To say that fly fishing for giant snakehead (toman) is hard is an understatement. It could be your toughest challenge yet on the fly!
But let’s tackle the gear questions first, which is something anglers always ask early on.
Giant Snakehead Gear & Tackle
- Rod: 8-10 weight are the most commonly used
- Line: Weight Forward Floating (WFF) or Shooting Heads
- Leader: 40 lb monofilament (6-8 ft). Straight or tapered
- Wire: Giant snakehead has sharp teeth. Tie a 30/40 lb knotable wire about 4-5 inches in length to the fly
- Backing: Not important as you’ll hand-strip the fish to the net
- Reel: Any reel that will hold your line
Tips
Fly line: You may want to overline your rod if using a WFF line. i.e. line is rated one weight heavier than your rod. When casting to a rising snakehead you will often have to present your fly with only one back cast (pickup and lay down). There isn’t time for false casts, two seconds and the fish is gone, you’re too late. If this is your first attempt, please practice casting with an actual fly before coming for the trip.
Leader: Toman are often near structures and they’ll dive for them. Toman are found in heavily wooded waters such as in Royal Belum. Once hooked you’ll need to keep them from diving into structures. Make your own tapered leader e.g. 60/80 lb butt knotted to 40 lb tippet. Or make a furled leader. A tapered helps with presentation (turnover straight leader) during presentation.
Flies & Presentation
- Flies: Noisy foam poppers or frog patterns
- Technique: Two methods 1) Wait and cast to a snakehead when they rise for air, 2) Blind casting near vegetation edges, lily pads, fallen logs, shaded banks.
- Action: Pop, pause, pop, if fly is close to fish they will likely attack it. When fish eat the fly pause for a moment for fish to turn then hard strip-set, not a trout-style “trout set”.
Tips
Flies: Poppers size 2-2/0 foam head, loud action. Weedless for shallow cover.
Technique: Method (1) of casting to a rising fish is very effective but also super challenging. Most anglers will not be able to make the shot as they only have a 2 second window from the moment they see the fish to placing their fly down on target. Practice practice practice.
Key Challenges
- Speed: You often have only a few seconds to place a fly accurately in front of a moving fish e.g., 2-3 seconds
- Heavy Cover: Fish often pull into thick vegetation, requiring strong backbone in your rod and good fly line.
- Aggression: They fight very hard, you fight aggressively but keep calm
