As a child I spent all weekends and the summer holiday sailing with my family. But it wasn't the sailing I was passionate about. I used every second in port, with my bum pointing to the sky and my head pointing downward, looking through the window, my own shadow cast. Armed with a bamboo fishing net, I pursued everything that was slow or stupid enough to be outwitted by a little boy in a red vest. I lived in the world under water.
One hot summer day, I was lying on the bridge between the boats, scouting the mysterious depths, when something incredible and wonderful happened. A searun trout appeared, gracefully gliding through the water, three feet down. It was a very big fish, at least for little boy, whose normal prey was starfish, crabs and on good days, one or two sticklebacks. The seatrout swam elegantly and quietly, just below me and quickly faded into the green shadows, from where it had materialized. But it wasn't just a seatrout.
Seatrouts were mythical creatures I only knew from yellowed photos shown to me in my grandfather's study, where he told me strange and heroic legends of his encounters with this silver king of fish. But the experience was more than the first encounter with the seatrout; it was the meeting with a true hunter, for this trout had a sandeel in its mouth. The image of the giant fish, with a sandeel between the jaws branded my mind. The scar is still there, because seatrout eat sandeels and I have become a hunter of seatrout. Thus this article, because if you understand the food of the trout, you understand the trout.
Biology
Sandeel is native to most of the European waters and you will find them everywhere along the North European coasts. They live much of their lives buried in sandy seabed, as they have many natural enemies: Seatrout, Bass, Cod, Pollock, Mackerel, and many more. They must be out of hiding to hunt for food that consists of small crustaceans, plankton and small fish larvae. Sandeel is an active predator that hunts, when conditions are favorable; therefore local currents and wind conditions play a major role. Wind and rough water will push food out of hiding and into the open waters where sandeel feed, so trout weather is also sandeel weather, which actually makes perfect sense.
There are two species of sandeels. Ordinary sandeel and king sandeel. The only practical difference between the two is the size. Ordinary sandeel achieve a maximum length of 20 cms, to the King's impressive 35 cm. Common sandeel is the most common and since the two are virtually identical, apart from the size, the same bait can imitate them both. Therefore I will treat them as one. Sandeel move to deeper waters in the cold season and are absent from the shallow waters in the winter, but can be found in spots with deep water close to the shore. But the rest of the year sandeel are running and often in large numbers.
Fishing strategy
Sandeel are well adapted to the dangerous life among the larger predatory fish of the coast and have a unique strategy to dodge enemies. When it feels threatened, it is capable of launching like an arrow towards the bottom and disappearing into the sand, outside the enemy's reach. This is a very interesting behavior and explains quite a lot about, why different retirement methods can trigger trout strike. Short stop will often produce a solid strike from a trout that would otherwise just follow the fly. I do not know if it's because trout recognize the flight pattern from the sandeel, but it is an obvious explanation for why, pauses work. So use this knowledge, and make the short stripping breaks.
- A newly caught seatrout with a fresh sandeel hanging out of the throat.
On the run
The fly fisherman's reach is not great, the best casters very rarely cover more than 100 feet. The strategy is quite simple. Cover as much water as possible in the time you are on the water. This means you fish actively and take 3-4 steps between each cast. So get some mileage in your boost, it pays in silver. Another thing is the retrieval of the plane. A sandeel is a fast swimmer, so to imitate this you need to retrieve the fly fast. All the coastal fish trout, bass and mackerel are hunters and even faster than the sandeel. It is not possible for an angler to retrieve a fly at a fraction of the speed these fish can do while hunting.
I always retrieve with the rod under one arm, and use both hands to pull fast at full throttle, but with short stops along the way. This means that the fly will move like a sandeel, and also helps the fisherman to cover moving water. When you take several steps between your casts and when you retrieve faster, you will cast more time. I never let my fly swim through the same water twice. Only if I have seen or felt a fish, I stop briefly and fish the water more methodically. It is more likely that an active fisherman will locate a feeding fish that will take a fly than the fish finding a stationary fishing. So cover some water both with your boots and make sure your fly sees new hunting grounds in every cast.
My favorite sandeel flies
3 flies:
Here are three different ways to make sandeel imitations. Sandeel flies are relatively easy to tie and with the new pro soft heads and fly men fish skulls is gets it really easy, to make a small shoal of sandeels, for the box in a hurry.
I have made flytying tutorial videos that show exactly how all these flies below are tied.
Visit my channel: 123flytying on youtube to see these and many other flytying tutorials.
Steve Farra Tobis:
The easiest of the three to tie, but this flight has proven its worth both on the coast in Denmark and abroad. May be tied with both the Clear cure goo and the pro soft head.
Materials:
Hook: Tiemco 777 SP
Wing: Steve Farrar Blend in white and wild olive and Gliss n Glow flash
Head: 3D eyes and Clear Cure Goo glue or pro softhead in size xs.
Flat Wing sandeel.
A beautiful, very vibrant and lively pattern that works incredibly well. Saddle feathers move freely and perfectly in the water and give the fly an incredible life. I tie these on a tube, as it allows you to position the hook far back into the wing and thus hook more fish. May be tied with eighter Clear cure goo glue head and pro softhead.
Material List:
Tube: Tube with us tube of 10 mm silver
Wing: White bucktail, olive crystal flash, light saddle feathers (pink, gray, or white) and olive saddle feathers.
Head: 3D eyes and Clear Cure Goo UV glue or Pro softhead size XS
Jiggy with fish skull:
A nice fly, with a very characteristic movement in the water. The weighted head will make the fly dive straight for the bottom in stripping pauses. This greatly mimics the flight pattern of the sandeel
Material List
Hook: Streamer Hook Tiemco 777 sp or Partridge Cs 54 of suitable size for the fly
Head: Silver/green, Flymen; fish skull size S
Wing: White bucktail, Steve farrar blend in mackerel and white
