Flyrodders have enjoyed a decent summer for speckled trout. But I’d bet my dog — whose more valuable to me than my house — that we're going to have a speck-tacular Fall.
There are reasons why Fall is the best season for trout on the fly.
First, as the water temperature starts to fall, the organic content in the water also drops. That means clearer water, and Cormier’s 2nd Law of Fly Fishing comes into effect: “Clear water favors the fly rodder.”
Second, trout move inside where most fly anglers prefer to fish. Or since so many of us fish from kayak, more accessible.
In early Fall, shrimp and anchovies (silversides) dominate the interior bays and marshes. So it’s no surprise that for speckled trout, you want to have anchovy/minnow and shrimp patterns.
Baitfish patterns
The Clouser Minnow is perhaps the greatest baitfish imitation of all time. The sheer numbers of speckled trout taken on Clousers speak for themselves. As to what colors work best, the saying "Any color is good as long as it's chartreuse" needs just one modification: purple is a shade of chartreuse. Especially as we move into winter.
The H&H Cocahoe was - and still is - one of the best plastic lures for seatrout ever. Early on, I wanted to create a "full body" fly that matched that lure. So I created the Coma Cocaho to "match the Commie hatch". This phrase was coined by fellow longtime Red Stick club member Marc Pinsel and his frequent reference to spin gear and lures as "commie tackle".
The Coma Cocahoe works great in Fall and Winter. It's weighted heavy enough, that even with a floating line, can get down to dropoffs and the deep end of canals, and off oyster reefs in 3-6 feet of water.
I've got a couple other submergent baitfish patterns I tie for specks that on occasion deliver the goods. They are Whitlocks Saltwater Baitfish and the SR71 Seaducer. You'll have to be a tier because neither is sold anywhere. Umpqua dropped Whitlocks pattern years ago. Not as effective as Clousers, but I very seldom catch small trout on these.
Poppers
Although these can be considered baitfish patterns, I prefer to put them in their own category. These work great early morning, late afternoon, overcast days, or whenever schools of fish are actively attacking bait on the surface.
One thing about poppers: they are absolutely the most fun way to fish! As a bonus, they often catch bigger fish as well.
You'll find four surface patterns in my box: Pete Coopers Perch Float Popper, Walt Holmans Foil Pencil Popper, Crease Fly, and Skipping Bug. Although I rarely tie them, Bob's Banger and Foam Poppers also do well.
Divers do work on occasion, but I'm just too attached to poppers. Kind of like the way I much prefer the chicken fingers from Raising Cane's to those from Popeyes. Now I'm getting hungry.
Shrimp flies
From the time I started saltwater fly fishing (1987) to sometime around 2002, one or more of the following shrimp patterns occupied my saltwater box:
- Cinco Shrimp, a fly sold around Pensacola and Destin tied by a local angler.
- Incredible Edible (Jon Bottko)
- Krystal Shrimp (Tom Springer)
- Ultra Epoxy Shrimp (Bob Popovics)
- Cactus Charlie, or LaFleurs Charlie
One year at the Somerset Fly Fishing Show, I saw this gentleman named Enrico Puglisi tie what would later be known as the EP Spawning Shrimp.
There was another tier - can't recall the name - tying a similar type fly using craft fur stacked in layers, along with an SLF or similiar synthetic body. The translucency on this fly gave it a more realistic look to the real crustecean.
It dramatically changed the makeup of my fly box. Not just because these flies looked more shrimpy, but because when I pool tested them they had lots of subtle motion in the water.
There's a version of the EPSS known as the GB Spawnng Shrimp which uses Arctic Fox and an ice chenille body. It worked even better than the EPSS but finding Arctic Fox became a huge challenge. So I combined the two styles/materials to make an EPGB Shrimp.
Another pattern based on modern synthetics is David Olsens Polar Fiber Shrimp (not to be confused with the Polar Shrimp - a popular Steelhead fly). The PF Shrimp has translucency much like the popular Vudu Shrimp lure. Again... matching that commie hatch.
VOSI
Often you need a little lagniappe to get the snaggletooths into your boat. Popping attracts fish, which is why long ago, Louisiana saltwater flyfishers used a combo “popper and dropper.” The dropper was a weighted fly tied on a section of tippet, usually one to two feet long, which was then tied to the hook of a surface popper.
Along the way, a bright young man named Cormier — some say a genius — questioned the use of such a technique, and proposed taking a cigar-shaped perch float, cutting it in half, and making a concave face on each flat end. Realizing that the Nobel Prize committee wouldn’t consider a “flyrodder’s popping cork,” he named it the “vertical oriented strike indicator,” or VOSI as millions now refer to it.
Seriously, I just got plain tired of the entanglements that ensued from casting “popper-droppers.” Not to mention that if you needed to adjust the depth of the fly, you had to cut a new section of tippet and retie knots. I just couldn’t believe anyone hadn’t figured out a simpler way before.
The VOSI works because (1) the sounds of feeding activity attract fish, and (2) it imparts a vertical motion to the fly, and as many of us know, seatrout are vertically challenged.
Tactics
Im usually looking for diving birds, slicks on the water, or points with tidal movement. I’ll cast my VOSI-Clouser combo into the area, make a couple of strips to pop the “popping cork” and then let it sit for a few seconds. Usually the trout hit on the sit.
If the trout prove to be small, look for banks or structure or even fish the outside areas of the school. These are where the larger trout, if any, will be hanging out.
