My Tackle Assemble

Last weekend I fished in Rockaway. On the early Saturday morning, I caught a small striped bass on the bay side.

So on the early Sunday morning, I went to Rockaway Point hoping for a bigger fish. I got there around 6 o'clock. Several spinning fishermen, lining up side by side on the beach, had already started casting their lures. I joined the line and started casting the fly with my two-handed fly rod.

Because of the tail wind, I could cast the fly quite far away. The casting distance did not look so bad as compared with spinning fishermen. After fishing there for an hour or so, no one caught any fish. So I moved on to the jetty and fished in the deeper water, but I did not catch any fish either. I had to hold out hope for next time as usual.

Because now is the climax of the striper season, I would like to talk about my tackle assemble which I have built up with trials and errors since I started using the two-handed fly rods.

RODS AND SHOOTING HEADS

I used Cabela 10 weight 15-foot rod with Rio scagit shooting head last season. Before this season started, in the early spring, I built a Sage TCR 10 weight 15-foot rod. I thought this one would be better than the Cabela one for long distance casting, but the Cabela one turns out to be better because its rod tip section is stiffer.

I still wanted a more powerful rod than the Cabela one. So I bought a 12 weight 16-foot rod and three shooting heads especially for this rod ( type Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ, all 740 grain and 39 foot) from Japan. It has become my main rod.

STRIPPING BASKET AND RUNNING LINE

The tangling of the running line used to be a big problem. I modified a dishpan to become a stripping basket with heavy duty cable ties as spikes inside. It works very well, more than I expect. The running line tangling problem has almost gone with this new basket. With the new basket, I am able to use Rio Slick Shooter running line now. This line has a narrow diameter which can cause line tangling easily, but narrow diameter and slickness are essintial for long distance casting. The original length of this line is 115-foot long. I extended this line to 170-foot by connecting it with the other half of a Slick Shooter line with blood knot.

TIPPET AND LEADER

I use the poly reader for better turn and 20lbs fluorocarbon tippet for strength. For blue fish, I use the Rio wire tippet because it is softer and less kink than other blands.

REEL AND BACKING LINE
My reel for two-handed rods is Pflueger Trion for #12 line. This one has good line capacity and light weight in this class. I set 300 yards of 30 lbs test gel spun backing on the reel.

These are my tackle assemble for surf fly fishing right now. I think I have a better one this season than last season.

Still the biggest problem is: Not many fish have been caught yet!