# Ladyfish



## State fish rob (Jan 25, 2017)

been catching ladyfish on live bait, off dock at night. Any thoughts on flies & fly size , for nite fishing ,haven’t hooked one on fly yet. Thx
Also. Any tricks for know how much line to leave out for back cast in the dark. Do they make fly line in Braille? What you can’t see , you’ll feel!


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

White clousers, strip fast


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## State fish rob (Jan 25, 2017)

Mucho mucho


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## crboggs (Mar 30, 2015)

Cheap flashy flies...they'll rough them up...


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Using a 12lb leader for ladies (of any size) will end with you tying on a new fly... The only time I've ever seen the necessity of that light a leader is when all the bait they're feeding on is tiny - and your fly is small as well...

I've been taking folks fly fishing at night for years - and at times ladyfish (big ocean run ladies...) are our targets when the snook and tarpon are scarce, or having lockjaw. Any small white fly will get bit - as long as it's moving with or across the current. Size your fly to the bait you're seeing in the water. A good all around bug is a clouser on a 1/0 hook in all white (or mostly white). When we're needing ladyfish for bait in the backcountry of the 'glades I use a clouser on a long shank hook, size #1 or 1/0 (Mustad 34011) with the eyes and wing tied in towards the rear of the hook so that we can use a leader without a bite tippet (20lb fluoro, generally...). Catching ladies for bait (live ladyfish are candy for any big fish that swims in the 'glades...) is a daytime gig for me... 

Night fishing for us is mostly during shrimp runs and we use the same flies for ladies that we use for tarpon up to about 40lbs. Here's a pic of our go to pattern, the Night Fly....








It's done up on a stout 1/0 or 2/0 hook 








I like to have at least a dozen of these on hand for a night trip when it's going off... 

Ladies aren't that particular - I'd bet that all white Gurglers and small popping bugs would work for them just fine.... and the strike will get your attention.

By the way, the only reason I tie up white flies for the night scene... is so that my anglers can see them. Pretty sure they'll hit anything that is the right size and moving the way the bait is. 

Hope this helps


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## Donh (May 24, 2019)

State fish rob said:


> been catching ladyfish on live bait, off dock at night. Any thoughts on flies & fly size , for nite fishing ,haven’t hooked one on fly yet. Thx
> Also. Any tricks for know how much line to leave out for back cast in the dark. Do they make fly line in Braille? What you can’t see , you’ll feel!


Anything white and flashy , fast strip .


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## Donh (May 24, 2019)

Donh said:


> Anything white and flashy , fast strip .


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## hipshot (Sep 29, 2018)

I just got back from five days in the LLM. We caught a lot of big ladyfish on flies; they were everywhere. I use 12# tippets, and fished with a 6, 7, and 8 weight. They ate up every fly I threw; mostly Clousers in purple, chartreuse, olive, white, and grey (and combinations of the above), as well as grey bendbacks over the shallow grass and shell. I had one overslot red get me into my backing. Several of the ladyfish got me there. Quite a few of them made off with my flies until I started adding a 17# ABRAZX bite tippet. I retired more flies on this trip than I ever have before; the specks did their share of damage but the ladyfish shredded my tippets and my flies with abandon. They're fun to catch, but tough on tippets and flies. And handle them OUTSIDE the gunwales, if you're new to them...........


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

I think they'll eat about any flashy fly


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Little tigers - that's ladyfish - with abrasive jaws like 100 grit sandpaper (not for nothing some folks call them "poor man's tarpon"...). 

Just remember that any place with lots of ladies probably has big fish nearby that eat 'em.... if they can catch one...


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## Pole Position (Apr 3, 2016)

^ 
I always felt but for the grace of God ladyfish and juvenile tarpon would be damn near extinct if they were edible because I can't think of any fish that are more fun to catch.


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## pointblank (Nov 9, 2017)

lemaymiami said:


> Just remember that any place with lots of ladies probably has big fish nearby that eat 'em.... if they can catch one...


Exactly.....

Recently I was walking the beach looking for snook, saw a decent size one and threw a fly out and started stripping it in, and a damn ladyfish picked it up! While the lady was thrashing and jumping around, low and behold that snook came over and ate the ladyfish while still on my line! Tried to strip set nice and hard, but after a few head shakes, the line just snapped. Off swam the snook...ladyfish tail sticking out its mouth and all!!


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## timogleason (Jul 27, 2013)

I hate Ladyfish on so many levels...


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## Andrew Jones (Mar 22, 2016)

I caught quite a few this past weekend on a surf candy fishing from jetties. I started out using a steel leader meant for mackerel but schools of ladyfish were feeding in a frenzy! They kept bumping my line but not taking it so I tied on a 50 lb. fluorocarbon bite tippet and started catching them immediately. The 50 was all I had but there were almost swallowing my fly anyway! I think 20 lb. would have been more appropriate! The best retrieve was by tucking my rod under my arm and stripping my line in hand over hand. I used to hate catching them until I caught one on a fly!


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## Backcountry 16 (Mar 15, 2016)

They'll hit anything just like jacks when they're feeding I like catching them on a 4 weight and as mentioned above they tear up flies and leaders.


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## State fish rob (Jan 25, 2017)

Ive got a sweet 5 wt I need to break in thanks to low hydrogen. Many thanks!


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## eightwt (May 11, 2017)

Almost a perfect fish, acrobatic, aggressive, plentiful, hits a fly readily.....


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## kbanashek (Apr 5, 2017)

lemaymiami said:


> Using a 12lb leader for ladies (of any size) will end with you tying on a new fly... The only time I've ever seen the necessity of that light a leader is when all the bait they're feeding on is tiny - and your fly is small as well...
> 
> I've been taking folks fly fishing at night for years - and at times ladyfish (big ocean run ladies...) are our targets when the snook and tarpon are scarce, or having lockjaw. Any small white fly will get bit - as long as it's moving with or across the current. Size your fly to the bait you're seeing in the water. A good all around bug is a clouser on a 1/0 hook in all white (or mostly white). When we're needing ladyfish for bait in the backcountry of the 'glades I use a clouser on a long shank hook, size #1 or 1/0 (Mustad 34011) with the eyes and wing tied in towards the rear of the hook so that we can use a leader without a bite tippet (20lb fluoro, generally...). Catching ladies for bait (live ladyfish are candy for any big fish that swims in the 'glades...) is a daytime gig for me...
> 
> ...


Those look REALLY good for tarpon || snook, there any resources online that show how to spin them up?


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## SomaliPirate (Feb 5, 2016)

timogleason said:


> I hate Ladyfish on so many levels...


Aw, come on! They're just budget oriented tarpon! Other than the destroying leaders and shitting all over the deck...


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## LowHydrogen (Dec 31, 2015)

State fish rob said:


> been catching ladyfish on live bait, off dock at night. Any thoughts on flies & fly size , for nite fishing ,haven’t hooked one on fly yet. Thx
> Also. Any tricks for know how much line to leave out for back cast in the dark. Do they make fly line in Braille? What you can’t see , you’ll feel!


They make glow in the dark fly lines now but I have no experience.


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## Zika (Aug 6, 2015)

One of my regular tarpon clients had taken his three young boys out fishing earlier in their bay boat. When the youngest hooked a ladyfish and got it close, Doug told him not to bring it in because it would "shit all over the boat." The next day his wife joined them and she hooked an acrobatic ladyfish. The youngest told her, "Mom, don't bring it in, it will shit on the boat." Leslie later had some words with Junior's vocabulary coach.


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## hipshot (Sep 29, 2018)

I really like craft fur, and I use it for most of my flies. But flies that ladies will be hitting need to be tied with bucktail or feathers; that way they don't get all knotted up. Where we fished this last trip the ladies were everywhere, and we couldn't get away from them.


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## timogleason (Jul 27, 2013)

SomaliPirate said:


> Aw, come on! They're just budget oriented tarpon! Other than the destroying leaders and shitting all over the deck...


I admit to hitting up some ladies under some bird schools and some jumbos can be fun but I still hate them!!!!


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## devrep (Feb 22, 2009)

ladyfish and trout are the plague. bluefish are a close 2nd.


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## eightwt (May 11, 2017)

devrep said:


> ladyfish and trout are the plague. bluefish are a close 2nd.


I ain't picky, if it pulls back hard I'm happy. We're all wired different, I guess.


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## LowHydrogen (Dec 31, 2015)

eightwt said:


> I ain't picky, if it pulls back hard I'm happy. We're all wired different, I guess.


Same here. I'll throw flies for redfish, and I'll fish for carp with dough balls. I just like to fish.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

On more than one occasion I've had my primary angler in the bow, fly rod or lure rod in hand as we push in towards finning and rolling tarpon in the backcountry... At the same time we have a stout rod with a live ladyfish trailing behind us about 150 to 200 feet back on a float with the rod in the rodholder locked down. You can just about toss a coin as to which angler has the best shot... and will get hooked up first.

No you can't do this everywhere -and if you set up this way in a small river you're asking for disaster (a double hookup on both bait and fly - another of those "ask me how I know" moments). Yes you can lose an expensive fly line that way... and in a particular spot where I'd already lost two other fly lines in past years...

Speaking of tarpon - it's just about time for our second season for the big girls out of Flamingo... It will last (and get better and better each day) between now and the last week before Halloween.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Trash fish


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## eightwt (May 11, 2017)

Smackdaddy53 said:


> Trash fish


There are no trash fish, some are just better than others....


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

eightwt said:


> There are no trash fish, some are just better than others....


#trashfishlivesmatter


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## EvanHammer (Aug 14, 2015)

eightwt said:


> Almost a perfect fish, acrobatic, aggressive, plentiful, hits a fly readily.....


plus they shit all over your boat


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## mro (Jan 24, 2018)

Hate ladyfish?
Be dissing puffers next


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

mro said:


> Hate ladyfish?
> Be dissing puffers next


You aren’t living right if you haven’t caught a 36” ribbonfish, 22” smooth puffer and 30” ladyfish on the same trip...that’s the ultimate trash can slam.


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## hipshot (Sep 29, 2018)

Hey Mac, what kinda flies do smooth puffers like?


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

hipshot said:


> Hey Mac, what kinda flies do smooth puffers like?


White clousers I guess, I caught a 5 1/2 pound smooth puffer on a white bucktail jig while snook fishing in the Brownsville ship channel a couple of years ago. It would have been the catch and release water body record but I wasn’t proud enough to register it and put that plaque on my wall...


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

I beg to differ... the ultimate trashcan slam is a lizard fish, a puffer (where I am they're small, persistent, with nasty green eyes and like to nip at any fly or bucktail - until they get every bit of hair or feathers off of it), and last but not least the dreaded fly eating catfish... Catch all three on fly and you've pretty much ruined a few flies -with nothing to show for it... 

We've actually had big gafftopsail catfish eat popping bugs at the surface right in the middle of small to medium tarpon, rolling and finning out all around your bug....


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## Boneheaded (Oct 4, 2017)

They never fail to pee, poo, or bleed all over me or my boat, but man are they fun sometimes


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## mro (Jan 24, 2018)

When I lived in Florida, every once in awhile I'd meet someone who thought they may like to try fly fishing. Never invited em on my boat but I had found a little beach (now gone) at Isla Del Sol right next to a bridge which had a very well placed street light. Lighted the water and the beach. Out going tide was the best for ladies and I used 1 1/2" white marabou on a long shank hook. You only had to cast 25 feet to get into them so I usually had a newbie catching their first fish on a fly in minuets. Bout the only thing I like better (not counting me fishing) is taking a kid fishing. 

Back in the day, there were parts of Tampa Bay that were infested with puffers and lizard fish. probably due to my clean living I never caught a cat on the fly


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## Ken T (Dec 10, 2015)

Many of my customers love to catch the Ladies. I normally keep a #5 weight on the skiff to make it interesting.

#20 lb. bite tippet and I always tie a few dozen of these in Blue / white, Chartreuse / White. Perfect for Ladies and Macks and you don't have to re-tie every few minutes.


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## sevenweight (Sep 3, 2015)

I enjoy catching ladyfish, especially the larger ones that we sometimes see in the fall/winter/spring. I keep a few in my garage freezer for crab bait and the occasional shark fishing. And I'll freeze up a dozen for friends who use them for cobia in the spring.


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## eightwt (May 11, 2017)

Ken T said:


> I always tie a few dozen of these


What hook is that? Nice pattern.


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## mro (Jan 24, 2018)

sevenweight said:


> use them for cobia


They'll eat a seducer and a even a few tarpon flies too.


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## mro (Jan 24, 2018)

eightwt said:


> What hook is that? Nice pattern.


To me it looks like a mustad 92611


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## Ken T (Dec 10, 2015)

eightwt said:


> What hook is that? Nice pattern.


I am not sure. I just keep my eyes open for long hooks and buy when I find them. I do know that the flies in the photo were tied on Mustad. They were not fly specific hooks. 

The patterns in the photo also show the Baitfish tied just past the half way point if the fly shank. I also tie them with the entire baitfish started directly below the point of the hook which reveals almost an entire bare shank. Tied in this fashion gives the fly a different action.

You can also give these long shank hooks a very slight bend just in front of the patterns head. The bend will cause the fly to scream vulnerability when stripped erratically.

Ken


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## eightwt (May 11, 2017)

Thanks Ken.


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## mro (Jan 24, 2018)




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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

For anyone wanting to tie up Clousers on long shank hooks... The Mustad 34011 is the one most choose... it's stainless and not offset...


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## mro (Jan 24, 2018)

92611 is a nickel forged hook, same dia as the 34007 and same type eye, w/off set shank.
3/0 version is about 1/4 inch longer than the 3/0 34007.

I'm out of 2/0 34007 so could not check them against the 2/0 92611.

I've used the 92611 for poppers, gurglers.
I normally straighten the hook 
Really can't remember when/why I got them, but it must have seemed the right thing to buy at time. No complaints as they have held up well altho I've never hooked any big fish (30 plus pounds) on them.
I've been tying 90% of my flys since I started with mustad.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

All the 34011 is... is a 34007 with a longer shank.... No need to use your pliers to remove an offset since there isn't any. Pretty sure these days just enter Mustad 34011 and then choose your size on E-Bay. That's the first place I look when I'm not buying in bulk directly from a wholesaler (hooks are cheapest when you buy them by the thousand per size...).

Although I'm no longer tying commercially - old habits die hard....


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## Drifter (Dec 13, 2018)

I wasn't even sure what a ladyfish was when I started reading this, but yeah these things drive me nuts. Dead silent in the glades, rolling tarpon, cast to tarpon, ladyfish eats fly.......


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