cape cod stripers

Cape Cod Striped Bass.

Cape Cod on the Eastern sea board of America has seen a truly massive benefit from the conservation measures now in force to protect the Striped Bass. Recreational Sea Fishing for Striped Bass is now a multi million, if not billion dollar industry on the North East coast of the United States of America. Everywhere I went in June, there were European anglers, many of them fly fishermen like our little group, but often they were also carrying a plugging rod sporting a big surface popper. This fabulous fishing is not expensive the way a trip to the tropics is expensive. Flights to Boston from the UK can cost as little as £300’s. If you are not concerned about a plush hotel, basic motel accommodation with two sharing can be just £25’s per night. Food is not expensive and shared car hire need not cost very much either and with petrol at $4’s a gallon, driving is a pleasure again. Do it yourself fishing of this quality is a dream come true for European anglers, go on line and see for yourself how much it will cost. Like me, I suspect you will be planning a trip before very long… See you there in 2009!!! (didn’t make it in 2009... hospital again!!) For months before our trip I had researched Cape Cod on the Internet, reading the rich seam of fly fishing literature that can be found about the fishing in the areas that I wanted to fish. I spent time locating the best beaches, sand flats that we could wade, brackish backwaters where sometimes the fish sought refuge, but the most important thing that my research found were local tide tables…… so that we could plan where we wanted to be when the tide was flooding, then perhaps walk several miles to another location, so that on the ebb tide we would be in position on the edge of the deeper channels, ready for when the fish retreated from the shallow water of the flats, down these channels back into the deeper water. All the information is there on the web. I printed several hundred pages and spent hours reading and making notes. The flies and how to tie them, tackle to take, leader makeup, when and where to fish, its all there on the web. The Americans are generous when it comes to sharing their experiences and knowledge, especially it seems when it come to fly fishing for Striped Bass.. If you want to short circuit the research and be as sure as you can that you will catch fish, then hiring a Guide is a good idea. Local Tackle shops usually have several Guides who will take you fishing, show you the flies that are catching and ensure that you have the best chance of catching fish. http://www.fishingthecape.com/guides-and-charters.html Walking along Ryder Beach in the half-light of dawn, we could see dimples in the water as small sandeel’s broke the oil smooth water in their desperate attempts to escape the hungry predators that were chasing them to the surface. Overhead raucous seagulls and dainty terns were wheeling and pirouetting, picking sandeel out of the surface film and marking the position of the shoal of Striped Bass that were harrying them. A few moments observation soon told us that the fish were herding the sandeel’s against the shore which were slowly moving up the beach toward us. Wading in just to our knee’s we worked out our flylines ready for when the fish would come close. Austen was first in line and his sandeel imitation was soon taking by a marauding striper, his bent rod and screaming clutch only increased our anticipation. It wasn’t long before the water around my knee’s was packed with thousands of sandeel’s(Ammodytes Americanus) which in truth look identical to the sandeel’s found in European waters. Which is probably the reason why the sandeel pattern which I tie(called the Spook!) was instantly taken by a Striper after just a couple of strips of the fly line. Whoo—ah! do these fish run, I was well into my backing before I turned the fish, retrieved a little line as I reeled as fast I could to get the flyline back on the reel. These fish are too powerful to play just on the line, you must try to play them off the reel, so that you have mobility without worrying about line in the water or around your feet.. The minimum size of Striper that you can keep is 28 inches, that is 71 centimetres. Everything under that size has to go back. In the week that the five of us spent fishing, we kept just two fish out of the several hundred fish that we caught. We kept those two because the Lady we were staying with wanted to cook us some fish and I have to say she made a wonderful job of it, they were delicious! Fish over 28 inches are called “keepers”, the Americans keep fish above that size to eat. But I have to say, that most of the fish I saw caught by the local anglers, especially the fly anglers, were returned with a lot of care and a lot of pride. An example to all of us…. So what do you need to take. Most anglers fish an #8 or #9 weight rod from the shore because when the wind gets up you need that weight of line to fish comfortably. Four piece rods are good if you have to pack them down for travelling. In our group there were four Sage Xi2, Thomas and Thomas, a Scott and several of the new Snowbee Deep Blue Saltwater fly rods, all rods which can be recommended to do the job well. Reels were a pretty even split between the superb Tiburon saltwater reels and the Snowbee XS reels. All of which did the job very well indeed. Every evening a good sousing under the freshwater tap to wash the sand and salt away is a precautionary measure no matter what price reel you use. Flylines are a critical item of the outfit in salt water fly fishing. The lines of choice were the Rio, Teeny and Snowbee saltwater lines. The Teeny Saltwater and the Snowbee Surf lines being the most popular choice. What you will need is a minimum of three lines. A Floater, clear Intermediate (or slow sink) and a fast Sink line of about five inches per minute sink rate. I counted twenty fly lines in one tackle bag which would have covered every eventuality. But those three are the minimum necessary. For flies go, ask Austen Goldsmith at www.uksaltwaterflies.co.uk and he will either sell you tied flies or the saltwater proof materials to tie your own. Else go on the web and find the tyings to tie your own. A good website is www.flyfishsaltwaters.com which contains some excellent fly tying recipes. Fly fishing from a chartered boat can give some exceptional sport. I was to have had a couple of charters with Captain Jeff Smith who runs a business called Finaddiction Charters. www.finaddiction.com My pal Dr Charles Reaves and myself went afloat one morning and had a couple of stunning hours catching stripers before the wind and rain made us come in early. The next day was cancelled because it was just impossible to get to sea. But next year hopefully the weather will be kind to us and we will get out with Jeff again. Jeff also catches Tunny on fly…. I have got to have some of that!!! Take a look:: http://www.flyfishsaltwaters.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=006 524

Cape Cod Stripers.