The Caddis Fly: Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

On my July trip to the Island of Youth I got to test out some of the great gear available in the fly fishing world today. Saltwater fly fishing for tarpon, bonefish and permit test your gear. The following is a discussion of the gear I used.

SAGE SALT 890-4

The 9ft 8wt Sage Salt Rod is the perfect bonefish and permit rod in my mind. We used heavy flies on our recent trip, the Avalon Fly and EP Descendent Crab with a 12ft leader require a powerful rod that will turn over line, leader and fly with accuracy speed and power. The Sage SALT delivers these qualities beautifully. I think the 890-4 is on the heavier side of an 8wt compared to another favorite the Scott Meridian but on this trip we used the rod more for Permit than bonefish.

Scott Meridian 9ft 10wt

I had a 10wt clear tropical outbound line on rigged on the 10wt Meridian all trip and it was fantastic. The rod is super light in the hand for a power house 10wt. It’s “easy to feel” tip section rockets long casts with larger rabbit and EP tarpon flies. No troubles fighting fish on the Scott 10wt either. Tarpon hooked on rocky reefs required some “pull back to the boat” to keep them on the line and headed to hand. No problem for the Scott Meridian.

Nautilus Silver King Fly Reel

I called Kristen Mustad of Nautilus Reels last August and asked him to trick me out a Silver King reel. He sent one in blue with tarpon graphics, red parts and hooker fly holder. I knew I would love it well before it came to me. The Silver King has a mega retrieval rate and while it looks larger than some other 10wt reels it’s not heavier so why not get the retrieval rate and the reduced line memory for a tarpon reel. If you are looking for a reel in the 10-12wt capacity range take a good look at the Silver King. Large drag knob, easy spool release and great looks! I used three other Nautilus reels this trip. The N/V series and CCFX-2 Silver King worked perfectly!

Hatch Tapered Leaders, Tippet and Shock Tippet

We used 9ft 16 and 20 pound Hatch Fluorocarbon Tapered Leaders for Permit. If added length was needed we used 16lbs Hatch Tippet. 60lbs and 80lbs Hatch Shock Tippet formed our larger two part tarpon leaders. Hatch fluorocarbon material cinches down clean and smooth, the outer coating of the material allows knots to tighten completely and form streamline knots. I have been using the Hatch brand material for the last couple of saltwater trips without failure. Good Stuff!

Mastery Titan Taper Intermediate Line

My new favorite tarpon line! The Titan Taper 450 grain was great on my Winston 12wt rod set up for tarpon. We used it both in deeper reef situations and on the flats. The line seems to get down and hold in that mid level “tarpon eat zone” really well. The taper of the line is not so aggressive that it creates a splashy presentation or a super hinge effect when casting.

Patagonia Sunshade Shirt

Patagonia makes a ton of great fishing clothing. This years Sunshade Shirt iteration is has a high UPF rating, great fit and a handy vertical chest pocket for a phone/camera. It was really hot all trip and I fished the Sunshade crew and hoody exclusively. They worked great!

Best Flies -EP Flies

Our EP flies rep has been trying to get me to carry Enrico Puglisi flies for a couple of years now. I fished a few over the years and really liked how the EP fibers shed water and are light to cast. I ordered a bunch for this trip and loved all the flies that we fished.
Shauna’s first cast to a Permit with EP’s Descendant Crab yielded a fish. This unique fly is a realistic crab pattern that reminded me of the successful pattern last year at Cayo Cruz. It’s super durable and super “crabby”, complete with EP Crab Claws. All of the Tarpon flies worked well particularly the Yellow/Chartreuse Bunny pattern. Our guide was adamant that it imitated a bait-fish that was available to Tarpon in the region at this time of year.

CD

I had a chance to give the Nautilus XL Max fly reel a test run in the Bahamas this year. The reel is offered in sizes to fit 2wt through 9wt line sizes depending upon the model. The reel is so light my first impression was to put it in a freshwater category. Sizes XS or 3/4 and XM 5/6 will be focused freshwater for sure, but XL 6/7 and XL-Max 8/9 will take line sizes for use in both fresh and saltwater. I used the XL-Max with an 8wt line on a SAGE X 9ft 8wt rod. The reel performed fantastically in the saltwater for bonefish!

The reel is shockingly light, the XL-Max is only 4.7 ounces. Compare that to some classic bonefish reels like Abel’s or Tibor’s and the Nautilus is 40% lighter. I found this weight to be a serious difference maker in terms of balance swing weight with the super light ounce weight of the SAGE X 8wt.

The XL-Max has a super large arbor, with an outside diameter of 4 inches the reel catches up to a fish running at you quicker than almost any reel I have used. The large arbor design does not compromise capacity as it does in other models. I was able to fit an 8wt line and over 100 yards of 30lbs backing on the reel. I find this to be plenty of backing for bonefish if your reel has a quality drag mechanism. Nautilus suggests more capacity is possible but they tend to exaggerate a bit in my opinion.

The Nautilus X series drag was another question I had, again it’s super light reel and it’s drag is the same for all the models XS-XL-MAX. How did it do when a bonefish tried to head from Abaco to Nassau? The drag was super smooth and the fast runs of a bonefish produced a balanced, zero wobble, out going rotation. The drag knob is large and easy to adjust. The drag range is wide, turn it down to accommodate 6x or up to deal with 20lbs hard mono on the flats. The sealed teflon drag mechanism could not have been better. I am seriously thinking about using the XL reel for a 5wt set up, why not it’s super light, the retrieve is great and the drag with be fine for any trout tippet.

The X design or open frame looks super cool but how did it perform? I was a bit worried the fly line or leader would find it’s way between frame and spool with the open frame design. Nope, the machine tolerances and “trueness” of spool and frame prevented this from happening. Another concern I had was the ability to palm the reel and have a solid feel for the rim as it was rotating at mach 3 during a bonefish run. Again not a worry the spools 1/8″ “secondary palming rim” was easy to feel and palm during out going runs. How about overall strength? The reels weight is deceptive, it’s not a solid feeling as a Hatch or Bauer RX but but it’s performance is up to the task at hand. The reel actually felt more solid in the field than I gave it credit for in the shop. This is an arbitrary measure but what I am getting at is although the reel has a “light feel” it’s super solid in it’s strength and performance when in use.

Miscellaneous other items that worked well on the Nautilus X series reel. The spool release is an easy on and off locking mechanism. It differs from the classic spring pin design of the Nautilus FWX or even classic Hardy reels. The old system is proven for sure but the simplicity and lock down sealed mechanism keeps the internal parts of the spool protected from the elements. The super ventilated spool and frame are strong yet light and the super large arbor resembles the Giga arbor series from Nautilus that is twice the price.

In summary the new Nautilus X Series reel exceeded my expectations for a saltwater reel. I would not hesitate to recommend the XL or XL-Max models as bonefish/permit reels. I very much look forward to fishing it in both salt and freshwater again soon!

CD