Striper fishing is not a passive activity. Any seasoned striper fisherman knows that finding and chasing the stripers is part of the game. Sure, there are days when everyone on the beach, including the tourists, are catching fish. Don’t get me wrong, those are great days. Nobody has to do much work cause the fish just happen to be in that spot. However, as summer progresses and the fish thin out, those days are harder to come by. My buddy Nick refers to this time frame as the “Doldrums Of Summer.” So, if you want to catch fish, you gotta move, you gotta track the fish and you gotta have the right gear. For me, a kyak works well from a mobility perspective and an Orvis Large Arbor reel works well from a gear perspective. The kyak allows me to buz around the harbors, inlets and estuaries with the diving birds and the Large Arbor Orvis reel is versatile, sturdy and reliable. The other night was a great example of this. The Stripers were invading Ferry Beach in small schools. Pockets of birds were scattered about and fish were boiling under the birds. The beach was lined with all sorts of fisherman and most their lines were slack. The reason for their lack of success is simple. They were not fishing where the fish were. I was in a kyack and it amazed me how 10 feet could make all the difference in the world. I would see the birds and the fish, slowly approach the boiling water and cast right into the middle of the feading frenzy. WHAM. The fish would hit my fly as soon as I started to retrieve. Time and time again I repeated this scenario and man I had a great nigh. I hooked into alot of fish and alot of big fish. I was in heaven, casting into boiling fish and and getting one after the other. Some of the bigger fish were actually towing me and my kyak around the harbor. But, as soon as I drifted out of casting distance from the fish, Nothing, Zero, Ziltch. So in my opinion, striper fly fishing has very little to do with patience. You gotta be willing to chase the fish. If your in a motor boat – start your engines. If your in a canoe or kyak, start paddling. If you on foot, start walking.
