Fly Fishing Striped BassFly Fishing VideoStriped Bass

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.