re: Redfishing video from the other day

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Yeah man. I have an eye bolt through my front deck that holds it down via turnbuckle and chain. I have to take it off to put my boat in the garage. Everything on my boat comes off for duck season too. That was a 9' TFO BVK 8wt with a Hatch 7+. Leader was probably ~8ft mono with a foot of fluoro tippet. I like the mono when sight casting reds in grass because it floats well. The foot or so of fluoro helps get the fly down enough, but not too much.

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Is it difficult to find someone who can make a quality platform? It's unlikely I'd find myself in your neck of the woods.

From you and other conversations on here it sounds like the 8wt is the way to go - which is nice b/c I already have that for steelhead. Just need to buy a new spool for my reel to load on the appropriate fly line/leader setup.

Someone mentioned a few weeks ago that they can get away with pretty big leader/tippet sizes. Would be nice to know I can actually put some real force into the fight without worrying about breaking. I've always used Seaguar fluoro - too many bad experiences with any other brands.

What are some typical flies that you use and do they require some sort of weed guard? Looks like some potential to get caught up in the grass there.

I don't think so man. Anybody around you that does decent fabrication work should be able to do it if you show them a picture of one.

8wt is a great all around setup. It's what I have. My old man has several setups though, and you can catch reds on anything from 6-9wt. There's a really old school guy down south that fishes bull reds with a 3wt haha. I would stick with 8 though. 6-7 can get really fun if you kinda know what you're doing and you're not chasing giant fish.

I think you can get away with bigger leaders and tippets. I don't get too much into the technicalities. I just kinda tie on whatever I have in my box at the time. I think in that video I had 16lb leader and tippet on. I don't know if I would throw heavier than that, because I don't know how well it would turn the flies over.

I really like to throw top water, but if they're not hitting that I'll throw anything that looks like a shrimp or crab. The fish down here are rarely picky. I think you could pretty much throw anything, and if you get it close enough to their nose to piss them off and they're not spooky, they'll bite it out of sheer aggravation.

From this time of year through the fall, I would definitely use a weed guard. My pops is a much better/more experienced fly fisherman than me and he doesn't really agree with me there, but I think it's important for a number of reasons. First, it's imperative to be always ready when sight casting reds...especially if they're spooky or the water is dirty. They'll sneak up on you fast, and there's not often time for a bunch of back casts or pulling grass off your fly. Sometimes you only get one shot at getting the bait to them, and if you screw that up because your fly has grass on it, then you're gonna be pissed. Also, this time of year, the grass is super thick so a lot of times you're casting to them in grass. A weed guard helps to pull flies through without hanging up/spooking the fish.

I use the same approach with conventional tackle. When sight fishing, I hook everything weedless with a 4/0 lead belly wide gap hook. It's just one less thing to worry about. There are enough variables working against you already when sight fishing ya know.

Take everything I say with a grain of salt haha, because I'm by no means a pro fly fisherman. Hope this helps .

ETA: @everyone - thanks everybody for all the positive vibes about the video. After seeing how much everyone enjoyed this one, I think we're going to start putting out more videos and media more often. I'll keep you guys updated if we end up making a blog or some social media outlet for it.

Hit me up @bourgstheword

You like the reel? I want to get a saltwater setup when I move back to La.

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Eta: I really like those reels but Im not OB ballin enough for an Omega. I'll probably spend a few hundo on a setup when I get my tax money back

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Me either man. It was my graduation gift from the rents.

Allen offers like 20% off of any reel if you sign up for the mailing list too, so that's worth looking into if you guys are looking at their reels.

I was looking at the Hydros from Orvis as well, but I haven't done too much research so idk. A lot of these reels are $$$ so finding a good quality one for an affordable price might take a second. Hell, I'm not even sure if I'll like it but I love to fish so it shouldn't be a problem.

ETA: the allen reel I was looking at is the Kraken which is right at ~$200, which is affordable on my budget. I've never even picked up a fly rod so I'm gonna need a LOT of practice

Let us know what you get when you make a decision. I'm looking into buying a 4-5 wt combo from orvis (encounter or Clearwater) to use to fish the chattahoochee for the next couple of years.

Also as an aside, I am a huge Steeldrivers fan! Keep that background music going mang!

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have a lot of good things to say about the Hydros

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Hydros rocks. That's all I use on a sage. You can't ask for a better set up for the marsh. Cork drag. Great vid bro