Starting with flyfishing for stripers

[goldman]

I'm interested in learning how to catch stripers on a fly. I already have a St croix 8/9 wt fly rod and a matching SA reel. I used to use it largemouth and small mouth freshwater fly fishing.

What kind of line should I be looking at for stripers?

Who should I contact about learning from a professional how to flyfish for stripers? (meaning a guide)

[stopyra]

The Virginia Coastal Fly Angler's Association meets every month (third Thursday) at Bayside Presbeterian Church (off of Independence) at 1800, er, 6:00 pm. There's plenty of striper expertise there.

I've been fishing for "rock" for a long time and since I've switched to the fly, I've significantly increased my catch whether fishing in NJ, RI, or here in Tidewater.

Sinking line (I use a 350 gr. line) with a straight florocarbon leader and a relatively simple fly like a deciever, half and half or a clouser will work well--especially at night. My favorite colors in either pattern are all white, chartreuse/white, or yellow white. I also tie a "Night fly" deciever which uses green dyed grizzly saddles for the tail, yellow bucktail beard with a collar of light green/dark green and a topwing of black. It works pretty well in day light too. Send me a b-mail if you want more info on the club or patterns, etc.

--Chris.

[Flying Fish]

Goldman: Yes, what the man said, you're pretty much going to have to use a sinking line, except that on some days when it's fairly calm and the fish are busting on top you can put one of your largemouthbass poppers on and you'll have a blast (if the fish are big enough...)

I find it very easy to catch lots of small rock on a fly rod in the bay, hard to get anything over 24 inches or so, usually hard to get anything over 20 inches. Richie Gaines is a good guide with a fly rod, also others.

FF

[msusawyer]

Stopyra -

Do you have a picture of the Nightfly? Sounds interesting.

[paxfish]

Goldman - Anywhere you'd normally throw a popper, your floating line can come into play.

My best patterns for this are Siliclone and Gurgler. Throwing a light fly like a Bucktail Deceiver is fun on a floating line too - sometimes they won't hit it on the surface, but love them 12" under.

[Capt. Matt]

Hi Goldman,

I would be happy to schedule a trip for you and provide instruction on flyfishing for stripers if you're interested in taking a drive south. Otherwise you might also check out http://www.chesapeakeguides.org as we have a great group of professional guides in our association most of which cater to fly anglers on the Chesapeake. It's not all that different than the bass fishing you're used to but many find that a day with a guide who has an assortment of rods, lines, & flies not to mention the patience to give good instruction is well worth the investment.

Capt. Matt

[goldman]

Thanks to everyone for their input. I think I'm on the right path.

Its been quite a while since I picked up the longrod for LM and SM bass, so I need to do some practicing.

[Wild Bill]

Goldman-

You got good advice on the 350 and other stuff. The main thing is to get that Parker over a good slug of fish, either breaking, suspended or on the bottom. Once you do that try casting into the wind and letting the line sink freely while the boat drifts away. When you think you have reached the fish depth or bottom, start to strip. Catching stripers on the fly is real easy once you find a good school. Stripers love flies.

Once you play with the resident bay stripers, go to the the CBBT in November and catch some big boys.

Good luck.

[fisham]

I remember A very good book by Joe Bruce on Fly-fishing for striped bass. I was very imformative and I still use the deep water close to shore theory that he explains in the book. I was once in Joe's shop and I asked him about fishing with a 400 grain line. His responce was that his wrists were just as able with a spinning rod. Meaning that he thought it was somewhat silly to use a fly rod for bottom fishing in deep water. For the record I do own a Teeny 500 line, and have enjoyed catching many fish with it. I remember it coming in handy one day fishing the rips off of Monomoy. We had been throwing plugs and flies for about two hours and had done pretty well catching 30-35 inch fish. I switched to the 500 and within twenty minutes had a 40 incher in the boat.

If you want to learn about saltwater flyfishing I would recommend the following: hire a guide, become a sponge, dont worry about equipment, and finally, dont get caught up in every new fly that comes along.

[Redfinstriper]

One of the better reknown flyfishing guides in the upper bay is Gary Nietzy He knows flyfishing and how to find them.