Have you ever made a fly using one of

[saltydog]

Look good nice color choice, just EPOXY the eyes an make a head out of it, your going to lose them if you dont. you know you said your fishing of a boat , I'd use a FAST SINKING LINE an use a 4' leader, drift over the hole an time your sink rate , the fly w/ NO weight one will act more realistic an the line will pit down. my thought, an will will also get fish that hanging on the EDGE of the hole, w/ a free floating fly.
thats a good fly to DRAG on the bottom stur some sand up, make great eel pattern.
are you going to plug fest, Ill bring flys.
GOOD LUCK GOOD TYIN

[Mr. Sandman]

Thanks. I now have a dedicated rod/reel with the fastest sinking line I could find just for this kind of fishing. (They called it a dredge line) It doesn't cast great but is sinks pretty fast. (which is fine, casting performance can be sacrificed since I will be drifting) I normally keep a flyrod on the boat that has a intermediate, saltwater taper, relatively easy to cast and gets the job done. But this is the second time now where I knew the bigger fish were thick on the bottom and I could not get down to them. (I did with a jig however on a spinning rod) I was catching fish on the fly but they were smaller fish near the surface or down a few feet.
I will bring some normal flys and clouwsers with me is too but I want to cover the full range and have something that would sink like a rock. This has been in the back of my mind now for a while.

I agree the action will be odd and it will dip at the very end of the line. But I am hoping the boatspeed drift will compensate a little for that. Also, a lot of times I am seeking big bluefish which are not that finicky you just have to get it down to them.

I was also thinking that instead of using this lead weighed hook that I might attach a length of lead-core line at the end to aid the sinking and give a more natural action when looking for bass deep. Have you ever done this?