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 Striped Bass Fly Fishing: Hunting As A Team For Visual Eats
Posted by waterwhippa on September 05, 2009
(1527 reads)
Video:
Striped Bass Video
My introduction to saltwater fly fishing was with Jeremy many years ago, in a salt pond along the Rhode Island coast. Since that time, I have always looked forward to returning each spring and fall to try and intercept Striped Bass as they migrate along the Eastern seaboard. The past couple of years I have abandoned the stripping basket and waders and hopped in Jeremy’s boat to access the various reefs and rips that attract massive amounts of baitfish and of course, dinosaur Bass. Today would be different; we were trophy hunting in every aspect of the phrase. My attraction with fly fishing has always been the hunt and the visual aspect but in the past, most of the Striper fishing I have done has been blind casting into channels in the ponds or to the rock piles out front. This is fun for awhile but the attraction was short lived, so instead of blind casting and hoping to get tight, today we were throwing a giant hook-less, walking plug on conventional gear and teasing the biggest bass up off the reef and onto the surface. Within seconds of the first cast the salty current began to boil on the plug. The strikes were vicious and plentiful with each one increasing in intensity as the plug worked its way closer to the boat. The Bass became seriously frustrated with the fact that they could not kill this thing, it was incredible. I know a lot of people are
going to say “that’s not fly fishing” however, in my opinion it was absolutely fly fishing because the margin for error was very small, reason being if you were unable to drop the fly directly on the teaser you wouldn’t draw so much as a look. Furthermore, this game was total teamwork, positioning the boat for the drift, casting the plug where it needed to be and working the plug was an art unto itself. If you worked it to slow or to fast no interest, if you stopped the plug short the fish would sound back to the reef. After a few botched attempts in the high swells we were finally working like a well oiled machine, Jeremy on the motor and camera, Patrick on the plug rod and me waiting anxiously with my home-spun Rhody Flatwing. Finally it all came together with a big push of water and a deafening pop on the plug, Patrick kept the big boy interested as I started to false cast and work out some line. The fish was super close now and Pat stopped the plug and the fish stared at it intently. I dropped the flatwing on him and with one flap of his tail he turned and engulfed the fly and screamed back to the reef. After a couple minutes he submitted graciously and I was holding the best Bass of my life! Thanks for the eye opener Jeremy, we had talked about this method several times in the past but it is just one of those things that you need to experience for yourself to truly appreciate.
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Re: Striped Bass: Hunting As A Team For Visual Eats
by jeremy on September 05, 2009 http://www.fliesandfins.com | Whippa,
Congrats on an amazing fish and your best striped bass on the fly to date! What an experience that was for all of us. Total teamwork! I gotta give credit where credit is due. I was introduced to "teasing" fish several years ago by my friend Greg Snow who is a guide on block island (snowflycharters.com). This past spring I then went down to Mexico and fished with my friend Jeff DeBrown for roosterfish (reelbaja.com). I was suprised to see that teasing the fish with a hook-less plug was also an effective method used in Mexico to lure fish that were out of fly casting range to the shore and get them within fly casting range. Well, after that trip and some more teasing of fish with Greg and friends last season and this season ... I have really come to love this method for the exact same reasons that waterwhippa states. I really enjoy fly fishing as a team and 2 or 3 people fishing at the same time can get old because everyone is in their own world. Its fun to fish the teaser because then its truly teamwork with the guy on the teaser rod having to be good at casting the plug, raising fish and keeping those fish interested in the plug enough to bring them within fly casting range. Then, its total teamwork as far as the guy on the teaser rod and the guy on the fly rod being in synch enough to know when to cast the fly and get the plug out of the way. Additionally, this makes for a 100% total visual experience. There is no blind casting and if a lot of fish are being raised it enables the angler to pick his fish and perhaps cast to a bigger fish rather than a small fish. I too love the visual aspects of fly fishing whether it be an albie screaming through the water and busting on top, a pod of stripers eating bait on top, a bonefish tail sticking out of the water, a trout taking a dry fly or casting to a laid up tarpon and watching him eat a fly. So, this method -- in my opinion, is just another form of sight fishing. Glad you had fun .. I had a blast and it was cool to catch your biggest bass ever as a team. Nice work on the fly rod dave. |
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Re: Striped Bass: Hunting As A Team For Visual Eats
by kory_k on September 05, 2009 http://www.fliesandfins.com | Whip,
That is a pig of a bass bro! Nice work! Teasing those fish up with that plug is spectacular fishing to say the least. It is almost more fun just watching them get all fired up wanting to kill that thing than it is casting to and catching them (almost). :) No doubt about it, it is absolutely fly fishing. It requires a great deal of skill in casting accuracy, line control and proper retrieve. In fact I think it is far more difficult and that much more of an accomplishment to get one that way than it is to blind cast aimlessly. At any rate, great catch and great tale bro! |
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Re: Striped Bass: Hunting As A Team For Visual Eats
by wrh on September 05, 2009 http://www.theanglersnet.com | | Dave, oh my god that is a pig!! Well done. Can't wait to hit the salt again. |
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Re: Striped Bass: Hunting As A Team For Visual Eats
by joey on September 05, 2009 http://www.fliesandfins.com | | Sicko...sweet striper whip. KILLER take. Congrats on your biggest to date. The teaser technique is great and very effective. and yes. It is hard. Just like you said you have to put that fly in the right position or game over. Great story. |
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Re: Striped Bass: Hunting As A Team For Visual Eats
by Shaq on September 05, 2009 http://www.theanglersnet.com | | That's a great fish Whip! Congrats! Love to see those pigs come up to eat all fired up! Looks like the salt has been good to all of us recently! |
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Re: Striped Bass: Hunting As A Team For Visual Eats
by greg on September 06, 2009 http://www.fliesandfins.com | Sweet whippa, Great fish! Looks like a good time. Congrats on that beauty.
Greg |
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Re: Striped Bass: Hunting As A Team For Visual Eats
by alex on September 06, 2009 http://www.patagoniaflies.com | | Whip, really amazing to see that fish coming out of the water and crushing your big fly doesn't get any better than that, crazy how they turned out to be all big bass on that rip great job bringing that beast to hand, cheers brother and congrads on that one ,Alex |
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Re: Striped Bass: Hunting As A Team For Visual Eats
by Wilkie on September 07, 2009 http://www.watersedgeguides.com | | Whip, epic! You making it down to Montauk? If so we'll see you there. We've lined up our dates for the SR; super stoked for the fall. |
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