Bert took a striper lesson with me on Monday. We banged around two different tidal marks near Long Island Sound. The wind made for a few casting and mending challenges, and the water was heavily stained. Bert learned about non-stripping presentations where the angler brings the fly to the fish. The greased line swing, the dangle, strategic mends — these are all now part of Bert’s striper fly fishing vocabulary. We even had a tug in the midst of this mid-day maelstrom. We also covered fly selection, dropper rig construction and presentation, and baitfish ID. If you want to catch those hard-to-catch, unwilling-to-chase, and (most of all) bigger striped bass on a regular basis, you need to learn presentation. Great job, Bert!
Then, Monday night, I ventured to the Ocean State. It never occurred to me that the entire southern New England coastal waters might be stirred up by the blow. Yep, the estuary I fished was the same sandy mess and weed farm. Bait was everywhere — mullet, peanuts, silversides — but the only thing that was on them were a few bass in the 12″-16″ range. In a little over two hours I managed a couple hits from these smaller guys, but no hookups. I stayed out way later than I should have, and I didn’t hit the pillow until after 3am. Maybe next time.
currentseams.com 
Here on the Cape the migration is in full swing. Busting bass but no takes as there just too much bait. I broke the switch rod to get some casting distance. Every choice has a trade off..the bass were at my feet and a 11 foot switch rod is not going to cut it in close. I think the Fall Run is the most difficult to fish. Bill
Hi Bill, and thanks for the report. Have you tried fishing droppers? FWIW, my Salmo Sax is a switch rod, and I use it in SH mode for close-in work all the time. But I understand your situation. Last night was good here. Only one bass, but she went 20 pounds. Report to come. 🙂
Hi Steve,
Been recently checking out currentseams after listening to the saltwater edge episode with you. You’ve motivated me to start trying out greased line swings and other similar presentations for stripers in my local estuary. This article brought up similar concerns I have about this tactic where I fish because the water is quite stained while still being mostly salt. How do the stripers lateral lines function in regards to a dead drift or swing presentation? Does this method require the fly to be that close that it goes by their face like a trout, is there vision better than we give them credit for in murk or are their lateral lines more sensitive than always needing a strip retrieve? Still trying to get one on the swing. Thanks for the blog. Take care!
Hi Travis, thanks for subscribing and thanks for reading. This is such a good general interest question so I think I’ll answer it in a post tomorrow. 🙂
[…] trying out greased line swings and other similar presentations for stripers in my local estuary. This article brought up similar concerns I have about this tactic where I fish because the water is quite […]