Sea Robins Unlimited

[Love2Fish]

Yes.. Sea Robin's on the fly.. The next fishig craze.. NOT! Not that I was fishing for them, but they were hitting my 2" black clouser while fishing for weakies at around 8PM last night.

It was wild, I never saw SR's act this way. I was fishing the back bay behind Barnegate light and saw bait fish being chased and large swirls in the water. One would think, "must be bass or weakfish right? No.. Actually Sea Robin's were chasing bait on the surface. I cast towards the swirl and bam.. A hungry Sea Robin.. I'll be damned..

In amungst the new salt water game fish I also landed 2 nice 30" weakies. It was a fun night..

[Tuna]

They're ugly, they're not my favorite hookup, but boy are they tasty.

For the last few years, the sea robbins have been invading the shallows I fish for bass in big time. Makes blind casting dangerous, as they are near instant hookup with a slow retrieve. Now when I see a fish on top on the flats, I assume its a sea robbin until proven otherwise.

This year they showed around Shelter Island before much baitfish had come in, and I got used to seeing them go for shrimp.

First you see a slow swirl, then you see a shrimp jumping 3 inches straight in the air, then another swirl, another shrimp leap until one of the times the robbin takes the shrimp and returns to the bottom.

Yup, they are a bit of a nag in the numbers I am seeing them, but they taste great if you want some revenge.

[Mark Cahill]

Searobin-time.com

[BIGE]

Come on guys, I like catching sea robins!

Bring a six weight to the the flats around Gardiners during the summer duldrums and go for it. You will also pick up an occasional fluke (some keepers).

Yeah, their dissapointing when you're throwing a 10 wt at a big bass, but they have their place.

[stevec]

Hey, I like catchin sea robins on the fly. I had a blast a few weeks ago catchin them. Caught one close to 5#. Lots of fun..

They seem to like flashy flies. I killed them on a chart/pink/yellow 3/0 clouser with 3x long gold flash.

Any fish that bends my fly rod is a good fish. :D

[tparker]

also caught sea robins behind barnegat lite. a fish is a fish is a first time sea robin fish

[ikarus47]

Yup, when all else fails C- robins will bend the rod. The problem is they tend to be too easy to get. They roll around on the surface, not too concerned about what else is going on. In fact last summer I had one roll into my wading basket by accident............no fly, no hook-up, just there..........

Considering how stupid they are, it surprises me that bigger fish (sharks etc) don't just fill up on them. And yes, I am told the tail is good eating.

[dollarshort]

I prefer to call them Reef Roaches. Ever see what one can do if it happens to end up in your stripping basket full of fly line? After releasing it and untangling the mess you need to go straight to church and ask the preist to forgive for the obsenities that you just spouted for the last half hour!!!--123-3

[Hawk]

Big Stripers eat em.

[dollarshort]

I was once told by a GREAT guide that if you find Reef Roaches in good numbers Stripers are usually not far behind them.

The idea being that Robins dig up and stir the bottom dislodging sand eels, crabs, shrimp and other tasties and the stripers will hang down current waiting for a tasty meal. He proved this theory out around Gardners one afternoon. I must have picked up at least a dozen bass up to 38". The only downside is if you dont keep a lightining pace while stripping the fly you constantly hook up to the Roaches.

Anyone ever make the mistake of tyring to grab one by the head??? If not let me tell you what will be said : " Oooooooouuuuuuuuuchhhhhhhh!!! WHAT THE !#@%&........ any one have a bandaid? "--124-3

[dollarshort]

I admit though that one day I took out a 4wt and some Craft Fur Clousers ( #4 ) and fished a flat in CT for them prurposely. Kinda fun for a half hour.:rolleyes:

[mgustav]

I caught a very large sea robin two weeks ago with a #10 scud fly.

[dollarshort]

Caught the biggest one I've seen yet on a 6' Wildeye Storm Jig