Barracuda! With Perk Perkins

This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Orvis Executive Chairman of the Board, Perk Perkins, who spends a great deal of time chasing fish on saltwater flats and is one of the best technical anglers I know. Perk and I share a fascination for barracuda. They are one of the most exciting fish you can catch on the flats, but are often ignored in favor of bonefish, permit, and tarpon. But cudas offer one of the most explosive strikes in fly fishing, run and jump like maniacs, and are often on the flats when other species are hard to find. You just need to modify your leader and your technique a bit to catch them, and Perk shares some tips on cudas that run contrary to popular conceptions—including the idea that faster is not always better on your retrieve, and that small, slim flies can work as well as bulkier flies designed for barracuda.

In the Fly Box this week, we have an assortment of questions and tips shared by listeners, including:

• A recommendation for a reliable carp fly
• A question about putting a 9-weight intermediate line on an 8-weight rod for wade fishing for striped bass
• A tip on modifying the Hare’s Ear Nymph
• A question about a simple dry/emerger that does not require hackle
• A suggestion for holding flies using the magnetic closure on some fly boxes
• A question about how to find winter hatches on trout streams
• A question about Euro nymphing using rods not designed for that purpose
• A question about the tip-flex rating on an older Orvis rod
• A question about hatches on alpine lakes just after ice-out.
• Are Helios 3 and Recon blanks made overseas?
• What is the best way to teach my 8-year-old son to cast?
• A suggestion for contacting local fly clubs for information when traveling to a new destination
• Are spin anglers less ethical than fly anglers regarding crowding on the river?