June 10, 2024
For Father’ Day only get 10% off any purchase by cash (sanitized preferred) or check of any in regularly priced in stock item excluding discounted items, since those are already a great deal! I don’t care if you buy it for yourself, buy it for a family member to give to you, buy it for your child, or buy it for your friend, the deal is still the same. Sale ends Saturday June 15, so hurry up, come by and pick it up or tell them to let me know that you want a gift certificate. I have never enforced the expiration date on a gift certificate yet.
We are pleased to be selling Temple Fork rods and reels and Redington rods and reels. These are two of the premier names in fly rods. The painstaking craftsmanship is revered among knowledgeable fly fishermen. Each rod comes with a great warranty for repair or replacement, for the original owner regardless of cause. I really like the number of models offered at a reasonable price and their warranties and service are superb!
Visit Temple Fork at https://tforods.com/product-category/fly-fishing/
Visit Redington at https://www.redington.com
Fishpond products 25% off. We have a whole new shipment of chest packs, lumbar packs, submersible packs in stock.
The striper fishing is picking up on the Saluda. Like I always tell you, fish with whatever you want while it is light, but when there is still enough light to tie the last fly on, put on something black and hold onto to your rod. The river rocks are slick and there is algae in the river, so be careful wading, take your time and take a wading staff (we have those in stock) and 2 headlamps (read my June 9, 2020 report). Remember as of June 15, you cannot attempt to catch stripers in the Congaree, and it is catch and release only in the Saluda. There is a lot of poaching going on, so call a Game Warden at 1-800-922-5431 if you see it. I can tell you, it is hurting the striper and trout populations. Enough of that, we have lots of 8 weight rods, reels, lines, tippet, leaders, and striper flies in stock and ready to go. Get ready for the harmonic convergence - Father’s Day and Striper Season on the Saluda. As a Father’s Day Special, buy a regularly priced striper rod and reel from Fly South and get an 8 weight Rio Mainstream Fly line for FREE (a $39.99 value). Heck, I will throw in the backing for free. We have the largest selection of 8 weight rods and reels in the area.
Close out on Redington Rise Reels. The Rise is CNC machined (if you want to know what it means if a reel is machined read my article in the learner’s corner of my website https://flysouthsc.com/learners-corner), anodized 6061-T6 aluminum design with quick release spool; ultra-large arbor design for quick line retrieve; Smooth, compact carbon fiber drag system; Twin molded, soft-touch ergonomic handles; Oversized drag knob for easy adjustment; Nylon reel case included; Lifetime warranty. The regular price on a 5/6 is $219.99 and a 7/8 is $249.99. Sales price $149.99. Limited to reels in stock, first come first served, very limited supply.
June 5, 2024
The lesson tonight is - try something different. When things are slow don't keep doing the same thing over and over again. Some of the normal flies have not been working, and some of the normal tactics have not been working. I got a late start and put on a new articulated fly I had just tied and had not used before, and of course I broke it off (not on a fish) on the second cast. Since I had to tie on a new fly and new tippet, I decided I would go smaller. I tied on a size 6 purple and white clouser. I also decided I would try to fish a few spots different from the ones I normally fish at this location. Don’t get me wrong, this location has been very good to me; in the last two years I caught two stripers over 20 lbs. However, those same spots at this location have not been producing. I started casting methodically to different places, even though they did not look like they would be prime locations. I tried one place right in front of a rock in still water. I made a nice 65 foot cast with my spey rod and right after the fly landed I hooked up. I landed a schoolie of about 4 lbs. No other hits, no other fish, no other action. Nonetheless, new tactics at least produced something.
May 20, 2024
Tonight I took my own advice, and it worked. If you read my Facebook page or my Fly South fishing reports, you may remember a while back when I said "reel with purpose." I was fishing tonight in my backyard hoping for striper action. I had been fishing with a black articulated beastmaster with rubber legs like I always do when it gets dark. I had been flogging the water for about 40 minutes with different flies with no success. After I put on the black beastmaster and had been fishing for about 20 minutes, I decided to get off the rock and move to another place. When I started to reel my fly in I remembered to intentionally reel and stop, reel and stop. When I reeled about 90 feet of the 110 feet of fly line, something hit the fly. It did not fight like I was expecting, it fought more side to side than away from me and did not bend the rod as much, which was my first clue. After a decent fight, I landed a colored up, fat 18 inch rainbow. Not to upset you trout aficionados, it did not fight as hard as a comparable size striper. But I digress, after fishing the same area with the same fly for about 20 minutes, nothing happened until I started to reel the fly in. I only works about 5% of the time, but on an otherwise slow night, I am glad I remembered to reel with purpose.
May 15, 2024 Here is my initial foray into the field of fish dermatology. Here is the before picture. Before you accuse me of going over to the dark side and using lures, this is how I found this unfortunate 28 inch striper last night. (S)He took my black articulated beastmaster (the second to do so) and when I landed it, there was a nice lure in the mouth with all kinds of nasty treble hooks waiting to bite me. After extensive unsedated surgery, I was able to remove the lure. If it's your lure, let me know and I will be glad to return it for a small fee. The fly was removed, the patient revived, and successfully returned to loved ones. For the before and after pictures, go to my facebook page
May 11, 2024 or as my wife calls it- Mother’s Day Eve. It’s trout season and striper season, and the Saluda is at 10,700 CFS. What's a man supposed to do? If you can't fish, there are several things you should be doing right now. For example, the last time you were using your floating fly line, was it sinking? If so, you may need to check it to see if there are cracks in it. If there are cracks in your floating fly line, then it will sink, and it will be harder to handle and cast. If there are no cracks in it, then it may just need to be cleaned. One easy way to clean it is to strip off 30 or 40 feet of line and put some mild dish soap into a sink with the stopper in it, add water to make bubbles, move your line around in the water, pull the soapy line through a soft cloth, put the line back in the sink, and rinse it with clean water; pull the clean line through the soft cloth. If you have something like Rio agent x line cleaner or Loon line cleaner, treat your line with that and then dry it off with a soft cloth. A clean fly line cast farther, floats higher, and lasts longer. With as much as new fly lines cost now, it is worth a little maintenance to keep it working and lasting longer. We have lots of new fly lines in stock from Rio Including specialty lines. This would also be a good time to check your leader. If you are still using last year's leader, you probably want to replace it. Who wants to lose a great fish, because you're using last year's leader. The same thing goes with tippet material, who wants to lose a great fish, because you're using last year's tippet material. We have fluorocarbon and monofilament Rio leaders and tippet material in stock. While you're at it, check and make sure that you have not left the drag set on your reel. If you store your reel for a long period of time with the drag partially set, then you reduce the amount of the range of the drag. You should always store your reel with the drag all the way off. Another thing you can do is check your flies. You may want to look in your boxes and make sure that some of the flies are not rusted. Once the hook on a fly is rusted, it is pretty much worthless. It is almost impossible to restore the integrity of the hook and who wants to lose a great fish to a rusted hook. You also can check your waders. A quick way to do that is to turn your waders inside out, hang them up so the foot of the wader barely sits on the ground when it is filled with water, and fill one leg with water and look for any leaks. The leaks in the lower part of the leg will be easy to spot by the slow drip of water from the waders. You can mark the slow leak with white correction fluid or as some of you know it, white out. Pour the water from one leg to the other and repeat the process. Once you mark all the leaks, the best thing to use is Aqua seal, just do not get it on your hands, as it is very difficult to get it off. If you fish for stripers at night like you are supposed to do, check your headlamps. You cannot do anything about the river level, but you can be ready when it drops
May 3, 2024
There was a seecada hatch in my shop last night. Before you e mail me or call me or text me that it is cicada, please wait, I call it seecada because this fly is so easy to see with black and orange body, black and orange legs, a long deer hair wing and an orange sighter post, It comes in various sizes from large to huge. Available for sail now (you can contact me about that misspelling if you want,)
May 1, 2024
Stripers are moving up into the Saluda in greater numbers, even though most of the guide boats are not up in the Saluda yet. The best is yet to come. Look to the picture at the left and see what striper "stuff" we have in stock. I think we have the largest selection of 7 and 8 weight rods and reels in the Midlands. We also have flies - big flies and smaller flies you can cast with your 8 weight rod without hurting your shoulder or the back of your head. I always say fishing should be fun, and if you cannot comfortably cast the fly you are using, then it is no fun. We also have 7 and 8 weight fly lines from Rio and heavy duty leaders and tippet. All you need in 1 easy place.
April 27, 2024
Trout action is heating up with some holdovers being caught. I decided to try some trout action this afternoon. Caught a few small stockers which were colored up, so I am guessing some of the Tasmanian trout which were stocked. I tried nymphing but no luck. Switched to streamers and had better success using a olive articulated slumpbuster and a purple mini me dropper. I tried the normal casting across or up and across or down and across but nothing happened. I then decided I would use the Saluda Swing, which has worked many times before. Cast it however you want but when it straightens out downstream hold it in the current, and I mean hold it, hold it for 30-40 seconds. Sometimes when you do this you will feel the fish hit the fly and you may miss it, but often if you go right back they will hit it again. I told a young med student who came to buy some flies from me, and he caught a nice fish using the Saluda Swing with a Pat's Rubberlegs. Other flies which are working are Prince nymphs and Higa's SOS
April 19, 2024
Well first striper in the Saluda (no not the one like last year), but still very nice 32 inch striper below the Zoo with my 13'0" 7 weight TFO spey rod. Based on the striper age/weight chart https://www.captainfish.com/biting.html
it was between 12-14 pounds Tried a shad fly, an articulated slumpbuster, a Galloup's --- dungeon fly, all to no avail. As I tell you fish with what ever you want, but when there is time to tie on one last fly, put on something black, so I put on a black articulated beastmaster, and at 8:00 the fight began. In the swift current where I was, the beast had out 40 feet of skagit head, mow tip, and leader, 110 feet of running line and about 90 yards of 30lb dacron backing, and no signs of stopping, so I had to start palming the reel to slow it down. As my backing was getting close to being done, the beast finally stopped. Then I had to begin lifting the rod and reeling down to gain back line. I kept switching the rod angle. Finally after about 15 minutes, I was able to back up and beach the beast, take a quick picture and revive it. A nearby paddler asked it I was going to keep it, and "I said no, I want to give someone else the chance to catch it." No other hits or fish. I still think most of the striper action is in the Congaree, but the striper action in the Saluda will pick up. As to trout in the Saluda, articulated slumpbusters and size 16-18 gray caddis are working.
April 12, 2024
Saluda river levels have dropped and are remaining at good levels for wading. Striper action is slow in the Saluda and is still centered mostly in the Congaree. Trout action in the Saluda is picking up nicely. Most of the fish caught are stockers, but a few very nice holdover rainbows are being caught. The best flies are articulated streamers, small madame x dries, higa’s sos, and pat’s rubberlegs nymph
Feb. 16, 2024
Despite some stocking of trout, the fishing is still not great, so what do you do? Tie flies of course. Winter is for fly tying. In that vein, I am holding a free fly tying session at my home on Wednesday Feb. 21 at 6:00 p.m. Some expert tiers have signed up and some not so expert ones too. I am saving 2 spots for beginners who I will be helping. The 2 beginners will not have to bring anything but a desire to learn, I will provide all the rest. Space is very limited, so contact me via phone, e mail, facebook, carrier pigeon, etc. to sign up. Different people will be tying various flies so you can watch or tie as you wish. Other than beginners, It is byobvm (bring your own beverage and vise and materials). Here is a chance to learn something about fly tying from other people or just come and tie what you want around other tiers.
December 29, 2023
Fish were stocked on the Lower Saluda on December 8 and are being picked up by anglers in the 8-10 inch range using perdigon nymphs and streamers. So far by all accounts, the fish are skinny but better than nothing. Hopefully they will continue the past growth rate of an inch per month.
November 8, 2023
Many people ask me, “where are the trout?“ The answer is death and dissolved oxygen. Death sounds macabre right? What does it mean. The Saluda is not the best trout habitat. It is an artificial habitat for trout created by the outflow from the Lake Murray dam. Without the dam and its tail waters, there would be no trout fishing in the Saluda. The life of a trout in the Saluda is perilous. So perilous that the mortality rate is 98%, you read that correctly 98%. For example, if DNR stocks 50,000 trout in a year, only 1,000 would survive to the next year. What causes such a high mortality rate? There are several reasons, none of which I am going to discuss here. Suffice it to say that very few trout survive from year to year. Enough about death, now what about dissolved oxygen. Trout need colder water and higher levels of dissolved oxygen than warm water species such as bass, sunfish, etc. The primary factor in dissolved oxygen in the Saluda is the water drawn from the lake. Most of the water drawn by the turbines is from the bottom of the lake, so the amount of oxygen in the water at the bottom of the lake where the turbines draw from, will for all intents and purposes, determine the dissolved oxygen levels in the Saluda. During summer and fall, the water at the top of the lake is higher in dissolved oxygen than the water at the bottom of the lake. During the winter, usually sometime in December, the lake “turns over,” and the more oxygenated water works its way to the bottom of the lake. The layering process is called thermocline. DNR does not want to stock trout just to have them die immediately, so DNR waits until the lake turns over and the more oxygenated water is at the bottom where the turbines draw the water to pump into the Saluda. A low survival rate and dissolved oxygen deficits mean that from summer to December are the slow times.
September 4, 2023
Recently a man emailed me and said he wanted a "newbie appointment," his words not mine. We found a mutually agreeable time and met and talked for a while and went over some of his questions. Then later that week I had an initial fly tying lesson with another beginner. Some people in the fly fishing business don't like beginners, they ask too may questions and frequently don't buy enough to compensate for the disproportionate time spent, plus often they require more patience. I don't mind beginners and actually help quite a few. I guess after working with semi-interested Boy Scouts on their fly fishing/tying merit badges when my son was a Scout prepares you for beginners. Genuinely interested people who are teachable are fun to work with.
August 24, 2023"Reel with Purpose" - sounds like a fishing charity doesn't it? Actually its is a technique I use just about every time I trout fish or striper fish, especially when using a streamer. So what I do is when I am about to reel in my line to quit fishing or just move to another place and I have too much line out to just let it drag while I move or leave (see the July 8, 2023 post), I intentionally reel the line in moving the fly and stopping the fly while moving my finger back and forth to evenly distribute the line and leader on my reel. In other words I reel with the purpose of catching a fish while I am reeling the line, I don't just reel quickly and mindlessly but with the intention of catching a fish and being ready to do so. Does it work all the time? No, only about 5% of the time, but I did catch a 20 pound striper 2 years ago while doing this. My friend also caught a nice 28 inch striper 2 years ago doing the same thing on his last cast. It also worked tonight. I usually just point the rod tip and line straight down with the rod tip almost touching the water. However, tonight I did that for a while and then held up the rod tip to about a 75 degree angle and kept reeling. Whether it was the reeling action alone or the reeling and changing of depth in the water, I don't know, but it was more than the 22 inch striper could stand, and s/he ate my size 4 Gervais Gray and kept me from getting skunked. So instead of just mindlessly reeling in your fly, reel with purpose.
August 22, 2023
Striper season is over right? Try telling that to my friend Mark. We went fishing, his first time striper fishing and certainly his first time fishing with a spey rod. He used my TFO Deer Creek 13'0 7 wt with a 2.5 foot t10/ 7.5 foot intermediate tip. First we tried the fly he tied (his first fly) but no luck. It was fun, however to watch him casting a size 2 conehead fly about 60 feet on his first outing. About 8:40 we moved then switched to a purple and black rainbow blingmaster. About 10 minutes later he hooked a nice striper in strong current and had a great fight but broke it off when he had about 15 feet of line outside the tip. How do I know it was a striper you ask? Well if you have caught many nice stripers, you know usually there is a hard hit, then strong runs and while the fish is running and you are frantically trying to get the excess running line on the reel, the rod moves up and down noticeably; I like to call it the "whump, whump." No jumping but a lot of strong runs before you even get close