As I mentioned last week, I’m doing things a little differently this year with my classes at The Fly Fishing Show in Marlborough. Rather than leading a striper fly tying-centric class, I’ve decided to turn it into the closest thing we can get to an actual lesson in the salt! I’m really excited about the change, and I think everyone attending the class will get a lot more out of it. So, instead of spending a few hours on a salt marsh or estuary, we’ll gather in a cozy meeting room and learn all about tying and fishing presentation flies for striped bass. If you’ve ever wanted to fish with me, but have been unable to do so, this will be a great opportunity to get some quality instruction.

What are presentation flies? They are flies that rely on specific materials — mostly natural — and specific construction — mostly sparse — to create the illusion of life. Presentation flies are highly impressionistic. They look alive and like something good to eat, even when at rest. Most of all, you don’t need to strip them in, ad nauseum, to get stripers to eat them. In this class, I’ll talk about materials and construction and will demo at least one pattern.

So, how and where do you fish such patterns? I’m glad you asked, because that’s the next part of the class. I’ll show you how to build a saltwater team of three flies; we’ll discuss different bait and feeding scenarios; we’ll talk about the different kinds of water where presentation flies shine; and of course, we’ll dive into presentation — you know, that thing you do when you’re not treating your fly rod like a glorified spinning rod.

If you want to catch more striped bass, and do it in ways that are under-appreciated and under-utilized, but powerfully effective, this class is for you.

You must sign up for this class in advance. You can only do that on the Fly Fishing Show website, here.