The Seychelles will check the limitations of your equipment. Every element of your take on, from the kind of support you utilize, the knots you connect and even the gloves you use, chasing after big wheel in the far reaches of the Indian Ocean is difficult core.
On a current journey to the coral head packed waters of Farquhar Atoll our group had an opportunity to learn more about what equipment truly stood the major test.
Factory Line Loops
Factory GT lines and other saltwater lines have strong cores that max out at around 60lbs. For many fisheries this core strength is great. When anglers utilize leaders developed for IGFA requirements factory loops hold up nearly each time. In the Seychelles the guides do not care about IGFA leaders, they desire you fishing 80-130lbs, about 8ft long. They wish to land that prize GT and when he runs for the external edge of the atoll or the closest coral head. They desire you to turn your drag to max pressure and hold the fish. When you enforce this type of pressure on a fish with 100lbs test, factory fly line loops typically stop working. Include a little bit of razor sharp coral and they generally stop working. Through experimentation Seychelles guides who handle a few of the hardest fish that swim have actually established a do it yourself solution that will offer your fly line the strength it requires to hold huge grouper, wrasse and GT’s.
Action 1: as much as it discomforts you to cut the loops off of your $130 fly line do it.
Action 2: Utilizing Cortland 50lbs Braided Mono place the fly line 3-4inches. The more do it yourself loops you do the more you can call in a much shorter quantity of line however offering yourself some area to begin will make things simpler. Furthermore you can leave additional “braid just” and utilize this as a shift if you wish to make a smoother shift. That stated, this brand-new do it yourself loop is not created to be in and out of the guides and when landing a huge strong fish I do not recommend brining this loop into the guides ever.
Action 3: Roll the line covered in braid over and connect your very first of 3 nail knots to protect the loop, and develop the loop size. Usage 65-80lbs braided support for all your nail knots. I utilize Cortland 80lbs Master Braid for this action and for all the support on reels I require to the Seychelles.
Action 4: Tie 2 more nail knots for an overall of 3, you can do 4 on the rear fly line loop and leave some intertwined so that the last nail knot covers one side with fly line and one side with simply intertwined so you have taper. To cinch each nail knot down I utilize a set of pliers (or more) and truly crank on the knots to seat them. When cutting the braided mono, fly line, and master braid do not utilize your valued fly connecting scissors or perhaps nipper. Utilize a tool created to cut braid like the Loon Boat Scissors or the Hareline Cautery Tool.
Step 5: Clean up the excess braid, mono and fly line. Cover this with a number of layers of UV Knot Sense, remedy and you have an indistructable fly line loop all set for the hardest fish that swim.
Saltwater Fly Reels
When you get a group of 10 together, all loading 3 9-12wt clothing you’re bound to have some range when it pertains to reels. We had Nautilus, Sage, Galvan, Abel, and Shilton Reels in the mix of our group. While all of these reels dealt with the entire, one reel shone brilliant in regards to performance/value. The brand-new Sage Enforcer Reel blew me away with its drag, strong construct and smooth recover. I utilized the 11/12 Enforcer on an 11wt IMX Pro V2 Saltwater 11wt (more on that rod later on). I had 250 lawns of Cortland Master Braid 80lbs (more on that later on too) and a RIO GT line. There is a lot to like about the Sage Enforcer fly reel. First of all, its just $575 well under all of the previously mentioned reels. Furthermore the Enforcer has actually a numbered, 20 detent drag knob that you can call in with one complete turn. This function is crucial when taking a trip from flat to flat looking for GT’s and other types. You desire your drag locked down when you are fishing however you do not wish to need to pull the line out with the drag maxed each time you concern a brand-new area. The capability to turn the drag on and off so quickly was truly beneficial. When I initially took a look at the Enforcer Reel our Sage sales representative and famous angler/hunter George Cook brought the reel to the store and had us fondle it in shop. Then we took the reel outside to cast some rods and check the strength of the drag. I right away felt the smooth and constant outbound drag and the smooth and balance recover that the reel had. Then we checked the drag, calling it up 4 or 5 detents up until we got to max of # 20. At the 20 setting I couldn’t not pull the line off the reel, yet with line through he guides and George 30 feet from me pulling hard, the line left the big arbor very efficiently with stopping power. Transfer to the flats of Farquhar, GT is hooked on 100lbs tippet and guide is shouting lock the drag! Lock the drag. He does not desire the fish to go off the coral edge or into a coral head. So I lock the drag to the # 20 setting and the GT runs a bit more however no concern this setting takes its toll and the fish is suppressed. The Enforcer Reel simply felt strong start to complete and carried out completely the whole week.
Rods for the Seychelles
I had an opportunity to fish 2 brand-new rod designs on this journey. The Sage R8 Salt in a 9ft 11wt was a wonderful all around stick in the Seychelles. I had a RIO GT line on it for the whole journey and it cast whatever from 2/0 baitfish to 8/0 Monster Flies with ease. The R8 has an endless quantity of power. Power that is made use of when making a long cast with a big fly in addition to combating a fish in close quarters. As I pointed out before anglers are utilizing 80-130lbs tippet and when you pull on big wheel headed to the coral the tippet just isn’t going to break. You require to give up by letting the line choose resistance through your hands, or off the reel with the drag maxed. You can’t utilize to much rod or it’s going to break before the 100lbs does. If the fish makes it to the coral, it’s most likely video game over. A mix of pressure strategies should come together in order to get a tidy tight line on the reel and bent rod for fight ahead. As soon as the line is on the reel with maxed drag you truly get to see what rod can handling a big wheel. The R8 Salt got the job done various times with GT’s, Groupers and Wrasse. I felt I had a lot of “fish combating” power at range and near the boat. You are pulling more difficult than you ever believed you might in the Seychelles and the R8 Salt stands the test.
The IMX PRO V2 (version 2) Saltwater rod is method too helpful for the $645 price tag. I utilized a 9ft 12wt on our journey and it was shockingly excellent. Casting big poppers, 8/0 GT flies and big game sinking lines put this rod to the test throughout my week at Farquhar. The IMX Pro V2 Saltwater passed the test with flying colors. It has the power to make very long casts without the rod “folding” up at any phase in the cast. You felt in contact with line and rod throughout casts of any range. In regards to combating fish the rod stood the hard test of keeping fish out of the coral and even fishing in deepwater with sinking lines where lifting fish up off the bottom was needed. Bottom line is this rod is a sensational worth in a saltwater rod.
My 16 and 18 years of age kids fished together the majority of the week at Farquhar. Let’s call them the Scott Rod/Nautilus Reel group. They had Scott Sector 9wt and 12wts with Nautilus reels. Patsy captured the greatest GT of the journey with the Scott Sector 12wt. The Sector has actually been on a number of journeys with us and we continue to like it. The 9ft 12wt is a simple loading, long casting rod that has lots of video game for an incredibly light sensation rod. The “Ceracoil” guides are very light and keep the line flying through the guides. The rod is gutsy in regards to fighting fish. It’s not so stiff that you lose feel yet it has the strength to use a big wheel down. The Scott Sector is the most convenient casting saltwater rod on the marketplace.
Saltwater Support
On a previous journey I made the error of utilizing my old basic 30lbs intertwined support. While it’s plenty strong for many applications you simply do not chance anything in the Seychelles. When I was attempting to raise a fish off the bottom and out of the rocks …, fly line directly down in the blue water and pop! Line GONE! The Repair? Usage Cortland Master Braid 80lbs braided support and do not ever stress over failure. You enjoy the support on the majority of the fish you capture in the Seychelles so why possibility failure. Cortland Master Braid is not the tiniest in regards to size however it is the extremely greatest I have actually utilized.
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