I recently sat down with famed Montauk fishing guide Paul Dixon to find out what 5 flies he uses throughout the season fishing the east end of Long Island. Paul has been guiding on the east end since the mid 80's and is often recognized as a pioneer of sight fishing for
striped bass in the area. His season starts out in early May and depending on the circumstances can last through the middle of December. He's been featured in just about every fishing publication as well as many mainstream publications such as The New York Times and Forbes. He's been featured on The Walker's Cay Chronicles, Spanish Fly, and Barbara Koppel's The Hamptons (not to mention he was one of the 5 guides on the ESPN hit series ;) Guide House: Montauk). When I asked Paul what 5 flies he can't live with out here's what he had to say:
1. Epoxy sand eel (anchovy): This fly is specific to fishing the flats and is not meant to be used as an attractor pattern. Paul ties it with Polar fiber as opposed to bucktail as it has tons of movement when worked slowly while bucktail does not. Pictured in camel but can be tied in gold, silver, olive, tan, etc.. Again, when fishing this fly you need to land it a few feet from the fish, twitch it to get its attention and then bump it along to get it to eat. Paul ties a thicker version of this fly which makes a great rain bait imitation (the predominant bait in the fall in Montauk).
2. Baby bunker pattern: This Puglisi variation is a great pattern, used to imitate baby bunker and butterfish. This is a go to fly for Paul when fishing areas like The Gulls in August. One of the main reasons he like this pattern is that it can be easily
trimmed to match the hatch.
3. Bunker: This versatile pattern can be tied in many different colors and sizes from 1" to 7" (and beyond). It's great for imitating bunker and herring of all sizes. This wide profile pattern is great to use when searching for fish off Montauk Point.
4. Half & Half: Why a half & half over a clouser? Simple, more movement. Paul loves pairing a half & half with a sinking line to get down deep into the rocks when looking for the big bass that lurk there.
5. Schlappen deceiver: When the big bait is around and being chased by big bass or even bluefin tuna Paul reaches for a schlappen deceiver. Tied with very long schlappen feathers and flash this pattern has tons of movement when fished slow (strip strip pause..strip strip pause).
Paul is a regular on The Fin so if you have questions for him or would like to book a trip, all his info can be found here: http://www.thefin.com/paul_dixon
Paul has been kind enough to donate the 5 flies pictured above for a giveaway. If interested, reply to this forum post with "I'm in" (Click this link to enter: http://www.thefin.com/fishing-forums/Contests/FLY-GIVEAWAY-Enter-here ) The winner will be chosen at random on Friday March 27th at 10:0 AM EST.
Half and halfs rule
Posted by: Fishing Jones | March 26, 2009 at 02:42 PM