That about says it all. Hopefully we’ll be relatively glitch-free this time. If not, we’ll figure it out…
Tag Archives: best flies for striped bass
Striper Report: A slow start to December
The month is off to a lackluster start. I fished a proven late fall bass producer on Monday, and it was a blank for me and the other half dozen souls who braved high, stained water and biting winds. Went back to the same well on Tuesday, and although I had the place to myself and the conditions were far nicer, the bite — or lack thereof — was the same. Off to spot B, where I knew bass had been caught 24 hours earlier, but no. Not for me, dagnabbit.
I don’t like the short term weather forecast, so perhaps I’ll need to rethink time and tide. Catching a striper on the fly from the shore for 12 consecutive months may sound like a simple proposition, but this first week of the last month shows how difficult it can be. While I am bloodied, I remain unbowed.
What my fingertips felt like by the end of Tuesday’s session.
Many questions (rhetorical and otherwise)
I once read that a good way to learn things was to ask a lot of damn fool questions. I tend to do that in my fishing, whether I’m wondering to myself, trying something new, or picking the brain of someone who knows a lot more than me. Here are some recent points I’ve been pondering:
Is “pushing water” the most trite, overused, overhyped concept in streamer construction today?
How do all those stripers find my 1″ long sparse grass shrimp flies at night with no moon in water with visibility of under 2 feet?
Why don’t more striper anglers think in terms of matching the bait, and presenting the fly like the naturals are behaving?
When it comes to choosing lines and leaders, is there a more important question than: “What do you want the fly to do?”
If intermediate lines are the most versatile, why do the vast majority of striper anglers use only one presentation with them?
Is there a striped bass swimming today that cares if your fly turns over?
Last but not least: why the hell didn’t I get out and fish in the wake of last weekend’s storms?
If you want to consistently catch bigger bass on the fly from shore, fish how, where, and when most other people don’t.
Long Island Flyrodders awarded a 2nd Legion of Cookout Merit (with Romeo y Julieta clusters)
Many thanks to the Long Island Flyrodders for again being hosts with the mosts. I was treated to a fine cookout of cheeseburgers, kielbasa (perfect for someone from New Britski) and salads. Throw in an ice cold beer (thanks, Mike) and — wait for it — top it off with a post feast gift (thanks, Ken) of a Romeo y Julieta Reserve corona gorda, and you’re talking a very fed, very happy presenter. As always, this is a welcoming group, and I enjoyed talking fishing with everyone. Oh — the presentation was “Trout Fishing for Striped Bass,” which I think went over very well. Lots of good post-talk questions. Thanks again!
Dessert. A fine vitola that also kept the bugs at bay.
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As a fellow griller, I can tell you it ain’t pleasant standing over fire on a 90 degree day with a dew point of 69. Kudos to the grillers! And yes, I came back for a second helping of kielbasa.
Everyone’s invited to tomorrow night’s “Trout Fishing for Striped Bass” presentation.
The Long Island Flyrodders have graciously offered to open my Tuesday evening presentation to all currentseams followers. So, that’s tomorrow night, September 4, 8pm in Levittown, NY. Hope to see you there, and in fine Steve Somers fashion, directions here.
Want to catch more — and bigger — stripers? Then come to this presentation.
Is anybody there? Does anybody care? Does anybody see what I see?
Followers and readers already know that I tend to fish how, where, and when others don’t — especially when it comes to stripers. I’ve always considered currentseams to be a teaching platform, and to a large extend that is what drives the content of this site. Still, there are times when I feel like a lonely island being battered by the waves of conventional wisdom. So when I get a letter like the one below, it restores me. I’ve edited some of it for brevity, but I think its message is important. Fans of 1776 will get the title reference — and the importance of the answer, “yes.”
“I believe in giving credit where credit is due. I also believe that if someone has helped you, made a part of life more enjoyable, or provided valuable guidance, you should thank them. currentseams has done all three of those things for me.
I moved to Barrington, Rhode Island 7 years ago. I was a sophomore in high school and by then an avid fly fisherman and fly tier of, again, 7 years. I knew little of Rhode Island’s saltwater opportunities then. I was a die-hard trout fisherman, but with the Farmington 2 hours away and no drivers license I thought I should figure out how to have fun in my own backyard.
After multiple run-ins with striped bass eccentrics my father and I were excited. Yet in our haste to get on the water (in reality it was just MY haste) we forgot to really take our time to learn and listen. “Whats the best fly? What’s the best line? Where’s the best spot? Okay, thank you and goodbye!” We wanted to know what everyone else was doing so that’s what we got: intermediate lines, weighted flies, and the strip retrieve. It wasn’t a productive spring, and you can bet our disappointment had us sticking to trout.
With my intermediate line and my Clouser minnows I set out to really figure out this whole striped bass thing. I had done the research. I knew they were around. Now I just had to catch them. This time I had some success. I got a better understanding of tides and where to find fish, but I still fished fast and deep because its all I knew and all I was told. Countless times I lamented my setup as stripers gorged on silver sides right before my eyes. Damned my sinking fly!
I decide to change it up. Time to ditch the internet and get some ink in my nails. Time to sort through my stacks of Eastern Fly Fishing magazine. After some digging I found it, an article titled “South County, RI: By Boots or By Boat”. I don’t have a boat, but I certainly have some boots. This could be good. The article featured beautiful imagery, informative writing, and a picture of a gray-haired man in all black fishing in a trout stream? What?
The caption reads: On a foggy day, the South County salt ponds and connecting estuaries closely resemble the English countryside. It’s no small reason that the original settlers called the area New England. And it’s why native son Kenney Abrames favorites trout and salmon techniques in the salt.
Not a trout stream, but he was fishing it like one. Who is this Kenney Abrames? A quick internet search bears links to A Perfect Fish and Striper Moon. I scroll down a bit more and there it is, a search result titled “Ken Abrames- currentseams”. I clicked. I read. I explored and I never looked back. It was as if a whole new world had opened up to me. I blazed through currentseams. I quickly bought and read Striper Moon. I bought some floating line. And I put my stores of bucktail and peacock herl to work.
Funny enough, it worked. As soon as I got back from school I began catching striped bass using sparse flies, drifts, and swings. I was having a blast. It felt so satisfying to read something, execute what the writing said to do, and have the desired result.
I (also) realized something very important. This whole time I had been looking to you and Ken for absolutes. But there are no absolutes in fishing. There are only problems and solutions. As I began to re-read Striper Moon and currentseams I started to understand the true message behind both works. That message being this: Objects do not catch fish. People do.
I began to learn that there was no one fly, or one technique, or one rod, or one fly line, or one anything. Every fishing situation is different and it takes a creative angler to solve the riddle of each one. It was with this relization that I stopped looking at Striper Moon and currentseams like they were the Bibles of striped bass on the fly. These works are shared knowledge, not commandments.
Through the help of currentseams I have become a more creative angler. I have embraced the greased line swing, the floating line, and have even created my own fly as a solution to a fishing problem. Thank you for keeping alive the old traditions of striped bass fly fishing and for sharing your insights with the world. Keep up the good work and I cannot wait to read your next post.”
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Thanks for making my day, Sam.
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If you want to catch the fish that not everyone can catch, then don’t fish like everyone else.
New presentation added: “Trout Fishing for Striped Bass”
You can read all about it on my presentation menu link. This debuted last month at the Cape Cod Fly Rodders, and I’m hoping the Fly Fishing Show will pick it up, too.
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Don’t forget “The Little Things” at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum’s Arts of the Angler show, Ethan Allan Inn, Danbury, CT, Sunday, November 5 at 10:30. Bonus: it’s daylight savings so you get an extra hour of sleep!
