Corning fiber called Plaskon to build a new tip for his broken bamboo rod. His technique became known as the Howald Process and was marketed by Shakespeare to make hollow glass rods. In 1943, Dr. C.G. Havens developed a glass fiber called Conolon, and by 1946 it was used to make tubular fiberglass rods under the name NARMCO, which eventually became Garcia Conolon.

In 1952, the rod company Fenwick was born and by the 1960s had teamed with Phil Clock and Don Green to develop the unique Feralite design, a tip-over-butt fiberglass ferrule that is used in most every fly rod to this day. In addition, Fenwick pioneered fly rods known for their light weight, incredible strength, and delightful casting qualities.

One of the most significant of the 1960s-era fiberglass fly rod catches was Mark Sosin’s 53-pound, 6-ounce world-record yellowfin tuna caught on a Fenwick FF114 rod. It was the first rod with a fish-fighting fore grip. Photo courtesy of Gail Morchower of the International Game Fish Association Library.

Fiberglass rods punched the bamboo market in the eye, and within a decade bamboo slipped from favor except with diehard traditionalists. Glass fly rods were easy to mass produce, could be tapered to any action desired, weighed less than bamboo, and were inexpensive. The worm turned in the 1970s as graphite (aka carbon fiber) rods became the popular kid on the block. Graphite fly rods were lighter than fiberglass and had crisper actions. Although carbon fiber is still king of the hill, many fly anglers today are taking a new look at fiberglass.

Fiberglass was developed in the 1930s as an electrical insulation material, hence the name E-Glass. In later years, S-Glass was developed for military structural use, hence the name. It’s widely used for helicopter blades and military aircraft. Stronger than the original E-glass and a tad lighter, S-glass is about 15 percent stiffer.

Fiberglass fibers are woven into sheets and impregnated with resin, wrapped onto a tapered steel mandrel, wrapped in cellophane tape and then heat-cured. Early weaves had as many fibers running crosswise as ran lengthwise–perfect for surfboards, boats, and canoes, but gosh-awful heavy and slow in fly rods. Manufacturers now employ proprietary custom weaves and some place most glass fibers running longitudinally and fewer running around the blank. Called unidirectional S-2 glass, this material boasts exceptional strength, significantly lighter weight and superior faster recovery speeds.

The renewed interest in fiberglass has not gone unnoticed by premier rod manufacturers. Scott, Thomas & Thomas, and Winston have reintroduced favorite fiberglass glass freshwater rods, and there are many reasonably priced glass rods on the market such as the Cabela CGR, the Echo River Glass, the Eagle Claw Featherweight, the Fenwick Fenglass, and the Orvis Superfine.

Tim Rajeff, design guru and casting champion at Echo Fly Fishing, realized saltwater anglers wanted to share the fun, too.

 

Tim is pushing the fiberglass envelop to new limits with Echo’s 8-foot Bad Ass Glass (B.A.G.) Quickshot, a superb series of glass rods designed for making quick casts to tarpon, bonefish, snook and reds. The B.A.G. boasts plenty of power to throw big flies and box in the ring with gorilla-size striped bass, bluefish, and school tuna. There are five rods in the series rated for 6- to 10-weight lines. They’re great choices when casting from kayaks or in tight spots like canals, creeks, docks and around bridges, and for relaxed blind casting in salt marshes, coastal rivers and grass flats. The two “muscle” rods in the series, the 9- and 10-weights, are capable of some extreme offshore tuna heavy lifting, or for turning tarpon and for surf fly fishing.

Moonlit Fly Fishing recently introduced a classy, nicely priced new-age glass collection in their Lunar S-Glass series. In addition to its freshwater models, the Lunar-S Glass includes 6-, 7-, and 8-weight beauties that are excellent for back-bay, mangrove, and flats fishing. They have that special old-glass feel, but with a bit faster action, quick tip recovery, and a smooth progressive taper.

For some fly fishers, carbon’s stiffness and fast recovery hides the “feel” of the rod during the casting motions. Old glass rods like traditional Fenwicks and state-of-the-art Echo Quickshots load all the way down to the grip. It’s this flex that is so enjoyable to experience along with reduced angler fatigue. My longtime friend Armand Courchaine of the Rhody Flyrodders commented: “Fly casters experience less physical problems with glass. In over 65 years of fly fishing, I’ve seen a lot, and people who fished with glass in the old days had fewer problems with back, shoulder, and elbow pains.”

Fishing an old-time fiberglass fly rod is a delightful way to have some fun with schoolie stripers in a coastal salt marsh.

Don Avondolio of the Saltwater Fly Anglers of Delaware fondly remembers another advantage of fiberglass fly rods. “Although heavier than graphite, my fiberglass Shakespeare Wonderod cast well and fought fish with less stress on the angler.” In this age of carbon rods it’s easy to forget that you’re supposed to feel the line tugging at the end of the back cast, and that the rod is supposed to do the casting and fish-fighting–not the angler.

Some fiberglass fans are hot-rodding their old glass sticks. Rick Ferrin of Long Island found a new appreciation for fiberglass after a trout fishing trip, and he decided to rebuild a glass rod for stripers and weakfish. “I stripped an old Fenwick FF909 down to the blank, applied a clear epoxy finish, replaced the old reel seat with an REC Components up-locking reel seat, added a 2-inch butt extension and a set of Recoil titanium stripping and snake guides. It looks great and casts like a dream.”

Many fly anglers who like graphite for its light weight are surprised to discover that the weight difference as compared with fiberglass is not so significant. Echo’s four-piece B.A.G. rods tip the scales at mere fractions of an ounce more than their graphite counterparts, and the 8-foot length contributes to the overall lightweight feel.

Another major advantage of fiberglass’ softer action is its ability to protect tippets from breaking. When I first got back into glass fly rods in the salt, it was primarily while kayak fishing or wading shallow flats. I quickly noticed that the softer action and extra flex of the fiberglass kept many a snook from popping off as they zipped toward dock pilings. It’s times like these when a glass rod’s combo of power and resiliency really shines.

As the 1960s unfolded, fiberglass proved it could beat big fish. Some early catches of note included Joe Brooks’ 148-1/2-pound tarpon in 1961 on a Spinmaster glass rod. The following year, Garcia Fishing Corporation’s Dick Wolff beat a 127-pound tarpon on an inexpensive Conolon glass rod while filming Flyrodding Big Tarpon with Lee Wulff. Stu Apte guided both men. Another unique offshore catch was Lee Wulff’s 148-pound striped marlin caught off Ecuador in 1967 on a 12-pound tippet (which stood as the IGFA tippet-class record until 2004).

Fiberglass fly rods like these ageless beauties from Fenwick and Garcia Conolon have become fashionable again, and new glass rods like Echo’s Bad Ass Glass (B.A.G.) Quickshot series use modern technology to achieve more strength, more line speed, and more distance with less weight.

In July of 1969, while fishing off Bermuda, noted outdoor journalist Mark Sosin boated the first Allison (yellowfin) tuna ever caught on a fly. He fished a Fenwick FF114, a potent fiberglass rod rated for an 11-weight line, to beat the 53-pound, 6-ounce fish after a 40-minute fight. Sosin’s expert rod-handling and fish-fighting skills helped prove that glass rods could withstand the enormous stress of deep-diving tuna while the rod’s relaxed action cushioned the fragile 12-pound tippet.

Today’s fly casters place enormous value on distance casting, and may wonder how a rod that feels so soft can deliver a fly a reasonable distance; however, in 1951, Joan Salvato (later Wulff) achieved an amazing 161-foot cast in a tournament. Ten years later, casting champion Johnny Diekman threw an astonishing 193-foot cast with a fiberglass fly rod. Imagine what they could have achieved with today’s advanced glass technology.

Fiberglass was still in its prime in the 1970s, when Ed Graser caught this 80-pound tarpon near Islamorada on a Fenwick FF9012.

It’s important to keep in mind that the desire for distance needs to be counterbalanced with the realities of everyday fishing. For most flats fishing and coastal saltmarsh fishing, a cast of 50 to 80 feet is just fine, and in some really tight places a 40-foot presentation is perfect. This is where fiberglass fly rods excel–perhaps better than carbon rods.

But the question isn’t really which rod – glass or carbon – is better. Just as a skilled golfer has many clubs in his bag and a mechanic many wrenches, a fly angler can play a better game with a variety of rods for specific purposes. Adding a fiberglass fly rod to your bag of tricks can be an essential game-changer for better fishing and a lot more fun.

Catch ‘em up!

Tim Rajeff designed the Echo B.A.G. Quickshot to throw big flies to big fish, and the 8-foot rod lengths are perfect for stalking grass flats, mangrove back bays, and coastal rivers and creeks.

 

By Pete Barrett

Bio: Pete Barrett has been fly fishing in salt water since the 1960s. He was a charter boat skipper for 30 years, and he was on The Fisherman magazine’s editorial staff from 1973 until his retirement. Pete has published over 1100 magazine articles and is the author of five popular books on angling. Pete is a Florida representative for the International Game Fish Association, and he’s currently an active member of the Atlantic Salt Water Flyrodders and the West Palm Beach Fishing Club. Pete lives in Jupiter, Florida.

 

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The post Fiberglass Rods for Saltwater Fly Fishing first appeared on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

The post Fiberglass Rods for Saltwater Fly Fishing appeared first on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.