Clouser – synthetic MKII
This is my favourite version of the clouser for use when targeting fish holding deep and is tied with H2O slinky fibre which makes the fly present as slightly translucent.
Saltwater – tropical
Slow roller
I fish these lightly weighted “slow rollers” on an intermediate or fast sink lines and a 30lb Maxima Ultra Green leader of about rod length. If you can see fish holding amongst timber put in a good cast beyond the timber and then count your line down and then work repetitive slow roly poly retrieves through the area.
Candy – pelagic
Matching the hatch is the key to catching pelagics such as queenfish, tuna, Australian salmon and herring on fly. These unweighted flies are like candy to pelagic fish because they closely match the form and function of a lot of naturals they are targeting. In smaller sizes, particularly in pink, they are a handy fly for targeting flathead and bream in estuary waters.
Pregnant prawn – size #2/0 9 cm long
This bigger pregnant prawn fly is one of my goto flies here in Central Queensland estuary waters. I often fish it when targeting barra, grunter, jacks and flathead in estuary and harbour waters but it’s not unusual to hook up on queenfish, travally or other fish that eat prawns.
Trailing hook fly – for use with articulated popper head
This fly is designed as a simple yet effective fly to be fished behind my articulated popper heads.
Articulated swimmer
This is a fly which I developed progressively over the period from 2012 to 2015 to fill a gap in my arsenal of flies to target barramundi around Gladstone. As it turns out these flies are also great for other salt water species including mackerel, GT’s, queenfish and golden trevally.
Christmas Island Special – 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.
This is my list of CXI flies that more often than not consistently work.
Tidal flats shrimp – tan
This fly is basically my original mud prawn that I released in 2003 and have now miniaturised and modified so as to represent the sort shrimp that you find on tidal flats in tropical waters. As an aside I note there is anecdotal evidence that there are permit and even bonefish on some of the local Central Queensland tidal flats so the search is on to find them. This tan version is the most translucent of my tidal flats shrimp and is my go to version for crystal clear water.
Articulated swimmer – sunburst with down bib
This fly is a down bib version of my ‘articulated swimmer’ range of flies and adopts the “sunburst colours” of a number of popular barramundi lures. Like those lures this fly comes into its own when fishing water that is tannin stained or carrying a lot of sediment.
Cake-n-eat-it – paddle tail soft plastic
As the name implies these flies are built using a soft plastic lure body. I am happy to call this a fly because I fish it on a fly rod and fly line, cast it, retrieve it and land fish caught on it in the same way that I do when fish a traditional fly made of say fur and feather for say a brown trout in Lake Jindabyne NSW.