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Newsletter- March 18, 2013
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Greetings!
This issue contains information regarding: - Skinny Water Charters Fly Tying and Public Speaking schedule for March and April, and Open Charter dates for Spring
Worm Hatch and Sand Eel outings
- Colder Water Temperatures than a year ago may slow Striper migrations and Worm Hatch fishing in our salt ponds
- The Casting Corner- Tips for the Worm Hatch, Thingamabobbers in Salt?, Switch Rods in the Surf, Casting to your Unfavored Side
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Fly and Light Tackle Spin and Baitcasting equipment upgrades
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Tips- Safety, Sand Shoes v Wading Boots, Rod Preservation, iPhone Protection
- Featured Fly Pattern- Henry Cowen's Tinker Mackerel
 Ninigret Pond- Charlestown, RI (Worm Hatch Central) For anyone interested in fishing the Rhode Island Cinder Worm Hatch, the first week in June can be very good with our choice of two salt ponds. If you're interested, it's not too late to secure your date. Secondly, the month of June offers superb shallow-water fly and light tackle fishing for Sand Eels and Squid. Additionally, Narragansett Bay (generally very protected from wind and waves) provides great Striper fishing in the early morning and late afternoon using Sand Eel and Menhaden patterns and plastic baits. Little Narragansett Bay and the Watch Hill Reef structure to include the waters of Fishers Island, also comes alive with Stripers feeding on squid and sand eels. May through October offer the very best fly and light tackle fishing in Rhode Island and nearby Connecticut and Massachusetts waters. Make every effort to get here, you will not be disappointed. Again, feel free to drop me a line with any recommendations for topics you would like for me to cover in future issues.
Thanks, and Strip Strike that Fish!
 | Mako 2201 Inshore Bay Boat
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Pro Guide Sponsors
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 | | Pro Staff- Foxboro, MA |
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Speaking Schedule/ Charter Dates- Skinny Water Charters
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- March 23rd at 12pm at River and Riptide Anglers Flyshop on Rt 3 in Coventry, RI . I will be holding a workshop on "Sand Eel Fly Fishing". The discussion will cover June opportunities on the Watch Hill and Brenton Reef structures and Newport's inner harbor. The workshop will offer fly tying instruction on a variety of Sand Eel patterns in addition to techniques and location information on this exciting fishery. Bring your charts.
- March 26th at 6:30 pm at the Canton Fly Fishing Club. I will be presenting "The Rhode Island Cinder Worm Hatch". The meeting will be held at the E.M. Duggan facility at 142 Will Drive, Canton, MA.
- April 7th at 3:30 pm I will be presenting at Bass Pro Shops in Foxboro, MA. The title of this one-hour presentation is "False Albacore by Land and by Sea". It's never too early to start thinking about and planning for the fall run of False Albacore and Bonito. I target these fish from Sakonnet Point, east across Newport's Brenton Reef, to Jamestown, west and north into the West Passage of Narragansett Bay, around Pt. Judith and west along Rhode Island's south coast, with the finale at the Watch Hill Reefs and Fishers Island. This is an absolute spectacular near-shore fishery for one of the fastest swimming game fish in the ocean, and we have it in Spades!... typically from late August through October. Come to Bass Pro and enjoy the presentation. Bring a notebook and your nautical charts because I plan on getting into considerable detail.
- April 11th at 6:00 pm at the monthly meeting of the Cape Cod Flyrodders at the Hearth and Kettle Restaurant in Yarmouth, MA I will be presenting a program on "Fly Fishing Rhode Island Waters".
This presentation will cover the shallower waters of Rhode Island's near-shore fishery to include Newport's rocky coastline, Brenton Reef, Newport Harbor, Pt Judith's boulder fields, the Walls, our Salt Pond Cinder Worm Hatches, Little Narragansett Bay flats, and the Watch Hill Reef complex including Fishers Island.
Rhode Island is blessed with a wonderful variety of water ideal for fly rod angling.
Worm Hatch Charters- RI Salt Ponds
I have several early June dates available. May is nearly sold out but I fully expect the first week in June will be very good, for both Ninigret and Potter Ponds. Fishing the Cinder Worm hatch is the closest thing you will experience to dry fly fishing in salt water.
Sand Eel Charters
Call about dates in early to mid-June for morning, and afternoon/evening charters for top water Stripers feeding on Sand Eels, in waters ranging from Newport Harbor, to the Ocean Drive ledges and the Brenton Reef structure.
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Cold Ocean Water Temps- May Slow Striper Migration
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The chart below tracks the Ocean and Narragansett Bay water temperatures- 2013 vs. 2012. 2013 temperatures are appreciably colder than last year. River herring have already arrived in several Rhode Island runs, about the same timing as 2012. Mixed message here. Unless we get consistently warmer weather for the balance of March and April, my forecast is that we will not see spring Stripers as early as we saw them last year. In my estimation the worm hatches in Ninigret Pond will likely occur the first week in May, which is a normal year. If that's the case, then I would expect we will continue to have good cinder worm hatch fishing through the first week in June. Last year due to an abnormally warm winter we had solid cinder worm hatches in mid-April with good size bass taking them.
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Tracked by: Skinny Water Charters
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Buoy
| | Date | Newport | Quonset | Conimicut | Providence | New London | Montauk | Ctrl LI Sd | Block | | 2/21/2012 | 41.7 | 41 | 45.7 | 40.3 | 43.9 | N/R | 41 | N/R | | 2/27/2012 | 43.5 | 41.7 | 46.8 | 42.8 | 43.9 | N/R | N/R | N/R | | 2/19/2013 | 37 | 35 | 36.7 | 36.5 | 39 | 34.5 | 39.6 | 43 | | 3/2/2012 | 41.4 | 39.7 | 45.9 | 40.5 | 43.5 | N/R | N/R | N/R | | 3/4/2013 | 38.3 | 38.8 | 40.5 | 37.6 | 37.9 | 38.1 | 356 | 38.1 | | 3/8/2012 | 45.3 | 44.2 | 50 | 43.2 | 45.9 | N/R | 41.4 | 46 | | 3/13/2012 | 44.8 | 44.4 | 50.5 | 46 | 45.7 | N/R | 43.2 | 46.8 | | 3/14/2013 | 39.2 | 39.7 | 42.6 | 40.8 | 41.2 | 39.6 | 37.8 | 41.4 | | 3/23/2012 | 48.7 | 49.8 | 57.2 | 52.3 | 47.8 | 49.3 | 49.5 | 47.5 | | TBD | | | | | | | | | | 3/27/2012 | 45.7 | 48 | 52.3 | 47.1 | 43.7 | 46.9 | 45.3 | 46 | | TBD | | | | | | | | | | 3/30/2012 | 47.7 | 48 | 53.4 | 48.4 | 47.1 | 47.3 | 46.2 | 46 | | TBD | | | | | | | | |
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| The Casting Corner | |
Worm Hatch Casting Tip- Weed 'n Tags
The Scenario: You're fishing the Cinder Worm Hatch on a night with lots of floating weed on the water's surface. With every retrieve you catch weed on the nose of the fly and the hook. Stripers won't touch the fly if it has any weed on it. Here are several remedies:
1. During your false casting you will hear the weed on the fly. It will sound like a flag blowing in 20 knots of wind. Make your casting starts and stops very crisp and with very powerful false casts (be careful of the tailing loop) and most times you will be able to cast-off the weed.
2. Sometimes a water haul (single or double) provides enough tension to the tippet and fly and you will be able to pull the weed off the hook during the haul of the casting stroke.
3. Another tip that works well is to have several pre-tied leader systems coiled in plastic sandwich bags (label them with a Sharpie to distinguish them from other pre-tied leaders). When you construct the tapered leader, use double and triple surgeons knots to join the leader sections, however don't clip the tag ends flush to the knot. I leave mine about a 1/2 inch long. As you retrieve the flyline, the tags ends on the leader catch the weed and don't allow it to run down the leader to the tippet and head and hook of the fly.
An additional benefit of leaving the tag ends is that the surface tension of the water on the line helps float the monofilament leader, or maintains it just below the surface. The tag ends act like outriggers and slow the descent of the line (do not use Fluorocarbon material- it's too heavy and will sink your light-weight patterns).
Thingamabobber WHA?
The Scenario: You are fly fishing the Cinder Worm Hatch in the salt ponds or the Sand Eel emergence in Newport Harbor.
1. If the Cinder Worms or Sand Eels are tiny (1 to 2") and they are swarming in the upper water column, get rid of any fluorocarbon leader and tippet material you may be using on your floating fly line (when was the last time you cleaned your floating line?). Not cleaning it on a regular basis will cause it to sink. Switch your leader/ tippet system to all monofilament.
2. If your pattern is not riding on the surface or high enough in the water column, tie on a "Thingamabobber" (the small version) to your leader about 4 feet up from the fly. Use the version that has the peg so it won't slip down the leader as you false cast. It's a bit clunky to cast. Remember your not using it as a nymphing strike indicator as you would for freshwater trout fishing, rather you are simply using the Thingamabobber as a float to keep the fly pattern swimming high in the water column.
  
Angler\\\'s Accessories Thingamabobber - 3-Pack
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Switch it Up!
The Scenario: You're wade-fishing from the beach or in an estuary. From where you stand you cannot wade any closer to the rising fish. With all your casting techniques and effort, you cannot reach further than 70-80 feet and the fish are on-top and thumbing their noses at you, beyond your range. They are safe because you cannot reach their feeding zone.
What do you do?
You get frustrated, you may curse, you muse with your buddies that you wish you had a boat... but you're "sunk" for that outing. You could switch to the light tackle spinning rod if you tucked one in your wading belt, but if not- you're out of luck reaching those fish.
A better solution:
You buy an 11 foot- 8 weight Switch rod, you put a Rio Switch line on the spool, take a few lessons from a certified fly casting instructor on Overhead and Spey casting techniques and the next time you're presented with a similar scenario, you are able to cast the entire line with ease. I don't advocate using a Switch rod when fishing from a boat, but from the sand or marsh bank, there's no better fly casting rod to use when you want to cast long distances with ease.
Casting to your Unfavored Side Remember, when you are fishing from a boat, whether you are casting from the bow or from the stern or somewhere in between, in order to catch more fish, you are going to need to expand your casting skills so that you can present the fly to your "unfavored" side. For the right arm caster you are probably good at casting to positions to the left ranging from 11 o'clock through 9 to the 5 o'clock position because your forward and backcasts are traveling over your right shoulder and the line and fly are not threatening injury to anyone else on the boat (barring heavy wind). If you attempt to cast to any of the clock points from 12 to 3 to 6 with your casts going over your right shoulder as noted above, your line and fly are going to cross the boat and endanger the captain or other occupants of the boat and/or hang up on the center console, rod rack or antenna. Conversely if you are a lefty on the bow- you're good to go from about the 1 o'clock position to 3 to 5 o'clock positions, as the line is crossing over your left shoulder and out of harm's way. However when you want to cast to the 12 to 9 to 5 o'clock positions- you run into the same problem, the fly line is traveling over the boat and others on-board are ducking and putting on their flak vests and safety glasses! If you are the angler in the stern, the right handed caster is safe in casting to the 1 to 3 to maybe the 5 o'clock positions, and the lefty is good for 7 to 9 to 11 for the most part. The diagram below helps explain the scenario of right and left handed casters whose skills are limited and who can only cast effectively to their favored side. In each diagram the black lines represent the rod and forward cast direction and the lighter colored (faint) broken lines represent the rod and line in the backcast. Remember, the fly line ALWAYS follows the path of the tip of the rod. You have to extrapolate a bit to visualize the path of the fly rod and line in overhead casts (or slightly canted overhead casts) where the rod and line crosses near the caster's favored shoulder, to the light colored water areas. The light colored water (all non-red pie shaped water) represents the water these "One Dimensional Casters" are unable to reach without bringing the fly line over the boat into what I call the "danger zone". There are two fundamental casts you need to learn, and 45 minutes with a certified fly casting instructor (or a good video tape and casting book) can help to get you on the road to catching more fish and hooking less ears by converting you from a One Dimensional Caster to a Multi Dimensional Caster. These are the "Off Shoulder" and "Backhand" casts (these are hot linked to You Tube videos illustrating these casting techniques). The Off Shoulder video is very short but it effectively illustrates this cast that when combined with a double-haul, creates additional line speed enabling the caster to increase their distance. In the Backhand video my friend Peter Kutzer from Orvis, illustrates both of these casts. He illustrates them in the context of casting in windy conditions, however the fundamentals of these casts are essentially the same when the caster is attempting to reach water to their "unfavored" side without bringing the rod and line over the boat into the danger zone. For good measure if you can also learn to roll cast to your unfavored side using the Single Handed Off Shoulder Roll Cast- wow, you've nearly achieved fly casting nirvana!
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| Fly and Light Tackle Rod and Reel Upgrades | |
   
In preparation for the 2013 season, Skinny Water Charters has upgraded it's inventory of fly rods, reels and lines in addition to similar upgrades on the light tackle spinning and baitcasting side.
On the Fly Fishing side...with my new Pro Guide association with Far Bank Enterprises, I have added an inventory of Sage, and Redington rods and reels and Rio Products fly lines, leaders and tippet material. Specifically the Sage One and Sage Xi3 in 9 and 10 weights and the Redington Link and Predator rods also in 9 and 10 weights. For fly reels I have added the Sage 6010 and 4210 Series and the Redington Delta and Rise Series together with multiple spools for each of these reels to allow for quick line changes to suit fishing conditions. For fly lines I have added Rio Outbound Shorts in Floating, Intermediate and Fast Sinking Tips.
Additionally I have added the World Wide Sportsman Gold Cup 9 weight rod equipped with their Gold Cup Series reel that carries a 9 weight Shooting Head system with interchangeable Floating, Intermediate and Fast Sinking Shooting Heads, and on spare spools, conventional weight forward Rio Products floating, intermediate and fast sinking tip lines.
For Light Tackle Spinning ... new rods from Offshore Angler- Ocean Master Series and Inshore Extreme Series and for reels, the Penn Spinfisher V's and Shimano Saragosa's.
For Light Tackle Baitcasting... the Offshore Angler- Inshore Extreme Series rods and Offshore Angler- Inshore Extreme Baitcast reels .
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Tips
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 Is Your Life Worth $200?
A lesson to be learned from the Westerly, RI guy who was tossed out of his boat in choppy water last summer. The Coast Guard found him at 4am treading water between Pt. Judith and Block Island. He was not wearing a life preserver and had been in the water for 9 Hours!! When solo navigating at night you're foolish not to be prepared, particularly in rough conditions. Solution: Inflatable PFD- $100,
Waterproof VHF radio tied to a lanyard and secured to your PFD- $85,
Emergency Strobe light attached to your PFD- $24, Whistle attached to your PFD- $2
Say no more.
Dump the Wading Boots
Do you like to wade fish the beaches or wear your waders while kayaking? Are you wearing clunky wading boots? Where it's just sand and gravel and no slippery rocks or barnacles on rock or ledge, buy oversize Keens or Simms water sandals, or go really cheap and buy water shoes at Walmart or West Marine. If you are only going to be getting in and out of your kayak, Crocs work great. Jury rig the Crocs and Walmart water slippers with parachute cord and a plastic draw string fastener. You've just lost fifteen pounds of unnecessary weight.
Don't Break that Rod
In the December Newsletter I wrote a piece about the need to periodically apply beeswax, sailmaker's wax, bowstring wax or paraffin candle wax to the "male" sections of your fly rod sections. This simple tip will save rod sections from coming loose and fracturing the female sections of the rod from repeated casting. It's worth repeating this tip again now that we are about to pull our gear from storage to ready it for the coming season. The Bainbridge Sailmakers Wax (beeswax) notation to the right is linked to the West Marine website where you can order this product. Beeswax also works great for lubricating plastic zippers on your fishing jackets, gear bags and boat canvas.
Another quick way of breaking a rod is when you put pressure on the fish (and the rod) with your hand gripping the rod blank above the cork grip. A fly rod is meant to flex deep into the cork grip and butt. In an effort to put additional pressure on a big fish many anglers will hold the rod blank above the grip to gain additional leverage. Be prepared to break the rod if you do this.
The third big mistake in fighting a fish that will surely break a rod is if you fight the fish with the butt of the rod above your waist with the rod tip held high- like when you're fighting a dinky trout for the cameraman. This puts considerable pressure on the tip of the rod. Keep the butt below your belt or waist and generally not any higher than roughly 40 degrees from the water's surface, and pull up on the fish from a position between the waters surface and that 40 degree angle just enough to be able to wind the line on the reel as you dip the rod to a level nearer the water's surface. If the fish pulls to your right, slowly move the rod to the left and put side pressure on him keeping the rod tip low. When the fish moves to the left, swing the rod to the right. By maintaining rod pressure away from the direction the fish is swimming you will tire the fish more quickly, avoiding a prolonged fight that can tire it beyond the point where it will recover.
iPhone Waterproof Case and Life Jacket
If you routinely carry your iPhone while on the water you should look into purchasing a relatively new product called LIFEPROOF and it's companion product LIFEJACKET. The LIFEPROOF case is water proof, dirt proof, snow and shock proof. I have one and can't say enough good things about it. I used to keep my iPhone encased in a clunky waterproof box while on-board. To use the phone I had to find the box, unlatch it while underway to use the phone and hope I didn't take a wave or a raindrop that would fry the phone. The LIFEPROOF case has openings for the microphone and earpieces that are guarded by Gore Tex membranes to keep the phone safe from moisture while allowing sound to pass through the membranes. You can actually take still shots and video while holding the phone underwater without endangering it. A companion product is called LIFEJACKET and as the name implies it's a mini PFD for your phone. The durable one-piece design allows for quick installation and removal of the phone, no tools required. The LIFEJACKET is colored orange (easy to locate) and comes with a lanyard and wrist strap. If the phone goes over the side, no problem, it's easy to retrieve and it's dry.
Also, if you're sitting at the bar and the bartender spills a beer on your phone, you fake damage and he gets to buy you a beer! Perfect! (This actually happened to me). You might consider buying both products through Amazon, they might be a bit cheaper than from ordering directly from LIFEPROOF.
For product information hit this link: LIFEPROOF
  
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Featured Fly Pattern- Henry Cowen's Tinker Mackerel
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Tinker Mackerel This is Henry Cowen's pattern and it's a beauty. Henry notes: "This pattern is pretty much a Surf Candy-type design. What makes it a bit different is that Polar Fibre is used in place of the more commonly found Super Hair or Ultra Hair. Polar Fibre is much more supple than other synthetic materials commonly used in saltwater fly designs. This material allows supreme breathability and action in the water, and it is nearly lifelike beneath the surface. One distinct characteristic of the Tinker Mackerel is it's vermiculated green-and-black back. When tying a fly to match these markings, a barred saddle hackle works nicely. The rest of the pattern is basically a white belly with a slight greenish-blue shoulder. Fluorescent-white Polar Fibre is used for the body, which produces a near-perfect color match. Simple and quick to tie, (Cowen) has been using this epoxy pattern with great success. Thanks to Bob Popovics' idea of epoxy-coating the body, this fly is virtually bulletproof and can last long into the day."- Henry Cowen- Sept 28, 2008 in Fly Fishing in Salt Waters magazine Materials: Hook: Tiemco 811S or similar, size #1 to 2/0 Thread: Danville monofilament, size .006 fine Wing: Fluorescent-white Polar Fibre Belly: Fluorescent-white Polar Fibre Back: Two green-barred saddle hackles Flash: Krystal Flash, pearl Body: E-Z Body braid (natural or white) in sizes medium or large, depending on size of fly Eyes: Prismatic stick-on, silver with black pupil in size #2 to #4, depending on length of fly Epoxy: Devcon (5 or 30 minute epoxy) |
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I hope this newsletter contained information of interest to you, and again I welcome input for future topics you may be interested in knowing more about. The next newsletter will be produced about the middle of April. The content for that publication is yet to be determined so if there is something that may be of particular interest to you, please don't hesitate to send me an email with your suggestions.
My best,
Capt. Jim Barr
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