Stripers on the fly

[Bigbev67]

Launched this morning at 6 am in the mid bay with my brother in law. We started the day prospecting by trolling across the channel. I caught what was my to be my tied for best of the day day striper on a chartreuse tandem rig. Paddled to a choke point and caught several fish on a shad.
Best catching rate was on a I believe yozuri jig. Caught dozens of schoolies off the bottom as the tide switched and the honey holes produced. Definitely prefer light tackle tackle over trolling and as you will read I really enjoy catching on the fly over anything.
When the wind finally died down I broke out the 9 wt with floating line and a shrimp pattern. Water was breaking over some rocks and I casted with a short couple retrieves and Fish ON. Caught 4 more on the flyall mid to upper 20 inch fish(tied my best of the day) No hand lining these fish they were eager and full of energy. Nothing beats hooking a a striper that takes the line out of your hand in fits and jumps as their broom tail pushes them into some current and your fighting them off the reel. First time landing any fish off the shrimp pattern but this situation was perfect as they were hanging right next to the rocks waiting for a meal.
Today was one to remember. The hunt continues for the 20 and 30 pounders that are willing to take the fly.
Tight lines
Rich

[Mark]

Nice catches.

It takes a lot of discipline to put down conventional tackle when it is working and to try the fly.

[RIng]

On some days I leave the spinning tackle home so I have to stay with the fly .

[HeaveToo]

Stripers on the fly are amazing. Even the schoolies fight hard! Sounds like a good day on the fly.

I intend to do some salt water this year out of some areas. I have had a lot of luck at certain times of the year in the Occoquan for Stripers on the fly.

[Bigbev67]

Bringing my fly gear to work tomorrow. I think this weekend's forecast will keep me off the water.
Us fly gentlemen should try to get together sometime on the water. I have yet to make a meet and greet but always up for meeting new people in new places.

[DanMarino]

I would love to catch some stripers on the fly. Size wouldn't even matter to me.

[Mark]

I would love to catch some stripers on the fly. Size wouldn't even matter to me.

It's not much different than casting lures to stripers. You just have to fly fish where they are. Put a Clouser in front of them or a popper over their head and they may strike.

The biggest difference from using conventional tackle is that you likely will not throw the fly line as far as you cast a lure. So positioning your kayak is important to get closer to them than you might otherwise do with spinning gear.

Also you may want to use sinking or intermediate line if you are fishing water over 4 feet deep.

But I catch them frequently on the fly with floating line on top or in the shallows.

A couple of spots where I have been successful casting flies to stripers from my kayak include the islands and sod banks close to the launch at Goodhands Creek, the shallows (wooden wall and riprap) near Hackett Point and several Severn tribs.

Also, you can't miss them in open water when they are breaking. If you can get your fly into the boil, it's darned near impossible to not hookup. But I prefer casting blind to where to where I think they should be. Right now, they appear somewhat scarce in my normal haunts. But when they get more active and if you and/or Bigbev67 (or others) ever want to join me at any of the specific spots I mentioned, PM me and we'll organize an outing.