“Small Flies For Stripers” in the current issue (90) of Surfcaster’s Journal.

My latest and greatest (or at least moderately non-sucky) piece is now available for your reading pleasure. It boasts the clever title Small Flies for Striped Bass, or: Betcha the Bass Can’t Eat Just One. Like your favorite bowl of chips, you’ll want to enjoy this one over and over. As a bonus, I’ve included three of my favorite small striper patterns. Surfcaster’s Journal is an e-zine that is loaded with sage advice, even for fly fishers only. You can get a subscription for just 25 bucks a year right here.

In case you don’t recognize the names, this issue is packed with articles written by some of the best, most experienced surfcasters in the northeast.

A Striper Tying and Greased Line Swing Lesson

Neville has been following me for some time now, all the way from England. While he’s on holiday in the States this week, we had the time to meet up in Rhode Island for a lesson. We met at his rental in Point Judith, and tied a deer hair shrimp, my Grass Shrimp Solution, a Big Eelie, and then a Mutable Squid. That kept us busy for a couple of hours. Then we geared up and headed to an estuary to practice the greased line swing and its associated tactics. The tide was wrong, but we had moving water, and we even had a swing and a miss when Nev was stripping in his line to make another cast. (Teaching moment: the bass that chased his Ray’s Fly was small. Stripping a fly is a great way to attract small striped bass.) Neville is a very enthusiastic learner (he recorded much of our session on his phone) and I have only the highest amount of respect for those who dive into a subject with such eagerness and passion. Well done, Nev!

All the way from Merry Old England! Here’s Nev putting his TFO TiCr five-weight through its paces. He’s well on his way to becoming a dangerous striper-catching machine.